Dogs have been living side-by-side with people for over 10,000. Years. They are genetically programed to respond to human contact. In fact, those who have studied Street Dogs have concluded that human contact is their single most successful survival strategy. Your dog is prepared to bond with you.
Here is what you must know right now:
- Dogs are positively motivated by FOOD and PLAY. These are your best tools for bonding with your dog. Exercising together is a form of play.
- Stress causes anxiety so should be avoided. Small stresses can layer on top of one another to become large stresses, resulting in aggressive or fearful reactivity. Stress interferes with your dog’s ability to learn!
- If your dog is so stressed that it will not take food, you have lost the ability to redirect it. You need to remove the dog from the situation. Manage your dog’s environment to both keep it safe and reduce stress.
- Learn your dog’s body language and how to communicate with it. Your dog will read your body language, including your tone of voice. Be careful with both. Use only positive reinforcement techniques!
Things To Do:
1. Learn your dog’s basic communication signals
… and use that information to know when it is anxious or scared. This is done by simply watching for those signals and avoiding or removing your dog from stressful situations. Let the dog tell you if it’s comfortable or not. This is HUGE. A dog cannot learn if it’s overly stressed. You want to see the tail in a comfortable position; not too high and forward and not tucked low. The ears should be upright and curious but not tipped forward with the body stiff in a posture of aggression. The eyes should be soft, not wide and intense. And keep the hair between the shoulders low—watch out for raised hackles. Yawning can also be a sign of anxiety, as is turning the head to the side. Here are parts 1 and 2 of a YouTube video showing real world examples of dogs communicating.
2. Know how to calm your dog.
One of the best techniques is a ‘Sniff Walk.’ Simply walk your dog out to an interesting place and let it put its nose to the ground and go to work. Let its nose lead the two of you. This turns on the olfactory system, which completely engages the body and brain. Behaviorists have discovered it’s both engaging and relaxing for the dog. Give it about 15 minutes. This is also an excellent way to learn your dog’s calm body language. Supplement your regular walks with sniff walks. A variation of the sniff walk is a ‘Scent Game,’ to play in the house and yard. Go to YouTube and search on the term for many, many examples—find the ones that suit your environment. Also, introduce your dog to a Massage. Start at the lower part of the back and move forward. But, stay away from the head and muzzle until it gets used to the concept. Here is a link to a very good example:
Behaviorists also like a technique called Close Tethering as a calming tool. This does NOT mean tethering your dog alone in the yard, but rather putting it on a short leash and attaching it to YOU for the purpose of building trust and initiating bonding. It is also useful in potty training, and just generally reducing reactivity. It consists of putting your dog on a two or three foot leash, then sitting down and ignoring it until it completely relaxes—no eye contact, no talking, no touching, and with no access to anything it might use to entertain itself such as chew toys, other pets, etc. You want the dog to pay attention only to you, nothing else. It will resist at first by complaining, moving about anxiously, or even trying to hop up beside you. Ignore it. If it jumps beside you on the sofa, do not push the dog off, but rather remove it by gently lifting the leash straight up and out. Eventually, your dog will progress from going down, putting its muzzle on its paws or lying peacefully on its side in a light sleep. The first time could take an hour or more, but keep at it and eventually your dog will be able to relax in a minute or less. Use it when they have gotten overly excited. Close Tethering sends a signal that you are in complete control of the environment and situation, and your dog has nothing to worry about. Some behaviorists refer to this as allowing the dog to come ‘off-duty,’ in regards to believing that it has to protect itself and you. Others refer to it as ‘self-soothing.’ Once the dog is used to the concept, you can also tether it to your waist and move about the house (note that this is also I useful tool in teaching it to walk beside you). This technique will be invaluable in the months and years ahead as a way of putting your dog into a relaxed state of mind whenever you need it to be.
3. Structured Feeding Time
One of the very best ways to bond with your dog is at feeding time. Provide some structure. You are the source of the food. Invite your dog to watch you prepare it. Then make it sit, place the food down in front and give it permission to eat with an ‘okay.’ If it moves in before you allow it, quickly lift the food away and make it sit. Be patient. It will get it. Have all family members do it. NOTE: This technique is extremely useful if you have a child or family member that the dog doesn’t respect, or has possibly even growled at. There is no clearer signal as to who has higher status if that person is the source of the dog’s food.
4. A Place of Its Own in the Home.
If your dog still appears stressed, this can be very, very important. Even possessing the best temperaments, a trip from one end of the planet to the other can be very stressful for a dog. So provide it a spot with a pillow or bed that is out of the way of household traffic, yet where it can still observe your family’s activity. Imagine an invisible wall about 3 feet from your dog, and don’t cross it no matter how much you’re tempted to move in and smother it with hugs and kisses of sympathy. It will only add more layers of stress. You are giving the dog permission to join you when it wants to. It will.
5. Kenneling at home.
The vast majority of dogs can be successfully kenneled and many of the ISDF dogs have already been. Show the dog its kennel and throw some treats inside. Escalate the quality of the treat if they seem resistant (chicken, meet, cheese, etc.). Don’t panic or become frustrated if your dog initially won’t. Many have had bad experiences being kenneled or have successfully argued their way out of them by throwing a fearful or aggressive tantrum. But, behavior modification using food and/or game playing will solve this. There are many successful techniques available online, or you can go to our training tab for some choices.
Here’s a trick for getting them to settle down in their crate when they are fussing. If the dog is whining, barking, upright or just generally complaining about being inside its kennel, stand beside the kennel with hands at your side but slightly outstretched. Make eye-contact with the dog and say your correction sound, ‘eh.’ Be firm but not angry. Then remain motionless while you continue to make eye contact, Wait for it to submit by both lowering its body and putting its muzzle on its bed or front paws. It will submit, at least temporarily. Within a couple of minutes it will likely resist again, then do the same thing. It generally takes 2-4 cycles before the dog permanently relaxes for the night. You may have to do it two or three nights in a row before it decides to permanently accept the arrangement. We have used this protocol many times with new fosters–they sleep right outside our bedroom so we can know if they are in distress for any reason, and it has never failed to work. Cesar Milan calls this ‘claiming their space,’ but I think there’s more to it than that, possibly emphasizing the security you’re providing.
6. Potty on a schedule.
Puppies need to be taken out more frequently, maybe every 2 hours and after feeding. Older dogs can go 3-6 hours, in including after feeding and before bed.
7. Begin using the Essential Commands.
Your ability to tell your dog what you want it to do is the single most effective tool you have for developing a bond with it and eliminating YOU as a source of its frustration. Make your communications clear and use them regularly. The list of; Sit, Stay, Down, Here, Wait, Let’s Go and Okay is a good place to start. Your ability to communicate provides an important sense of structure in your dog’s life. In fact, Behaviorists who specialize in rehabilitating dogs with serious behavioral issues will always begin by going back to the structure provided by these basic commands, which usually have been abandoned. If necessary, go to a training class or watch one or more of the many brief instructional videos available on YouTube.
Here are some of the key commands:
- All training begins with teaching your dog to make eye contact with you. Begin with, ‘Here,’ and your dog’s name. Use this as a protocol for getting your dogs immediate attention. The word will form the basis of a wide ranch of training activities and games, so you will use it a lot! It consists of holding a treat above and in front its nose so that it makes eye contact with you, then say ‘Here Fido,’ and give it the treat. At first it is doing nothing but making eye contact with you, but you are priming-the-pump to gain the dog’s immediate and complete attention. You need to do it routinely, 10+ times in a row. As you can imagine, it very quickly learns to respond to you. Add a “sit” to this as soon as it learns the command, so that it will sit before making eye contact. Move on to ‘down’ if you choose. Add a hand touch with the ‘here’ by holding out your open palm before giving it the treat. Fido will hesitate at first, but the remaining odor of the treat remaining on your hand will cause it to put its nose there—and you’ll quickly give it the treat. ‘Aha,’ he’ll think—she wants me to touch my nose to her hand! Move your open hand around, stopping it in different positions, allowing your dog to follow it and touch it with its nose—then the treat. You can use this later to train your dog to go to different locations and stay. Use your imagination—you’ve got Fido’s attention.
- The Eye Contact Game. Put a treat in your fist and hold BOTH fists in front of its muzzle. It will stare at the fist, sniff, etc, but do not open up your fist and give it the treat until it looks up and makes eye contact—and it will! It is learning that not only is it okay to make eye contact with you, but good things happen. Eye contact between dog and owner is key to communication. This is the beginning of the dog ALWAYS looking to you for guidance.
- “Let’s go.” ‘Let’s go’ means it is supposed to follow you. You will use lots of treats initially with this one. Coming in from the yard; “Let’s go.” Going for a walk; “Let’s go.” Etcetera.
- “Okay.” ‘Okay,’ means that you are releasing the dog from its need to follow or be with you. Use it when you are allowing it to play, eat or go exploring.
- “Sit.” Teach your dog to ‘sit’ in front of you and at least initially only pet the dog when it assumes that position. It is learning how to signal you that it WANTS to be petted. You are giving him this control.
- “Down.” Show your dog once or twice how to do a ‘down.’ After that, just stand over it, make eye contact, say ‘down,’ and wait…and wait…and wait. Never repeat the command more than once. It knows what you’re waiting for. Eventually it will submit and go down, and as soon as it does, say ‘down’ again and reward it.
8. ISDF keeps a library of valuable information to assist in dealing with virtually all training and behavioral issues.
We also have access to experienced Trainers and Behaviorists. Just ask. Call our Training Coordinator, Tom Moureau (802-249-0327), or email him at Lucpack@gmail.com.