Fern's Guide to Pet Care

Hello and welcome to my latest newsletter. This one is about a really important subject. Learning how to teach your humans to speak dog. Make sure they see this! Wags!! – Fern

It may seem obvious, but you and your dog speak completely different languages. You speak English, French, German or whatever. Your dog speaks, well, Dog. And a dog lives in a completely different world from a human. We have excellent eyesight and a rudimentary sense of smell. Our world revolves round what we can see. Your dog, on the other hand, has eyesight that is not rudimentary, but not a patch on ours. He (or she) does have a wonderful sense of smell and that is what his world revolves around. His eyesight enables him to interpret body language, but a blind dog can find his way round wonderfully in places he already knows.

But my dog understands every word I say to him, I hear you protest. No, I’m afraid he doesn’t. He understands that certain sounds you make mean certain things. Just as you understand that when he runs to the door barking he means “Hey, folks, we have visitors”.

Which all means that we have a big communication gap to overcome when we want to get into some dog obedience training. And it’s going to be a 2-way thing. You are trying to train your dog to do what you want. Your dog, believe it on not is also trying to train you to do what he wants. And that training is going on all the time – not just the odd few minutes when you have time for some dog obedience training.

Well, that’s simple enough, you say. A dog wants food, water, some fuss and some exercise. I don’t need to be trained to give those. Is it as simple as that? What does a dog want from the humans he lives with?

Someone once said that a domestic dog is no longer a wolf. True, but there’s still a lot of wolf in the dog. They are a pack animal, which is why dogs are so much easier to train than cats – which are solitary animals anyway. When you bring a dog into your home he immediately starts to assess this new pack that he’s joined. He expects to find an alpha, a pack leader who he has to obey. If  he finds one he may challenge for the position but, not having won, he will accept his role in the pack, at least for now. If the pack doesn’t appear to have a leader then the dog will assume that role. That’s when training the dog gets difficult. Why should he obey his inferiors in the pack?

Becoming the pack leader is not easy. It means learning to speak a certain amount of dog. No, you won’t have to bark, but your attitude and a certain amount of body language will be needed to establish yourself as top dog in the pack. If you can do this (and there are lots of sources of information on being a pack leader, from the “Dog Whisperer” on TV, through all sorts of books, print and electronic) then the difference in the way your dog responds will amaze you.

Go on – try it and see what happens.

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Woof! As soon as Master told me what we were going to write about today I couldn’t stop wagging my tail. I still occasionally have ringing in my ears from my previous humans. These days I hate it when people shout at me. So to know you’ve done something right by getting a reward is really good. All pack leaders should know this.

Most dog training experts accept that the most effective and humane way to train your dog is through positive reinforcement training. Posh words for a very basic theory. Positive reinforcement training means that you reward your dog for behaviour that you want to see. Any behaviour that you don’t want to see you just ignore. your dog then quickly learns what to do to earn a reward. Since dogs are very keen to earn rewards (aren’t we all?) Your dog will quickly learn to follow the behaviour you want.

Contrast this with the training methods that used to be recommended. Using physical pain, aversion therapy such as shock collars, and screaming or shouting at the animal. (I wonder how many dogs are convinced that their name is “No”). These methods used to leave dogs with some very negative attitudes — “If I don’t do this when mistress makes that noise, then my ears hurt.”

Positive reinforcement, on the other hand, Allows your dog to use his, or her, or brain. Your dog wants to please you. Positive reinforcement allows the dog to work out what you’re asking for under their own steam. This means that the lesson will tend to “stick” a lot quicker. You end up with a happy dog, a happy human and harmony through out the pack

The rewards you use of course should be meaningful. Just a pat on the head will soon lose its benefit. Anyway, do you like being patted on the head? So why should your dog? The best reward, or incentive, will depend, of course., on the dog. Many are heavily motivated by a food treat, but not all dogs. Some prefer physical affection or a game with a favourite toy. For an example of this, watch some of the TV programmes about working police dogs. Notice the different rewards different dogs get on completion of a “job”.

For this training technique to work you have to be consistent and accurate. Every time your dog obeys the command you must mark the obedience immediately and give the treat. It’s no good at giving to treat a couple of minutes after the mark because your dog will then be thinking “Thanks for that. Was it for anything in particular?” And you must mark and reward every single time the dog obeys you. If you only mark and reward sometimes the dog will not come to associate mark and reward with obedience, which will ruin the whole idea.

So what do we mean by “mark”? If you watch the experts on TV then you will see that most of them use a clicker. What’s that? Something that makes a clicking noise. You can either use one of those silly toys that comes out of a Christmas cracker (do they still?) or you can buy one at your local pet shop for a few pounds. But a clicker is not the be all and end all of positive training. You don’t have to have one. Just to say “Yes!” in a happy, excited voice will do. You could even click your fingers for the same effect. But you MUST do it every time. If you can be consistent with this then your dog will soon realise that he or she has done something right whenever they hear the marker and that a treat will soon come.

You have to be consistent with your commands, too. Even the brightest dog cannot speak English. They need to learn that one particular sound means they have to do one particular action. So, if your dog jumps on the furniture and you want them to stop doing it then if you say “don’t jump” on one occasion and “stop that” on another or, very firmly, “No!” then your poor dog will end up really confused. If, however, you give the same command every time, followed by a mark and treat as soon as the dog obeys then your pet will soon learn that that means “get off the furniture”.

What do you do when your dog is disobedient? The answer to that is fairly simple. Nothing. Dogs love company, praise and attention. To ignore a disobedient dog is enough to make that dog pretty miserable. And if there is a big contrast between bad behaviour, which is ignored, and good behaviour which gets praise and treats than a dog will soon get the idea that bad behaviour is very undesirable.

So there we have it. Positive training doesn’t require big investments in money or equipment. Just some time and a little effort to praise your dog when she does what you want. That will make you happy, your dog happy, and the whole pack will have a happy, harmonious relationship.

Obviously, this is a fairly complex subject and we’ve only been able to give you an outline in this article. The book referenced below is an excellent guide to dog training with an emphasis on positive reinforcement.

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WOOF! A puppy’s mother should teach it to keep the den clean. Too many puppies are taken away from their mother too early, though. And the pack leaders have to teach a new puppy the extent of the “den”. I was well taught by my first humans, but others aren’t. The new pack must lay down their rules.

Those who have brought a puppy to their lives know how much pleasure they, and their family, can get from such a pet. But, with the pleasure, comes the responsibility, and hard work, of house training your puppy. Remember that, as with human babies, a puppy has to reach a certain level of maturity before you can expect complete control over bladder and bowels. This will come around the age of six months. Depending on the age at which you adopt the puppy, expect 3 or 4 months of “accidents” before it is completely house trained. Lots of thick newspapers or other protection for floors and carpets – unless you want to shut puppy into one area of the house where the floor is easy to clean. But where is the pleasure in having such an appealing creature and shutting it away?

Before you get your puppy you have to decide where you are going to train it to “go”. For most of us this will mean a corner of the garden. You have to teach your puppy to let you know when it’s got an urge. Start house training your puppy by taking it on a lead to the place where you want it to do its business. Do this after every meal, and you’ll reduce the risk of “accidents” while giving the puppy the idea that it should go to this place when it has an urge. Remember that dogs have a built-in need to keep the den clean. Show your puppy where you want it to “go” and it shouldn’t take that long to get the idea.

Puppies need lots of liquid for their growing process. Leave a bowl with fresh water all day long for your puppy to drink but remove it two hours before bed time. This is part of house training your puppy, as it means there will be less peeing over night. Take the puppy out first thing in the morning and make it the last thing you do before bed time.

Everyone in the family needs to be involved in house training your puppy. I’m sure one person wouldn’t want to have to stay in the house all the time, making sure that the puppy “goes” in the right place. Spread the responsibility. If you have children old enough to take on the job then let them. And if they are negligent then make them clear up! House training doesn’t all have to be about the puppy – young humans have to learn things, too.

Be patient with your puppy. House training may be quite challenging. Do not fall into the trap of scolding your puppy and rubbing its nose in the mess when it has an “accident”. Puppies don’t have much of a memory. They know they need to keep the den clean, so don’t make things worse for your puppy. Do praise it, though, when it asks to go out and does its business in the right place.

If you don’t want to bother with house training a puppy, then you buy an older dog that has already been house trained. Or there is always the option of adopting an adult pet from one of the many rescue centres. But beware – can you guarantee an adopted dog has been house trained?
There are many more secrets to house training a dog. Have a look at The Ultimate House Training Guide for a much more comprehensive coverage of this important topic.

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Hehehe. Got Master to write this one. Well, paws are so difficult to type with. Wags.

Dog behaviour training is more than making your dog obedient and safe to have around. It’s much too complex a process to reduce it to that. Dog owners have to be actively  involved in dog behaviour training, so they can learn and discover all the aspects of their pets. In a nutshell, dog behaviour training is about getting an obedient animal while also getting familiar with the needs and expectations of a close friend that doesn’t speak the same language.

The instincts that make a dog react in a certain way to specific stimuli are the main focus of dog behaviour training. The explanation for low sociability, for example, may be rooted in the animal’s genes or in its environment. Once the trainer gets to manipulate these by dog behaviour training, spectacular changes are not slow to appear. There are, too, special institutions and centres that provide assistance for dog behaviour training and have a scientific background of tests and studies about the nature and flexibility of the canine instincts.

Probably the most significant part of dog training behaviour lies in understanding the way to encourage or discourage certain responses, and the skills of a trainer are best reflected here. The main instincts that are targeted by dog behaviour training are: prey, play, pack, defence and food. The order is not relevant for their importance, since each plays an important part in a dog’s life and determine the relationships with humans and with other dogs. Don’t forget, though, that different breeds have different dominant instincts. Dog behaviour training needs to cater for breed specifics in the way the dogs are trained.

Many people are surprised to learn that dog behaviour training includes teaching the animal how to play. This seems to be the something that is not inherent to the genetic structure of a dog. In order to learn how to jump and wrestle it is essential that the owners of a young puppy help the animal acquire these skills. In nature the mother and siblings in the dog family would teach them but, in the absence of a doggy mother and siblings, the humans need to do it. This is an essential part of dog behaviour training, since it actually shapes the relationship that humans and dog develop.

Learn more about the secrets of dog training from this book. Click here to find out more about the book, or to buy it.

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