I'll be bark!

Thanks to Tony Knight for this story.


It seems that the issue of barking has become too much to bear for
some residents of California, so starting this week in Los Angeles, dog owners
now face $100 fines for repeated disturbance to neighbours caused by barking
dogs, and other cities are soon to follow. I recently noticed the scale of this
phenomenon while enjoying a hot air balloon ride last month. The sound of dogs
barking – mostly at the huge balloon sailing over their heads – was everywhere.

However, although I appreciate the Governator's decision, I do wonder what they
are going to suggest in order to stop the problem of dogs barking. I am worried
that sales of bark collars will soar (they cost more than $100 fine in some
cases which makes no sense), which ultimately are instruments of torture that do
not change a dog's mind. I bet they won't have discussed the reason why it
happens either, so yours truly will, AND sort it out too.

So what is the problem with the anti-bark collars? Here's one example that the
manufacturers would not have foreseen. I heard from some dog owners who had put a citronella acid collar on one of their dogs for excessive barking. They were
going through a canister of acid a week (not cheap stuff) and the collar was
working. One day they decided to sneak back to the house to see what was
happening (if anything). The sound of barking was already evident, yet when they
peeked inside the kitchen window, they saw the dog with the collar silently
sitting down, acid squirting in its face, activated by their other dogs, stood
around the collared one and barking. The collar was seen as the problem by them,
and barking is a way to try to get a danger to leave.

A dog barking while the owners are out is more than likely suffering from
separation anxiety, which can be greatly reduced by initially paying no
attention to dogs when you come back home. A dog barking at something while the
owners are in situ can be greatly helped by thanking the dog. That's it. Full
stop. Of course, that is not the full story but just doing those two things can
often dramatically change the dog's behaviour.

Hooray for the Principality!

Wales has banned electric shock collars and the harbingers of doom are predicting mad dogs roaming the streets and frothing at the mouth chasing sheep up Snowdon.

I saw a trainer on the BBC website who said that "in the right hands, these are a very effective means of control", there followed shots of a GSD heading out towards a flock until ZAP! he decided against it. Impressive stuff eh?

Well my first question would be: What the F-Ffestiniog was the GSD doing off the lead near sheep in the first place? It's bad enough using these without thinking about the bleedin' obvious, there's also the really, really big problem that generally these weren't "in the right hands", they would be in the hands of the inexperienced, the lazy, the downright cruel and all shades in between.

But what's vitally important is that they just don't work. Give a dog a job to do and often they will pursue their task to the nth degree, without regards to personal safety or pain. How many dogs have you seen virtually strangling themselves on a lead? The fact is that they can often exhibit extreme motivation and nothing physical is going to stop them doing something so important, whatever they think it is. So in the right circumstances - and that is going to be in most circumstances where a dog feels he has the safety of his group (OK- pack) to preserve. Nothing - sprays, shocks or poor folks hanging on to a lead, correction harness, or prong collar, is going to stop them.

Far better to change the dogs mind, give him calm leadership, ensure he's happy to be by your side and, for goodness sake, put him on a lead near sheep!

Are you experienced?

OK, the title only chimes with people of a certain age (it's a Jimmy Hendrix album), but a couple of things have happened over that past few days that gave me reason to consider this.

My Good Lady went to see a couple last week with a cross-breed, multi-pedigree, mutt, call it what you like (my mum used to say, "we don't know what breeds he is, his mother wasn't looking at the time"). Fortunately he's not prone to aggression, but he was "highly strung" and was restless at the start of the consultation, chewing, throwing toys and pacing around. He was a very stressed boy.

During the course of the evening the owners said that he had been taken to training classes for 6 weeks and had been reasonably well behaved, but as soon as he left the class he was back to being uptight and stressed and had subsequently been getting worse.

Now, it doesn't always happen straight away, but by the end of the consultation the lad was a whole lot more relaxed and having a bit of a kip in the middle of the lounge. The lady owner was much happier and her partner made the remark that made me think: "The man at the training class seemed more interested in telling us stories about him and what he had done than doing much training".

This came back to mind when we heard this week from another client who my partner had helped last year. Their Boxer had been to training classes with disastrous results and they had engaged the trainer to come over for a one on one consultation. The dog had been really aggressive and the consultation ended with the trainer "hanging him up by the lead". Thanks to my partners help, he's now a whole lot calmer and the owners are very happy with his progress. It turns out that it was the same trainer.

Now my Good Lady, being the honest soul that she is, would be the first to say that she doesn't have extensive experience, especially compared to the trainer who proudly advertises his previous employment handling dogs and that he's asked to advise on dog matters all over the world. Nevertheless it seems to me that, even though she hasn't been a Dog Listener for a long time her experience is much more relevant to the needs of the dogs. Time after time she comes across dogs who have been subjected to "conventional" training and has been able to remedy problems, sometimes within minutes. (See "Why Dog Training Classes don't work).

"Experience" by itself seems to be a dangerous thing to rely on, it's relevant experience that matters. I well remember reading that "There are those that claim to have 10 years experience - make sure that it's not not just one years experience that's 10 years old".

Why won't they leave Cesar alone?

It's Cesar bashing time again.

There's certainly an appetite at the moment for animal welfare organisations and veterinarians to have a go at the charming Mexican who has weaved his spell over British dog owners and is filling arenas all over the country. There are those who will fight to their last breath to defend his integrity and will give you a stony, "mad dog" stare as soon as his methods are criticised. Why is he so popular and why has he become so controversial?

Well he's on t'telly for a start, he's a charming guy and he has a fascinating back story of a childhood love of dogs, escape to the USA, illegal status and a meteoric rise to fame through the auspices of tinsel-town and new found celebrity friends. But it's here that the controversy starts. Cesar shot to fame after using his innate understanding of dogs, firstly by pointing out to the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith's missus the simple fact that dogs aren't little people in woolly coats. His charm was undoubtedly an asset here and his instinct for the basic premise of giving dogs what they need, rather than what the owners thought they needed, meant that success was assured.

But Hollywood loves a therapist and theories and buzzwords began to come into his vocabulary and inevitably, the books and TV shows reflected that. The problem is that it all happened back to front. Cesar undoubtedly has a way with dogs, its rough, tough and can be physical, but it's based on his experience and that's the bit that can't easily be replicated.

Some of what he does is uncontroversial, then there are techniques that he, when just a country boy, would have considered to be "tough love" and quite normal, but these techniques turn out to be unnecessarily brutal to those who are aware of the alternatives. These more heavy handed methods are fairly few and far between, but it's the middle ground that is the really big problem. Techniques that, with Cesar's experience and timing are seem to be effective and quick corrections, become brutal and downright dangerous in the wrong hands We're not talking about cruel people here, just those who are so desperate to control their dogs that they repeatedly apply his methods when they don't seem to be working, with increasing severity, despite the fact that they can be doing things that are counterproductive in subtle and not so subtle ways, making the whole situation worse.

To his credit it seems he's realised this. Take a look at his later shows and they move away from the more physical "hands on" methodology. I understand that he's due to discuss his methods with veterinarian and animal welfare groups this year and recently was heard to say that his shouldn't be considered a "how to" show.

There's no doubt that he loves dogs and despairs over the glitterati using them as fashion accessories. If he has made the air-heads realise that they are dealing with living, breathing creatures that have their own needs, then bravo to him.

But it all begs the question: what do we do with the books DVDs and recordings of his TV shows that are getting people into trouble with their dogs?

The calm, effective ways of learning to live in harmony with a calm, relaxed dog are not "televisual", they can't be solved in an hour's TV slot (with 15 minutes for commercials) and success doesn't come in a 5 minute revelation at the end of the show.

Our own Jan Fennell has been studying the dog for over 20 years, devised a method from the ground up that everyone, and I mean everyone, can follow safely - and it works.

Cesar has a disclaimer on his shows that suggests you "seek the advice of a professional" - there's no need to wait for him to shift his position, there is someone who can show you how you can do it too, safely, right now. A real professional who will stay with you for a lifetime - a Jan Fennell approved Dog Listener.

How to ensure your children don't get bitten by a dog.

Tell them not to go up to it.


Sounds a bit glib I know, but that is all there is to it. 


If you want to interact with a dog, even if it lives with you, always, but always, call it over to you. If it doesn't come there's nothing lost - if you go up to it, all sorts of issues can arise, it may just be that it's taken by surprise - in any case it's not worth the risk. 


If it's on a lead, then it's more than likely to be unhappy to be approached as it cannot assess for itself what to do. Putting a dog on a lead removes its ability to run away if frightened, so it's no surprise that, if unsure, it's going to give a "warning shot" - and that's usually with the teeth. It's all they have. If it doesn't you're lucky, but it's still going to be uncomfortable with an uninvited approach, after all, wouldn't you?


Simples!

Why Dog Obedience Training Doesn't Work

My Partner has had a lot of clients in the recent past who have taken their dogs to obedience classes and then had to call her in to help. Indeed more than one dog had been excluded as being "uncontrollable", which begs the question - what are they for?
Tony Knight, who wrote this article a little while ago is a true expert in this field and a great guy. Read it to the end, I think you'll find it a real eye-opener. 

WHY OBEDIENCE TRAINING DOESN’T WORK

A controversial statement? Maybe. But I’d go even further and say that obedience classes could actually be damaging for your dog. And in a moment I’ll tell you about a few incidents that will make you think twice before you book your dog into an obedience class.

This Is Probably Going To Make Me “Mr Unpopular” I know I’m risking the wrath of the majority of the dog training world by publishing this, but I think it’s an important enough issue to risk being very, very unpopular. Because as long as they can still convince you that obedience training is the best way to train your dog, we’re going to continue to hear heart-breaking stories like Bronwyn’s below.

My thinking is this at least when you’ve read this you’ll be able to make a more informed choice about whether your dog needs obedience classes or not. So how could it be that obedience classes are not the answer when it comes to training your dog? After all, there are obedience training classes running all over the world, full of people desperate to bring their dogs to heel, as it were. The costs of these classes can run from the cheap and cheerful to the downright extortionate, all claiming to be the right way to solve those annoying or sometimes even dangerous behaviour issues.

I’ll come right out and say it: Obedience training is the equivalent of building a house without laying any foundations. With the foundations of your dog training missing you’re likely to end up with a dog that performs some tricks (such as sit, fetch, roll over, paw), but still jumps up, pulls on the lead, bites, barks non-stop, chews everything, is aggressive and generally misbehaves. Bronwyn’s story below brilliantly illustrates this point.

But before I tell you about Bronwyn, you’re probably thinking what authority I have to be making such outrageous statements? So I ought to introduce myself.

I’m Tony Knight and I’ve been in the dog training business for over 10 years. I’m known as a Dog Listener (in fact on my travels I’m referred to as  “The International Dog Listener” but telling you that sounds a bit too much like blowing my own trumpet).  I work 1-2-1 with dog owners but the majority of my work is training dog trainers. There are Dog Listener Trainers all over the world now and demand for my training just keeps on growing. Why? Because these dog trainers know that using Dog Listener methods will increase their success rate in training dogs way beyond that of any of their “rival” dog trainers - and that’s very good for business.

But enough about me: Bronwyn came to us when she had given up hope of being able to keep her dog Nemo from being put down. She’d tried everything – obedience training, extreme exercise, drugs (and a few other things she’s not proud of). She was at a complete loss what to do next.

The irony was that Nemo was regularly winning blue ribbons for obedience training, and Bronwyn had even become an obedience trainer herself. He was a real life Lassie who could have been on TV with all the wonderful tricks he could perform, yet at home would bite her and her husband on a regular basis.

“He’d already had six homes and we were worried he’d be put down”. Bronwyn told me. “He started biting us badly… every time we approached him. It was often over food. Something would be on the bench. He would jump up to get it. I would go to pull the plate away or in actual fact sometimes I even tried – I am not very proud of – smacking him, and he would turn around and bite.”

“We resorted to obedience because that’s the first place you look up... and I got so involved in that because it was the only thing I thought was the solution, I actually became an obedience instructor.”

Bronwyn explained that she also had a number of dog behaviourists come in who emphasised the control approach telling Bronwyn to make Nemo sit for absolutely everything in his life. One behaviourist even told her to utterly ignore Nemo for two whole weeks!

“We were going so over the top with controls. We got to the point where if a visitor came in I could tell him to drop and he wouldn’t go near them, but I could see he was still panting, his eyes were wide open and he wasn’t relaxed… We tried everything, including drugs. You just want to keep him alive. Other trainers recommended exercise, so we had a dog walker running him morning and night, racing 5km pulling us on a sledge, and he was still the same… Something would happen and he would bite and we just didn’t understand why… We were at the point of putting him down… I was convinced he was damaged.”

When Bronwyn finally discovered the missing piece of the puzzle (the foundations I mentioned earlier), it was purely by chance, but it completely changed their lives. “The biting literally went in days… We were speaking his language and he was like „Finally!‟ Now we have a very relaxed dog”.

The key to helping Nemo was to put in place the bit that matters most to a dog.

Bronwyn‟s story is by no means an isolated case; we get feedback from dog owners like that all the time. I’ve heard people say that they can’t understand why their dog is so unruly when it knows how to sit or that their dog is so good in obedience classes but as soon as they’re out the door is pulling them along on the lead, just like before.

Obedience classes can’t even hope to give you a well trained, relaxed and happy dog if they’re not teaching the key piece of training information that made such a dramatic difference to Nemo. And in my experience and many other dog owners – they’re not.

It’s commonly believed that once you’ve got some obedience classes under your belt – that’s it, your jobs done. But the idea that obedience classes alone will solve all behaviour problems and give you a well trained dog is pretty misguided if not misleading... Because What Matters Most To Your Dog Is Who Is Leader Of Their Pack – That’s The Missing Piece of The Puzzle

Instinct tells them that their survival depends on having a leader they can trust to make the decisions and keep them safe. Trouble is, if they don’t think you’re the leader, they’ll take the job on themselves - and this is a recipe for disaster – because they’re living in a human world that they don’t understand.

We think this is the biggest single cause of dog behaviour problems today. In the wild your dog might well be a natural leader, but in a human world, like anyone else with a job they can’t cope with, they end up living in a constant state of anxiety.

The result is all those problems that drive us mad – things like barking excessively at everything that moves, chasing cars, or roller skaters or cyclists, pulling on the lead, chewing up the house when you’re out, peeing on the carpet (or worse), being aggressive to others, jumping on your visitors... and the ultimate sin, akin to signing your own death warrant, biting.

Let’s get back to some obedience commands you’re taught and take a closer look at a couple of them...

SIT! One thing that perplexes me about getting a dog to sit is why it’s seen as so important?

Some trainers say you must teach your dog to sit every time before you cross the road.

Picture the scene, the dog and owner are out walking the streets in the pouring rain (which some people actually do, and don’t need to – but that’s another subject entirely). They arrive at the kerb. “Sit”, the owner tells the poor drowned rat at their leg. Have you ever seen a look in your dog’s eye, a look that says “YOU sit! See how you like it!”

Worse, imagine there’s a massive heat wave and the temperature of the streets is in the nineties. Before you ask your dog to sit, do the equivalent of a parent testing the baby’s bathwater with their elbow experience how comfortable it is. You may be surprised…….

The way the obedience trainer approaches training your dog can also be hazardous.

One lady told us she was being taught to get her dog to sit by pushing down on its hind legs. 

The dog was resi sting so the trainer told her she wasn’t being “firm enough” and demonstrated how on the dog, the dog yelped, but sat. Later she noticed her dog was limping and a visit to the vet confirmed that the dog had chronic hip dysplasia.

I’ve heard many stories like that and every time I do it makes me angry. Sad too, because neither dog nor owner needs to go through that - ever.

HEEL! Bringing the dog to heel, and I mean literally to heel as is taught by many trainers, results in poor dogs getting yanked around or even hit by people believing that the dog should be permanently behind the leg. Worse still are those so called humane “shock collars” (how anyone can use the word “shock” and “humane” in the same sentence beats me) that are used to stop dogs straying too far from your side. I always thought the goal was for the owner and dog to be relaxed out on a walk together, yet these rigid controls often mean owners get frustrated and dogs get hurt.

A question I’m often asked is:

“How can a dog that follows commands so well in an obedience class still think they’re leader of the pack?” As people who know me will testify, I like to give analogies to help people understand the point I am making. So here goes.... 

When my sister and her family came to visit me, my nieces would invariably want to go and play in the playground in the park opposite the house.

Now, like all good adults we would go and supervi se them. We didn‟t choose which rides they wanted to play on – our job was to make sure they were happy. So you push them on the swing (not too high), push them on the roundabout (not too fast) and sit on the other end of the see-saw (not too hard). A fun form of slavery to be certain, but the adult served its purpose.

However, when the time came to go back home, who led who across the street? The girls had been making all the decisions in the park for sure, but now it was the real world, full of potential hazards, Uncle Tony took over the decision making and saw them safely across the road.

So, an obedient dog can still be the decision maker in the pack, just as the parent is still in charge even if following the orders of the kids in the playground.

I have witnessed dogs that, in the obedience environment will perform all the tricks brilliantly for their owners, but as soon as it’s time to go home they’re dragging their humans out of the room at full speed. 

You see, it is fine to perform all the commands to make the kids happy, but when it comes to the real world, those in charge take over. This can be perplexing or even deeply upsetting to owners who don’t understand why Rover is a star in the class and a nightmare at home.

Now we’re not saying don’t teach your dog commands, they’re easy enough to do, especially when they know you’re Pack Leader and it could help keep them safe. For instance to have them 'wait' (in the car before jumping out) and 'stay' (for practical safety) and “come” (for a cuddle) all make perfect sense.

We are saying loud and clear don’t expect Obedience classes to be the answer to all your dogs’ behaviour problems. You might be disappointed.

We’re also suggesting that you ask about the training approach of Obedience Trainers before committing to a class. If they seem keen on using dominance tactics or force give them a wide berth!

You Can’t Start Icing Without The Cake

I want to finish with another analogy... Obedience training and its many other relatives are like icing on the cake – all very pretty but incredibly flimsy without an actual cake underneath. The slightest bit of pressure will collapse the whole structure. I teach people how to make the cake. Once you have that in place then you can ice away to your heart’s desire.

Or not. It’s your choice.

Tony Knight