Thanks!

A few weeks ago I was a presenter at a High Interest Day held at Rose Glen Elementary.  Mystic and I spent a morning teaching three different groups of children about training animals, which is one of my favorite topics.  Part of the presentation was a demonstration of Mystic learning something new, and then showing off all his tricks.

Earlier this week I received a large envelope filled with wonderful letters and drawings thanking me for my visit at the school.  There is nothing better for someone who works with kids than to get letters and drawings of appreciation!

I wish I could post all of them, but there are just too many.  Here are some of my favorites!

How Long?

"How long did it take you to train him?"

That's a question I hear quite often as Mystic and I do our education programs and he shows off the tricks and manners that he knows.  And it's a question that I'm never really sure how to answer because it's a question that has many answers.

Mystic knows a lot of behaviors.  He started learning stuff at the age of 9 weeks when he first came to me.  But I didn't barrage him with learning new things all at once; a lot of the things Mystic knows were introduced over a period of several years.  As a matter of fact I still sometimes teach him new things.  So does that question mean all the behaviors he knows?  If so the answer is 11 years (his age), although that might make him sound as though he isn't very bright, and Mystic is very smart. 

Mystic learns quickly, but like any individual he picks up on some things faster than others.  His "wave" trick was extremely easy for him to learn because he tends to use his paws a lot.  "Say Your Prayers" on the other hand took many, many sessions of training.  So I could ask the person which trick or behavior they are asking about.

Another aspect to training is the different stages an animal goes through.  There's the initial teaching of what it is the trainer wants the animal to do, the training the animal to do it on cue, and then there's training the animal to do it in a variety of situations with a variety of distractions.  So does the question refer to learning the initial behavior, or getting Mystic to do it reliably no matter when I asked him to do it?

But what most people think is that training an animal is like putting siding on the house.  Once the siding is up it's pretty much maintenance free, and they think that once an animal is trained he's trained.  But training is actually more like learning a sport or musical instrument.  There's learning the skill, perfecting the skill, and keeping up on the skill.

Professional football players don't come back from their time off and play their first NFL game without practicing.  Skills get rusty over time if they aren't practiced and it doesn't matter if you're a human or an animal.

So Mystic might know a lot of stuff, but if I don't practice his skills he will noticeably deteriorate in his performance.  So doing training sessions to practice things he already knows helps keep his skills sharp.

So I guess the answer is still 11 years. 

There's a reason...

I didn't grow up with dogs, although I had always wanted one.  One of my first memories is of when I was 3 or 4 years old and sitting on the lap of my grandmother singing a made-up song about a dog.  I had to wait until I was an adult to get my first dog, a sheltie that I purchased from a breeder.

Not knowing anything about dogs, of course I thought I was very knowledgeable.  I wanted to get a purebred because since I was getting a puppy I needed to know it would grow up to be a small dog appropriate for apartment living.  And I was getting a puppy so that I could raise it to be the dog I wanted.  I was so naive.

I was shocked when my puppy ended up pushing my buttons, and behaving in ways I didn't know how to deal with.  I look back at that time with amusement, and yet I think it's a very common situation that most new dog owners go through. 

"There's a reason they gave her up", someone recently told me as they were relating some of the behavior problems a recently adopted dog was giving a mutual friend of ours.  "People don't give up a good dog...", she continued.

Unfortunately the belief that all animals at rescues and shelters have serious behavior or temperament issues is still prevalent.  People who aren't "in the business" can't comprehend that someone would give up a well behaved pet or a pet with a good temperament.   While I wouldn't have dreamed of giving Chester up, many people in the same situation I was in do.  Sometimes it's because their lives are too busy and they don't have time to deal with an ill-mannered, needing to be trained dog.  Sometimes it's because they don't have the money or don't want to spend money on attending training classes. 

As a matter of fact, there are a lot of reasons that people surrender or rehome dogs that have nothing to do with serious behavior problems.  Working at a shelter I know that common reasons are allergies, landlord issues, the owner has passed away, not enough time, not enough money, etc.

While it is true that most dogs in shelters haven't had any training, it's generally a matter of needing family manners training and easily resolved.  This is the same type of training that anyone getting a puppy should commit to.  In some ways training an older dog is easier because they've got better bladder and bowel control, have gotten through much of their intense chewing phase, and  have a longer attention span.

I made plenty of mistakes raising Chester, but I stood by him until his death at the age of eleven.  Chester helped me as I learned about dog training, behavior and became invested in animal welfare.  But he also taught me that had I not stuck with him, had I turned him into a shelter he would have been a really great dog that needed a home.  Just like most dogs in shelters and rescues.

Kids N Critters Camp and Dog Training

One of the benefits of my job at HAWS Waukesha is that not only do I get to bring my dogs to work with me, but I get to have use them in our education programs.  This turns out to be a win both for my dogs and myself, but also for the kids since I know my dogs will be safe for the kids to handle.   

During camp the kids take my dogs on walks, give them baths and help with training.   Over the years campers have helped me with honing Mystic's tricks, helped me proof him in behaviors such as stay and leave it, and have been entertained and educated as I used him for training demonstrations. 

This summer has seen the addition to my household of Quinn, a 9 month old border collie mix, which means that Quinn has also been an addition to our camp program. 

Quinn is a very different dog than Mystic.  He's a bit more mellow and laid back, but he also lacks confidence.  While he really loves kids, I've started to see him become more cautious in new situations.  Adolescent dogs can go through a fear period in which they exhibit fear in situations that they wouldn't have been afraid of when they were younger.  When this happens it's important to help them develop more confidence in these situations. 

The most important thing to remember about fear and animals is that it's not wise to force them to interact with something that scares them.  Locking me in a room for an hour with hundreds of spiders isn't likely to make me love spiders, but may actually traumatize me further and cause me to be even more afraid.  Helping me feel more comfortable around spiders by encouraging me and allowing me to make progress at my own pace is much more likely to be effective. 

Recently Quinn started displaying fear by barking and backing up at a park when he saw a woman who had been doing sit ups suddenly stand up.  I decided I needed to address this before his fear people doing unusual things escalated, and since we have so many kids at camp it's the perfect opportunity.  Additionally using the kids allows them to learn about dog training, and actually do some training with a dog themselves. 

Below is video of Quinn at camp.  One of the kids is his trainer luring him over kids who are laying on the ground.  Quinn is starting to enjoy this game, gain some confidence, and the kids think it's a lot of fun to not only be stepped over, but to have a turn as his trainer. 

HAWS Alumni Reunion with Lad Lake

The second semester of HAWS PETS program for the Lad Lake students (a school geared towards at-risk boys) has gone very well.  Many of the boys this semester are returning from the first semester session.

Back in October the boys had several opportunities to learn about puppy development and play with some of HAWS adoptable puppies. One litter in particular was a favorite.  It consisted of 7 white and tan roly poly little pups that all had  "Jack" in their name in some form or another.

One of the puppies returned for a visit recently with his new owner.  Jack Dempsey has been re-dubbed Leo and at 6 months of age is much bigger than the last time the boys met him when he was a mere 8 weeks.   One of the kids knew who he was immediately -- without being told that this was a puppy he'd met once before.  And the boys were delighted to see Leo and have an opportunity to get to know him again. 

Leo's visit allowed the boys to not only meet up with an old friend, but also to use their training experience.  Leo's mom wanted him to learn to greet people politely, instead of jumping as many adolescent dogs do.  Additionally she wanted him to get a little more confidence as Leo is currently going through a developmental fear period. 

The boys have worked with many adoptable dogs here at HAWS while enrolled in the program and it was great for them to be able to see what happens after the dog is adopted.  The value of their work has been reinforced because the boys saw that what they do at HAWS makes a difference, and that the dogs go on to have wonderful homes with really great owners. 

Fears and Anxiety

Last Friday night we had a meeting for KHAWS -- a HAWS program for kids between the ages of 8 and 12 years of age that meets once a month.  The presenter this month was a dog trainer who came to tell the kids about dog sports, and she brought her very well behaved choclate lab to visit the kids as well. 

One of the kids who attends this program is a girl who was attacked by a dog when she was younger.  As a result she is terrified of dogs, and her mother enrolled her in KHAWS so that her daughter would have an opportunity to spend time with safe dogs in a controlled environment and hopefully, eventually get over her fear.

The mother stayed during the program and I was extremely impressed with how she helped her daughter.  The dog was about 25 feet from the girl at all times, but the girl was still afraid.  We left the door to an adjoining room open to her so that she would have, as she called it, a safe place to go when she was feeling overwhelmed with anxiety at the presence of the dog.  The little girl took advantage of the safe place any time she saw the dog move or even stand up from a down. 

At one point the presenter mentioned that her dog had developed a fear to something.  I overheard the mother telling the little girl, "See, even dogs are afraid sometimes".

By the end of the evening the girl remained in the room -- albeit at the 25 foot distance from the dog.  But the dog was up and moving, and being greeted by the other children, and the girl chose to remain.  Her mother remarked that her daughter's behavior around a dog was the best it's been that evening. 

As a dog trainer I'm well versed in helping dogs confront fears that they may have.  Common convention is that forcing a dog to confront something it's afraid of is the worst thing you can do -- it can backfire and cause the dog to be even more afraid than it was to begin with.  Dog trainers much prefer to work at what we call a "threshold" -- an exposure that causes the least amount of fear response from the dog, and as the dog recovers at a particular threshold we expose the dog to their fear item at a stronger and stronger threshold, until the dog is capable of coping with whatever previously caused them extreme anxiety.

Dog trainers also use "safe places" as well.  It provides an opportunity for a dog to remove himself if the threshold he's being worked at becomes a little too much for him.  A dog who is empowered to make his own choice when nervous is more likely to be able to deal with his fears.  A good example of a behavior modification model that uses this is Behavior Adjustement Training (BAT) developed by Grisha Stewart.

The empathy the mother displayed for her daughter and the decisions she was making on her daughter's behalf were right on target.  And it's a good reminder that no matter if you are a human being or an animal, we all have fears.  And what seems silly to one person (I can't imagine being afraid of all dogs) is very real to another.  So whether you're a dog who's afraid of men with beards, no matter how well intentioned the bearded man is, or a little girl who's afraid of dogs - no matter how well behaved the dog might be, it's not silly at all.  

Lad Lake and Tink

The Lad Lake program has started up again.  This semester we have a great group of 6 boys who are enthusiastic and fast learners. 

One of the dogs assigned to one of the groups is Tink -- a very small Chihuahau.  The boys learned very quickly that training an adult small dog can be a challange.   Many times they are difficult to lure into a down position, and in Tink's case, she was also difficult to lure into a sit. 

Quite by accident the boys discovered that she does a beautiful play bow, and they spent most of their training session with her on Wednesday perfecting this trick.  Within no time Tink was not only bowing reliably, but holding it for over a minute at a time while the boys reinforced her with tiny Chihuahua sized treats. 

It was fantastic that the boys went from frustration to pride at what they were able to train this little girl to do.   I'm sure it will make them look forward to future sessions of dog training at HAWS.

Kids Training Dogs in the Kennel

One of the challanges I face with camp each year is trying to find new activities for the kids.  As much as we get very positive  feedback from the parents on our surveys, one of the things that comes up is a request for new things for the kids to do.  This request in itself is actually a compliment, because it tells me that kids enjoy coming to our camps so much they are repeat campers. 

One of the new activities this year for the campers ages 10 and up is training dogs in the kennel.  A problem that just about every animal shelter encounters is dogs who behave poorly when people walk past their kennels.  First impressions are very important, and a dog who is barking and jumping at their kennel door as people walk down the aisle are much less likely to have potential adopters ask to see them.  Sometimes these are extremely nice dogs who are calm in other contexts, but have developed bad habits. 

The training itself is very easy.  The kids walk up and down the kennels and ask a dog to sit -- the kids are instructed on what the visual cue for this behavior looks like.  If the dog sits, the camper throws a treat in the kennel and moves on to the next dog.  Additionally, the kids are told that if a dog doesn't want to approach the kennel door they should toss a treat in without asking for sit because this is most likely a shy dog who needs to learn that people approaching the kennel door aren't scary.

As simple as this exercise is the kids seem to really enjoy it and it gives them a way to help HAWS and the adoptable dogs in our care.  And as you can see in the video below, the dogs really love this activity as well.  

Lad Lake this Semester

This semester's PETS program with Lad Lake (a program for at-risk teen aged boys) has been one of the most difficult so far since I started working with them in 2009. This year there were changes mid-semester in the enrollment -- two of the boys left the program and two were added. Changes like this always leave the group disjointed and makes it difficult for the boys to get into a rhythm of working together as a team.

Additionally, this particular group didn't seem as motivated to train the dogs and seemed to want to goof around quite a bit. Susan (Lad Lake Instructor) and I tried several different things, but both of us were getting frustrated on the lack of progress we were seeing over-all and weren't quite sure how to get the boys excited about working with the dogs.

It was an unmotivated dog that gave me the key. Yogi was a really sweet dog, but not very bright and not motivated to do more than sit. The boys were getting frustrated working with him, and I knew I had to do something to get Yogi interested in working.

I showed the boys how to click and treat for any interaction with a cardboard box -- an exercise coined by clicker training guru Karen Pryor as "101 Things to do with a Box". It's sometimes a great exercise for unmotivated dogs since they don't have to learn anything specific and are rewarded for anything they do that has to do with the box. Yogi really liked this exercise, and as it turned out, so did the boys.

Yogi was adopted, so this week the boys worked with a different dog. They asked if they could use some of the large plastic playground equipment HAWS uses for dog training classes. They had a lot of fun luring Roxie up onto the pieces, and asking her to sit and down.

And then a most amazing thing happened. The boys started to become motivated to try different things, and best of all were working as a team. The video below is of Alex struggling to get Roxie to rollover, while Chauncey does a great job coaching him through it.

Moments where students have a break-through and show visible signs of progress make my job very rewarding and keep me motivated. I hope the boys feel the same way.

TAGteach and Lad Lake

Recently I read an article on the website of animal trainer/behaviorist Karen Pryor entitled "Yes, But Does This Work with Kids? How TAGteach Made a Difference at School and Home". TAGteach is something I've been familiar with for quite some time, but this article summed up quite nicely the concept and how it can be applied as a tool for children.

TAGteach is basically clicker training for people. It allows the teacher to break down the whatever is being taught into small steps with each step being reinforced -- just like it would be with animals. The difference is that with people the teacher can articulate to the student specifically what the steps are.

I just started a new semester with my Lad Lake program in which at-risk boys come to HAWS twice a week to do training with shelter dogs. One of the problems I've run into with my previous Lad Lake attendees is that they want to skip steps in the training process. For example -- instead of building on a duration stay and setting the dog up to be successful, they always want to move away from the dog right away. Many of these kids lack patience and self control, and it's more difficult for me to get them to move a bit more slowing in their training steps than it is with the students I work with in my family manners classes.

I've decided to use TAGteach concepts to help the boys define specific steps in training the dogs to do behaviors -- recently I sat down a wrote out the stepts for sit, down, leave it and stay and put together a demonstration video to show them.

Today was the first day that the boys worked with shelter dogs -- we worked on sit and down. And I found that the steps I wrote out served as a good reminder for myself when coaching them so that I could help them help their dogs be successful.

PETS Graduation

First semester of Lad Lake has come to an end, and so the boys that were participating in the PETS (Positive Empathy Training for Success) program graduated.

I am very proud at the end of each semester of how far the students have come. Not only have their training skills improved, but they have achieved personal growth as well.

One of the boys who tended to get frustrated and shut down in the beginning learned to become more patient and adapt if things didn't go the way he thought he should. Another went from being bossy with the other boys to becoming a true team member who could express himself without belittling. A third boy who used to run away from school when his emotions got the better of him, learned to control himself so that he could attend the program at HAWS.

Each semester I make a video for the boys comprised of the video and photos that were taken during their time here and add music. Because it's a gift for pre-teen and teenage boys, the music I use is for them. The boys get the video, as well as files containing photos and unedited video and a certificate of completion.

The video embedded here is an edited version of what I made for the boys.

Patience is a Virtue

I think more than anything else in my life, working with dogs has had the biggest impact on my capacity to be patient. Dogs really can humble you -- once you think you have them figured out, they throw you a curve ball.

And I haven't learned to just be patient when working with dogs -- patience has permeated other aspects of my life. I've learned to empathize when dog owners are experiencing behavior problems, and when they're struggling to teach their own dog something new. I've also learned to be more patient in the non-doggy aspects of day to day living.

The current semester of PETS (Positive Empathy Training for Success) program I'm doing with Lad Lake -- a school for at-risk kids, has been underway for a month now. This is the third semester I've done this program, and this is the youngest group of kids that have participated. They range in age from 11 to 14 years of age.

PETS involves 20 minutes of PowerPoints on training, behavior and other dog related topics, and the last part of the hour has the kids working with shelter dogs. I've had to be more patient with this group of kids because they are younger, and so it's a bit more difficult for them to understand some of the concepts in the presentations. I've had to learn to go a bit slower with them, and to review concepts and terms as we go.

Some of the kids are students at Lad Lake precisely because they lack self control and don't have much in the way of patience. This is very evident with one of the PETS participants in particular. He is an extremely bright kid who loves to participate in discussion. He has very good problem solving ability. But he's a bit bossy with the other boys and interrupts when someone else is talking. He has so much promise if he can just learn some patience.

That's what the PETS program is all about. We still have 3 months to go in this semester, and I hope working with HAWS dogs can make a difference for him.

Another Rascal Post

One of the things that amazed me the most about Rascal is his work with my students from Lad Lake. The Lad Lake boys have been working twice a week training dogs at HAWS since first semester started in September. They had been working with Rascal almost from the beginning.

HAWS has a copy of the DVD "Take a Bow Wow Wow" and "Bow Wow Take 2" that one of it's producer's, Virginia Broitman donated to HAWS for use in our work with at-risk kids. The boys watched the videos and used a lot of it when they were teaching Rascal his various tricks such as spin, take a bow and rollover. One day they asked if they could teach Rascal to open and close cabinet doors. I was suprised that they wanted to teach something somewhat compicated, but we set about doing it.

At the time the boys started this project they had been working with Rascal for quite some time. Rascal was clicker-wise, and the boys fairly experienced in their training skills. I still didn't anticipate how quickly Rascal learned how to open and close cabinet doors. Even better was the teamwork that the boys displayed as they worked through this training problem.

Luckily I got it on video -- enjoy!

HAWS and Lad Lake

I mentioned in a previous post that I was doing a program with Lad Lake -- a non-profit organization that provides services for at-risk kids.

Other shelters have worked with at-risk kids having them do dog training at their facility. Positive reinforcement training animals can teach the trainers patience, good communication skills and instill empathy. That makes dog training the perfect activity to do with kids who may need help in these areas.

This semester I'm working with 5 boys who range in age from 12 to 18 years. So far I have enjoyed working with them immensely. They are polite, follow directions well, and really seem to be enjoying the experience.

In addition to the dog training, I am also doing a 15 to 20 minute presentation each time they visit on a dog related topic. While I know much of this information already, it's been fun researching the material and putting together the slide presentations. My hope is that the boys will understand that learning can be fun and that it can be applied to something they're doing in the real world.

The top photo is of Michael with one of our adoptable 8 week-old Lab mix puppies. And to the right is Mike training 1-year old easily excited Mia to sit and calm down.

Pet Myths: Older Dogs Can't be Trained

Running the dog training program we hold here at HAWS, I have a lot of opportunities to talk to dog owners interested in having their dogs learn better manners. One question I get asked on occasion is, "He's already (5 year, 7 years, 9 years, etc), is it too late to train him". I always assure the owner that indeed their dog is not.

I've written quite a bit about Mystic who accompanies me on many of my HAWS education outings. My other dog is 13 year old Belle, a border collie mix -- possibly with Papillion, that I've had since she was about 8 months old. I don't use her for education programs because she gets over-whelmed with large numbers of kids trying to interact with her.

Despite the fact that she's lost some of her hearing, at 13 years of age Belle is still very agile, and her mind is still as sharp as ever.

Yesterday I held a program here at HAWS with a group of teenage boys. We were talking about dog training, and I announced that I would be bringing Mystic out to do a training demonstration. The boys asked for Belle instead, because they felt sorry for the poor dog that was whining to come out.

So I brought Belle out and did some clicker training with her. She was EXTREMELY pleased to be working, and was so focused on me I don't think she even noticed there were 6 adolescent kids in the room.

Clicker training involves no direction from the trainer, other than a click and a treat when the dog does something the trainer likes. It uses a process called shaping, in that the trainer clicks each small step that leads the dog towards the final desired behavior.

In Belle's case my intention was to train her to lie down with her head on the floor and a paw over her nose - it's something I see her do on occasion. First I was clicking her any time she lay down. Intially she was trying all the previous tricks she had been taught -- sit up, roll-over, crawl, and wave. After she was clicked several times for down it became her most offered behavior.

I then had to get her to rest her head on the floor. She was staring at me so that her head was directed upwards. I clicked anytime she lowered her head a bit, and made sure that the treat was delivered close to the floor.

It took 10 minutes, but finally she was laying down and resting her head on the floor. The next step would be to get that paw to cover her nose, but we ended it there. A good trainer trains a new behavior only a few minutes at a time because dogs actually learn faster that way. And you always end on a good note. I'm not always good at following those rules, but I wanted to make a good impression on the boys.

It was wonderful to see my senior dog have so much enthusiasm for learning after all these years. Both of us had a wonderful time, and I hope the boys learned something about older animals (people included) having value, and being capable of learning.