The Lakes Region Kennel Club will be offering training classes at both the Meredith Community Center and Gilford Youth Center. Training your dog is one of the best things you can do.  Studies have shown that dogs which are trained are much more likely to stay with their owners for their entire life.  For more information about the classes and the Lakes Region Kennel Club, please visit their site.

They are offering classes in the following:

• Obedience
• AKC Star Puppy
• AKC Canine Good Citizen
• Therapy Dog International
• Rally Beginner – Advanced

Their flyers for both classes are below and we have added the classes to our calendar.

LRKC Gilford Taining Classes

LRKC Meredith Training Classes

Share/Bookmark

Does your dog seem shy to you? Is your dog afraid to meet new people, new dogs, or walk in new areas? Does your dog jump away when something new is experienced?

Shyness in dogs has many causes. Sometimes it is due to lack of socialization when the dog was young. Those early weeks where the pup is learning about the world are a very important time for the pup to be introduced to as many things as possible so they become comfortable with them.

Sometimes a health issue makes the dog fearful due to a flood of hormones or possibly an illness. You might check a shy dog for health issues if you have not already done so. Thyroid problems, which are seen in many breeds and mixes, can cause behavior changes as can tick carried diseases for example. Checking for a health issue when temperament or behavior suddenly changes can be a good choice.

Sometimes shyness is inherited or possibly learned from the mom during the time in the uterus and the first weeks when mom cares for the pups. A pup that has inherited shyness and doesn’t get much socialization can have twice the problems to deal with.

A good reference site on coping with shyness is here

Often training designed to teach the dog how to cope with or handle new situations is a big help, as is desensitization training where you teach the dog that what was once considered scary can now be viewed as a great opportunity to earn rewards.

One training method that can help with that sort of confidence building is clicker training. You first teach the dog that the click means ‘that is right’ or ‘good’ or ‘yes’ and you then have a way to easily and quickly tell the dog which behavior is what you want. You can see some very good clicker training videos as you scroll down on this page past the ads to get an idea of the way the training works

If you prefer not to use a clicker then positive reinforcement with verbal praise may also work for you.

The way you would apply this type of training, to say a fear of new people situation, is to have a friend that the dog usually reacts to help you do the training by coming to where the dog can just see the person it fears. This may be a good distance away to start with.

When your friend appears you start clicking and treating the dog with small tastes of a favorite food item. Your friend then walks out of sight and then you cease the click and treat response. Gradually you build up to working the same way with the dog seeing other people, seeing people closer and you reward the dog only when strangers are near. The idea is that what was scary now becomes a source for good rewards. You can do this in your home also by having her on a leash while someone else answers the door for the friend to come in.This is of course only a brief overview and in person training help would be best for specific problems. http://www.apdt.com/ may help you find a trainer to work with or you may want to ask your vet for a referral to a veterinary behaviorist.

A veterinary behaviorist can not only give you a training plan but may also prescribe a medication for your dog. While meds on their own seldom cure a behavior problem, what they can do is to allow the dog to be calm enough for training to work. A dog can’t learn while petrified, as the mind shuts down with fear, so a veterinary behaviorist could decide the best option is to prescribe a med that reduces stress to allow the dog to learn as well as giving you a specific training plan to help your dog past any fears.

Share/Bookmark

Does your dog or pup have a mistaken idea of who is in charge of the house? Does he or she think the dog rules over all of you?

Does your dog get angry or upset if you try to leave the ‘pack den’?

Does your dog act like all the toys and food are his and that no one else gets to have it if he wants it?

This is not an uncommon problem with strong personality dogs of any size and frequently the smaller ones get away with it so long they believe they rule the world.

Dogs do like to be the boss if they can. They may see children as low ranking ‘puppies’ that can be bullied or your spouse as a lower ranking pack member..

You can change your dog’s mind about who the pack leader is and who makes the rules. Probably your dog has had lots of practice thinking about your relationship in the wrong way so it will take some time to convince the dog that you humans are the leaders.

One thing that can help change a dog’s view on you is using the nothing in life is free program which you can read about here.

This is a non violent way of putting yourself in the leader role. Think of it as making him say please and thank you instead of demanding what he wants. I sometimes think of this as the old joke that ‘if mama is happy everybody is happy!’ and NILIF works to make sure mama is happy!

If you have problems leaving the house, then instead of trying to punish your dog’s behavior just before you leave try settling the dog down with something good and distracting. Many people like a food stuffed Kong type toy for this.

When you come home do not make a big fuss of your dog but instead ignore your pet for those first few moments and then greet only when the dog calms down.

If your dog grabs items and holds them ‘hostage’ from you here is an article that discusses a way to get the dog to allow you to remove things he should not have such as the toys or juice bottles etc.

Changing behaviors is not easy and often is not quick, but I can tell you that working with the dog is your best chance at changing any behaviors you are dealing with and need to change and training is far better than putting up with behaviors you do not like.

Rewarding right behavior can be a huge help to changing a dog’s attitude about doing what you want and can making living with your pet in your home far more pleasant for you and your family.

Some people find that clicker training helps them quickly tell the dog yes that is right and speeds this sort of communication along. This site has clicker training demonstration videos so you can see how the training works.

You may also find some good positive type (i.e. not punishment) training clues here for specific issues.

Share/Bookmark

Variable Reward Training to keep training interesting for the dog

Mostly today trainers talk about using food lures and rewards for putting in behaviors and perfecting them. This method works pretty well if you know how to use it correctly but there is often a bit of info left out on how to keep your dog interested in the rewards you are handing out.

Picture you are being trained to do something and as a reward you get a piece of dry cereal. Stop and think how much of a reward that is and how quickly you might get bored with it particularly if you were not hungry.

Now you know if you do the behavior you will get a bit of cereal but then something more interesting comes along. At that point your attention will waver and no amount of cereal waving will likely be enough to hold your attention. But what if at that point the reward changed to chocolate? Or peanuts? Or ice-cream? Or steak?

So lets consider how to get around that ‘boredom with rewards’ issue when training dogs.

It’s pretty simple to make up a bag of variable treats when working on training. Two or three kinds of high quality kibble (dry dog foods) that are not the same as what your dog gets during meals, mixed in with some small bits of really high value treats such as freeze dried liver, chicken, jerky, lamb lung or possibly even a second bag with cheese or real meat bits diced small.

For ordinary ‘ok’ responses from the dog, during training, they get a bit of the kibble, but for a great response, or a response under more than usual stress (for example a sit when a dog or person approaches) the bigger rewards come out and a better, or more valued treat is offered. You can even do a jackpot of a mixed handful of goodies when the dog performs extremely well. Of course if the dog doesn’t meet minimum standards for the behavior, and those standards can be raised as time goes on, then no reward is forthcoming.

So you say you never use food to train but instead you use toys. You can make some toys more valuable than others by presenting them less frequently and spending time playing with them in front of the dog yourself and then putting them away in a pocket. Breed ring training of terriers is often done like that. To get a moment of play with the real fur squeaky rat for a terrier is an ultimate reward even though playing with a fake fur toy is also fun. Or getting swung around on a tug rope with a solid game of tug might be a top reward for a dog too.

The key is to figure out what your dog wants and then how to give a variable amount of that reward depending on how good a performance of the desired behavior the dog gives you.

Keep training interesting by keeping the reward for right behavior interesting and being sure to give a super reward or jackpot when your dog does something perfectly or performs when stressors might have easily caused failure to follow the command instead.

Share/Bookmark

CNN has a great story about a mother who wanted a service dog for her autistic twins.  In her case, she decided to start with a puppy and have it trained locally.

“When McMillan asked the trainer whether she was able to train a dog to assist with her autistic twin boys, the dog trainer said, “I don’t know anything about autism.”

The mother did. And Kelli Collins knew how to train dogs. Together, they would train and raise a puppy to be a companion to the then-3-year-olds, Eric and James. Collins would work with the puppy, Caleb, on learning the boys’ scent so he could find them when they bolted. He soon would learn to comfort them, almost instinctively, when they needed a friend.”

A lot of people think that one has to go to a recognized service dog training organization to get a service dog.  That is not the case.  In fact, the US Department of Justice has never imposed any type of formal training requirements or certification process.  The only training requirement is be individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability.

FOLLOW-UP

The American Bar Association has an article about Service Dogs in schools.   At the moment, it seems to be up to the individual school district whether or not Service Dogs will be allowed to accompany their children to school.  Some schools say yes and others are saying no.  The article covers several lawsuits which have resulted from districts which have refused to allow service dogs.

The courts are being asked to balance the school districts arguments:

“We don’t feel that the law is clear,” says superintendent Steven Poznic, adding that the district is concerned about both safety issues and classroom distraction. “It’s potentially disruptive for us. … We don’t feel that it was necessary for the student to be successful.”

Against the needs of the individual children:

“The Kalbfleisches argue that the service dog “refocuses and redirects [the boy’s] attention to the task at hand,” that Carter “had a history of bolting and running off without being aware of the surroundings,” and that, overall, “he’s shown a lot of improvement,”

Share/Bookmark

New Hampshire seems to be confused as to what season it is, so, we are bringing you a beach video! This  was made by a group of first-time dog owners in Hungary, The Promotion Group of Népsziget, using the Mirror Method of dog training.The Mirror Method’s name comes from the idea that dogs reflect their owners behavior like mirrors.

The Mirror Method consists of three parts:

1. To build up required relationship and ranking order in everyday life
2. Teaching with clicker using only positive reinforcement and no force
3. To ensure the required lifestyle to our dog, specially giving opportunity for him to work down his instinct-energies

Enjoy the weather this weekend!

Share/Bookmark

All pups go through a chewing stage. How you handle it determines how bad it is, how many household items get impacted, and how your dog chooses chew items for life.

Many people start noticing destructive chewing around 12 weeks though it can begin earlier. At 12 weeks this is still a baby puppy and with babies it takes lots and lots of repetitions before they understand what you are teaching them.

Dogs do not generalize ideas well, so if you say ‘no you may not chew my shoe’ the dog may hear no you may not chew my shoe when its in this room, or when I’m in the room, or no you cannot chew that left shoe from this pair of shoes etc. It doesn’t hear the ‘no’ as being ‘all the time and everywhere’ or ‘all shoes’ so you have to keep working on it until the pup really understands. If they slip up then you have to repeat the training efforts. They are not being ‘bad’ but rather as the movie line goes ‘what we have here is a failure to communicate’ and it’s up to you to help the pup learn.

At 4 months pups start teething and then they really need to chew. In addition they explore the world in part with their mouths so chewing everything is a part of the way pups are and pits and pit mixes are particularly good at chewing and Labradors are notorious chewers as they were bred to want to hold things in their mouths (retrievers do that).

For chewing things one part will be prevention and that includes picking up anything you love and don’t want her to chew. Training yourself and your family can be difficult but its worth working on.With my last pup, my husband lost 3 remote TV controls before he learned not to leave them within reach of the puppy.Some wise people put all precious items or expensive rugs away while working on training a pup. For some reason the fringe on the most expensive Oriental rug is always what tastes best! So out of reach with the valued items is safest.

Pups also tend to chew on the last thing you were touching because they love you and it smells like you because you touched it. A cell phone, eyeglasses or remote control matches that description pretty well.

What I have found works really well to change chewing habits is a combination of things to help the puppy learn what is a chew item and what is not.

Sooner or later you will find the pup chewing something he or she should not. When you take away something you do not want puppy to chew or take the pup away from the item it is typical that you tell her NO without any physical pain such as is caused by hitting and that is part one that comes naturally to we humans.

The part that is hard to remember is to immediately give the puppy an approved chew item and praise the pup for having it. So you do both ‘no not that’ and ‘yes you can chew this’.

You must remember that NO is only half of the training and YES is the other half.

Once the pup is busy with an approved chew you then quietly go back to the item the pup should not have chewed and spray it with a product such as Bitter Apple, Sour Grapes, or McNasty etc so if the pup goes back to it, the spot will taste just awful reminding your pup that it is not a good thing to chew.

Another hard thing to remember that helps a puppy a lot is when you see the pup chewing an approved chew toy randomly go over and praise and maybe even play with your pup for having it, tossing it for her to chase for example. So now you are associating chewing an approved chew item with fun. Telling the puppy when it’s chewing on the right thing really helps the puppy’s learning curve a lot.

It’s also a good time to practice taking a toy away and giving it back along with extra praise or maybe even a treat for handing over the chew item.

When you cannot supervise your pup in the house either confine the pup to a puppy proofed space, or a safe dog crate, with a safe chew item to keep the puppy busy. This is the same principle moms use with kids – put the kid (or puppy) in a safe place so nothing bad goes wrong while you are not watching them.

People vary in what they see as a safe chew item with some in favor of bones including raw or smoked bones, squeaky toys, rawhides, pig ears, treat stuffed Kong toys, chew hooves, rope bones, Nylabones etc. You must make sure the chew item is too large to swallow or break big chunks off of that might cause a choking hazard.

Just when you think the chewing of teething is over you discover that at 8 months pups really need to chew, in part because its good exercise, and dogs this age need lots of exercise, and in part because those nice new adult teeth are settling into the jaw and they ache making chewing feel really good.

Channeling the chewing to approved items only is the best solution I’ve found for this natural behavior, along with increasing the pup’s daily one on one exercise time with you which can include longer walks and games of fetch.

So working with your pup on chewing only the right things is going to be a challenge, but one most puppy owners can easily manage if they remember to include praise for right behavior as well as discouraging incorrect behavior.

Note:

If your pup is also putting teeth on you here are two articles on bite inhibition to help you train your pup to never do that

http://www.phsspca.org/training/puppy_biting.htm

http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/bitestop.htm

When I do this instead of ‘ouch’ I used a high pitched Yipe! sound similar to what a dog makes as the pups really seem to understand that well. So far it’s worked great!

Share/Bookmark

“The following column, written by Janice Sparhawk Gardner, was originally published in Foster’s Sunday Citizen. It is covered by the author’s Copyright, and cannot be copied, in whole or in part, without her express written consent, in advance. Violations of this copyright will be prosecuted. The author can be contacted through this website.”

by Janice Sparhawk Gardner – 2009

Many people add a new dog to their family this time of year. It would be terrific if each of these new pets came from the homes of responsible and knowledgeable breeders, but that is not always the case.

Good breeders devote many hours each day to socializing their pups before they are released to their new families. Socialization is one of the most important things a human can do for a dog.

Ideally, intensive socialization begins when the pups are about three weeks old and continues until they are about 16 weeks old. If you were wise enough to find your pup with one of these super breeders, don’t be surprised if you are not able to take the pup home until it is about 4 months old — and socialization has largely been completed. Your breeder will teach you how to continue the pup’s training, going on from the base the breeder already has established.

If your pup has not already been socialized when it comes to live with you, you will have to handle this critical training phase yourself. It has been said that socialization is the most important, and most often neglected, aspect of puppy rearing.

Correctly socialized dogs are more confident, less apt to develop behavior problems, easier to train and housebreak, and much less bothered by stress than dogs that have not been socialized correctly.

Dogs that are not socialized are more apt to be timid, more likely to bite from fear, harder to housebreak and may have myriad behavioral issues. The foundation of proper socialization allows you to develop a dog that is a joy to live with, and one that derives joy daily from being with you.

Socialization is not difficult, and it only takes a bit of time every day. Young pups should be held, handled very gently and talked to by their breeder from the time they are a few days old. If you have a litter, interact with each puppy individually, and in various rooms of your home. As the pups grow and develop physically, enlarge their socialization experiences by taking them outside of your home. They need to be exposed to a wide range of people as soon as they are immunized: young, old, big, small, quiet, noisy, in wheelchairs, with canes, in baby carriages, wearing big hats, with beards and without.

Introduce the pup to the meter reader, the mail delivery person, and the trash collector, children on skate boards and bikes. Visit other dogs — safely please: be sure the other dog is under control and will not harm or frighten your pup. Best to delay this “outside of your home” part of socialization until your pup’s doctor tells you that it’s immunization is complete.

Take the pup where he can see farm animals, cats, to the park and near construction sites. Have the pup accompany you through the car wash, in an elevator.

For his safety, the dog should always be on leash during these training experiences, or inside a carrier when in your car.

Your goal is to teach your pup that none of these things will harm him, and thus to build his confidence. It will be your very important job to be sure to control each situation so that the pup is never frightened or feels threatened.

You are teaching the dog that he need not fear new situations, noises or people. Go slowly, and watch new things with him from a distance. Each session should be limited to only a few minutes, a few times each day.

If he appears apprehensive or frightened, slow down the process and put more distance between you and the next new sights or sounds. Always reinforce the experience with quiet praise, hugs and an occasional treat.

Reward the pup whenever he reacts calmly and confidently to a new situation. It is your job to be sure that every one of these experiences is pleasant and non-threatening.

The socialization process seeks to imprint the dog with an enduring positive experience. If you push too hard or too quickly, you could also imprint the dog with a negative experience. If you think that this may be happening, retrace a few steps and start over. Your demeanor should always be confident and quietly happy — the pup will take his cue in each situation from you.

Puppy kindergarten classes are helpful in this socialization process, once the pup is sufficiently developed. Before you select a particular class, visit as an observer to ensure that the pups are happy and safe, and that the instructor is in control so that no pup suffers harm. Pups can be enrolled as soon as they have been immunized; it pays to reserve a place even before you pick up your new pup.

I mentioned earlier that pups should be immunized before going out of your home. This is vital. Consult your dog’s doctor for advice as to when you can take the pup out where he may encounter other dogs, or be exposed to viruses or parasites.

Remember that some viruses and parasites can be picked up simply by walking on grass or another surface. Until your vet gives the go-ahead, carry the pup when outdoors and do not put him down on the ground.

Everyone is drawn to puppies: though you may feel weird doing so, insist that people outside your immediate family disinfect their hands before you allow them to touch the baby dog and, of course, never allow anyone to frighten, tease or injure your dog.

The times I have spend socializing my pups are among the very best of my puppy memories. While I was having a grand time, the pups were learning all the vital lessons they need in order to spend their lives, happily and successfully, with a species so very different from their own. While you and your puppy are enjoying yourselves, you will be giving the pup one of the best gifts, aside from a healthy pedigree, that a responsible breeder can give.

Yes, cats can do agility.  According to the Cat Fanciers Association, feline agility competitions are rapidly growing in popularity.  For more information, please visit the CFA feline agility web site.

Ask Nancy is a weekly column of general pet advice. This column is not meant to replace  your veterinarian or animal emergency room.  If your pet is  sick we recommend that you seek professional advice immediately.

Question: My dog won’t stop jumping on me when I come home.  What can I do?

Answer: Leap up and Lick Someone!

Dogs jump up to greet us is they typically do greetings to the face area. As our face, unlike another dog’s, is way out of reach for most dogs, they try to get up to that area as best they can, thus the leaping is intended to get them closer to the greeting area.

Most cures for jumping up used to involve corrections using various methods to make the jumping behavior uncomfortable for the dog.

The problem is most corrections still give the dog what he or she is looking for, which is human attention for the greeting behavior. That knee clunk to the chest is still touching, pushing the dog away is still touching, commands are still interaction etc. As far as the dog is concerned attention is attention and even negative interaction is better than nothing.

Instead of interaction I’m going to suggest two training processes to help with the leaping issue:

One is the nothing in life is free program where you put yourself in the leader role simply by requiring your dog to do something before the gets something he or she wants. You can read about this here

http://www.paws.org/cas/resources/fact_sheets_dogs/nothingfree.php

The basic rule is to get what you want; you just do what I want. Dogs catch on pretty quickly particularly if you involve food as an incentive to learn. This is going to help set your dog up for considering a behavior change to get what the dog wants from you.

Second is you are going to want to ignore the wrong behavior giving the dog nothing, or less than nothing, by changing the passive ignoring to a more active and obvious ignoring. With this sort of training you start with youself and family members first and then work up to friends, strangers, and company.

For active ignoring you fold your arms, you turn your back, you give no commands, you just completely do not interact with the dog when she is leaping on you. You keep ignoring doing the same even if the dog claws or barks at you for attention when you do not respond as usual to the leaping.

If your dog comes around to where he or she can stare in your face, you just turn again, with arms still folded, and no eye contact. Wearing dog paw proof clothing can make this a lot easier on you.

Eventually the dog will stop leaping on you. An observer will often see a puzzled look on the dog’s face, though you might not. When the dog totally stops leaping is when you turn around and pet your dog in greeting with lots of affectionate talk etc. It’s even better if the dog is sitting when you do this but just having ‘four on the floor’ will work too.

If your dog puts feet up on you during this then stand up and turn away again.

What you are accomplishing with this is

1. You are no longer giving her any attention as a ‘reward’ (real or accidental) in your reaction to her leaping and
2. You are giving her a new behavior *that works* to gain your attention and response.

The new rule is that to get what you want you have to stand or sit.

This is not an instant cure. You will have to do this consistently until your dog figures out that the leaping is no longer the way to get what he or she wants. Be aware that your dog may even leap more extensively in a final attempt to get a response using the old behavior. Think of this as being a bit like the way someone might kick a soda machine that doesn’t give out what was paid for!

To continue this training you will have to manage her on leash when company comes in. Start with visitors who are willing to help you train, if you can, and have it all explained ahead of time how to ignore the dog.

This training does work if you are persistent (and we know you are, of course, smarter and more stubborn than your dog) but there is one more thing that should help your pet slow greeting enthusiasm and that is an increase in exercise and play.

This does not mean dumping the dog alone in the yard but instead means interactive social time with the both of you.

If you can play with your dog at least once a day to the point where the dog at the end is lying down flat out and panting from being tired, that should help your dog’s self control abilities a lot.

If your dog will chase a ball, but you are not so good at tossing one, you can hit one with a badminton or tennis racquet for her to chase.

I find my small dogs can be worn out using a sturdy cat fishing rod type toy with a toy on the end of the line to chase. The bigger dogs like this too but are quicker to sever the line to the toy! Time at a dog park playing with other dogs can also work.

Taking that ‘edge’ of energy off should make your dog much easier to live with and better able to focus on training time with you.

When you see your dog come to you and catch your eye and sit to ask for attention you’ll know the dog now has the concept so praise your dog greatly for saying ‘hello’ the right way!