Tag Archives: dog behavior

throw the flexi leash away

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I’ll be honest, I have never liked flexi/retractable/zip leashes. They’ve never made much sense to me.

I see an owner hanging on to a handle, disengaged, and a dog doing whatever they want, usually at 20+ feet away. They are relationship killers.

Over the years dog owners have tried to tell me how great they are, and I’ve listened, maybe I was missing the point? I can be open like this. But every time I see an owner use one, and see the total disconnect and lack of relationship, there is nothing that can convince me to say a nice thing about them. Not even to take a dog out to eliminate.

They sabotage loose leash walking, they kill the relationship when out and about with distractions, they encourage independent behavior, and they can be dangerous when a dog wraps around a handler or lunges. There is simply no reason, zilch, that a dog should be 20+ feet away from a handler when walking down town, in a store, on a busy sidewalk, or in a neighborhood.

Guess what happens when something hits the fan? Instead of calling the dog back, or simply being right next to them, you can reel your dog in, or better yet yank them back to you. There is no good teaching or training going on there, and it simply falls into the I have no relationship with my dog when out and about category.

We have a man who walks his border collie on what I think is a four to five mile loop every morning like clock work. I have seen him easily for three years, doing the same thing, during all weather conditions. His dog has been on a flexi leash the whole time, straining at the end of it for the past three years. They walk but there is no relationship and for sure no connection. The same the same the same every morning. Well apparently he had it this morning. As I passed by, he was jerking and lifting this dog off the ground and yelling HEEL from a good 20+ feet away. The look of confusion and fear on this dogs face was so gut wrenchingly sad. 365 days a year for a few years, the same walk, and now this? This man never prepared the dog for a heel or even a simple loose leash walk. And then this morning he decides, today is the day you will heel. I have a few other choice words for this man but I’ll spare you all.

Use your voice as your first leash, spend time teaching your dog, learn to work as a team, and build a trusting relationship. It all takes time, but honestly, you cannot expect behaviors if you have not put the time in. And by putting time in, it is a life time, just like for us. Always learning, always changing.

Nancy

multiple dog households and conflict

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When I was pregnant with my second child, and the due date was nearing, I asked a very dear friend of mine, who was the mother of five, how do you avoid sibling rivalry? You see, I grew up in a household with four girls, I was #3. This was an important question for me.

My dear friend took a thoughtful sip of afternoon wine (that’s why I love her!), munched some apple with with cheese, took a deep breath, and said very wisely, only have one!

So what did I do? Well I had my second baby, and then added multiple dogs, rabbits, birds, and fish. We live in multiple everything! My children, so far, after fourteen years, love each other and enjoy each others company. I am a grateful Mom!

And I honestly think my dogs are sated with the company of each other, same with my birds, and fish. But it is not by chance. It has been very deliberate, very thoughtful, and incredibly managed.

Since January 2012 I have had three friends and seven clients that have lost one of their dogs do too multiple dog household conflict. It was either an immediate death, or such intense injuries that a dog had to be euthanized. While this is not everyday, it is also not that uncommon. It would be safe to say that it is way more traumatizing on the owners than it is on the remaining dog/s. The dog/s left in the household almost always have a sense of relief, relief from what is individual, but the calm is palpable. I have met very few owners who will ever trust the remaining dog/s in the house, and it can, not always, but can lead to multiple euthanasia in the same day.

Is this avoidable? To a large extent yes. Conflicts take more than one, why they happen is completely individual. It could be space, the wrong mix of personalities, food, resources, favored person, sleeping, breathing, smell, age, anti social, same sex, under exercised, etc. The one factor I have found to be common is unmanaged, from a very minute amount, to amazing freedom with little to no human interaction.

I am asked almost weekly if my dogs get along. Yes they do. This video exemplifies the love and respect they have for each other, just watch it to the end, it makes me smile every time.

Does it mean they play, roll around, and slap high fives on each other everyday? No way. Have they ever had conflict? Yes, twice in 10 years, and both times it was Ocean when she was coming off of a medication that had a psychotropic component, acepromezine and/or metronidazole. The conflicts were more screaming at the other dogs, never injury. With even better Fort Leavenworth type management, everything resolved in less than a week. No grudges or prolonged anger.

Here are some tips for owners of multiple dogs. I for one love having a group of dogs in my house, but I also like a peaceful existence.

Tips

  1. My Dog wants a Dog – Please do not add to your household because you think your dog wants another dog. Whoever pays the bills, buys the food, and scoops the poop is the decision maker and the care taker. It should be your decision not your dogs.
  2. Be the Match Maker – When you are thinking about adding another dog to your household, look at your current dog/s and think of what would be a good fit in regards to personality, sex, age, energy. Choosing the right match is actually essential. For example, if you have a low confident dog, you DO NOT want to add the same or the exact opposite (Joe in your face and pushy). Choose future dogs that will blend nicely with who you already have. Take your time until you find the one.
  3. Keep your dogs in good health – If dogs don’t feel well they don’t act well. You cannot afford this in a multiple dog household. Social Time – Multiple dogs don’t always have to be together. In fact it’s better if they are not. Social time should include you time, other people and outing time, and other dog time if your dog/s are social with new dogs. Time for them to hang together is important but it doesn’t always have to be play, hanging is OK. Emotional Balance – With multiple dogs it’s important to have an emotionally stable environment. If one dog requires more touch or more space in order to breathe deep, than so be it. Create an environment where your dogs feel loved, safe, part of your family, understood, and cared for. Nutritional Well Being – Having multiple dog households on a stable and appropriate diet is super important. Having dogs on a sugary high simple carbohydrate diet is a disaster waiting to happen. If they are being taken care of on the inside, they will feel better on the outside. Junky food leads to bad behavior. Physical and Mental exercise – This is training at it’s best! This is imperative and non negotiable, in my book. All dogs in a household need their physical and mental exercise needs met daily. Taking this edge off allows for dogs to truly settle. What you want to avoid is a house full of fully loaded dogs. That energy will have to go someplace, and you don’t want them to direct it at each other.
  4. Management – The more dogs, the more management. The more dogs, the more training. The more dogs, the more structure. If you don’t want to manage your dog/s in your household, you have two choices. 1) let them manage each other and eventually have conflict, either a little or a lot, and then take having multiple dogs seriously because you now have a problem. Or 2) manage your dogs and take that time so you can enjoy your dogs, your dogs can enjoy you, and the household can remain conflict free. This means doors, yard, house, sleeping areas, feeding areas, out on walks. You need to be aware what your dogs are telling you. You need to know where everyone is. If there is some minor tension between two dogs, you need to proactively give them each separate spaces (baby gate off areas, temporary fence separating yard area, etc.) until you can determine what caused the tension, and/or the tension passes. You are in charge, you have dog/s depending on you to do the right thing.
  5. Unattended – Leaving multiple dogs alone and unattended while you are at work or out and about is really never a good idea. While some households have virtual fur carpets during the day and never an ounce of conflict, other households can be like the Texas Chain Saw Massacre. In my world, instead of risking potentially bad behavior or conflict, all dogs should be in a separate space when you are not home. Whether it is crating, kennel, or baby gating off rooms. When you are gone it’s down time, not run around and play time and get into trouble. You want to come home to well rested pleasant dogs.
  6. Night night … Most dogs tend to do well sleeping at night in the same room or various places around the house. I don’t see a problem with this unless you have an instigator. In that case, crating or baby gating a small area would be advised.
  7. Observe, don’t label - Don’t get into the habit of labeling your dog/s as the Alpha in your pack or the Boss of your pack. Its a disservice to your dog/s. A pack is generally a familial unit, starting with Mom and Dad all the way down. And besides most dogs that I have met that were labeled as Alpha, were just rude and inappropriate dogs that had little to no training, an emotionally unstable environment, no management, and were left to do it all on their own. Become and observer not a labeler. Learn more about canine body language.
  8. Be a benevolent owner – Your dog/s need to know on every level that they can trust you.

The only conflict I want in my house is cleaning up fur balls under the couch! Nancy

we are off to the Red Ants Pants Music Festival!

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Last year, in February to be exact, I decided to take my aromatherapy products from our training classroom to the public. It has been a fantastic ride so far, and our line is growing!

Was it the long winter nights that prompted this decision? Most likely. It isn’t that I needed more work, or another business to run, I was plenty busy. And then add family on top of that and you could honestly say, uber busy.

But I really had a belief in what I was blending for clients, and wanted our products to have a bigger venue. How do you market aroma products for dogs and their people, an inter species product?

During our first year we were busy with research and test trials. My assistant and I investigated shipping and packaging, labels, bottles & containers, advertising, marketing, etc. All of the foundation work necessary to get this product out to the public. My business mentors called it my development year.

I did the local Farmers Market, local Art and Craft shows, and then two rather large national Trade Shows outside of the state. And a ton of what is called gorilla marketing. I found out that is were I shine, and that is where our early success started.

Farmers Markets are awesome, touching base with clients, forming relationships, great conversations, and coffee!

Art & Craft fairs are kind of funky. Some are good some are a bomb. I would say they were my least favorite venues last year, and in saying that, we did ten around the state. We did well but the atmospheres in most of them were weird, for our product at least. Nonetheless we will continue to go to the ones we enjoyed, if nothing else they are a great advertising and marketing opportunity.

The Trade Shows are a boat load of work, starting weeks/months prior to going. Booth display took me totally by surprise, as did the amount of literature, take aways and samples to give away. But we were wildly successful, enjoyed them, and will continue to do at least two to three a year. I like the buyers days the best, it is business and direct, and fun to negotiate new partnerships. We currently have twenty six wholesale accounts across the country, and I love the home spun relationships we have with each of our partners.

Today we leave for the Red Ants Pants Music Festival. It was juried for the vendors this year, and they looked at women owned businesses in Montana first! Woop!. I am hoping this will be a good venue for us, as it sounds like a fun way to sell over a three day period. Six to eight thousand people will congregate in a cow pasture outside of White Sulphur Springs Montana to listen to great music, camp, eat, and buy stuff. This sounds like my speed as long as the wind doesn’t kick in and carry everything to Kansas!

Happy music festival weekend, Nancy

borage, the garden conundrum

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When our garden gets to this point in the summer it isn’t hard to work and play, and totally get lost in it! My kids, dogs, and I were pretty much absorbed in dirt and plants for the better part of two days.

Over the past month our polite little plants decided to take off. The rain and the heat caused some crazy growth and now we have a garden that’s easily 5-6′ tall. It’s awesome.

And then there is my borage, the garden conundrum. If you’re familiar with this plant you know what I’m talking about, if you’re new to this plant hang in there.

It’s a self seeder, it reseeds like crazy, and it does better if you simply leave it alone and try not to mess with it. It attracts beneficial insects, great for a bio dynamic garden. Bee’s love it, so Ocean loves it, she’s our bee wrangler! It has the most gorgeous periwinkle/pink/dusty blue flowers, super gorgeous on cakes, in salads, and in cocktails! The young leaves are great in salads and stir fry’s. And parts of the plant can be infused into oil for skin slaves. It has great anti inflammatory and itch relief qualities. We have always made herbal infusion salves for our kids skin and dogs paws, borage is always one of the herbs I use.

BUT, its prickly and scratchy, and can almost be considered invasive if left unchecked. Like alien invasion invasive. Rubbing up against it makes me wince every time. But it’s so gorgeous and interesting to look at, and it has so many wonderful qualities it’s hard to justify not having it!

I try to find that happy balance and use about 3/4 of the borage I grow for green manure, meaning it grows to feed our compost pile.

Here is to gardens, with or without borage, dogs, and children that love to play in the dirt.

know your dog

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These days we live, sleep, and eat with our dogs, in the same house. We share the same air space, even with Mr. Farty Pants. Sometimes exercise together, and even socialize together. You would think that with this type of intimate living arrangement we would know more about our furry loved ones, but it isn’t always the case.

I truly believe our dogs know far more about us than we do them. They are masters of observation and routine. Because they don’t speak a human language they need to watch us carefully. Learn our patterns, habits, tone of voice, mannerisms, and body language. They learn what picking up our car keys means and respond accordingly. They know what we are going to do by the the clothes and shoes we put on. Some dogs even know what happens during certain times of the day. Ever watch a dog wait for their child to come home from school? They can sense our emotional state, and they learn to decipher our very confusing way of interacting with them. After all we aren’t the most consistent of living beings when it comes to communication. We don’t always mean what we say or say what we mean, that takes intention and practice. Sometimes I think our dogs just have to feel a bit upside down with us, thank god they are forgiving!

Taking the time to learn more about your dogs body language is the first step. Not information you gather at the dog park from an arm chair behaviorist, but from an accredited book or video.

Why are they slowing down when another dog is approaching? What does it mean when they are trying to avoid men when out walking? Is barking OK?

I think it’s easy to fall into the cookie cutter approach when handling a dog, and not really pay attention to the dogs style of communication.

Great observation skills and knowing your dog is way more important than a SIT.

Here is a story that clarifies how important it is to really know your dog -

It would suffice to say that more than a few years ago, I was working with a team that was concerned and scared that their dog was aggressive.

They made an appointment, filled out our history form, and came to meet with me. While their dog was in the car I read through their paper work, their information was scary to say the least. This dog on paper was a nightmare, and the owners were truly unraveled and had no idea what to do. They had been to another trainer before coming to me and were taught that they had to roll the dog over, growl in it’s face, scruff his face, and basically give him no freedoms, all of the basic crap that is nothing more than abuse. They were told their dog was dominant aggressive, pushy, overly confident, etc. But none of this was working, it was getting worse, in fact the damage this dog inflicted only happened after the heavy handed training started.

When we were all ready they brought their dog into our area. From the moment this dog exited the car there was fear language from nose to tale. I didn’t see a confident dog, or a dog that was trying to be pushy. I saw a dog that had been knocked off center some how and was terribly confused.

Stress was emanating from this dog, it was palpable. Eyes, ears, back, skin flicks, tail, gating, or the lack there of, all told a story. This dog was so uncertain, so confused, and fearful that I am sure up was the same as down.

We did a little work that day, but not much. This dog didn’t trust anyone. I gave the handlers a specific list for the week, what they needed to do, and how they needed to manage their environment.

This pattern went on for a few weeks before they felt he could come into our area again. When he did I saw a dog that had a bit more hold on itself. Still uncertain, the degree was a bit less. We were able to work together, he was able to look at me, and I could touch him briefly.

We made little by little progress over the next few months. What blossomed was this lovely tender dog that seemed to be grateful to have a few people understand, to hear between the lines so to speak. This dog had not an ounce of malice intent but had been put into a position to defend itself because no person was watching or really listening.

A lovely worker, a lovely companion, and a tender lovely soul. Once the handling and environment had been changed great work happened, for everyone. This dog is over twelve years now, I see him every now and again, and he still makes me smile. He taught me a great deal about listening. Yet another teacher in my life.

Nancy

 

Moving along… it’s been a week now

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So we have plowed through the big stuff in just under a week. I can now say that the business I founded a bit over nine years ago, Paws & People, is truly a family business. This whole adventure would not be possible without all of us doing it together. We’re kind of like the von Trapp family except we train dogs and we don’t sing. ;-)

Our dogs came over for their first visit to the gym, we had to limit the area as we are still cleaning up construction stuff. Story made it clear that he has been waiting for his own studio for quite some time! He was like dragging an anchor through the sand when it was time to leave last night!

We are filming with TawzerDog today, Alta and her grandsons arrived last night. We have a temporary set up for today, and eight lovely teams coming in to participate. This will be my 3rd DVD with Tawzer, and will be titled, Building the Therapy/Crisis Team: ideas & training from puppy through adulthood.

We had a bump in the momentum yesterday, kind of a big one. Pip has had a persistent problem in one area of her jaw for over a year. Her doctors have been monitoring it with us. It kind of came to a head yesterday and we had to go get blood work and an MRI. They gave me the low down on the worst case scenario of what they thought was brewing, and it knocked me to my knees. Gratefully, it wasn’t, and after five hours at the hospital we came home with tears and happy smiles. Pip went right back to work with her Dad, she said she needed the distraction. I love my children to the moon and back, and my heart felt every ounce of that yesterday!

Today the kids are working the Farmers Market, then coming to help with the filming, Spore is turning that crappy old bathroom into one of my dreams. I am kind of glad he is a pack rat with building materials. He saves things here and there for possible future projects. This bathroom will have a new vanity, sink, faucet, and toilet. It will have oak flooring, and wainscot. The kids and I saved our tea wrappers and chocolate foils over the past week and decoupaged the mirror frame for the bathroom. Chocolate and tea rock, just sayin!

Have a great Saturday, Nancy

rewards, yup!

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Pretty much, almost everyday for the past nine years I find myself talking about rewards with someone. And truth be told, it’s always a fun conversation, and rewarding for me!

Some people instinctively get the basic premise, if you want something you need to give something. After all it’s how we as humans function on a base level; in the workplace, at home, as parents, when volunteering, etc. What you give is often a reward on some level. And a reward is only a reward if the one receiving it perceives it as such. It’s all about context isn’t it?. Touch, an expression, access to an environment, access to work, access to explore, play, laughter, food, comfort, safety, shelter, etc.

But there are some people who want for wantings sake without offering anything in return. It’s not that this is bad, it simple means there isn’t a full understanding yet.

I was in Helena recently giving a workshop on freestyle. This group of handlers is decades deep in the dog world, very experienced, savvy, and my good friends. We worked on behaviors, movement, flow and choreography. We also talked dog all day! During one of the breaks we started to discuss rewards.

One of the concerns was this old/new style of training where you put an amazing amount of pressure on the dog, (intimidation, discomfort, and fear) and when the dog folds you give them affection, the claim is that affection is the reward. One of the handlers commented that it’s no different from spouse/child abuse, I need to knock you around to show you who’s boss, apologize and then bring you flowers or a toy to show you my love. She said people go to jail for that, why do we allow it in the dog world? Good question!

One of the newer handlers was concerned that her dog liked treats too much and would want them all of the time. YES, that is the hope! If you have something so high value to your dog that they want it all of the time, you have a definite reward and can train to the moon and back! Food and toys are the obvious rewards in training, and they ROCK as long as they are kept valuable. I’ve worked with dogs who could care less about treats or toys. They are not easy dogs to work with unless you are crazy creative in your training and dig deep to find something that motivates that dog.

For me what is most important is that rewards are varied depending on the context.

For example, I use food rewards with my puppies, it’s so motivating, easy and available. I do LOTS of training when a new one comes to my home, so using their meals and treats is kind of a given. I also build object focus with toys, it works well for me with performance dogs. Food and objects are staples in my household and business. But when I am gardening, some of the cool rewards are playing with water/hose, going from the front garden to the compost pile, digging in the dirt, or access to the garden shed.

Have fun, be creative, and be open to the rewards around you! There are plenty…

Nancy

the proof is in the pudding … walk on & wait training

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The proof is in the pudding! I like this phrase, it’s a delicious word picture for me. But it’s the meaning behind it that I really like, it means that the true value or quality of something can only be judged when it’s put to use. 

I am a person that learns by doing. If I want to learn the Tango, I have to get out on the dance floor with an instructor and do it. I could not, even in my wildest dreams, open a  book and read about the Tango and hope to understand how to do it, let alone the nuances behind the moves. And most importantly for me, how it feels to actually execute the moves. Learn by doing, that is me at the core, whether it’s dancing or dog training.

Treibball, the new sport in the dog world, is breathing some fresh air into training. It is challenging and wonderfully weird. As with everything I do, I just jumped in to do it.

At certain learning stages it can feel awkward, and yet at other times wildly fun. I love that it is not concussive for my dogs or me, it is truly about team and working together, and it requires coming at certain behaviors with more creativity than some other sports.

All the behaviors I train for this sport, or any sport really, are trained with play in mind, play with a purpose as I refer to it. I like my dogs to fly, and encourage that, but I also like thoughtful. Combining play that has goals, instead of knucklehead throw yourself into the fence play, seems to work to encourage a strong team that works together.

Walk On and Wait are two behaviors that I feel are pretty useful for this sport, but can be challenging too. I use a mat or bucket for distance, directionals, tricks and walk on’s. I am finding this is helping with dogs that creep up on the ball or insist on pushing every time.

For me, it isn’t about the ball. It’s about word recognition and puzzle solving. While the task is for the dog to bring the ball to the handler, there are a lot of other things to think about while at a distance from the handler.

Here are two video examples

I filmed this today to demonstrate that just because the ball is there, it isn’t about pushing it unless the word ‘push’ is introduced. Playing around with different words, different behaviors with the ball present is really helpful. OH!, one thing I forgot to mention, when starting a new sport, always use the reward that your dog considers a great reward, not what you want your dog to consider a great reward. Super important to keep motivation high when introducing something new.

This is some fun we had this past winter while playing with walk on’s and wait. I wanted to strengthen the behaviors during play. We could literally do this type of work for hours, and I think we have!

Have fun working with your dogs… Nancy

treibball blind finds

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So I started Treibball about one year ago. I had heard a bit about the sport, saw my friends in Missoula getting started with it, and decided to give it a go.

Exercise balls are easy and cheap enough to purchase, so that was a selling point for starting this new sport too. After 10 years in agility with expensive and heavy equipment, it seemed dreamy to have fun colored equipment that you can literally kick into place.

I have started nearly thirty teams now in Montana, and frankly, I’m having a blast.

Today we did blind finds, meaning

    • sending them out to a place where they cannot see me
    • I cannot see them
    • then allowing them to get to the ball
    • pick it up and direct it back through obstacles
    • around a corner to me
    • working with about 100 feet of distance

Just last year -

My dogs weren’t sold in the beginning, in fact I’m pretty sure they thought I had finally lost it. What do you even mean, run away from me, find a ball, and push it back, really?

Ocean who was nine years old when she learned this new sport was not thrilled. She is terrified by balloons and when she walked into the yard the first day and saw all of the big balls, she ran for the hills. I was a traitor for sure in her eyes. I just let her play fetch int he yard with the balls as yard ornaments, and let her watch the others get acquainted with the game. When she was ready and offering to be close we started working. At almost ten now, this Grandma rocks the treibball! I am so proud of her.

$eeker is freakishly good, he gets this game, the nuances and all. And the bonus, his stay at a distance has improved by leaps and bounds.

Story, my honest and true steam train of a dog thought this was stupid and awkward. But as he does with all sports, he watch’s, takes his time learning the game, and then becomes amazing. His ability to direct with his chest makes me smile each time.

I have an arsenal of videos from the stirring the oatmeal stage (it isn’t very pretty or exciting, but int he end it’s imperative for a healthy foundation), to where we are now – VIDEOS

Have FUN, Nancy

living with a dog outside of neutral – part 7

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Living is the foundation. While we have spent 10+ years with Franny, and have had to learn and grow a great deal so we could all be successful, living our lives together was always at the center of our thoughts.

It sounds rather obvious, but you might be surprised by the great number of professional trainers and/or behaviorists that recommended extended crating, extended kenneling, limited freedom, and a life on a leash. The Stockholm Syndrome was not my goal. Choice and trust within safe boundaries was my goal. I am a true believer in learning by doing. Again, it comes back to living. Franny has camped on the beaches of California, traveled across Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada, hiked/ran a large portion of the local mountain ranges, and has been part of demonstrations in local schools. Her life with us, I would like to believe, has been full, adventurous, loving and to a degree complete. If only she could tell me.

While this list might appear somewhat overwhelming, please keep in mind, it grew over 10+ years. And it is still growing.

Diet -

One of the characteristics that separates wild from domestic is the ability/inability to eat within proximity to humans. Franny would not eat or look at food with us in the house or even near by outside. She killed and scavenged for her food when we first brought her home. The break through was a mistake really. We were remodeling a large section of our home, so we lived in a tent in our yard and had our kitchen set up under the apple tree. The BBQ was the center of activity with every meal. I started to just chuck meat scraps out into the yard while I went about my business in our outdoor kitchen, some cooked some raw, never putting pressure on her by watching or talking with her. I threw them pretty far out. During a weeks time, I noticed that Franny would start to wag her tail and watch me as I went near the BBQ, so I started to lesson the distance. She would now lay and watch me and wait. Over a months time, she would come close to my alfresco kitchen, lay down and wag her tail, and eat close and from my hand. BREAK THROUGH!

I had accidentally, and also to my great joy, created a rockin’ great positive emotional response to the BBQ, and what I could offer her. Now I could use this new skill of hand feeding for teaching and trust building. yay!

We transitioned onto kibble over time, but it didn’t go well for her. Her system couldn’t assimilate the high phosphorus and magnesium content in commercial food. She developed struvite bladder stones that had to be surgically removed do to their size.

She went on a full raw diet, based on Dr. Tom Lonsdale’s book, Raw Meaty Bones. We also used BARF prepared raw food, and then transitioned into making our own. All of our dogs have been on an 80% raw diet for the past nine years. Whole carcass in the AM, mixed ground meat, offal, a wee bit fruit/veggie, and crushed bone in the PM.

Raw Feeding Video. We use kibble for convenience on busy days.

Multiple Dog Household Feeding Video

Sleeping -

Franny wouldn’t come up onto my bed, no chance no way! She liked to be in a small dark corner of the closet, or in a corner of the kids room. My problem with this was, she went into a very dark place in her mind, eyes would glaze over, and we were not welcome. I wanted her to feel safe and comfortable in our home and especially when sleeping.

We put a dog pillow in every room for her, so no matter where she was she had her OWN space, but I purposefully put them in more open areas. In my bedroom I put a crate half way in and half way out of my closet, right next to the head of the bed where I slept. Comfy crate mat, comfy temperature too. We would fall asleep listening to each other breathe. For the first year or so I would shut the door of the crate so she was where I needed her to be at night. For the past nine years it has remained open. She still sleeps next to me about 80% of the time.

Now that she is older and likes a bit more comfort and warmth, her winter nights are with me on the bed. I sleep with a smile each night.

crate management -

Shortly after we got Franny we also added crate management to the house. She showed signs of property guarding, and I didn’t want to go down that path.

Every time we leave the house she is crated. All I have ever had to say is ‘Franny kennel up’ and she saunters right in. She loves her crate and it was conditioned as a good and safe place to be from the get go. I do not believe in extended crating, the longest she is in there during the day is 3 hours.

barrier management -

We live on the end of a cul d sac with large picture windows. Ten years ago we had nineteen young children and thirteen dogs on the circle, it was a freaking moving picture show everyday!And she had second story front row seating, yikes!

To watch this type of activity was completely over most dogs skill level, but Franny decided she would just bust through the window to get out there. Self control was not a strong suit. We bought stain glass window film and applied it so it went from floor to three feet up. I didn’t want to keep her restricted from the most use rooms in the house, and yelling at her every minute of everyday wasn’t on my list of things to do either.

Cutting out the visual was awesome. She could still hear everyone, which was good, but without a strong visual I could start working on calling her to me with ease and rewarding her coming away from the windows. We had it up for nearly six years before we did another remodel.

Now the windows are clear, she can see everything clearly. But the windows have been conditioned as ‘nothing cool happens here’ space. She may bark a couple of times at a dog that comes close to our yard, or a strange FED EX person walking up our drive, but comes right to me. Conditioning is so much nicer than forcing, and the stained glass film was pretty!

car -

Because Franny was reactive in the car and actually cracked a window I had to be creative about our travels.

I started to take her by myself to dog areas, park a bit away and feed her her dinner by hand while she watched the other dogs. As she visibly relaxed I lessened the distance a bit. Then I would drive by these areas and do the same. I was desensitizing, hopefully, and taking some of the intensity out.

While we can drive by dogs without  acknowledgment of their presence on this planet, If I park and leave her in the car, she will still off load with great intensity. So I don’t park any place with her that has that possibility. My presence is part of the package for calm in the car, I am under no illusion here!

exercise -

This was tricky. She wasn’t toy driven, a bit but not for any type of duration. She liked walking but it didn’t make a dent in her exercise requirements. She loved to run, but it was usually paired with running after something to kill. She was great at hiking.

I started to do backyard agility training for fun, and also mental exercise for her. To all agility fans out there, Franny is a dog that ran as fast as the handler, no more no less. If you were bullet fast so was she. She never popped a contact, missed a weave, knocked a bar, or missed a cue. She was perfect! But she had zero interest in the larger agility scene. She clearly was doing this for me, as she never volunteered to do it on her own. It proved to be a great relationship building experience.

Every night we played with fun tricks in the family room. My kids were used as obstacles most of the time, my husband a launching pad when we got into vaulting skills. Those are some of my best early memories.

My husband who is a runner started to take her on extended trail runs, 15-35 miles per week for over seven years. She rocked as his trail companion. They could pass cows, deer, bears, other hikers and dogs. She loved running with Spore! When she turned ten though she kind of started to refuse the outings.  I think this was harder on Spore than Fran to be honest.

things we taught -

She has gone through agility, freestyle, treibball and herding training with me. While none of them totally lit her up, she does enjoy a fun little session in any of these. Freestyle for sure has become fun for her as she ages. great mental and physical exercise!

sit

come to me

down ( without the threat of pain , fear or discomfort!)

touch an object

go to table (go to transferred into a whole bunch of stuff over time)

roll over

sit pretty

shake/bake

spin

twirl

bow

between my legs

in

jump on my back (she wouldn’t go across water when we first got her, so we taught her how to jump on or backs and we would carry her across)

kennel up

settle gets you everything, push gets nothing

hop up

all agility obstacles

watch me

now (if I really needed her quickly on a trail, now meant, post haste!)

stop and drop (if she saw prey to chase, stop and drop was the behavior we taught, we started this on a long line, see prey at a distance, stop, and a whole baggie of steak was dumped between my feet)

sit/stand/down when car goes by (incompatible with chasing a car) we spent an entire summer on old county roads working on this. My husband would drive the car two miles in either direction and just keep passing us. I needed her to hear the car from aways away and start working on her not setting up so much, and then offer a behavior that was better than chasing, a long line was used for this as well. Meat balls worked great too!

on by – when another dog was near by, for us to keep moving if it looked like it may not go well

stay

gate zen – so we didn’t have bolting out of our space, yard, house, car

drop

back – fun freestyle move

books -

These are the books and/or authors that have been with me through my journey and into my professional career. These are not all of the books I have read, but the one’s I found most useful. I went through a period of reading two books per week. And then I had my stack of ‘pleasure’ books as well that I was reading at the same time. Most of these books can be found at DogWise. Where it says everything, I read all of the books/booklets that author wrote. They aren’t all about dogs, but rather relationship, training, behavior and ethology…

Patricia McConnell – everything

Roger Abrantes – everything

Jeffrey Masson – everything

Suzanne Clothier – everything

Terry Ryan – everything

Bob Bailey – all articles

Culture Clash – Jean Donaldson

Jane Goodall – everything

Mark Bekoff – everything

Next of Kin (awesome!)

Applied Dog Behavior and Training (3 volumes) – Steven R. Lindsay

Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog

Crate Games

The Rosetta Bone

Applied Behavior Analysis

Learning and Behavior

Four Paws, Five Directions

Aggressive Behavior in Dogs

On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals

Peak Performance: Coaching the Canine Athlete

The Only Dog Tricks Book You’ll Ever Need

K9 Kitchen

When Pigs Fly

baby Sounds CD

Dr. Dunbar’s Good Little Dog Book

Alone Across the Arctic

A Shepherd’s Watch

Don’t Shoot the Dog

Disc Dogs DVD

Intro to all breed herding DVD

NATURE’S Dogs that Changed the World DVD

Rhythm Paws DVD

My Dog Pulls: What do I do?

The Well Adjusted Dog

The Elephants Secret Sense

things I’ve learned -

Everything! Franny has taught me how to open my eyes to the world around me, be aware, and build my skills. This applies in all aspects of my life. The one aspect of our relationship that continues to grow is our trust in each other. While love was not part of who we initially were together, it has grown over the years through the fun and dark times. When I look at her there is a feeling of fullness and depth. She is part of my personal biography, my every fiber.

Nancy & Franny …