Denise Fenzi's Blog, page 13

Do bad things happen to your dog more than “average”?

You took your dog to a rally run-through at a local training club, and your dog got lunged at as you entered the ring.  Now he’s upset and doesn’t want to go there anymore.

You asked someone to help you teach your dog to retrieve, and the next thing you knew they grabbed your dog by the collar, stuffed the dumbbell in his mouth, and clamped his mouth shut. Now he won’t go near the dumbbell

Why do some teams experience repeated misfortune, and others rarely have these sorts of unfortunate stressors occur?

I remember when my kids were small and I would take them to a park. I would look around.  Are there busy streets nearby? How close? Could I be there safely?  Is there a baseball game going on?  Where do I need to be so that my child won’t get hit by a baseball? Is there an out-of-control bully with no parent in sight running around the playground? Dogs without owners prowling around the grounds?

Maybe this is not the day for that particular park!

Would it be better if there were no busy streets, baseball games, out-of-control bullies or stray dogs? Sure, but we all have a space in the world, and we have to find ways to fit in. By paying attention to what is happening around us we can minimize the risks. Which doesn’t mean that bad things will never happen, but we can certainly make choices that make it less likely.

It’s rare that my dogs get lunged at or that something unexpected or “mean” happens to my dogs.  It can happen but…rarely.  So what is the difference here?

I suspect it’s largely due to my choices.

When I take a dog into a space with unknown dogs, I constantly scan the room. I know which dogs are looking in my direction.  I also know which handlers are paying attention and which ones are not. I consider my routes between spaces carefully…do I have enough space to get by that big dog in that crate? The one that’s been barking at every dog that walks past?  I don’t go that way. I don’t make a fuss about it – but I’m not going to walk by that crate.

I wish we lived in a world where all people were responsible for their dog’s behavior at all times and were paying attention to what was happening around them. But we don’t! People like to socialize and do other stuff, and some people are simply clueless about dogs and dog behavior. So while we are wishing that people would making better decisions for their own dogs, in the meantime it might be a good idea for us to make better decisions for our own.

The next time you have a bad experience, don’t fret about it.  Instead, make it a productive learning opportunity. What happened immediately before the event?  Are there things you could have seen or noticed?  Most important – are there steps you can take to prevent it from happening again?

Don’t get me wrong here; this is not a case of blaming the victim.  One offs?  They happen.  They suck and sometimes they are truly horrific – everyone has a story!  But repeated patterns of unfortunate behavior – directed at your dog – that happen repeatedly?   Something needs to change, and since the only behavior that you can reliably change is your own…start there.

If you think bad things happen to your dogs on a more than average basis, take another look at your own behavior. You cannot control what others do, but you can control yourself. You might find that a few small changes makes a big difference.  Or, after a serious analysis, you might decide that your specific set of circumstances are so unique and high risk that you decide to go in an entirely different direction.   And that’s fine too!

 

 

Basic foundation behaviors for all dog sports

Not sure what to do with your new puppy that is destined for dog sports? Take a look at this recent Facebook live on the topic. I explain what I teach and why I teach it.  It applies to all dog sports, so take a look if you need some inspiration about where to start!

You may also enjoy this short quiz to test your knowledge of foundation behaviors. Because it’s a learning quiz, I give you detailed answers at the end:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/72C5X8G

 

 

Reducing Reinforcement

Reducing reinforcement – another HUGE topic!  If you’d like to learn more about it, take a look at the facebook live I did yesterday.

And on a unrelated note, Fenzi Dog Sports Academy’s 5th annual dog sports training camp will be held in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, May 17 – 19, 2019. Today is the first day of registration to the general population.  “Super User” students at FDSA have already purchased all of the working spots and about 2/3 of the general auditing spots, but there’s still plenty of space left if you want to get registered.  Current early bird pricing is extremely reasonable at $240 for three days of instruction. With more than 70 labs and lectures to choose from, you are guaranteed to learn quite a bit! For more information, see the camp website.

Now – head over to that FB live and enjoy!

 

The Forest? The trees? How about…both!

You’re trying to solve a problem.  Where does one start?

If the problem is common, save yourself some trouble and use known and effective common solutions. For most problems, there are approaches that will work for the 90 percent.  The more of these you pick up over time, the easier your life is going to be.  Indeed, that is pretty much the point of education in any area of interest — increasing your knowledge base about what is commonly known to work.

But what if the common knowledge approach does not work?  That’s where things get interesting, because the 10 percent is absolutely real.

The 10 percent must be treated as individuals if you want to succeed with them.  Ninety percent might do well eating gluten but the 10 percent? Nope. Their individual biology takes them on a different path. Ninety percent might do well with running for exercise but the 10 percent? Nope. Something specific about them, unique to the individual, makes it a bad idea. Ninety percent of individuals might do well learning by reading and that’s great!  Until you get to the 10 percent.  So what should you do?

In all cases, start with the common solution.  If that does not work, then try to figure out what is unique about the individual.  Can you figure out what makes that individual different? If it’s related to learning, then there may be clues in the personality that would alert you to the fact that this individual will not respond in a typical fashion. If you can figure that out then the odds that you’ll find a workable alternative increase. For example, when you calmly feed your dog in public, he becomes more agitated. That’s fine! He’s one of the 10 percent that does not find sitting quietly and eating relaxing.

Consider what is unique about your dog.  Maybe you have noticed that movement calms your dog down and your dog is generally frantic around food.  Well then, try movement and observe the result!

But what if you cannot identify anything to help you? Then talk to others with who have a broad experience base — maybe they’ve seen this before and will have ideas for you.

Okay, so now what? Your dog is in the 10 percent and you found something that works for you.  What should you do with that information?

The reality of human nature is that we will want to spread our success far and wide! Look! Look what I found! I found this thing that works, and all of you should do it because the 90 percent solution is wrong and my dog proves it!

And therein lies a significant problem.  When you have an individual who does not respond like the group, you need to remember that this individual is the exception. The anomaly!  Not more or less valuable, but not like the others.  If you forget this, then you will quickly find yourself in the realm of superstitious behavior, and likely you’ll end up spreading misinformation.

Just because, the day before your dog died of stomach cancer, he didn’t eat breakfast doesn’t mean that your friend’s dog who didn’t eat her meal has stomach cancer. But could your friend’s dog have stomach cancer?  Well, yes but … start common — zoom in on the individual — and then go right back out again.  So if your friend’s dog fails to eat breakfast, happens to be a littermate, and is from a breed with a high incidence of stomach cancer?  Then I would probably start paying pretty close attention AFTER eliminating the more common possibilities.

Somewhere inside your brain, retain a space called “exceptions to the rule” — it’s there for when you need it but it’s not where you start. Ever.

But here is an interesting thing to remember.  What if the “exceptions to the rule” category seems to be growing?

If you run into too many exceptions to the rule, then there are two very likely possibilities.  The first is that you do not understand the common solution and are not applying it correctly. The second is that the common knowledge solution may not be very good after all. It may be wrong! And your knowledge of the exceptions to the rule might actually push human understanding in a new direction, which is pretty awesome.

Anyone can think this way about pretty much any topic. Start broad, narrow in, and then go back out again.  And if the exceptions to the rule become the norm, then it’s time to revisit the common knowledge base.

This is not about dog training.  It’s about life.  How you raise your children, what you choose to eat, what vaccines you choose to get, what exercise plan you choose to follow, etc.  In all cases, what works for the majority may not work for the individual, so in that case work with the individual.  And if it comes to pass that there are too many exceptions to the rule to continue calling them exceptions, then it’s time to reconsider the common knowledge base.

 

 

Eight days of Wink

Have you seen this video? It’s about 2 1/2 hours of unedited training with a puppy who was visiting me last year.  There is a ton to be gleaned from this so if you have some free time go ahead and take a look. I explain in the Youtube description what I cover in the various sessions, so you can save some time if you’re looking for a specific topic.  Enjoy!

 

 

Arousal – No, not sex. Dogs.

I had planned a blog on this topic but..so much to discuss!  Here’s a Facebook live that I did this morning instead:

 

A “good enough” dog person

I read an article today called The Good Enough Parent is the Best Parent. Feel free to take a look.  The gist of the article is that perfection is a bit of a curse.

The author, Dr. Peter Gray, writes (quoting another…gets complicated here…)  “Perfection is not within the grasp of ordinary human beings.  Efforts to attain it typically interfere with that lenient response to the imperfections of others, including those of one’s child, which alone make good human relations possible.”

Hmm.

Dr. Gray goes on to say:

“The belief that perfection, or even something approaching it, is possible in parenting promotes a tendency to blame.  The perfectionist reasoning is this:  If problems arise, then they must be someone’s fault.  Parents seeking perfection blame themselves, or their spouse, or their children when things are not just right”

So you know what I’m thinking?   Maybe…dog trainers could learn a thing or two from this line of reasoning.

What do we expect of ourselves?  What do we expect of others?  What do we expect of our dogs?  And as we expect more of ourselves and others and our dogs, do each of us end up a little more kind, a little less kind or somewhere in the middle?

I see unhappiness, guilt and a lack of kindness towards oneself among dog trainers who think they’re not good enough.  Not attentive enough.  Not positive enough.  Not always willing and able and enthusiastic about dropping everything they’re doing to do what their dog might like “best” or benefit from “the most”.

And sometimes I see that those who are “excellently attentive” to their dogs have a tendency towards judging others who simply cannot or will not or choose not to be quite so awesome all the time.  Some of these people seem to lose all sense of self; their right to have a positive existence as a unique individual with rights and desires of their own gets lost in their service to others. In short, sometimes their dog’s needs significantly dwarf all else and that leads to unfortunate ramifications for all of us.

Where do you fall?  Are you the “close to perfect, living your every moment and breath in the service of others, including the dogs?” or the “I’m not even sure why I got a dog since I truly don’t care about trying” or somewhere in the middle? Maybe “Doing my best today, but have other considerations as well, and recognize the need and desirability of considering all interests –  my own, my family, my community and…my dogs?”

I think about this a lot.  I want to see society change to a kinder and warmer place, and I think how we train animals is a key part of that possibility. At the same time, I think about blame and pressure and shaming others, and how easily and thoughtlessly we do it in our pursuit to be even better ourselves.

Once again, perspective.

Maybe read the article and think about who you are.  Are you too caring and involved and perfect? Excellent at what you do?  Then you need to watch yourself for judging and blaming and expecting too much of other humans and your dogs – to the widespread detriment of all.  Or maybe you are on the other side of the spectrum; too relaxed, self-involved, or self-centered?  Then you need to watch yourself for a selfish disregard for the rights of other living beings.

Somewhere in the middle?  Good for you.  Work hard to stay there; and revel in your balance.  Appreciate what you’re doing right and forgive what you don’t manage – in yourself and in others.  Try to stay in the middle and you’ll do the most good.

And if you can’t figure out where the middle might be?  Consider decision making as an exercise in perspective.  Consider the stakeholder’s needs and give each a fair weight.  Maybe that will help you accept the tradeoffs that are inherent in all decision making – without guilt, shame or blame for others who come to different conclusions.

 

 

Developing a Confident Team: Re-Defining Leadership for Dog Sports and Life

What is Leadership?  What is it not? And how might one get from “Ugh that’s hard!” to ” Yeah, bring it on!!”

Leadership has nothing to do with dominance.  It is about stepping up and removing choice when that is in the best interest of the other.  If you want your dog to see you as a competent teammate who keeps them safe then you’re going to have to learn when to let your dog proceed as they wish and when you’ll need to step up and choose the forward path that your team will take.

When could it possibly be in the best interest of the other to remove choice?

When a bad choice is likely.  When a bad choice would be particularly damaging.  When a bad choice will lead to more bad choices.  When the long-term effects of a bad outcome will erode your dog’s trust in you as a source of safety.

I’m a pretty big fan of choice and I do not suggest that people remove it lightly. On the other hand, learning to recognize when choice is not a good idea, and then intervening quickly, is probably the most critical thing that a leader can do.

If you’d like to develop some critical skills of observation, thinking, and application to become a more effective leader to your dog, I hope you’ll join me in my webinar this week.  The title is “Developing a Confident Team: Re-Defining Leadership for Dog Sports and life.”

I’ll talk about what leadership is, specific techniques for how to do it, when you’ll need it, and why developing your skills of leadership now will cause your dog to rely on you under uncertain or stressful conditions in the future.

Read about the webinar here and if you’re ready to enroll, you can do that here.

Tuition is $19.95, includes about an hour of presentation, and provides plenty of time for your questions afterwards.  I look forward to meeting many of you on Thursday evening!

 

 

 

Reducing Possession for Tug Toys

You read about dogs who don’t play tug and you shake your head. Dogs that don’t play tug? That makes no sense because your dog has never seen a tug toy he didn’t love.  As a matter of fact, he loves them so much that he doesn’t bring them back – pretty much…ever.

You present the toy.  He grabs hold.  You play an awesome game!  You let him win.  And….that’s it.  He runs off to the far side of the yard. Maybe he stands there looking at you or maybe he sits down for a good chew, but once your hands are off that toy it’s pretty much over.

Your dog obviously loves the interactive game of tug.  Indeed, he will bring you toys to play but after that first win? That’s it.

The good news is that there’s a straightforward answer for a high percentage of dogs, and based on the results of my learning quiz on Play many of you don’t know about it.

The answer is…to reduce possession, lower the amount of effort your dog has to put out to win the toy.  What do you do?  Play like you’re weak. So weak, you can barely hold on.  Dog bites toy and…wins! Tiny tugs and that’s it!  Just like that.

What happens next?

Well the first few times, your dog gleefully grabs the toy and runs off. You back away from your dog, telling them how amazing they are! How strong and clever! And you keep backing up – calling if you wish but…backing away.

Think about what is happening here.

Your dog wants to win, but if your dog wins immediately and there really is no tug, then there is no win. And…he knows that.

I mean, imagine you are playing a game of tug-of-war with other people. And as soon as the game started, you won instantly! You were so strong that you just zoomed backwards! How exciting is that?

Not very.  What fun is it to win against total weaklings?

Compare that to being with a well matched team where you have to work incredibly hard to win. Now you have something to crow about!

Consider this.  If the other team asked you if you wanted to play again, how quickly would you run over and give it another shot? If you won instantly, then not only would you probably play again immediately, but you would likely humor them by playing much less intensely. But the team you are equally matched against?  There you might have to think about whether you wanted to play again. You could actually lose this time! Not to mention you’d be a little tired, and might appreciate a rest.

Apply that thinking to your dog. You offer your dog a toy to play, and within two seconds, your dog has already won and you are backing up and inviting them to play again. They bring it back (eventually), and you repeat this!  Just two seconds of tiny tugs on the toy, and backing away again while you cheerfully call them in for another try.

Soon your dog is following you around trying to convince you to play a much more aggressive game of tug. They want to play and they want to win, but they want to have something to win over!

When your dog starts bringing the toy back regularly then you can increase the amount of effort you put out, but you will find that with players like this you will always have more success if you play much less intensely and let them drive you to re-engage rather than you trying to talk them into it.

This won’t solve the issue of dogs that just sit down and chew toys without playing at all, nor will it solve the issue of dogs that don’t release toys back to you or who chew the toy or work their way up to your hands, making you afraid to play altogether.  And this technique won’t help with dogs that don’t play tug, nor with dogs that only play for a short while and then get bored of the whole thing.  Maybe those are blogs for another day or you can take my online Play class and learn about those things now.

But for dogs that love to tug and then won’t return after they win?  For those dogs – tiny tugs can be the ticket to a much happier game for both of you.

Here’s a video of Michelle and Link before tiny tugs:

And here’s a video incorporating tiny tugs for the first titme:

Give it a shot!

 

 

 

Training Taffy?! Facebook live

I admit it. I’m a little obsessive about dog training treats.   Not so much what goes into them, as in figuring out how to make the perfect one. And I just might have it. Training Taffy.

Check out the following Facebook live:

Improvements since I did the Facebook live include:

Add the flavor first (liverwurst, peanut butter, etc.) and then add about half the flour. Keep adding flour until you have the correct texture – not dry or wet – it should feel like very fresh play dough and be quite easy to work with.

To blend, you can use a food processor, bread machine (knead only), or a mixer. You simply need the correct dough-making attachment.

Flavors to try that seem to work well include peanut butter (warmed in microwave to make it softer), liverwurst, or almost any meat that you can grind up fine in a blender.   You can change the color of the final treat by what you choose to put in it, so if you want the treats lighter in color try things like cream cheese, and if you want them darker than try red meats.   If the meat is too dry, add a little oil.

If you try other flour options (oat, rice, etc.) or other flavors, let me know in the comments what does or does not work for you!  I’ve already been told that oat flour works quite well.

Have fun!