First Impressions of Scentwork

I have been wanting to get into scentwork for years. I took a couple of private lessons a decade ago, but couldn't continue for various reasons. I have been actively attempting to get into a scentwork class either in person or online for the past two years with no success. I now own a book on getting myself started and am working through it, but I'm not really enjoying the process and so far I am massively underwhelmed by this sport. Here are my impressions of scentwork as a completely inexperienced outsider attempting to get into the sport:

Patiently waiting to be released to eat treats off the floor.

1. We don't want newbies. Scentwork as a whole is trying to keep new people out. This seems weird at first, both online and in person training programs for scentwork are everywhere. My local kennel club has half a dozen different classes every session. There are clinics and seminars everywhere all the time. BUT, the prerequisite for all of these things is to have taken the intro beginner class. The beginner class is only offered once a year. The class at my local kennel club only has space for six dogs and has filled up in under 15 seconds one year and under 26 seconds the other year I tried to get in. I know this because that's how long it took me to fill in my information and hit the submit button when registration opened. So I started looking for an online class and found a great website for a great trainer with all sorts of online classes. BUT, she only offers her intro class once a year and it was last month so tough luck. This is proudly announced both at the kennel club and with this online trainer, they are very open about how few people they introduce the sport each year.

2. Odor is a sidequest. Scentwork is mostly just sniffing around for treats. My outsider impression is that scentwork is almost entirely about finding food. I had originally believed it was modeled after narcotics detection rather than foraging around on the floor for crumbs. A friend who managed to make it into the kennel club class reported that after a year of classes they were still hunting for food with no plans to look for anything else. My book teaches searching behavior entirely with food and says you don't ever need to teach them to look for anything else unless you want to compete. Another training website I looked at had a bunch of different exercises and said they could all be done with food and even if the dog can search for a specific odor they should mostly still be searching for food.

3. There is surprisingly little sniffing involved. I am working my way through the book with Sisci right now, and three weeks into it the "searches" consist entirely of scattering food on the ground around various objects. The dog is supposed to learn to carefully sniff around the object to find the treats, but Sis just cannonballs over and slurps them all up as if the object isn't even there. She can clear the room in seconds even when there are several objects to be searched. We can use up her entire daily ration of kibble in five minutes of "searching" and it takes less time than if I just threw it out on the lawn. I'm probably doing something wrong here, but so far I'm not seeing the fascinating searching behavior and puzzle-solving that I keep hearing about from scentwork fans. Maybe at some point the book will instruct me to start hiding the treats instead of just scattering them on the ground around boxes and bags. But then, having had multiple completely food-obsessed dogs in the past, I'm also not entirely comfortable encouraging my dog to forage everywhere for potential food. 

So there's the current state of our scentwork journey. I am throwing treats on the floor for my dog to eat while ruminating on why the sport doesn't want new people to get involved and wondering how this is even a sport in the first place. I am currently looking for an online class or program that isn't entirely about searching for food in the hopes that eventually I will discover why so many people like scentwork. Feel free to set me straight in the comments if your opinion differs.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

I've come to realize the value of waiting when working with a dog. This doesn't come naturally to me, what I want to do is to give commands and make sure they are followed so I feel in control of the situation. Gradually though, I've learned how effective it is to give the dog some space to think, and wait for them to make their own decision.

Sometimes this means waiting for a long time. I recently worked with Missy, a poodle-mix pup who was a delight at the dog park and at home, but terrified of everything on walks with her owner. Unlike my reactive dogs, sweet Missy would just freeze and stare with wide eyes. New people were her biggest fear, and large groups of people were horrifying. She knew plenty of obedience commands, but was so terrified of strangers that she could not follow commands or even eat treats in the presence of scary people. (This made me appreciate my food-motivated dogs, who will eat in the presence of nearly any stressor.)

We took Missy out to a big open park that was hosting an after school basketball program. The plan was to use the BAT method of teaching her more successful ways of coping with her anxiety. A big part of this training involves watching the dog carefully, and rewarding appropriate behaviors by immediately moving away from the scary thing.

Missy, her owner, and I started at the far end of the park from the busy basketball courts. Missy walked along politely on a loose leash as we strolled across the grass. When we were halfway across the park, Missy froze abruptly and stared wide-eyed at the kids on the court.

This was where we did something Missy's mom had never tried before. Rather than compelling the spooked dog to continue moving, or telling her to turn her attention away from the scary thing and toward her owner, we just stopped and waited. Missy's owner and I chatted, keeping an eye on Missy while just hanging out in the middle of the park with a frozen dog.

Ten minutes into our conversation, Missy dropped her nose to the ground to sniff. She didn't normally sniff on walks, for whatever reason she seemed to be missing this important coping mechanism. She only rediscovered it when we allowed the time and the space she needed to think. In this case, she needed ten minutes to process the situation.

Most of the time, I don't feel like waiting ten minutes for my dog to think about what they are going to do. However, waiting has become an invaluable tool, particularly in situations where the dog is not moving. There was simply no way Missy was going to stand there in the middle of the park staring forever, eventually she was going to have to do something and we were prepared to reward any movement at all. Waiting can also work well for dogs that don't reliably bring the ball back, or drop it partway.

Brisbane used to think barking was a big part of playing ball on the beach with the Chuckit. He would drop the ball and shriek his best heeler shriek until I threw it again. After years of this pattern, I finally decided enough was enough. I gathered my greatest store of patience and took Briz to the beach on a quiet day. That day, I decided, I would not pick up the ball until he laid down. I wasn't going to tell him this, he was going to have to figure it out.

When we arrived at the beach and headed down the sand to play ball, Brisbane started barking. I froze and waited. He barked more and more insistently for about five minutes and then finally stopped and started at me. After a couple more minutes of confusion I gave him a hint and motioned for him to lay down.

The best thing about waiting for all eternity is that you usually only have to do it once. The next time I picked up the ball, Brisbane barked a couple of times and then laid down to see if that would get me to throw it. Missy the poodle mix was able to walk much closer to the kids in the park a few minutes after her big freeze, and when she did stop again she started sniffing the grass almost immediately. Both of these were big breakthroughs that never would have happened if I'd gotten impatient and tried to force the issue.

"He Just Wants to Play!"

"He just wants to play!" This was the lament of a pensive dog mom, watching her rambunctious and, frankly rude, pup being introduced to a playgroup at daycare. We watched as he charged up to dog after dog, meeting teeth and growls every time. "All these dogs are aggressive!"

Photo by Erin Koski

Though that particular dog owner may never come to grips with it, the reality is that her dog was the one causing the problem. I adore playground kid analogies for dog social behavior, so here's one. The owner saw her dog bound onto the playground, shouting "Hello friends!" He frolicked around inviting the other kids to play, but they punched him and threw rocks at him instead.

What I saw was a kid sprinting around the playground, zooming up to people and slapping them on the back while shouting "Tag! You're it!" He wasn't just doing it to other playing children either, he did it to everyone. Kids that were playing hand clapping games with each other, kids that were reading quietly on a bench, even someone's grandma got thumped as he zoomed by. The kids reacted in predictable fashion, shouting 'stop it!' or 'go away!' or trying to slap him back.

Despite his rudeness, a couple of kids did attempt to engage with the rowdy one and join his game of tag, but he didn't seem to notice and just zoomed onto the next person. When one tagged him back quite forcefully, he turned on them, fists flailing, shouting "DON'T HIT ME!" He was completely incapable of engaging with anyone on the playground, and just whirled in circles tagging anyone in reach while shouting "Tag! You're it!" until physically removed from the playground to calm down.

Break It Down

The rowdy kid/dog seems like he "just wants to play" because he races around play-bowing, licking other dogs in the face, and zooming in circles. The thing is, without any sort of mutual agreement to play together, charging up to a total stranger and enthusiastically "tagging them" is rude. Most of the time, play begins with something like "Hi, wanna play tag?" "Ok!" If you skip this step, you're just running up to people and abruptly hitting them for no reason. Those that respond negatively, shouting or taking a swing, aren't being aggressive. They're just communicating that they don't want to play, and find the behavior quite rude.

If the rowdy one had genuinely wanted to play when he raced into the yard, he would have engaged with one of the dogs that tried to play back when he rushed up to them. Instead, he ignored them when they politely tried to play, and got mad when they matched his own level of enthusiasm. Instead, he was so overly excited he wasn't capable of playing with anyone.

It's Not Them, It's You

If your dog manages to piss off most of the dog he meets when he "just wants to play", he's probably going about it all wrong. If every dog at daycare or the dog park is mean to your poor baby, he almost certainly has terrible manners. Teaching him impulse control and helping him stay calm enough to play works a lot better than blaming the other dogs for not being more accepting of his specialness. They are dogs, after all.

The Magical World of Video Dog Sports

Dog sports are an awesome way to show the world and also yourself how far you are your dog have come as a team. There are tons of different sports to participate in, from lure coursing to obedience to herding. Lots of people enjoy dog sport activities casually, just for fun. Others, like myself, find earning titles to be immensely rewarding. What better way to demonstrate your dog handling skills and the accomplishments of your dog? Personally, my first measure of someone selling their services as a dog trainer is whether they've ever titled a dog in anything.

Unfortunately, not everyone has the option to demonstrate their skills at trials. Maybe your dog is a superstar at home, but shuts down in busy places with lots of people. Perhaps your fabulously talented dog cannot stand the sight of other dogs. Heck, maybe you simply don't have the means, ability, or option to attend trials for your favorite sports.

Happily, the magic of the internet now allows you and your dog to earn certain types of performance titles from anywhere in the world. You can show off your skills and earn certificates, ribbons, and letters to tack onto the end of your dog's name, all in comfortable and familiar surroundings. All you need is the capability to capture and upload video to the web.

Cyber Rally

A welcome addition to the world of rally obedience, Cyber Rally-O allows for accommodations of all sorts for both dog and handler. Someone in a wheelchair? No problem. Can't do a fast walk? That's ok! Your dog doesn't even need to be physically capable of sitting or laying down. The rules for your ring setup and equipment are minimal. You can record yourself, so throw you ring nerves away and get ready to show off how much your reactive dog loves heeling!

Trick Dog Titles

Do More With Your Dog allows you to earn titles for doing silly dog tricks. While they offer workshops, they don't really have performance events. Instead, you can have a friend or family member sign off on your dog's ability to perform a certain number of tricks for all but the championship title. How is that fair? Well, the championship title requires an extensive amount of video demonstrating a very high level of training, so it's going to be brutally obvious if you've been faking up till then. Don't have a cooperative human at your disposal? You can join an internet team led by a training coach who can sign off on your trick videos. They can also give you tips and idea, demonstrate training techniques, and help you solve training issues. Sisci and Brisbane each have their Novice Trick Dog titles, and definitely have the skills for the intermediate titles. Brisbane could potentially get his champion title, he's got some impressive moves.

Dog Parkour

Often called "Barkour", Dog Parkour is all about your and your dog interacting with various objects and features in your environment. You help your dog safely balance, climb, and move around and under...anything. Chairs, water troughs, boulders, tree stumps, childrens' playground equipment,  buckets, logs, fire hydrants, trees, decorative architecture...there is really no limit. You can earn parkour dog titles by submitting video demonstrating your dog's ability to perform a specific set of moves. Safety is a big concern, and dogs must be safely harnessed, leashed, and spotted in their videos. You can video and earn parkour titles with your dog in a major metropolitan area, deep in the woods, on a deserted island, or in your suburban neighborhood. 

So there you go! Go make some goals and start working toward them!

I Got This

I recently read a blog post that described how the author was changing their own perception of their agility performance by changing the specific words they use to describe it. Instead of saying their dog did something, they began referring to their team. "We blew our contacts", or "we popped out of the weaves". I really love this concept, and it really puts the focus on the dog-handler connection rather than just the dog. We're not competing in agility just yet, but I've begun doing a similar thing with my own reactive dogs and their many triggers.

Photo by Erin Koski

One of the most poignant things I ever read was a small note in one of Patricia McConnell's books, where she mentioned that she places herself between her dog and whatever it is that they fear. It's a way to let them know that they don't have to deal with it alone. To me, this feels like it cuts to the very core of my relationship with my dogs; in all things it is my job to protect them.

"Tension Travels Down the Leash"

We've all heard the same thing a million times. Keep the leash loose, but not so loose that your dog can get into trouble. Maintain a calm demeanor in the face of things you know will totally set off your poor pup.

But let's be realistic here. It's easy to act upbeat and positive when we encounter a trigger at a manageable distance. "Hooray, you saw a dog! You get cookies!" That's the kind of training we like, manageable and fun for everyone. But, unless you're very lucky, it doesn't always go that way.

How do you keep your cool when the situation is terrible and you already know your dog is going to have a meltdown. "Shit, we have to walk past that yard where the horrible dog sticks his head halfway under the fence and roars at us, can't get far enough away without walking in traffic, and here comes a kid on a skateboard! Ok, act happy."

"I Got This"

This is what I'm now saying to my dogs as we pass through a situation they clearly see as hellish. It has helped me take a mental step back and go, "wait a second, this is just a regular day on the sidewalk, we're all safe and there's nothing wrong". My focus shifts from my dog and their behavior to my own, and I stop reflexively tightening the leash to prepare for trouble.

Placing myself between my dog and that horrifying muddy boxer under the fence is still part of the drill, but I'm no longer staring down at my side and going "Stay on that side of my, dammit!" as my dog tries to dart around me. Instead, I'm striding confidently ahead because I know the slobbery mess can't get to us. We're safe. I don't need to reassure my dog that I will bravely protect them because this is no big deal. Nothing bad is going to happen to them, I'll make sure of it. I got this.

Bad Touch

I have this really crazy idea that my dogs should be allowed a certain degree of body autonomy. I know this is radical, but stay with me here. Body autonomy is a pretty progressive concept with human children as well, but it's one worth considering. The basic idea is that your body is your own, and you have the right to determine how people touch you.

How does this pertain to dogs? Well, they already think they should have body autonomy. When a dog is uncomfortable with another dog intruding on their space, they make it known through body language by stiffening up, lifting a lip, growling, or maybe even snapping. This is not an attempt to "exert dominance" or "be the boss". It is not "being mean". It's just communication, the only way a dog has to say "I'm not comfortable with that".

Dogs also tell people that they are not comfortable with intrusions into their personal space, or having their bodies handled in certain ways. Unfortunately, most people don't seem to be listening. Many think they are listening, but get the wrong message entirely. So much of canine communication with humans is viewed as disrespect, or bad behavior without any further thought expended on the matter.

I feel extremely lucky to have very sensitive dogs that do a fantastic job of letting me know what they are and aren't cool with. They are also tough as nails and will not back down from a confrontation, so using force to get my way is likely to get both of us injured and/or traumatized. Australian cattle dogs are very mouthy dogs, and Brisbane and Sisci will both gently mouth my hand to let me know when I've reached their limits. If I try to force the issue, they will start nipping and eventually would probably actually bite me. I could overpower them, but that would end with a sad, fearful dog that gives no warning before they bite. 

Of course, it is absolutely necessary to physically handle our dogs sometimes. We have to provide grooming and medical care, and sometimes just move them from one place to another for their own well-being. How do we respect their body autonomy while accomplishing all of that? By simply listening, and asking permission whenever possible before touching a dog that is asking not to be touched.

My dogs and I agree that it's rude to walk up and grab someone with no warning. A lot of dogs have learned that a hand grabbing their collar means bad things, so they stiffen up, back up, or even mouth the grabbing hand. This isn't disrespect, it just means "That's scary, please stop." However, leading a dog via a hand on their collar is very effective when they need to be moved and don't understand where to go. When I handle skittish or mouthy dogs, I make an effort to reach around the bottom or side of their head instead of over the top where they'll find hands threatening. Move slowly, pet their shoulder or chest a little bit, and then gently take the collar and apply the minimum pressure required to get them moving. This says "I know you don't like this so let me show you that it isn't scary and show you what I want you to do."

Likewise, with any sort of touching, I try my best to read body language and respect the signals I see. If a small dog needs to be picked up and gets stiff and growly, I slow down and pet non-threatening areas until they relax a little before trying to scoop them up.

The same idea goes for grooming and handling for medical reasons. When I have a dog on the grooming table for a nail trim, I always talk to them and ask permission to touch. "Can I see your foot?" with a hand running from their shoulder down to their paw instead of just abruptly grabbing their leg. This seems like basic decency, but I see far too many people handling dogs like they have every right to do whatever they like. 

Body autonomy for dogs only goes so far, and ultimately we humans have to do what we have to do. Still, I think we owe it to them to pay attention when they politely tell us they don't like being handled in certain ways. It's our job to help them feel at ease, and teach them via counter-conditioning and just plain respectful handling that it's not so scary after all.

Five Bad Behaviors I Reward My Dogs For

Good dog training involves not rewarding unwanted behaviors, right? This is what I thought for years, and when Brisbane and I were doing UKC obedience trials it was what I focused on. Each week we'd attend a practice with half a dozen other handlers. Between exercises, most of the other dogs would sit or lay quietly, casually keeping an eye on their handler. Mine had his nose glued to the ground and at times seemed completely oblivious to my presence. I would ask Brisbane to watch me, to sit or lay down, to stay, to STOP SNIFFING ALREADY! It was a nonstop parade of cues, treats, and then Briz resuming whatever it was he had been doing. I usually ran out of treats before the end of class, and he never got any better.

Photo by Erin Koski

Ten years later, Sisci and I are taking an agility class. With time and experience on my side, I'm taking the exact opposite approach and rewarding the behaviors I don't want. I've found this works incredibly well, both in group classes and in everyday life. By the end of any given class, Sisci is focused on me, tuning out the environment, and so relaxed she chooses to lay down and rest.

Here are five completely counterintuitive things I reward my dogs for:

1. Barking and growling at people. 

Sisci is unsure about most people, and her first response to someone breaching her comfort zone is to warn them away. Agility class is held inside a fenced field within a larger park, and there are lots of people in sight for her to worry about when she's not zooming through tunnels or sailing over 8" jumps (or sailing over tunnels when she's feeling particularly creative). Instead of asking her to look away from the scary people by asking for her attention, I mark and reward her staring and woofing. A few treats later, she is much more interested in playing this game than angsting about that rogue human on the sidewalk.

2. Freaking out at other dogs. 

As above, the only reason Sisci screams and snaps at other dogs is because she they make her nervous. Instead of asking her to look at me, I mark and reward her fixating on the other dog. Whether it's a passing dog in the park or a super-snappy border collie doing victory laps after a jump sequence, the anxiety-producing situation becomes a cue for cookies and a good reason to focus on me.

3. Pulling on leash. 

Photo by Erin Koski

Believe it or not, most dogs don't even seem aware that they are pulling on leash. They know they
want to go in a particular direction, and they know you sometimes get annoyed and stop, pull back, yank, or make them change directions. What they don't know is that leash tension is the specific trigger for these behaviors in their human. I like to use a clicker to mark leash tension, and then run backwards so the dog has to zoom back to me for their treat. It's a lot of fun to see a dog have a lightbulb moment when they suddenly realize that pulling is what causes this celebration. Most people think this should result in a dog that pulls like a freight train, but instead it creates a dog that is both acutely aware of leash tension and tuned in to the person on the other end. Once the dog knows how the game works, they understand how to investigate all the wonderful smells without hitting the end of the leash.

4. Pestering the cats. 

Actually, I try to mark and reward merely noticing the cats, before the dogs get really interested. Cats are weird, creepy little freaks. They make all sorts of funky noises, they move erratically and seemingly without direction or reason, yet they are clearly recognizable as sentient beings rather than furry jellyfish. We make our dogs live with the pet equivalent of schizophrenic hobos and expect them to mind their manners even when the other guy defies all social conventions. A whole lot of dogs learn to politely tolerate a range of bizarre cat behaviors without ever feeling truly at ease about the whole situation. To help my dogs relax when cats are being cats, I routinely reward them when someone is climbing the drapes, racing from room to room, or hissing in their face At first they get a cookie just for seeing a cat, or hearing cats thunder around the house.

5. Jumping up on people. 

This isn't the same for every dog, but I actually like to see Sisci jump up on people. She's quite leery of strangers, and right now it's only reasonable to expect her to exist in their vicinity. Ignoring them is fine, actual interaction is usually too much pressure. Very occasionally, while I'm casually conversing with someone, Sisci will cautiously stand up and put her front paws on them. This is the least-threatening way she has found to interact with a scary new person, and doesn't cause them to loom over her. So far she has only done this with some of my trainer friends, who totally understand what a big step it is. Brisbane can be an impolite greeter and sometimes wants to clobber people with his feet, but I'm happy to see Sisci attempt any greeting at all. We'll work on polite greeting when it happens more often.

Sniffing: More Important Than You Think

Sniffing is just how dogs check out smells, right? Well that's part of it, but there's actually quite a lot more going on when your dog has their nose to the ground. They may be collecting information, but they could also be trying to calm themselves, reassure someone, or diffuse an escalating social situation. There's a time and a place for getting our noses up off the ground, but I think it's worthwhile to ponder what's really going on for a moment.

Photo by Erin Koski

The Zen of Sniffing

I like to think of sniffing as a dog's personal "me time", their chance to withdraw into their own head for a little while. As a major introvert, I definitely understand needing that chance to pull back and recharge. When I need to take a break from the world, I like to read a book. When Brisbane needs to take a break from the world, he sniffs the ground.

This took me a lot of years to learn, and for a long time I thought Briz was just getting distracted. Obviously he thought the smells on the ground were just more interesting than me, and I needed to work harder at being the most exciting thing in the world to my dog. This was endlessly frustrating while we were doing UKC obedience trials because mine seemed to be the only dog who couldn't keep his nose off the ground. 

At practice I would ask for attention and feed him treats constantly, but the instant he had the treat in his mouth his nose would drop to the ground again. All the other dogs could calmly sit or lay down in between exercises, mine was constantly, endlessly searching the grass. It wasn't until I had quit formal obedience that I read Control Unleashed and realized Brisbane found the whole sport to be incredibly stressful. 

Sniff Away the Stress

Photo by Erin Koski

Dogs use sniffing as a calming signal, a way to help themselves relax or tell another dog that they are not a threat. However, some dogs don't know how to use sniffing to help them unwind. 

I've been working with a young poodle mix who is generally anxious about the world around her. She responds to alarming sights and sounds by freezing in place. She's not particularly motivated by food, but absolutely loves praise.

At our last training session, her handler and I just stood with her for a while in the middle of a grassy park. We all watched some children playing at a playground at the far end, and waited for the pup to do something other than freeze and stare in horror. After almost ten minutes she dropped her nose to the ground and we told her what a magnificent dog she was for having a sniff. This immediately led to more sniffing. After another amble around the park, we walked toward the playground again. This time we got much closer to the kids before she froze. A moment later she began sniffing the grass, and we speedwalked away from the playground and declared it a victory for the day.

Sometimes a Sniff is Just a Sniff

Of course, not every sniff is an attempt to relieve stress, especially if you have a beagle or other scenthound. The world is a big, exciting place full of amazing scents that we humans will never truly understand. Some dogs do indeed need to learn to get their noses off the ground and focus on their handlers, but I think intense sniffing should be a part of most adventures. As a devout bookworm, I like to think of sniffing as reading with their noses. If my happily engaged dog suddenly abandons me to delve into a book, it's either a really good novel or there's something he needs to escape from.

Taking Treats Gently

Ranger and Annie are our part-time dogs. They come to visit and herd sheep and hike and join us on our adventures periodically. Ranger was my first foster dog nine years ago, and Annie is his little sister that their family adopted a year later. I'm pretty sure Ranger is actually an Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog based on the shape of his head and his coloring.

Paws up!

As adult rescue dogs, Ranger and Annie both tend to take treats roughly. Taking treats gently can be a difficult skill to learn as an adult, and is something that needs to be reinforced perpetually. Ranger is eleven years old, and Annie is nine, so I'm not expecting to undo a lifetime of finger-chomping.

There are a number of ways to give treats to a dog that doesn't mind grabbing a finger or two. One way is to use soft, lickable treats like peanut butter, spray cheese, or LeanLix.

Another way to save your fingers is to toss treats instead of handing them. I do this with Ranger and Annie when I want to reward them very quickly, but it has the side effect of reinforcing treat chomping. Tossing treats also doesn't work very well when attempting to teach a new trick using a food lure. Essentially, I need a way to hold food while my hand is in range of their jaws.

I took classes at a teaching zoo years ago, and one of the things I learned was to give food rewards by shoving my entire hand in the animal's mouth. This works surprisingly well, much better than timidly offering a treat that they could just as easily knock out of my hand as they reach for it. With time and repetition, the animal learns to wait for the food to come to them, rather than rushing toward me to get it.

How Do I Get My Dog to Stop Barking at Everything?

What do you do with a dog that barks at every single noise and person passing by the house? Is there a way to end all the barking without resorting to a shock or spray collar? Is moving out to the countryside or finding a new home for the dog the only option?

Photo by Erin Koski

The Dilemma

A major downside to owning high-energy herding dogs in the middle of town is their tendency to want to alert me to every single thing happening in the neighborhood. We live in a very, very busy neighborhood. It's an extremely high-density area, especially for a place where nothing is more than two stories high. Many, many people lack their own vehicle, and tons of people walk. At any given moment there are probably a couple of cars passing by, a handful of people walking, and probably a bike or two. Skateboards are the most exciting thing, loud and fast-moving, and usually accompanied by shouting.

We do not have a backyard. Behind my house is another house, with a driveway running past us. Most of the lots in my neighborhood are the same way, including the one next door which actually has three different houses on the small property. This means I have a driveway running just outside the windows on either side of the house, with people coming and going all day and night. In back we have the neighbors, who spend a lot of time outside and really like to skateboard. In front we have our tiny yard surrounded by a short chain link fence, and on the other side of that is the street with no sidewalk between.

All this is to say that, when we first move in, Brisbane found a great many things to bark about. Kids skateboarding down the driveway! Random person walking down the street! Leafblower! Special needs people with weird gaits from the housing project across the street! So much barking. First I tried rewarding him every time we heard a sound that I knew would set him off, but this required constant vigilance on my part and often I wasn't even certain what had set him off. When frustrated I would squirt him a squirt bottle or yell at him to knock it off, but that didn't convince him that skateboards were not the sound of impending doom.

Making Things Boring

What did finally work was a solution I got from someone online that lived in an apartment with a barky dog. Their advice was to have the dog drag a leash, and every time she barked they would silently and calmly take the leash and walk the dog to the bathroom, turn on the light, and shut her in there. When she had been quiet for a minute or two, they would open the door and go back to whatever it was they had been doing. Repeat every time the dog barks until they stop barking at stuff.

This worked remarkably well for Brisbane, so much that he stopped reacting to the sound of skateboards at all. He would still like to bite them when he sees them rolling, but the sound of them no longer gives him fits. Likewise, he no longer bats an eye or ear when people walk down the street and have loud and inexplicable conversations at 2am. The first day Briz barked a normal amount and I quietly escorted him to the bathroom at least fifty times before he began to bark less. By day two he was almost completely silent, and within a week he was ignoring those skateboarders like a pro.

Why Does It Work?

The reason why the silent and neutral time out works is because the bathroom is really boring. The fan makes some white noise that blocks out everything else, there's no window, and there's nothing to do in there. A bored dog might eventually unroll the toilet paper or tip over the trash, but for a couple of minutes most dogs seem to just chill out. If I had an especially naughty or bathroom-phobic dog, I would be doing their time outs in a different location, like a back room if they always bark at things out front, or tied to a doorknob in a hallway. I'd like to avoid using the crate because I don't want to make it an unhappy place by having to shove them in there. With the bathroom I can just walk the dog through the door and then leave.

Doing nothing is a good way for a dog to chill out a little, but it's tough for them to chill when they are stressed or afraid. This is why I keep a leash on them, so I can calmly pick it up off the floor without having to reach directly for the dog when I'm already kind of pissed. Ideally, I want them to go from "look! something to bark at!" to "*sigh* booooring" without worrying that I might do something scary in between. This is important, because I am trying hard to chain their overly-excited behavior to calm chill-out time.

Attaching blah, dull time to excitement behavior can help to make that behavior and its trigger less exciting. It's sort of like a rollercoaster, hear a skateboard, leave the loading area. Start barking, go up the big hill. Calmly walk to the bathroom, go down the hill and get off the ride. As the association between barking and chilling out gets stronger, the hill gets smaller. The dog goes from "I hear stuff, I bark, I chill out" to "I hear stuff, I chill out".

But It Totally Works

It's been a while since I've had barking issues with Brisbane, but Sisci spent her first few months on a rural property with minimal surrounding traffic and lots of space between neighbors. Coming to town with me was a big change, and she is pretty sure that the neighbors are coming to kill us all. Every car door slam, note of mariachi music, or shrieking child is cause for alarm. Often I don't even know what it is she's barking about. This evening I was especially frustrated and finally thought about how to solve the problem. I remembered what I did with Brisbane, and it has worked beautifully. So far we have made a dozen trips to the bathroom and already her big barks have become little woofs. Getting up to put her in time out over and over again will be totally worth it when she can handle the daily sounds of our neighborhood stress-free.

Ways to Slow Down a Fast Eater

Eating too fast is a common dog problem that can be solved in a multitude of ways. From fancy gadgets to extremely lazy low-tech methods, there is a solution out there for every food-inhaler.

The Outward Hound Fun Feeder makes eating a slow process.

1. Use kibble as training treats instead of putting it in a bowl. Split up meals into several training sessions each day.

2. Take a scoop of kibble and fling it as far as you can across the yard. The dog can spend the rest of the day finding it one piece at a time.

3. Hide your dog's daily meal in various places around the house before you leave for work.

4. Use food-dispensing puzzle toys instead of a food bowl to make your dog think and put in some effort to get their meal.

5. Stuff canned, raw, or soaked dry food in a Kong toy and freeze. It will take them a while to empty it out.

6. Use a cookie sheet instead of a bowl. Try to spread the food out as much as possible. This works well for canned food and rehydrated foods like Honest Kitchen.

7. Put something in the bowl so they have to eat around it. There are a number of products out there for this purpose, from doodads that suction to the bottom to stainless steel and ceramic balls. This led me to wonder if a dog had ever managed to swallow one of those things. A cheaper way to try this method out is by dropping a tennis ball or two in the bowl. Some dogs just learn to pick the ball up and move it before slurping up their dinner.

8. Put the food in a slow-feeder bowl like the Outward Hound Fun Feeder. These have permanent obstacles that the dog must eat around.

We're on YouTube!

Brisbane, Sisci and I are working on their novice Trick Dog titles. These are titles and certificates awarded for doing a variety of tricks and behaviors. These are a lot of fun, and something that can be earned even by dogs with serious health issues and behavioral problems. Brisbane has had back issues since he was a baby, so he won't be able to do every single trick on the list. That's ok though, he doesn't have to do all of them to get his title.

The lower-level titles are earned on the honor system, you perform them for a witness who provides their information to the organization. I'm told that when the form is submitted, they usually contact the witness to verify that your dog can do everything you claimed. Do More With Your Dog also has support groups or teams that can be joined via Facebook. Rather than performing tricks in front of a witness, you can upload videos for your team to watch and have them sign off on your titles. I have friends who would happily sit and watch my dogs do silly tricks, but I like the feedback I am getting from the Facebook Spark Team.

I uploaded a few videos to YouTube and wanted to share them here as well. We're not as impressive as some of the really amazing trick dog teams out there, but I'm having fun with the challenge of performing with two dogs at a time. Here's our first video:



The trick is "Paws Up", I'm asking them to put their front feet on something. We started with the little stools because those are slip-proof and stable. From there, they had to learn that "paws up" means to put their feet on whatever I am pointing at, even if it is small, unstable, or weird. In this video we used a small balance disc and a jaguar skull aquarium ornament. When I take the dogs on outings, I often ask them to put their paws up on fences, rocks, tree branches, and whatever else we find.

What tricks do your dogs know?

Book Review: When Pigs Fly

Jane Killion's book When Pigs Fly is about training dogs that don't really want to be trained. A lot of dog sports and activities are geared towards biddable dogs that actively want to do whatever their handlers desire of them. This book is about training my least favorite types of dogs.

Photo by Erin Koski

Scenthounds, sighthounds, and terriers have been bred to pursue their own agendas, independent of humans. This contrasts sharply with herding dogs, which have been bred to focus on humans and actively attempt to figure out what they want. I love herding dogs. A lot. Other breeds just don't compare. Brisbane can very nearly read my mind, but I've found that even herding dogs I've never worked with before can astound me with their perceptiveness.

I have mixed feelings about When Pigs Fly because the author spends a fair amount of time putting down my beloved biddable dogs. Jane Killion breeds and trains bull terriers, which are among the most ridiculous dogs out there. Over the years she has successfully overcome a variety of very different problems in order to train her dogs to not only behave themselves, but also succeed at a variety of sports. Hence the name of the book, and also the glorious picture on the front of a bull terrier soaring over an agility jump.

The basis of this book is clicker training, and controlling resources. With enough control, you can teach your dog that you are the gateway to their favorite things. With clicker training, you can teach them that figuring out what you want is the puzzle they most solve to get their favorite things. The trick is to make it their idea.

I think the major weakness of Pigs Fly is that it relies heavily on the author's experiences with her own dogs, while only touching lightly on dogs that are equally difficult but in a different way. Thus this book is phenomenal for training dogs that are highly motivated by something, but not for lazy, unmotivated dogs. When discussing motivators, the author briefly mentions the difficulty in working with dogs whose chief pleasures revolve around napping in various places, but does not offer any sort of solution for these dogs. Ru's absolute most favoritest thing in the world is sleeping in his heated bed on the couch, I have not yet found a way to use this as a training motivator.

The other issue I had with applying When Pigs Fly to my own situation is that the author recommends constant management in all situations. The least applicable is the advice to teach loose leash walking at home in the yard and not trying to walk the dog down the street until they have mastered this skill, so they don't have the opportunity to practice pulling. This is fabulous for people who have fenced acreage in which to exercise their dog, and utterly useless for people like me who have a 20' wide yard. There's absolutely no way I can provide enough exercise in my tiny yard for however long it takes us to master loose leash walking. I have this issue with a lot of dog training books though, by now I'm almost positive that an enormous, grassy yard is a prerequisite for writing a dog training book.

Brisbane's Guide to Politely Borrowing a Tennis Court For Your Dog

I've been dogsitting this week for a couple of beloved cattledogs. It's a lot of fun having Ranger and Annie here, but meeting everyone's need for exercise requires some creativity. I've taken them to a tennis court at a local park a couple of times because it's the perfect place for the dogs to get some off-leash running and ball-chasing time in a safely-fenced area where we are safe from the world and the world is safe from us.

I've seen people suggest using tennis courts for doggy playtime in the past, but I live in an area plagued by grumpy judgemental people and I need to be very careful to avoid bothering someone enough to result in some sort of ban on dogs in the courts. To this end, I have compiled a guide to using nice public tennis courts in a way that is least likely to offend someone or result in disaster. I try to keep in mind that, although it is a public park, the tennis court is intended for people who want to play tennis, and it is rude for me to monopolize it.

The Golden Rule of tennis court playtime: "It's a tennis court, not a dog park."

This will take an unsuspecting person a moment to figure out.

Do pick times and places when the courts are unlikely to be used for tennis. Dusk is a favorite for me, I've also gone at midnight.
Do be aware of the area and your impact on it. Observe normal quiet hours if there are houses nearby and you have a dog that confuses barking with playing.
Do keep your visit short, especially if you have the above-mentioned barky dog.
Do secure the court before unleashing your dogs. Clip leashes through gate locks, tie the gates shut, you can even bring your own locks. The aim is to keep your dogs contained and slow down anyone trying to get in so you have time to round everybody up.
Do walk the perimeter of the court and check for hazards like holes in the fence, homeless people sleeping under benches, etc. before unleashing your dog.
Do plan on leaving at any moment if someone arrives with a tennis racket. Keep an eye out if it's daylight and don't wait for them to ask for the court.
Do plan on leaving at any moment if your dog starts barking at people or dogs outside the court, or making noise during quiet hours.
Do avoid making noise yourself. Call your dogs softly and avoid drawing attention to yourself.
Do walk your dogs ahead of time and give them a chance to relieve themselves before entering the court.
Do bring poo bags, and maybe some wipes or a spray bottle of cleaner if your dogs are prone to making disgusting messes.

Don't go during peak tennis hours, whatever those are for your particular park.
Don't bring your barky dog for a huge barkfest after dusk or early in the morning.
Don't monopolize the court for hours, you may be unaware of the people waiting for you to leave.
Don't rely on the existing gate latches, an unsuspecting person could accidentally let your dog out or invade your private fetch party.
Don't annoy the neighbors or other park users by monopolizing the entire court for long, making them listen to you and your dog yelling, leaving messes for someone else to clean up, etc.
Don't leave poo in the tennis court. Seriously.
Don't draw attention to yourself, make it obvious you are using the tennis court for a personal dog park, or do anything that might make someone wish dogs weren't allowed in there.

My dogs are mostly quiet players, but Ru doesn't get to go along for late-night fetch time because he likes to bark at the cattledogs. The rest of them seem to understand Stealth Mode and will play silently and come when I make soft kissy noises so I don't have to call them out loud. With our Flash & Glow Jr ball from the October BarkBox, it makes for a perfect game of fetch. We still run into clueless dog owners though, last time there was someone walking their little dogs off-leash through the park. "It's ok, they're friendly," he assured me as the ran barking along the outside of the fence. "Mine aren't," I answered. "That's why we're in the tennis court at midnight."

Why I Don't Do Pack Walks (Very Often)

Something growing in popularity in my area recently is taking several dogs at a time out for "pack walks". Having done a whole lot of dog walking growing up, often with multiple large dogs with various behavioral issues, I feel I can safely file this concept under the heading "things that only look like a good idea".

The "pack walk" can take a number of different forms, most involving leashes. Some of my local rescue and advocacy groups organize large "pack walks" for their adopters and volunteers, which are basically just groups of people all walking their own or various shelter dogs together. I think these are pretty cool because they are highly visible and attract a lot of attention. The ones in my area tend to center around bully breeds, and I think it's great for the general public to see a bunch of people walking a bunch of well-behaved pit bull type dogs. It's great for the dogs to practice keeping their cool near crowds and other dogs, and presents a great training opportunity when approached properly.

This is obviously proof of my awesomeness.

What I don't like are "pack walks" that involve a small number of people walking a large number of dogs on leashes. These also attract a ton of attention, but it's not always the right type of attention and I think people often do it for the wrong reasons.

As far as I can tell, the benefits of walking a group of dogs solo are:

1. Being able to exercise multiple dogs in a time-efficient manner.

2. Feeling like a total badass when people are amazed that you are walking five/nine/etc dogs at once.

Note that only one of those is beneficial for the dogs. Meanwhile, from personal experience I've found the drawbacks are:

1. My attention is divided by the number of dogs. When I walk just one dog, it's a lot easier to devote my full attention to monitoring them for signs of trouble and use those to train better responses to things like bicycles, skateboards, loud trucks, etc. With five dogs, it's much more difficult to notice when someone is looking stressed about a sight or sound.

2. Many training opportunities are lost. As above, with one dog I can click and treat them for looking at the scary track team or focusing on me instead of the dog across the street. With a pack of dogs, there's no way I can mark and reward or distract individual dogs with any sort of decent timing.

3. Management takes the place of training. So instead of training, I am forced to rely on management strategies that merely prevent unwanted behavior rather than directly address it. This mostly means hauling my pack of dogs off the trail and hanging on as the mountain bikes pass us, or carrying the most dog-reactive monster by her harness until we're past the people with the poodle. Even then, my dogs are likely to practice a certain amount of lunging and barking.

4. Safety is often sacrificed in favor of management. Some of my local "pack walkers" manage to walk half a dozen or more strong, reactive dogs at the same time, but I cringe every time I see them. Usually each dog is loaded down with a heavy backpack, which is nice because it makes them work harder and get more exercise. What's not nice is that they are also each equipped with a head halter, and most of their leashes are tied to the backpacks on the other dogs rather than being held by a human. This means that these precision training tools with the ability to seriously injure the dogs' necks can be yanked any direction at any time if the backpack wearer moves suddenly.

Ru is in this picture, I couldn't get him out from behind everyone.

This week I am babysitting two Australian cattledogs, and I have a new foster, so I have ventured out with up to five dogs at a time once or twice. This particular group of dogs are all very familiar to me, they all get along very well with each other, and are mostly older dogs with a large amount of training. To make sure everyone survives a "pack walk", I have a few guidelines I follow:

-Space. If I'm going to walk five dogs at once, I'm taking them somewhere open where it's relatively easy to avoid other people. Low-traffic trails and beaches are cool, busy city streets are not.

-Training. Everyone needs to know how to walk on a leash already. If they routinely cross around behind me, orbit and wrap their leash around me everytime we stop, pull like a sled dog, or plant their feet in steadfast determination to sniff that really interesting thing even though nobody else has broken their stride, then they can stay home.

-Harnesses. If I'm going to be potentially dragging dogs around to put some distance between us and the track team we are sharing the trail with, I want to do it as humanely as possible. Nobody deserves to be dragged around by their neck just because they weren't paying attention when we needed to jump off the trail. Likewise, I don't use precision training devices like prong collars or head halters because I know I won't be able to afford them the attention they require to use responsibly. If I can't walk a dog safely on a regular back-clip harness, then they can stay home.

-Brakes. I have to be able to stop everybody all at once, even if a bunny runs across the trail right in front of us. I need to be able to stop hard, and stand firm without giving even a step because that might be all the distance the hooligans need to be able to grab that unlucky skateboarder. I need to be able to do this with everyone wearing comfortable pulling-friendly harnesses. If I can't do that, I need to bring fewer dogs.

The vast majority of the time I prefer to take one or maybe two dogs so I can give them my full attention, use the training opportunities that present themselves, and maybe even relax a little. Getting everyone the maximum amount of exercise in the minimum amount of time means sacrificing training, enjoyment, safety, and pretty much everything else I value. It's worth noting that every real dog person (and by that I mean dog nerd) I've asked has said basically the same thing. If they can't take their mob of dogs for a nice off-leash romp in the woods, they stick to taking one or two dogs at a time on walks.

Book Review: Perfect Puppy in 7 Days

Dr. Sophia Yin's Perfect Puppy in 7 Days is my absolute favorite book for bringing home a new dog. It's not just for puppies either, the schedules and training ideas she has work just fine for adult rescue dogs as well. Be warned though, it's a pretty intense method for training.

Photo by Erin Koski

My favorite dog training books all involve stories and anecdotes about the author's own dogs. This book is about Lucy, an Australian cattledog puppy. Dr. Yin was a cattledog lover, and part of my love for this book stems from it being written about my favorite breed.

At the beginning of the book, Dr. Yin tells about her father, the cattledog he used to have, and how he decided he wanted a new puppy. His daughter being an expert in dogs, dog training, and dog behavior, he asked her to find him a breeder and pick out a puppy. Knowing that her elderly father was unlikely to throw absolutely everything into training his new puppy, she decided to keep the little one at her house for a week of training to start her off on the right foot.

There is a lot in this book about early socialization for puppies, especially before they are ready to leave their mother. It was fascinating to read how many new experiences Dr. Yin recommends for baby puppies to help them learn that the world is a safe place. It also made me just a tiny bit sad, because I know that I didn't do anywhere near that much socialization with Brisbane. I did quite a bit with Ru when I got him at 14 weeks, but not nearly as much as I would have had I read this book. While it's important to drive home the message about early socialization and exposure to new experiences for anyone raising a litter of puppies, I think it's also important to forgive ourselves for not doing as much as we could have before we knew better. We can't go back and fix this learning period for our adult rescue dogs, and that's ok.

Photo by Erin Koski

Dr. Yin's week of training involves a whole ton of impulse control exercises, which aren't as much as rowdy playtime but definitely make for a liveable dog. Perfect Puppy provides plenty of different games to play, explains how to play them, and then includes them in a daily schedule. The daily agendas are pretty puppy-intensive, especially if you work full time. Were I to bring home a new baby puppy, I'd hopefully take a week off work. Otherwise, I see nothing wrong with modifying the schedule to fit my own life.

I think the main focus of Perfect Puppy is on controlling the environment so the puppy has minimal opportunity to make incorrect choices, and at the same time teaching the puppy to default to the correct choices. It's much easier to teach an enthusiastic puppy not to jump up on people when she's had a week of intensive training to sit every time she meets a new person. I think a lot of people don't think to use a leash in the house to keep their new dog from wandering out of sight and into trouble.

This would be my favorite book to recommend to new dog owners, but a friend has pointed out that it is pretty intense for someone new to the training world. There's a whole lot of information in there, and it's easier to absorb when you already have a working understanding of behaviorism. It's definitely the first book I'd recommend to other dog nerds, or nerds in general. Like knowing how things work? This is an instruction manual for puppies.

Treat Tuesday: Bixbi Pocket Trainers

Bixbi Pocket Trainers are small, smelly, moist little treats that are absolutely perfect for training time. The peanut butter variety arrived in our space-themed June Allergy-Friendly BarkBox. These remind me a lot of Zukes Mini Naturals, but Brisbane likes them a lot better. They are made out of potato starch and vegetable glycerin, and have other tasty ingredients like chia seeds and blueberries. I am particularly fond of the shape, as they are scored so they can be broken into even smaller portions.

Good For: Mid-value training treats. Carrying around in my pockets without getting things all greasy. Training in public without having nasty-smelling hands.

Not Good For: Picky chihuahuas. Dogs that have trouble chewing. Super-uber-distracting training situations.

How Much We Like Them: Used them all up practicing core strength exercises with Brisbane, who thought they were awesome. Might have to buy more, wish they were available locally.

Raptor Trainer

I saw Jurassic World the day it came out, and it was amazing. I loved the raptor trainer, even if he used his clicker to get the raptors' attention rather than as a marker for good behavior. A friend has been sending me pictures of zookeepers recreating the dramatic scene where Chris Pratt's character leaps into the raptor enclosure to stop his animals from messily devouring an unlucky new employee.

Jurassic World has taught animal handlers around the world that there's nothing your charges will respect like dramatically standing with your arms outstretched.

Even if your animals aren't paying attention. It's the thought that counts.

Treat Tuesday: Cloud Star Chewy Cheddar Tricky Trainers

Cloud Star's Tricky Trainers are small, moist treats intended for training time. They come in three flavors, and are made from barley flour and tapioca starch. We have the cheddar flavor, the chewy treats also come in salmon and chicken liver flavors. They remind me of Zuke's Mini Naturals, but a little more moist and stinky.

Good For: Mid-value training treats. Popping into puzzle toys. Treating the dogs without getting my hands all gross. Fast treats for medium-large dogs. Tossing across the floor to add excitement at training time.

Not Good For: Super-duper-amazingly-high-value treats for high-distraction environments. Fast treats for itty bitty tiny dogs that will actually need to chew.

How Much We Like Them: Used half the bag in one day. Need get a new bag.

Treat Tuesday: LeanLix Lickable Training Treat

LeanLix is a lickable training treat made by the Himalayan Dog Chew company. It is made from pea syrup and pea starch. We have one that is chicken-flavored, and on that is sweet potato-flavored, and also includes fish powder. There are currently eight varieties of LeanLix treats, seven of which contain chicken powder. Happily, there is an allergy-friendly flavor for dogs with poultry and egg allergies.

I was looking for a low-calorie treat to use for Brisbane's HydroPaws balance training. PetSafe's Lickety Stik treat sounded perfect, but every flavor turned out to be chicken-based. Small bits of microwaved sweet potato worked, but ended up with sweet potato everywhere.

Lately I have been finding more and more products that are basically high-quality versions of widely available, heavily advertised mass-market stuff. If I only shopped in big box stores, I would have no idea that there are so many alternative and allergy-friendly pill treats, licky treats for training, etc.

Good For: Low-calorie training treat. Keeping my hands clean. Fat dogs. Dogs with allergies. Teaching a dog to hold their position by letting them keep licking it as long as they keep sitting pretty, standing, etc. Wearing around my neck via the attached lanyard. Looking like a giant tube of chapstick.

Not Good For: Dogs unmotivated by food.

How Much We Like It: This is the strangest thing I have ever had the retail person at work special order for me.