The Honeymoon Period

I get this phone call at least once a week. It goes something like this.

“I adopted a dog (over 6 months old) a little over a month ago. When I brought him (or her) home he was just the sweetest and quietest dog. He listened, seemed eager to please, and didn’t have a single accident. Then a couple of days ago he suddenly changed. He is pooping in the house, tearing up things and doesn’t listen. Did I make a mistake? I really don’t want to give him up but I can’t have him acting like this. Is there anything you can do?”

The good news is that this can be fixed.

What happened is that when you got the dog you went through the honeymoon period. The dog you brought home was not the dog you were going to end up. And the dog you end up with is dependent on how you acted during the honeymoon period.

When you brought the dog home you were thinking that the dog now has a secure home for the rest of its life. You will love and take care of it. You have rescued it because obviously the dog’s previous life was lousy. So to you the dog’s life has just gotten better.

But that is not what the dog was thinking. To the dog he belonged to a pack. It may not have been a very good pack, but it was his pack. He knew the rules and what was expected of him. Life was somewhat predictable, even in the worse home.

In his wolf and then later working ancestors, being kicked out of the pack is a life threatening event. A dog or wolf is not likely to survive on its own. So when a dog is run off, or loses, the pack, it has two choices. Survive for a minimal amount of time on its own, or find a new pack.

In order to be accepted in a new pack, the dog goes in as the omega dog. This is the lowest ranking member of the pack. It has only three jobs, be the last one to eat, be a stress relief to the other adults, and to play with the puppies. If the dog is accepted as the omega dog it survives.

So when your dog came home he did not think “oh boy my life just improved”, he thinks “what did I do to get kicked out of my old pack.” He is not sure he will be accepted into the new pack so he assumes the omega role.

During the honeymoon month, the dog is trying to figure out his place in this new pack. And he is trying to find out how high in this pack he needs to go. And if you did not give him time to figure out his place in this new pack, and clearly define his place in this pack, then he will try to figure it out on his own.

If you got a dog with high alpha drive he will try to take over. He sees it as his job to tell everyone else what to do. And if you got a dog with low alpha drive, he is pushing you to run the pack in a way to feel secure.

The way to handle this is training during the honeymoon period. You should find a trainer who understands this period and gives you tools and methods that allows the dog to join the new pack in a clearly defined role. Ask the trainer how he handles this period. If the trainer doesn’t know what the honeymoon period is, or says they handle it just like any other dog, find a different trainer.

Doug

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Saying goodbye to a dog

Yesterday a car pulled up just as I was shutting things down to go home. I did not have anyone on the schedule. The car looked vaguely familiar.

Lani got out of the car. I had not seen her in a while. Back in 2009 she and her roommate Tammi, brought me two very interesting dogs. The first was Billy, a Dutch Sheppard; the second was Bosco, a Dachshund.

They were a challenging pair. Bosco was deaf. Billy was a retired military bomb detection dog. And to make it even more interesting, Tammy is vision impaired.

The challenge with Billy was his former occupation. Military and Police dogs are trained to think of their jobs as a game. The reward for doing well is a Kong. So these dogs are toy aggressive. In addition Billy was dog aggressive. He could not let a dog near the patrol as it might be carrying an IED.

Billy was arguably the most dangerous dog I have had to train. He was willing to kill. At the same time he was also a very easy dog to work with because he had learned to trust his handler. My job was to show him that Lani, Tammi, and I were to get the same respect as his military handler.

Billy also had some difficulty with his back legs, they had been severely injured in a bomb blast.

The training went well. Billy and Bosco moved on to group. Billy kept his eye on every dog in the room but had learned to live with others.

No one comes to Neighborhood Pack forever so eventually Lani’s pack slid into memory.

About a year later Lani came by with an article from the Fort Carson paper. Billy was now a therapy dog in their Wounded Warriors program. He related well to the combat veterans because he too was a wounded vet.

Lani had come by yesterday for Billy to say goodbye. He is 14 now and that is the life expectancy of his breed. He has kidney problems.

I could hear him out in the car. He knew where he was and he wanted to come in.

Lani had us pose for some pictures. Billy let me scratch his ears. Then he took a treat from me.

He has lost some weight, his back legs are a little less reliable, and he has some breathing problems. But he seemed to enjoy visiting his old haunt.

Billy, like me, had found something to do when he retired. Lani and Tammi gave him a wonderful life. The joy this dog brought far outweighs the loss soon to come. Im grateful Lani and Tammi let me say goodbye.

And I am sure he will be waiting for us when our times come to cross the rainbow bridge.

Doug

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The only way to train a dog is

The other night after our Neighborhood Pack Session three of my dog owners were outside talking. I joined in.

These three have been working with me for a while. And each of them has an awesome dog.

Vino is a Rottweiler. He started his training at nine weeks. He has been trained to be a service dog and is the subject of an earlier blog. He is 22 months old now and just an incredible dog. He works for his twins. He now gives an alert up to 45 minutes before the little girl goes into grand mal seizures and will intervene if her brother starts bumping his head into the wall he will push him away and sit with him until he calms down. He has passed every test and certification with flying colors.

Athena is a Rottweiler, Aussie cattle dog and Akita mix. She is a rescue. She is a one in a thousand dog. She took one look at her new owner, decided she loved her new mom, and has been a jewel ever since. Training her was a breeze and she is one of my pack leaders in Neighborhood Pack. She will often quell bad behavior in another dog with just a look.

Charlie is a young pit bull. When he started he was dog aggressive. We got him past that quickly and he became playful but at the first sign of any rough play would get pretty defensive. Now he is just playful with everyone. Maturity and experience will tone that down.

Vino’s Mom started the conversation by telling us that she had taken him into one of the chain stores. He was wearing his service vest. The store “trainer” came over and told Mom that she trained service therapy Rottweiler’s. She immediately asked if Vino had been trained in a method that uses corrections. Mom answered yes and the “trainer” launched into a harangue that dogs can’t be trained with methods using corrections.

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Athena’s Mom also added that she had a similar experience in another of the chains. The trainer had lectured her about the “only way” to train dogs. She went on to explain the superiority of food based training, the favored method of many chains.

Charlie’s mom got stopped by a neighbor. Apparently this is one of those “I come to you” trainers who lives in her neighborhood. The trainer had seen Duke jump on her as they left the house for their walk. The trainer then told her how her training methods are wrong and she should change trainers. The trainer did not realize that jumping only occurs at the start of a walk and is a way he expresses pleasure. It is also the sign of a young dog who hasn’t quite understood why he should not do that yet.

Each of these three different trainers told my client that their training method was the “only way” to train a dog.

At that point one of my clients said that the “only way” to train a dog is the Manners in Minutes system. I disagreed. I believe that a good trainer can train a dog in any method.

I know I could train in any system; choke chain, pinch collar, clicker, food based, or any of the others. . I use the Manners in Minutes system because it is efficient. Not only do I think the dog catches on quicker, I believe the owner learns this method faster than any other. And I have set up my training lesson plan and center to maximize the method.

I have a training center rather than train in a park because I can control the environment. The center also means I don’t have too little or too much space. And I can control who and what the dog is exposed to as the training progresses.

I use very little food because I have long since realized that a client training for the first time will often use food as a crutch. The temptation to offer the food too often or too soon is hard for someone to resist when they first start working with a dog. As a result the client ends up bribing rather than motivating the dog.

I don’t like choke or pincher collars because for an inexperienced owner it is too easy too over or under correct. Under correction has no effect on the dog, over correction results in resentment. Electronic collars don’t make sense to the dog. I don’t use harsh alpha methods because a pack leader is firm, fair and consistent, not a bully. I don’t use clickers, even though I think they are the fastest way to learn to properly time praise, because too many owners have no control when they do not have a clicker at hand.

I stopped offering group classes to start training because I noticed that in every group there was always one dog that was so out of control that too much of the allotted time was spent on that dog to the detriment of the others. Every group always had someone who for various reasons needed a disproportionate amount of my time. Group tends to put the owner with an easier dog at a disadvantage.

So to make sure that the time I spend with you and your dog is efficient I start you in private sessions. That way you and the dog get my undivided attention. Then when the dog and you are ready I move you into group since there are many things we can do in group you can never do in private sessions.

If you have found a good trainer then there is no “only way,” just what they believe is the best way. And if you have found a trainer who has the “only way,” odds are you do not have a good trainer.

Doug

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