Her Name Was Lola, She Was A Showgirl

Our newest residency student's name is Lola. She is a female Pit X. She looks like she may have a fair amount of lab in her.

I will write a little history about her here. She was adopted at six weeks. Just so people know, if you can avoid removing a puppy at before 11-13 weeks from their mother and litter, this is the best thing for the puppy. That being said, there are situations out there where a puppy is being ousted in a non-breeders home OR finds themselves motherless for whatever reason early on.

Puppies who are removed early often will have special needs in order to grow into a balanced dog. There are many situations besides early removal from the litter and mom, where a dog will need extra special care. Early removal is just one of many situations that will most likely require special care and consideration. Of course, in my opinion, a well planned training program is always necessary for a dog, but truthfully some dogs are going to be more naturally bomb proof than other dogs. The dogs that are removed from their litter and mother too early are often not the bomb proof dogs that are going to sail through life fine without a good leader.

Lola's problems have been manifesting themselves in reactive and aggressive behavior towards dogs (especially when on leash), and an uncomfortableness around children. Also there are resource guarding issues.

Day one for a dog like Lola is comprised of a lot of things. For one, she will be tethered to me while out and about in the house. Freedom is a resource that I control. Right now she is not equipped (behaviorally speaking) to have that freedom in the house. When she is not tethered to me, she will be in her crate. There is a lot that I can do while she is tethered to me in addition to training though. It's really important for her to be out and about and learning the rules of the road right now. Structuring a day for a dog like this is very important too. You want the dog to be able to predict what is going to happen during the day, as you guide them through the appropriate behaviors. So for instance every time I stop or come to an opening, I put Lola into a sit. Since she has the very beginning understanding of what a sit is (and wasn't smart enough to hide this from me LOL), getting out of the crate only happens when she is in a sit.

Last night, she went into a sit very willingly to leave the crate. After being fed and let out this morning, she had a more belligerent look on her face (once her immediate needs were met) when asked to sit. So I went away, had some coffee and breakfast. Went back down and said "sit". She almost did it once, but did not do it after five times of the command. Therefore, I went upstairs and enjoyed a bit of the today show with the other dogs. Guess what happened the third time I went down? Lola was already in a sit . Thems the rules, to get out of the crate you must be in a sit (oh and quiet too).   If you have a reactive and resource guarding dog, you should check with a trainer on how to do this safely, especially if there is a food bowl in the crate. I always leave my face out of the crate, for instance. I have them stay in a sit so I can easily slip on the collar. If the dog does not know any form of the word sit yet (is entirely green in other words), you can form the leash first into a loose lasso (clip end through handle) and slip it around the dog's head. I've had about 10 years of practice with this, so it's always best to have a trainer talk you through this with a reactive, possibly aggressive, or feral dog. Lola hasn't needed this, I just thought it would be a good mention in the crate rules scenario when you are working with a dog that you hardly know yet.

While I am making her sit every time I stop, we will later be going through the molded sit routine from scratch to get to the one command sit.   Also with any dog that has a behavioral issue, molding is a great trust exercise.   It trains the dog to relax their muscles at their owners touch at first, before going onto consequences and rewards for sitting or not sitting.   When you get to the correction part, most owners make a common mistake of tightening on the leash OR giving the correction before the command is even given.   The right way is to get the dog used to the concept of having a loose leash, so the owner has more control.   This is what a lot of owners are not knowledgeable about how to understand to train to a loose leash, and that this gives them more control (as does off leash training when ready).   So it's loose leash, then command, then correction if not done within a second (corrections are mild after having gone through the molding steps correctly with most dogs), good dog if command is performed, once in a sit (either way) the leash should be loose again, and finally the release word is given.  You need to give the dog the opportunity to weigh there options in order to give them the opportunity to learn.   If you are always going to take control of the situation rather than teach the dog, the dog will never learn control, themselves.   This is a really important concept when dealing with the behaviorally challenged dogs.

Lola hasn't been extremely pleased about going into the crate. So she will be fed in there, have some toys in there, but... In the meantime, she needs to go into the crate when necessary. If I don't need to get confrontational with a dog about these things, then I don't. Lola has responded well to the method where she is on leash, and I walk towards the crate. She will pull back for a moment, but if I just stop and wait, she will come towards me and the crate again. You need the dog on a slip training collar and leash to do this, if they are bound and determined to get away. The worst thing that can happen is she slips her collar and realizes that she could get away. This just makes the training go backwards. This morning putting Lola in the crate has been a lot easier, as I have made it as non confrontational as I possibly can. It's an attitude like this "look it's no big deal", but then you follow through and bring her out later with a little bit of freedom or training (which will feel like a little bit of freedom right now).

Tethering her to me starts to extinguish her first instinct to bolt for freedom as well. Most dogs enjoy actually being with their people, and once she figures out she can relax with her new best buddy (me of course) it will become much easier for her to just follow me around, and not look for the exit at every opportunity. Once she stops doing that, we can start considering letting her off tether in our home. It's not something that you want to do before she is ready though.

When I have a dog that is a possible bolt risk and has aggressive possibilities, there are certain safety measures I put in place.

• I pay attention to the status of all outside doors.   I lock some that friends or family (despite my frequent directions not to) may decide to open and come into unannounced.  The front door that we like to keep open to the screen or glass door is now closed from now forward.
• Be aware, some dogs are very prepared to go through window screens (and sometimes glass windows).  So closing the windows and having a dog that seems that panicked tethered to you is a very wise idea.
• Since we have a pen for going outside made of chicken wire, if I have a possible flight risk, I bring them out on lead personally to go to the bathroom in the pen.
• Even if there are no other dogs or people around, she will remain tethered to me when outside the crate right now.
• I make sure she is in the more well made thick wire crates.   Some crates are shockingly cheap, and Lola would be able to dismantle them quite readily, where other dogs would not even think of trying.
• Always have her on a slip type of training collar when outside of the crate, so as not to slip her flat collar.
• Always take the slip collar off when going into the crate (and put flat back on) so it doesn't get caught on a wire and choke her.
• Clothing should be leather shoes, thick jeans, bulky sweatshirt, when dealing with any dog that you think may deflect on you.   Often dogs that are going to turn out okay, will still panic and use their teeth in the moment.  We all want to protect ourselves, our clients, and the dog from making an unnecessarily bad mistake in the beginning of training.
• I try not to use muzzles on most dogs, but in the beginning and especially if the quarters are going to be tight with the object of their angst, I find muzzles are helpful not only for prevention but also to calm the dog down.   Once they realize they are not going to be able to take the action that they would like, and that you (the handler or owner) have things under control, the dog can relax and go with the flow.   Remember, it's totally important that the dog training have nothing to really worry about.  We use our trained dogs here, and people familiar with taking direction from me to start and win the dog over (and habituate them to things that previously frightened or concerned them in some way).

When you are entrusted with someone Else's dog, you need to be extra specially responsible and careful.   Someone is trustingly handing over their beloved family member to you.  My yard remains unfenced as I do a lot of off leash training.   Therefore, while I may drop a longe line at the end of training (meaning longe line is still attached but handle not in my hand), she will not be allowed off leash (really) outside, though she may be prepared to get a sense of it.

Today, we will be focusing on "let's go" and "sit on the dog training" which will be loaded into Lola's blog (with this posting) so her owners can follow along with what we are doing.

Maine Dog Trainer, New Hampshire Dog Trainer, Massachusetts Dog Trainer, and sometimes Canada Dog Trainer

Mannerly Mutts Dog Training Blog