We taught Kyle & Stanley the hand touching game to help them feel more comfortable with people reaching out towards them. They did so well that by the end of the night they were clamoring all over me to get their treats - quite a different reaction from our first meeting.
Shiner, or ShiShi, is a 4-year old Old English Bulldog who gets very excited when people arrive at her door, jumping and just carrying on. She is also leash reactive towards other dogs, so we will be working on all these things over the next few weeks.
Week 2 of PK saw the puppies learn how to properly greet people, and they learned how to Down on cue. They, and their puppy parents, are doing a great job!
TIP #1: TEACH ALTERNATE BEHAVIORS One way to address problem behaviors is to substitute then reinforce another behavior. Sometimes called alternate behaviors or replacement behaviors, differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviors (DRI) is simply the process of teaching a behavior that is incompatible with, or cannot occur at the same time as, those annoying problem behaviors. Your dog jumps? Teach him that sitting gets him attention. Your dog barks? Teach him that lying quietly in bed gets him something yummy. Focus on replacing negative behaviors with positive behaviors. TIP #2: DITCH THE "NO!" "Fido, no!" What does this mean to a dog? What if your boss walked up to you and shouted "no!", then walked away? What information is that giving you? Communication needs to be clear and consistent. Instead of trying to correct or punish bad behavior, teach your dog the behavior you do want. "Fido, no begging. Go lie down." tells the dog exactly what you want him to do. Sam, a 2-year old Pug/Basset Hound mix, and his Pug/Beagle mix sister, Sookie, need some impulse control help so over the next few weeks we will be teaching them Wait, Stay, and Leave It, as well as Loose Leash Walking.
We worked on Come When Called with Rigby today. We went to a local park so we could do long line work - a park Rigby had never been to before - and he was extremely distracted, but by the end of our session he was beginning to respond. I'm sure that with practice in a less distracting environment he will do much better.
Today was a day of distractions. Darby did well learning Wait, but when we moved on to Stay she was very distracted by her sister Daisy playing outside. We eventually made progress by not making her repeat the behavior, but rather taking requent breaks between reps.
We taught Duke and Jax how to Leave It, and they both did very well. Jax is a resource guarder and will guard his food bowl so we worked on the initial steps of desensitizing and counter-conditioning that unwanted behavior.
We took Tucker on another walk and he did great with the dogs we met on the way, with the exception of the one he gets anxious around. We hurried past him and Tucker was too stressed to take a treat, but on the way back he was more relaxed and would eat, so progress was made!
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AuthorJeff Dentler, CPDT-KA, IAABC-ADT, FFCP, CTDI Archives
April 2024
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