Millie Part 1

Thu, 10/02/201

I have been meaning to write a blog post about Millie, but I am so busy each day, that there just hasn't been time! Millie is my poodle terrier cross that is currently 5 months old. I have had her about 7 weeks now and I will be honest, it is tough work raising a puppy correctly!

Millie came to me as a client's board and train dog. She hadn't been with the client long and was exhibiting massive separation anxiety in the crate, tormenting the client's small breed dog and wasn't fully potty trained. I had her 3 days and we got through most of her crate issues and separation issues and had started working on her rambunctiousness with dogs when my client and her spouse came to the conclusion that Millie just wasn't going to fit into their schedules. They made a very wise choice knowing that they couldn't give her what she needed and we had an unexpected opportunity to take her on ourselves!

I will be honest, Millie was a job, a client job I was performing. I wasn't attached to her, but my kids were and it was lovely seeing them have a positive relationship with a dog that reciprocated the feelings! My father kept saying how it would be HIS dog seeing as Harley was gone. My husband kept repeating that 3 dogs wasn't a good idea, but he never said no. So we decided to keep her and she got spayed (against my wishes so early, but had to do as rescue contract said) and chipped and tested for a UTI while we went shopping at the pet store....

Her spay went OK, though I did have to pay extras for "normal" comfort measures and dissolvable stitches that I still ended up needing getting taken out! She did fine with her cone, came to be her normal self in a few days time and took pills like a champ.

The dark cloud though was the potty training and my husband. In his defense, he didn't raise Lucy and I kind of did all the work when we got Lex. So he didn't really have the most realistic expectations of a puppy. He kept saying, "you are a trainer, train her." I was, but potty training doesn't happen overnight! Millie did quite well, too well that I would forget she was so young and I wouldn't put the gate up. Low and behold, she would urinate in a different room we weren't occupying. It wasn't until I consistently had the gate up in whatever room we were in, did the accidents stop. Then I started expanding her areas slowly. I took her out on a rotation of potty, physical play, training, mental games, training, chew time, potty, crate time and repeat. She could only be out of her crate 3 hours before needing to go out and needing a rest. Now she can be out longer, but she still gets crate time during the day as well as time in the yard with the other dogs or alone. After 2 weeks of being consistent with the barriers, she began to "tell" us she needed out by waiting at the door! We only use the gate now upstairs during kid bedtime when I am busy with them for a while and can't keep track of her. 

Once she was potty trained, I saw my husband like her more. He likes that she doesn't shed. He likes that her and the kids are close. He sees she makes me happy and sees the value in her being my demo dog as Lucy has retired. I do catch them playing occasionally, but he still makes jokes asking our friends if they want a puppy!

As for training, at the begriming, I worked with Millie on all the basics several times a day in 5 minute sets: sit, down, sit, stand, leave-it, stay, heel, off. I added tricks; high five, paw, spin, other way, bear, bow, crawl. I started doing indoor socialization to boxes, toys, pots and pans, treats on novel things, lots of brain games. It wasn't until she could  heel indoors and was good with the harness and leash (2 weeks after having her) that I even took her off our property. We went on a short walk up and down the street rewarding good heel with the clicker every 5 feet! I am really glad I invested so much time in her walking well. 

Then I began arranging doggie play times in my yard. At first, I was very selective in making sure it was the right size, the right temperament. Now she is good with all the dogs and we do our doggie play dates 2-4 times a month! I also took her to some other ones and into the small side of the dog park once with some clients. She loves when we have friendly day train dogs too.

We still kept up with crate games and go to mat work and then I began using her for private client sessions, then group class. 

She barked a lot during her first group class, crated. Thankfully, it was all very good clients of mine that understood the process and now she stays quiet and I have figured out how to secure her crate so she doesn't unzip it!

So all and all, she has been a good fit for our family. She is a high maintenance dog though and I am glad she has us because I don't know many others that could handle the stimulation and training she has needed! We have had yucky days of poop messes, muddy dog running in the house, fear of the nail trimmer, fear of the bath, suddenly getting reactive toward people. It is just part of the package. 

I plan to write more in Millie Part 2 about where we are in training now and how we are dealing with her human reactivity and fears.

Multiple Dogs

I have been meaning to write a blog post about having multiple dogs for a while now, so here it is!

Tips for having multiple dogs;

1. Crate train your dogs! It is of vital importance that your dogs have their own space and crates are a great way to rotate dogs for special solo time, utilize as a cool down spot if a scuffle occurs, feed in the crates if you have resource guarders and prevent fights when you are not home.

2. Feed on a schedule. Rarely do I find a group of multiple dogs that free feed together peacefully. Each dog in your home should have his own bowl and know where his spot is to eat. You should measure out the food and feed at the same designated times or as close as possible, each day. You may have to space bowls far out, stand in the middle to supervise or do feedings in different rooms or utilize crates for peaceful meals.

3. Insist on obedience. With any dog, but more so with multiples, you should have a clear routine for feeding time, coming in the house, going outside etc. and insist on manners. Dogs can sit/stay/release for their food, wait/release at the door and get called independently to go in or out and sit politely to get leashes on or get toys thrown or get a special bone or treat.

4. Have special solo time. Each day, each dog should get some time with just you. Maybe you play a game of hide and seek or fetch and maybe you work on commands. It could be as short as 5 minutes. I used to rotate 5 mins for each dog until I was done or the dogs were. Some people may do a whole outing with one dog and leave the others behind and the next day, it may be dog B's turn to go on an errand. It is very important each dog has a relationship with the owner independent of the other dogs. For highly trained dogs, you can do mat stays while working with the other dog. For beginners, you would utilize the crate or a pen.

5. In addition to special solo time, I also advocate that each dog (mostly young dogs), get time to chew a bone or work on a kong or brain toy in peace. If your dogs have very good relationships, all of them can have a goodie in the same room. However, if there is stealing, growling or stress, it is best to isolate them while they enjoy their game, toy or chew. You don't have to do it all at once, you can pen one dog in the room you are in and the others are free to roam while one is using the pen to work on his kong. Some dogs won't eat when they are alone, so be creative in figuring out what works for your household.

6. Respect the natural hierarchy. Dogs have fluid hierarchies. We used to believe there was an "alpha" but that has since been proven false as dogs can change who is leader in a variety of situations. In reality, we all know each of our dogs have different personalities and talents and wants. Dog A may be willing to share food but not affection and Dog B may share affection, food and toys, but not personal space. If you have a dog that always dives for the toy first and the other doesn't care, then go with it! Don't force one dog to defer to another. They have already made their choice.

7. Teach new commands one dog at a time. Take Dog A and teach sit, or heel or insert whatever command here, and then Dog B separately. Once they both have got something down pat, then do tandem. Nothing is worse than taking two novice dogs out and attempting to teach them both to heel at the same time!

8. Speaking of heel, decide where you want each dog to walk. Two dogs of the same height may do well on a coupler on one side or one dog on each side. If you have three dogs, you may not want to walk all at once or you may do couple on one side and other dog on the other side. Each dog should know where they are expected to walk. Do not walk reactive dogs with your other dogs ever! Not until the reactivity is under control as it can actually cause your non-reactive dog to become reactive or you can get a nasty redirected fight on the end of your leashes.

9. Find a flow or routine to your day with your dogs. I always had a routine for workdays and non-workdays. The dogs knew what to expect and I could plan accordingly. We may have done different activities or training exercises, but for the most part, they occurred at the same time on those days.

10. Try not to worry about equality too much. Some of us are lucky enough not to have a favorite, but most of us do. It's okay if only the poodle is allowed in the bed and your lab puppy sleeps in a crate. It's okay if your senior dog gets massages and your adult dog doesn't. It's okay if you only take one into the pet store or to the dog park. Dogs aren't kids and they aren't going to compare notes or go to therapy later because they think you favored one!

There you have it. A list of 10 tips that are hopefully helpful in creating a harmonious home amidst multiple canines!

Where Should Your Dog Sleep?

A few days ago I posted a question, "Where does your dog sleep at night?" on my business Facebook page, just for fun. I wanted to get more people interacting, see who saw posts and was genuinely curious. I got quite the response! I even got responses from people that were not fans on my FB page at all (that probably saw the post on their friend's feed).

This of course, got me to thinking, is one place better over another for a dog to sleep? All dogs, and people of course, have different personalities. Factor in age and life-style of the dog and person, and we can have quite a few appropriate places for a dog to sleep.

Ideally, a puppy should sleep in a crate next to the owner's bed. A puppy left loose can harm furniture and items, harm himself and defecate/urinate in the middle of the night. A puppy crated away from humans usually is going to distress bark and whine all night long. Canines are social creatures and locking one away in the garage isn't the nicest thing to do to a new puppy. If the garage is the plan for the future, it should be a gradual move as the puppy matures and becomes more confident. A puppy should not sleep in the owner's bed because he can eliminate in the bed (eww!), fall off the bed and injure himself, get rolled upon by the human, cause potential issues between spouses sharing said bed, potentially resource guard the bed and create a huge issue in the future and lastly, can share some pretty nasty zoonotic diseases/parasites. Also, crate training is very helpful in the long-run of a dog's life and crating at night is an easy way to start and maintain a puppy liking his crate.

An adult dog that someone has had for a while is a different story! An adult dog that does not destroy things and is potty trained, can be allowed freedom of the house at night (and probably during the day as well). This means you can leave a beloved crate with the door open (what I do at home) or substitute a dog bed. Some dogs may choose to sleep in another room entirely if you leave your bedroom door open. Usually due to temperature changes, dogs will lay on the cold floor of the bathroom or entry way etc. Dogs allowed on the furniture may gravitate to the couch at night. What about the dog that wants to sleep in your bed? We no longer have the issue of messing in the bed, being too fragile or developing a bad habit if you are fine with the idea. We do have a potential issue of shedding fur in the bed, zoonotic diseases/parasites, developing resource guarding of the bed or persons in it as well as bed hogging! Another issue not commonly thought of is what if you need to board your dog? Isn't it more fair to the pet sitter and your dog that he feels comfortable in his crate and isn't asking the pet sitter to sleep under her covers?

I will say I am biased, I don't like dogs in my bed. I am ironically, allergic to dogs, even though I am a dog trainer! I don't like fur in my bed either as I am a bit of a clean freak. I also am not a fan of a dog laying between me and my husband, which is totally what happened when he wanted our dog Lex in bed.

My husband would get a sheet out and put it on the bed to keep the fur off our linens and insist that Lex was only coming up for a little cuddle on his side of the bed. Lex would want to be near both of us and would sneak to the middle and belly up for a scratch. While it was cute, I felt crowded and congested. This allowance lead to Lex sneaking onto our bed in the middle of the day when the special sheet was not on the bed and led to me being frustrated upon coming home to a fur covered bed. I unfortunately, felt Lex was so smart, that he should KNOW that I don't like him on the bed and he wasn't allowed unless invited. He didn't get on the bed unless invited when we were home, but left alone, the comforts and smells of his humans was probably too inviting. Ridiculously, this became a cycle that harmed our relationship at one time (me and Lex as well as me and my husband)! So silly really.

While I never really cover this topic with my clients, as I think it is a purely personal choice, dog owners should know that there are some issues with bed sharing with your dog. If those issues don't bother you, then by all means, keep sharing the love!

Moving

My family and I recently moved from Concord to Walnut Creek. It wasn't far, but it was a drastic change as we moved from a townhouse to a large house and combined households with my father and his senior dog. This was a new home for both our families as my father left his house as well. The way each of our dogs handled the move was polar opposites of each other! I believe that has to do with how we each prepped our dog and what we each did the day of the move etc.

My dad has a very old Great Dane Lab cross. Honestly, it is a wonder this dog is alive and doing well at that! He is 13 years old and is probably close to a lean 120 lbs. This dog's head reaches my chest when he is standing relaxed. Harley absolutely adores Lucy and relies on her for comfort quite a bit unfortunately. He missed her from living with her for a year, as I took her back a few months before our big move. Harley had been living in the same home with my dad since he adopted him from the pound at 9 months old.

Lucy is 9.5 years old right now and has always been a dog to roll with the punches. She has moved quite a bit in her life and is a very emotionally solid dog.

The day of the move, I made the choice to take Lucy and my kids to my mother's house. We hung out in her backyard, had lunch, played with her puppies and spent the whole day there. Meanwhile my husband and father, along with the movers, were emptying out both our residences.

Arriving at my dad's house, my husband tells me Harley was loose in the house as the movers loaded boxes, furniture etc. Harley is quite attached to my dad's leather couch that he uses as his giant dog bed. As soon as that couch left the house, Harley began shaking and drooling and pacing. Even with the large truck, multiple loads had to be made. Harley was left in the partially empty house with a dog bed, water and a new bone. His howls and moans could be heard down the street as they drove away to unload the truck at the new place.

For the next few days as we unpacked boxes, moved furniture around and turned the house into a home, Lucy stayed on "vacation" at my mom's house. Harley was placed in our new large and amazing backyard where he scratched the screen, barked and carried on miserably. My dad kept begging me to bring Lucy back from my mom's in the hopes Harley would calm down. I waited till I felt the house was in good enough order to bring her over. I didn't want her to be stressed and as sad as it was to see Harley upset, it isn't fair to Lucy to be "used" as a comfort object at her expense.

When she came over, Harley was beyond thrilled. Most of his stress dissipated when he was allowed to lounge on his couch again. For a few weeks I was training him to stay off of the couch, but my dad felt bad about it and let him on it again.

Lucy showed zero stress. Furniture was in place, there were minimal boxes and all of her items were around. I believe that if a family is moving and it is possible for their dog to be somewhere else for a few days, that is the best situation to avoid moving related stress.

We have been here now a little over a month and most of the "bumps" from combining households center around the dogs. As I am home most of the time, outside of training, with my two little ones, the brunt of the dog issues fall upon me.

Harley's dependence on Lucy drives me a little nuts. She doesn't share the sentiment. He cannot be alone outside OR inside. While that doesn't bug me so much, his bullying tendencies do. I cannot even toss a toy for Lucy to get without him storming in and whopping her with his giant foot to take it away. If he is playing fetch, all she wants to do is herd him, which earns her a correction from Harley that is sometimes overdone on his part and needs human assistance to end it. She no longer wants to play with toys, eat a bone or tug at all since she is now associating that he will either come and take it away, or I will begin to verbally redirect him and that causes her stress. Forget about locking him inside or outside to play with her separately. That just causes him to scratch doors and bark and become destructive.

With her lack of play outlets, I wouldn't say she is depressed. She is a senior dog as well, but she is now obsessing over a flower bed that probably has lizards or maybe a rodent in it. When Lucy (or any herding dog) doesn't have outlets, they tend to make their own, however strange they may be.

My only solution to this issue so far has been to take her on walks and take her to training classes with me. With the kids, it is difficult to take Lucy to dog parks or hiking trails or places to play fetch. With the weather being hot, it hasn't been possible to even walk to a park with Lucy or the kids.

The other problem we have had is sleeping arrangements for Lucy. Our new bedroom has hardwood flooring. Out of respect for the owners, we don't want her scratching up the floor. Prior to moving we made a choice (as did my dad) to not have dog's sleeping in our bedroom anymore due to my allergies and asthma. We had successfully moved Lex out of our room, and Lucy slept in the living room at my dad's. However, we let her sleep in our room the few months she was back at our apartment because I felt bad about it.

At first, I tried getting her to stay downstairs with Harley. She was not a fan and kept coming up the stairs. Then my dad thought he would be extra nice and let her sleep in his room. She however, hates it when he coughs and he coughs a lot, so she was miserable in there and kept hiding in his adjoining bathroom. After that, we bunked her with my brother, who she loves, but she wasn't happy with that either. Tried the kid's rooms, even set up a crate downstairs in a spare room and did that for a while, but other household members kept sabotaging that. Currently, she sleeps in the carpeted hall outside our bedroom door and is happy with that. The downside is I am afraid her shifting and dog noises are waking up my 6 month old in the bedroom across from ours! I don't get much sleep as it is, with him waking up every few hours and if she is waking him as well, that just isn't going to work! I am uncertain if she is waking him, so last night I shut her in our large bathroom that is carpeted and tiled. She felt neutral about this.

Moving is hard on everyone, dogs and people! I hope that we work the kinks out of things. All and all I am very happy with our move and hopefully we won't have to do it again for a while!

Ignoring Unwanted Behavior

My dad's dog, Harley, has a behavior that drives me nuts. He likes to scratch on the door and/or bark when he wants to be let in. He is so large and powerful that the last door he did this to was knocked off alignment and he destroys screens with one swipe of the paw.

Unfortunately Harley has been reinforced for 13 years by being let in when he does this because no one likes a barking dog nor a dog that destroys screens. However, this has taught smart Harley that doing this behavior gets him what he wants. Seeing as I am home most of the day spending time with my kids in the room that has the sliding glass door where he likes to stand, Harley does this quite a bit.

At first, I was taking my Dad's lead and telling him to "go lie-down" meanwhile gesticulating his lie-down hand signal. This was not working. I progressed with frustration to yelling "No!" and I thought I was getting results. All other adults in the household did the same thing. We were consistent in the corrections, so I believed our lack of fast response time in changing his behavior was due to 13 years of him being reinforced. That is until one day I finally remembered that I am a dog trainer and my dad is not! What would I do if this were a client's dog? I would tell the client to ignore their dog and not give him any attention because negative attention is still attention. So I conducted an experiment.

I looked at the digital clock in the room when he began his barking scratching game again and verbally corrected him each and every time. It took him 5 minutes before he left, which he only left for about 20 seconds before he started another round of annoying behavior at the door! Again and again I noted how long it took and how long he left for and the results were very even. Then about the 5th round I did something different, I ignored him. I refused to make eye contact with him and you know what? He left after 1.5 minutes! And he left for 25 minutes before coming back! The next few days I noticed ignoring made him leave quickly and made him not come back for a while.

The next part of fixing the behavior was to make sure he was only allowed inside when he wasn't being obnoxious at the door. For the most part, everyone followed that rule easily, until my husband had a few mishaps and let him in over the weekend and few times because he either forgot about re-training him or he just felt bad for him because all Harley really wants is to go lie on his couch.

His love for his couch is so strong that Harley doesn't find being outside very rewarding in itself. He doesn't want to chase critters or lay in the sun or do any of the things Lucy enjoys outside. I am sure his aching bones hurt and getting up and down from the ground or even a dog bed is difficult for him. It is actually easier for him to navigate up and off the couch because of his size. I wish I could make the outdoors more rewarding for him, it would make fixing this behavior issue easier. I can't really re-direct him to do a command incompatible with scratching on the door because he can't get into any positions easily in his old age. Sit is near impossible, I don't think he could manage a back-up and I wouldn't ask him to down on the brick outside the door.

It is very very difficult to ignore a behavior you don't like. It is human nature to want to fix things right away and be proactive. It is hard to not give in sometimes as well and make excuses that he is old, he just wants his couch etc. BUT he needs to be outside sometimes when there are guests over or my baby is on the floor and he is underfoot, or when he needs to potty and eat and get some sunshine.

I've only been working on this with him for about a week and already I am seeing great results. Great results with a 13 year old dog that hasn't been training in a very very long time! Also, I am not using treats or any sort of instant reward. His delayed reward is getting to come in when he is a good boy. A puppy with minimum prior experience of being rewarded for an annoying behavior would probably come along a lot faster. So next time you are faced with a problem like barking or scratching or jumping or anything that requires you to do something for the dog to get what he wants, just try ignoring the behavior. Keep a log and you may be surprised that you are getting results when you didn't think you were.

While writing this Harley came and scratched the office door from outside, I didn't look at him and he went away! After one scratch!

Update: It has been over a year since I wrote this post and guess what? Harley doesn't do this behavior AT ALL anymore. Nope, he doesn't scratch or bark at the door. He does his business outside then goes and finds a spot on the grass to lay until he is called in. If it is cold or bad weather, he will potty, then come to the door and simply stand patiently to be let in. Yes, I fixed this issue by simply ignoring and rewarding the behavior I wanted by letting him in. No treats and no punishment. How long did it take, a few months. Keep in mind, this dog had been reinforced for his whole entire life for doing this behavior. A few months is nothing!