Socializing Your Pandemic Puppy

If you recently brought home a new puppy, now’s the time to be creating positive experiences & exposing your puppy to the world. Unfortunately, with our world in a lock-down over the Covid-19 pandemic, activities we might normally think of doing in the name of “socialization” aren’t available to us right now.

That’s doesn’t mean we need to just wait around for this to blow over. Puppies don’t stop growing up, and since the prime socialization window closes at about 4 months of age, we want to make the most of the early weeks despite our social limitations currently.

The good news is that quality “socialization” doesn’t require that your puppy greets, plays, or interacts in close proximity with anyone, dog or person. In fact, over-doing it on the social greetings with young puppies can have unwanted consequences of making social interactions SO exciting and SO desirable that your puppy has a hard time responding calmly in those situations. (Check out this fascinating discussion of the differences in dog culture in the U.S. versus Europe to see how our cultural expectations that dogs should say hello to everyone might create misbehaviors instead.)

So if we can’t do greetings with other people and dogs in the name of socialization, what can we do instead?

What we are looking for in a quality socialization regime is teaching our puppies that novel is normal.

And the good news is that we can create a lot of novel without violating shelter-in-place orders or social distancing guidelines.

Of course, please take your own health and safety, as well as the specifics of your local Covid-19 ordinances, into account when planning these novel experiences for your puppy. Modify as needed to comply with any additional requirements in your individual situation.

Here are some ideas for some Novel is Normal experiences:

• Sights - Puppies need information about their world, and a big part of that comes from just observing from a safe distance and absorbing information about what they see.

  • Drive to the Grocery Store or Closed Mall: Park at the back of the parking lot and sit with your puppy on your lap, or if you are far enough away from regular traffic, on a mat just outside your car door. Let them watch the world, including traffic, shopping carts, people walking, etc.

  • Walk to Your Local Park: If you are in an area where outside exercise is still permitted, find a spot away from people at your local park and let your puppy watch the world.

  • Put on a Costume! You don’t even have to leave your house for this one. Find the Halloween bin in the storage room and raid it for all the weird things you can wear around your puppy. Remember, the more they think weird & wacky is normal and no big deal, the better!

• Surfaces - Puppies need to learn how to walk on all textures and surfaces! Raid your garage and closets and find as many options as you can. This could be camping tarps, folded up dog crates, sand paper, scraps of wood from your last home improvement project, kids toys, exercise equipment, cookie sheets. Supervise your puppy during all interactions, of course, and let them explore at their own pace. Never force your puppy to walk on something that they don’t want to!

• Sounds - You can come up with so many weird, exciting, and new sounds for your puppy to experience without leaving your house! Try finding some animal sounds clips on Youtube to play in the background during your puppy’s play time, or maybe feed your puppy around some metal kitchen utensils that clatter on the floor. Or if you have family members that play musical instruments, have them put on a show!

• Separation - Perhaps not usually thought of in the category of “socialization,” but separation training is of critical importance for young puppies, especially ones that are raised when the family is home an out-of-the-ordinary amount during their early months. We just finished a series on separation anxiety prevention on our Facebook page in collaboration with Dogs Deciphered. You can search both pages for the #itsoktobealone challenge posts and you’ll come up with some tips on that there!

When giving your puppy any new experience, keep an eye out on their body language and make sure that they are not overwhelmed. Whenever possible, allow them to determine how close they get to the new experience, and never force them closer than they are willing to go. You can provide treats and toys to make it a good experience if necessary, but for many “Novel is Normal” experiences just letting your puppy watch and gather information from a distance is enough.

Remember, we are trying to make new experiences into completely run-of-the-mill, nothing-special-to-see-here experiences!

Happy training!

For more socialization ideas and basic training assistance during this time, check out this blog by our friends at Clickety Split Dog Training. We are also offering online classes and online one-on-one coaching to help you and your puppy get off to a great start together!

Coronavirus Action Plan

UPDATE March 26th, 2020

Hi everyone,

In light of the state-wide shelter-in-place order, we will continue to be closed for another 3.5 weeks at least.

If you are enrolled in a class that was in progress, or starting on any future date, please keep an eye on your email for reschedule notices over the next few weeks. We will wait to make final reschedule decisions until it is clear when we can reopen after April 17th.

To help us be able to reopen as soon as possible - please do your very best to abide by this shelter-in-place order. The more people that follow this directive, the faster we can all get back to normal! 

In the meantime, if you are feeling stir crazy with your dogs, we have a Virtual Classroom with a lot of fun content!  
Check it out here!

We also continue to offer virtual consults via video conferencing if you and your dog need some one-on-one assistance. Please reach out to our admin, Taylor, for questions and scheduling at admin@summitdogtraining.com. 

For continued updates, please see our website or Facebook Page.

Stay safe, love on the small businesses in your community as best as you can, and we'll all come out on the other side of this stronger and more determined than ever!

- Amber & The Summit Team

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Hi friends,

As the threat of COVID-19 continues to develop, we are implementing the following steps to ensure the safety of our staff & our students.  This is an ever-changing situation, so we will update this action plan as needed over the upcoming weeks.

• Cleaning – Additional cleaning measures have been added to our routine at the training room. This includes wiping down commonly touched surfaces with disinfectants after each class period and routine floor mopping with Lysol disinfectant in addition to our regular anti-viral floor cleaner. 

• Minimizing Risks in Group Classes – As we continue to meet for some group classes (until directed otherwise), we are taking a few measures to reduce the risks. Our class sizes are already small, so with maintaining a polite distance from each other we can still support the social distancing approach. In addition, we’ll be adding the following steps: 1) We will be washing hands our hands obsessively between each group class. Please bring hand sanitizer with you to use before entering the training building, or use some of our (limited) supply. 2) We will not be demonstrating with student dogs during class time to minimize potential germ transmission through leash handling. 3) While we normally encourage the whole family to attend classes with your dog, during this time we are encouraging our students to send one or two family members maximum to each class.   

• Summit Instructors’ Commitment to Not Teach If Sick – Often in our industry, dog trainers are tempted to teach through mild ailments because we don’t have “sick days” to use and our clients need us to be reliable for the times we have scheduled with them.  During this time each of us are going to be extremely diligent to resist the temptation to press on with our teaching schedules if we or a family member is feeling under the weather. This might mean more reschedules for privates and classes. Thank you for your understanding and flexibility in advance!

• Cancellation Policy Leniency – Our normal cancellation/reschedule period to receive a refund or credit for any service is 7 days out from the time of the service.  We are temporarily suspending this cancellation policy window for any cancellations or reschedules due to illness in the family or known exposure to others with a virus. We do still ask that you give us as much notice as you can if you need to reschedule your private lesson or cancel a group class enrollment due to illness, as this helps make sure that our instructors can fill their calendars with other students whenever possible.  Please note that this cancellation policy suspension only applies to illness-related cancellations.  

• Group Class Make-Up Options Discount – For those of you who have already started a group class, if you have to miss a week or two of your group class due to illness, we have a few different make-up options for you.  For the duration of this action plan, we are offering a discount of 30% off on these make-up class services.   This means tuition for an All-Level Drop-In make-up is $10, and tuition for a 30 Minute Make-Up Private is $28, if you have to miss a week of class and choose to do one of those two make-up options.  Please note that this discount only applies to classes missed due to illness.  

• Consider Online Private Lessons – If you have been exposed to illness or are seeking to prevent your exposure as much as possible, we highly recommend checking out our online lesson option!  We meet with you via video conferencing and you’d be surprised how much we can accomplish without being physically present with you and your dog.  Whether you are a new student just getting started, or an existing student working through a package of in-person lessons, we’d love to discuss whether private lessons would be a good option for you and your dog during this time when we are all trying to keep a little bit of extra distance! 

• Online Classes - Coming Soon! - We are working on putting together some online speciality classes to keep us (and you and your dogs) busy during this weird time. Watch our Facebook page and email newsletter for details about these when they are released!

Other Resources:

• American Veterinary Medical Association on COVID-19

• CDC FAQ About COVID-19 & Animals

We are continually monitoring the situation, and we will make adjustments to this plan as we receive additional directions from our national and local governmental authorities.

We wish you and your family and dogs all the health possible during this pandemic. If you have any questions about this action plan please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at admin@summitdogtraining.com.  Thank you for your patience and understanding as we all figure this out together!

- Amber & The Summit Team

Happy Responsible Pet Owners Month!

Did you know that February is Responsible Pet Owners Month?!

We hope every pet owner is responsible all the time, but this month we want to focus on what makes a pet owner “responsible”. Here are some easy steps you can take to be responsible for your pet and also for your community.

1. Use a Leash: There are so many reasons why following the leash laws in your area is important. Even if your dog’s recall is always reliable, there are health and safety reasons that you should be considerate with your leash use. In natural areas, your dog off-leash can do serious damage to wildlife habitat and to the wildlife itself. You also want to consider that in a leash area, other owners expect dogs to be stuck to their owner’s sides, not loose and running freely. They might bring a reactive dog to an area where they aren’t expecting to have any nose-to-nose encounters and your free dog could really ruin their day while risking everyone’s safety. Not to mention that there are lots of places where you will get fined a pretty penny if you’re caught breaking the rules! Everyone who walks their dog has the same goals for the most part: to get some exercise, have some fun, and make it home safely! Keep your pup leashed and follow the rules, responsible owners! 
   

2. Scoop the Poop: Dog poop can spread disease, medications your pup takes can make their way into the ground water and waterways, and don’t forget that it’s just plain gross when you leave your dog’s poop around! Bring clean-up bags with you on all the excursions you take. If you’re going to be awesome and pick up your dog’s poop in a bag, then don’t ruin your hard work by leaving the bagged poop on the side of the trail!  Need more reasons? We wrote about this topic more here.
   

3. Teach Polite Manners: Your dog can be a model citizen with some coaching and practice! Little spurts of training work put in on a consistent basis can generate a polite companion in the world. Training is engaging and enriching for your dog. It is great for improving mood and encouraging calm behavior in general. It’s also a great time for the human involved as well! There’s nothing quite like succeeding in learning a new skill with your dog. We’d love to help! We would love to see you in a class or a private lesson, but mostly we just hope you and your dog area having fun learning and growing!  

Thanks for going above and beyond to demonstrate responsibility for your pet in these ways and others. We appreciate you!

Learning About Separation Anxiety

Blog post by Emily Jacobs, Summit Admin           

My first childhood companions were a gray cat named Fiona and an orange bowling ball named Charlotte. Charlotte was also a cat, but it feels right to describe her in the most honest terms: bowling ball. They were my buddies and they were good company, to be sure. They did their very best, but they couldn’t fill the very specifically- shaped hole in my posse. They were not dogs. 

            I’m sure I was always interested in having a dog, but I have a distinct memory of the day when my lack-of-dog became too painful to bear. I had just returned to school for the fall, fresh from a sleepaway camp where a Golden Retriever named Sunny had stolen my 10-year-old heart. He was the camp dog, and he was, in my opinion, perfect. My dad pulled up to deliver me to academia again when a Golden Retriever stuck her head out of the window in the car before us in the carpool line. I dissolved into tears. Thinking I was upset to be returning to class after the break, my dad tried to console me and usher me on my way to homeroom. I explained to him that I was not at all reluctant to go to homeroom. I was reluctant to continue life on this earth for one more agonizing second without a dog. I needed a dog. Now. 

            Being the responsible and calculated man that he is, and having never owned a dog before, my dad did not rush straight out to set a dog into my quivering arms. It actually took him a few more years to put together the money for a down payment on the house my dad was sure our future dog needed and deserved. During that time, he did research on crate and potty training. He looked into the costs of veterinary care. He narrowed down the list of shelters where we would look for our new family member. He prepared himself for introducing the dog to Charlotte, the bowling ball. He covered a lot of bases, but he didn’t cover separation anxiety. 

            We moved from our one-bedroom apartment into our house, then went out to select a dog to make it a home.  At the shelter, there were what seemed like stacks and stacks of puppies. Rolling over each other, smashing into the plexiglass, peeing and whining and eating kibble with reckless abandon. In contrast to her kennelmates, a puppy walked up to the plexiglass with earnest eyes. When we visited with her, the shelter staff assured us time and again that she was quieter than usual. She had just been spayed and was still coming out of sedation. She doesn’t always fall asleep in your lap, they urged. We adopted her enthusiastically and (quite accidentally) ignored their honest assessments of her behavior. She had fallen asleep in our laps, after all.

            You might already be guessing what happened next. We named her Coco Puff, and she woke up the next day with enough energy to plow us over. She chased her tail so vigorously that she broke end tables apart. She pulled on-leash like she meant to participate in the Iditarod. She inhaled her meals. She ran so fast on the wood floor that her brakes became useless and she collided with walls. We were surprised by her gusto, but we were prepared for all of those puppy behaviors and felt like we had the tools we needed to manage them. What we weren’t prepared for was the noise. Oh, the noises Coco made during her first months with us. The eardrum rupturing, neighborhood waking, mournful wails she would let out when we left the house were unexpected. We had a puppy with separation anxiety, and we had no idea what to do about it. 

            In his typical fashion, Dad hit the books. He discovered that we were not alone, and that separation anxiety affects about 17% of the dogs in the United States (DeMartini-Price, 135). He found that there were resources available to help us. There are even more of those resources available now. If you find yourself with a case of separation anxiety on your hands, I encourage you to implement management strategies while seeking help in a trainer and in literature. Primarily, I encourage you to be patient and to remain optimistic. Three quarters of separation anxiety cases are resolved completely (ibid, 135). The quarter that never resolve are attributed mostly to the propensity of owners to become discouraged and to give up training after a few weeks – which turns out to be the most pivotal learning period for dogs working through the disorder (ibid, 135). Behavior modification can be slow, but don’t give up! While you are training, reach out to your village to help. Ask a friend to walk your dog while you go the store. Consider the option of dropping your dog off at a reputable doggy daycare on days when you need to leave for extended periods. With Coco, we made almost no progress at first, but succeeded in modifying her behavior in the long run, which is normal!  

            It’s worth mentioning a few things about separation anxiety, and about learning theory in general. Your dog is not shredding your couch out of spite. They cannot “snap out of it” automatically. They are not using logic to determine their behaviors. They are reacting to fear and panic. You don’t learn much math if your teacher is yelling formulas at you, and its equally difficult for dogs to learn if your training methods contribute to their distress.  For this reason, we couldn’t hold a grudge against Coco when she ate her way through our brand-new rope hammock before it was even hung up in the yard. It wouldn’t have been fair to attribute feelings of malice, or menace, or really any intent to her actions. She was afraid, and we wanted to help her. 

            We didn’t help Coco alone, and if you’re dealing with a case of separation anxiety, you probably can’t help your dog without support either. See your vet to rule out a medical condition, while seeking professional training that is backed by science and uses no aversive methods. Melena DeMartini-Price’s Treating Separation Anxiety in Dogs is a great resource for information and aid in your search for an appropriate trainer. If the trainer you’ve hired uses methods that are out of alignment with the philosophies in her book, don’t feel guilty moving on and continuing your search. A positive reinforcement professional can diagnose, asses the severity of, and set up a training plan to lessen your dog’s separation anxiety. They will never suggest scolding your dog, making a scary noise the quiet them, or collaring them with something painful or surprising like electricity or citronella. They won’t whisper an incantation that will change your dog’s behavior right away. They can’t do that type of magic. However, the right trainer will do another kind all together. They will help you through the process emotionally, and make sure that you feel supported in supporting your dog. 

Practical Separation Anxiety Tips from Summit Head Trainer Amber:

• Create a safe place for your dog to be left. That could be a crate, a “dog-proofed’ room, or a section of the house separated by baby gates. Remove things your dog could easily chew or harm himself with.  

• Have your dog spend time in this safe space regularly when you are at home, first with you in the room with him but then with you stepping in and out of the area briefly to do routine household tasks. 

• If you can commit to a few weeks of not leaving your dog home alone to practice their anxious behavior, this really helps to catalyze their separation anxiety behavior modification. If your dog is rehearsing anxious behavior several times a day when you leave it, it’s going to be harder for him to learn relaxed behavior patterns to replace that anxiety. If you have to leave the house without your dog, utilize a combination of pet sitters, dog walkers, dog daycare, neighbors and friends to give your dog a support network during this critical learning period. This isn’t forever, but it is an important part of helping your dog work through separation anxiety.

• Start adding in absences in small doses.  Think in increments of seconds and minutes at first, not hours. Utilize video technology to evaluate your dog’s body language when you leave the room. If you notice your dog exhibiting the early signs of stress (panting, lip licking, pacing, whining, etc.), come back into the room immediately. Work at shorter durations and stretch your time gradually as your dog is exhibiting relaxed behavior.  

• For a complete behavior modification plan for separation anxiety, I highly recommend Malena’s Treating Separation Anxiety book or setting up a consult with a professional trainer! 

Puzzle Me, Please - Part 3

Blog post by Amber Quann KPA-CTP, CPDT-KSA

I’ve written before about our favorite types of food-puzzle toys. Check out Puzzle Me, Please Part 1 and Part 2 for lists of our favorite store-bought food puzzles to keep your dogs’ brains happy and enriched!

But it’s a snow day here in Fort Collins (17-ish inches and still snowing!) and for those of you stuck inside with your dogs, here are a few options to add in some enrichment and entertainment into your day without having to make a trip to the store for more puzzles!

• DIY Food Puzzles - Instead of feeding your dogs out of their bowls today, deliver all of their kibble through some sort of enrichment toy. If you don’t have any on hand, you can still come up with some creative challenges from what you have at home!

  • Cardboard boxes - drop the treats in and turn over or fold the lid closed. Let your dog brainstorm how to get inside!

  • Egg Cartons

  • Treat Scatter with a towel on top

  • Muffin Tins

  • Cookie Sheet with peanut butter smear (freeze for extra difficulty)

• Nose Work Games! - Hide things for your dog to find! You can do this with food, toys, people or anything else that your dog will search for!

Roo loved playing games in the house! This was a big part of his enrichment and exercise routine. Here he is demonstrating finding his toy using his nose work skills! For a new dog playing this game, make it a lot easier and hide the toy closer to your dog's starting position.

• Hide & Seek - A variation on the nose work game, except that you are the one doing the hiding! Tell your dog to stay (or toss a handful of treats down on the ground for them to find if they don’t have a strong stay behavior yet). Run to the other room and duck behind an obstacle like a door, shower curtain, or piece of furniture. You can call your dog softly or wait for them to start looking for you (only if you did the treat toss instead of a Stay!). Be ready to party as soon as they find your hiding spot!

• Teach a New Trick - Snow days are a great time to do some training, and teaching a new trick is always a fun way to get your dog’s brain and energy directed in a positive way. Pick something your dog hasn’t learned before, or pull out a rusty skill from the archives and brush up! You can use props you have in your house, like step stools, laundry baskets, chairs, balls, etc. and teach a variety of fun tricks using what you already have on hand!

• Come up with a new game! - Make up something new that your dog loves to play. Charlie had a silly game he used to play with Roo called “Darts”. As long as your dog is enjoying the game (not all dogs will like things launched in their face like Roo did), keep playing!

Make up new games to play with your dog! Roo and Charlie had several fun games they played together. This one Charlie called "Darts" - Roo would sit or stand in a certain spot and then try to catch or hunt for the treats that Charlie launched his way.

Remember, when your dogs are stuck inside they have a lot of energy that needs to go somewhere! Help them direct their crazy energy in a positive direction and you’ll both have a much more pleasant snow day!

What is your favorite non-store-bought form of mental enrichment? Tell us in the comments below!

Roo's Story - Pet Cancer Awareness Month

Blog post by Amber Quann KPA-CTP, CPDT-KSA

This isn’t the project I am supposed to be working on right now.  That’s the funny – and frustrating - thing about grief.  One minute you’re getting ready to knock some stuff off the to-do-list, and the next minute you are on your knees with no way up. 

But it’s Pet Cancer Awareness Month in November. So of course I’m thinking about the best friend that I lost to cancer just four months ago.  I haven’t really shared much about the specifics of the last period of Roo’s life.  Looking back, it seems like a blur, from diagnosis to death.   Here it is, to the best of my recollection. Maybe it will bring comfort or solidarity to those of you working through similar trauma with your own loved ones.

Last January, we road tripped to Portland for Clicker Expo.  We had the best time together. Roo was an angel every step of the way.  

During the trip, his ability to jump into the car deteriorated very suddenly. All of his life, hopping into the crate in the back of my SUV was a breeze.  Suddenly, in January, he stopped wanting to do that at all. I had to lift him up and down every time. (Interesting note, after ONE chemo treatment and getting started on prednisone, he was back to jumping in the car willingly and accurately every time. Lesson: Listen to your dog. Seeing him decline to jump in the car so suddenly was one of the big reasons I knew we needed to get into the vet so quickly.)  

After the wrap-up night of ClickerExpo, we had just gone to bed when Roo started coughing like he was . . . going to explode. I don’t know how else to describe it. He had been coughing occasionally for several months (for which we had been to the vet for and had a different working diagnosis), but this was different.  It is so crazy to me that it came on so suddenly – he didn’t do anything like this at all on the trip until that last night. 

We had a two-day drive home from Portland to Colorado. The whole time, it was obvious that he didn’t feel well.  He couldn’t lie down in his crate without coughing, so he spent most of the 17-hour drive sitting up.  I called the vet and made an appointment for as soon as we got back into town at the end of the second day of driving. We drove straight there. 

The next three weeks are kind of a blur.  Chest radiographs.  Suspicious looking shading in his chest.  Referral for an ultrasound-guided needle aspirate. Biopsy sent to CSU. Lymphoma diagnosis. Referral to an oncologist. 

We drove to our oncology appointment in the middle of a blizzard in February. We got out of the car and Roo almost immediately had a seizure in the parking lot.  Bloodwork. Leukocyte counts off the charts. Leukemia/lymphoma diagnosis. Additional tests ordered from CSU. First chemo dose administered. Prognosis good because it is very likely “chronic” lymphocytic leukemia but we need to wait for test results from CSU. 

I went to Germany that weekend. It was a trip we’d already had planned for months, supposed to be three weeks in Europe around my husband’s work. Up to that point, one of the most agonizing decisions I’ve ever had to make. Roo stayed with a very capable pet sitter, and we planned to continue treatment when I got back. Five days into our trip, test results came back from CSU – it’s acute lymphocytic leukemia, not chronic.  Prognosis one month – treated or untreated, I asked?  That’s the average of both. 

Europe can wait. Got the next available flight that I could, flew home, another round of chemo as soon as I got back.  

Then we hit status quo for a few months. We hiked. We camped. We road-tripped.  We managed a few seizures here and there. We slowed down a little but definitely not a lot. I kept a hiking journal for the first half of the year – Roo and I did 30+ hikes together between January and July.  What a trooper. 

After finishing the last chemo treatment, we had about a week and a half before we saw him going downhill again.  Basically, no remission for Roo.  We maintained on a higher dose of prednisone for a little over a month after that.  

And then it was time. 

The hardest, most agonizing decision I’ve ever had to make. Ever. 

I laid on the bathroom floor next to him in the middle of the night. We’d just cleaned up vomit filled with blood. He’d been laying in the middle of that puddle when I woke up and found him.  The next morning he had three seizures, every time he went outside and walked more than a few steps.  

I’d like to say “oh his eyes said it was time” or “I knew for sure he was ready to go.” But I can’t say that. 

The truth is I knew he was in pain but that he would keep going if I asked him to.  Because that was him, to the core. He was the dog who would keep playing ball with four scraped paws without even a limp.  He was the dog who would keep running helter-skelter through the snow with ice balls hanging from every hair on his body.  He was the dog who on the last day of his life asked to play in the sprinklers right after being flat on the sidewalk from a seizure (and then had to lay down again right after playing in the sprinkler to fight off another seizure).

So, my little red dog, you would have kept going for me. I know you would. But I couldn’t ask you to do that anymore. You gave me so much of yourself. You helped me with so many decisions.  I’ll take the burden of this one off of your shoulders.  

Run fast and bark loud, my little red dog. 

Pet Grief Resources

For those of you struggling with the loss of a pet to cancer (or other cause), here are some resources I have found helpful:

• Book: Heart Dog – Roxanne Hawn (https://championofmyheart.com/books-by-roxanne-hawn/)

• Podcast: Grief – Unleashed at Work & Home (https://unleashedatworkandhome.podbean.com/e/grief-kristin-buller/)

• Ted Talk: Nora McInerny (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khkJkR-ipfw)

• Professional Help: We all handle grief differently.  Don’t be afraid to reach out to a licensed professional counselor to get help for where you are at. I am starting this phase of my grief journey in January. 

 Do you have a grief resource that has helped you through loss?  Please comment below! 

Hugs to you at whatever stage of this journey you are on. 

 - Amber

Hellloooo Holidays! - Prepare Your Dog to Be the Best Behaved Family Member This Holiday Season

Unless you happen to be one of the rare few whose family comes together in perfect harmony and whose recipes never fail, your feelings surrounding the Holidays are a bit of a mixed bag. There is joy, yes. There can also be sweaty palmed anxiety. “Last time I saw this family member it ended in a drop down, drag out fight” recollections. It’s possible around the Holidays for there to be too many feelings in one room, or too many cooks in the kitchen.

All of this stuff is pretty similar when you’re a dog. For many dogs, the Holidays are a time of intense excitement but also potentially some anxiety as well. The doorbell rings more often. The people who enter are often much-loved and seldomly seen. They might bring punch bowls or toddlers or dishes full of glorious, aromatic turkey. Stimulation is high, and quarters are close.

As Thanksgiving approaches, think about what tools you have at your fingertips to set your dogs up for success. Imagine that when your elderly relation comes in the front door with a walker, your dog settles quietly on his mat. Wouldn’t that be a reason to celebrate?! 

Imagine your perfect guest-entry scenario. Where is your dog when the doorbell rings? How do they greet your guests? Once you’ve imagined it, use some of these exercises to bring it to life!

Start training ahead of time! Guests arriving for the first time on the holiday is not the time to start practicing. If you’ve missed the boat for this year, see our management suggestions below!

Skill #1: If your dog barks at guest-at-the-door sounds, do some knock and/or doorbell conditioning: 

• Start off with your dog in front of you on leash. They do not need to be sitting or lying down at this point.

• Knock lightly on the wall next to you. Treat when your dog acknowledges the noise, even just with an ear flick.

• Repeat 5 times, or until your dog looks at you expectantly when they hear the knock.

• Increase the volume of your knock in small increments until a normal knocking sound cues a check in.

For doorbell conditioning, try using a youtube video of a doorbell on your phone instead of knocking on the wall. Then, work your way up from a phone sound to the real deal. You can have your neighbor help with this because they will inevitably be needing a few eggs or a cup of flour from you in the coming weeks, anyway. 

Skill #2: Hand target greeting as a replacement for jumping up.

We want to replace the jumping behavior with a better behavior. Recruit a different neighbor for this. Didn’t they use your generator last year for their in-law’s RV? They owe you one. Or, ask someone else who is pretty unfamiliar to your dog to help out. Having your dog greet a stranger by targeting their hand is not only fun for your dog and a neat trick to show off, but it keeps them lower to the ground during greetings. Interacting with the stranger low to the ground is incompatible with jumping up on them!  

First step is teaching a hand target. If you haven’t taught your dog that skill yet, review this video to help out:

Next, apply your hand target skill to a “friendly stranger.”

Warm up your dog's hand target behavior a few times. With your dog on leash, have the friendly stranger approach you and your dog (or you can approach them instead). Ask them to stop just out of reach.

• Ask the friend to extend their hand out towards your dog, and cue your dog to "Say Hi" or "Greet." You can also use a verbal "Touch" cue the first few times if that helps your dog understand the game better.

• When you dog runs up and targets the hand, mark (click or "Yes!") and feed in front of you as you take a step or two back.

• Repeat. Continue to play the game until your dog is touching the friend's hand and returning to you quickly. Mix this game with calm sits or downs at your side to reinforce calm.

• Make it more difficult! Start farther away from the friendly stranger (more excitement wind-up time!). Have the friend get more excited. Play with different people. Use strangers as a tool when your dog is ready.

If this hand target greeting is too exciting for your dog to handle calmly right away, start with just some approaching and retreating first without any hand targets.

Practice before the big day. 

Choose different distractions and environments that are within your dog's range of success. If you can adjust the distraction level (by adjusting the types of greeters, the distance from the greeter, etc.) you can set your dog up for making the right choice - greeting calmly! The more incrementally you can increase the levels of exciting greeters, the easier it is for your dog, and the faster he will move through them.

Quite literally, don’t try a new recipe on Thanksgiving. Start working on training exercises early, and your chances for success on the big day will go up exponentially. Start with small stimuli and move to larger distractions. Reward what you like and ignore what you don’t.  Practice in frequent but short sessions, and reward incremental success. 

Don’t Forget Your Management! 

One final ingredient – if your dog needs some extra help being successful during the big holiday gatherings, it’s ok to use some management strategies to make that happen. Have lots of stuffed kongs prepared and frozen for longer-lasting fun and distraction from the turkey dinner. Set up a crate safe space in the bedroom or basement for your dog to take crate naps throughout the day. Keep them attached to a leash around your waist so that you know exactly where they are – and can rest assured that they aren’t jumping on guests or cleaning the platters on the dining room table for you.  

Remember – your dog’s behaviors are functioning to get reinforcement out of the environment. They can either get that reinforcement in the form of attention for unwanted behavior like jumping up, or a delicious snack from edge of the turkey for counter-surfing. Those are very reinforcing behaviors for your dog! Even if you think “he knows better!” or “she would never do that!”, when you throw in a lot of extra people into the mix of a holiday gathering, expect some abnormal behavior from your dog too! Brush up on some training ahead of time and be ready to manage your dog well during your holiday celebrations to help all of you have a wonderful time together. 

Beings, Not Doings

Blog post by Emily Jacobs

I believe there are certain inevitabilities that come as part of the human condition. There are things we might as well accept because the alternative is to drive ourselves crazy attempting to resist reality. One of these inevitabilities, it seems, is the existence of the to-do list. It has come to my attention time and again that I have unrealistic expectations when it comes to the number of items that fit into a 24hr period. I generate significant anxiety in my life by waking up each morning, brushing my teeth, putting the kettle on, and then resolutely biting off more than I can chew. It’s almost as if I think that, though the day before I was unsuccessful in fulfilling my expectations, today I must have superhuman powers. This perpetual pattern has driven me to deeply envy my dogs.

I was told once, though I can’t quote the source, that we are humanbeings, not humandoings. That statement resonated with me deeply. I wrote it in my journal, made it my personal mantra for a day or two, and then went about ignoring the sentiment entirely, returning to business as usual: self-perpetuating to-do list chaos. My dogs, on the other hand, live this statement every moment of every day. Beings, not doings. Dogs are entirely successful at living in the now, and at signing up for exactly what they can manage each day – namely, nothing. They sign up for nothing. 

It is with this in mind that I turn the topic to training. Existence, for dogs, comes with no innate rule-book (excluding the evolutionary necessities of eating, drinking, sleeping, and so on). Dogs are not born with the evolutionary imperative to be productive, but we seem to think that we are. They are not genetically predisposed to refrain from counter surfing any more than they are genetically predisposed to sit when asked to. What I mean is, every behavior outside of the necessities of seeking food, water, shelter, physical exercise, mental stimulation, and a place to potty is something we are asking dogs to add to a to-do list that doesn’t otherwise exist at all. We are asking our dogs to do things for us, and not just to be. 

My dogs do not feel worthier when they check things off their to-do lists. They don’t feel any less worthy if they don’t achieve the required number of tasks. We would do well to remember this when we attempt to anthropomorphize. Tuvia, when she eats a pair of underpants, hasn’t woken up and meditated on the notion: “today, I will eat underpants at 9:00am.” She has found them, received reinforcement as she chewed through the elastic, and then left them for another action when the reinforcement diminished. That sounds like a pretty decent way to go about life, doesn’t it? 

Of course, we do actually need to-do lists. It’s unlikely that we could sequester ourselves in caves and refuse to participate in the culture in which we live. However, we might take a page out of our dogs’ books and tune in more closely to what reinforces us. What brings us joy and what depletes our energy stores? What do we actually have to do today and where might we set healthy boundaries? I’m trying to think more about what we need versus what we want and then set realistic expectations for ourselves. We can do the same for our dogs and will probably make more graceful training progress to boot; achieving small goals frequently is more emotionally rewarding than failing day after day to meet a giant milestone. 

Framing tasks as things we are asking of ourselves, rather than requiring of ourselves might save us some stress. An over-full day is uncomfortable from start to finish, but a productive day punctuated with small victories is pleasant. Training can be fun and build confidence in our pups. It shouldn’t be overwhelming for them. Remembering to give our dogs credit for their progress is key. And, remembering to be reasonable with the to-do list items we set for them helps them feel confident and appreciated rather than disappointing and frustrating. It would allow us both some more space to breath, have a bit of time to be and not to always do. 

Shouldn’t My Dog Know This Already? (And a Tribute to Roo)

Blog post by Amber Quann KPA-CTP CPDT-KSA

I get asked these questions a lot – 

“What age will my dog finally turn into a good dog?”

“How long do we have to train before he gets it?”

“How old was your dog when he was fully trained?”

I love getting these questions from my students in group classes and private lessons. It gives us a great opportunity to discuss setting good expectations, measurable goals, and realistic timelines for the training process.  

My answer to these questions is usually something like this:

Your dog already is a good dog, and is doing great for his age! Different dogs mature at different rates, and we each have different definitions of a ‘good dog’ so I can’t put an exact age number on when your dog will meet your criteria. What I can tell you is that it takes time, consistency, and practice to help your dog learn the skills you want him to learn, and that’s what I’m here to help you with!

The truth is, the best training with your dog is an on-going, daily/weekly/monthly process.  To have the best relationship with your dog, learning should be part of your relationship for the long-term.

Taking a 6-week class and then checking “Train The Dog” off of your to-do list is the equivalent of eating healthy for that same 6 weeks and then going back to a daily diet of fast-food. The progress you made during those 6 weeks isn’t going to stick around unless you keep up those good habits!  

An upper-level training class is a great way to stay motivated, but you don’t need to stay in training classes to keep working with your dog. There are several different ways you can keep practicing at home. Go over your old class homework and find things you missed the first time around. Check out a trick dog or brewery dog title and work towards those training goals. Teach a fun trick!

I’ve been asked how long it took to get my dog “fully trained.” The question is funny to me, because I never considered him “fully trained.” Heck, I don’t even consider myself “fully trained.” 

We were always learning new things together.  We started training when he was 8 weeks old. Check out this ADORABLE clip of a puppy training session with baby Roo. 

And we were still working on new things in his last year of life. Here we are working on a cute new combo trick of paw + chin offered together.

And if you aren’t tired of Roo videos yet, one more unedited training session where we are working on his toy carrying skills that had gotten a little rusty.  

We even did a training session together on the day we knew was our last day together – that session focused on reviewing some of his favorite, easy skills.  I don’t have a video for you. I was falling to pieces enough as it was. But he loved it so much even though he couldn’t do much. We practiced his left/right foot targets, nose and chin targets, and one of his party favorites “Go to Sleep / Wake Up.” 

All this to say – training is a journey, not a destination.  There is always more to teach your dog, always more to learn together.  

The best relationships are built on consistent investment, not one-time training. (This goes for our human friends as well our dogs.)

So, if you find yourself tempted to ask “When will this dog finally be trained??” . . . remember we are all works in progress.

Perhaps a better question is “What can we work on together today?”