In fact, I have three of them – one at the Kindred Spirits dog training yard, one in my car, and one at home. Injuries, illnesses, and emergencies never give you advance warning, after all.
http://www.honestdog.com/2012/02/06/my-first-aid-kit-is-laughed-at-but-used-often/
From Liz Palika:
The training method we use at Kindred Spirits Dog Training uses treats as a motivator, a lure, and as a reward. That means in the beginning of the training process a lot of treats are used. As the dog masters a particular exercise, the treats are randomly and gradually decreased. At least until another exercise is introduced or you want to tighten or freshen a known exercise.
In our classes we talk about choosing treats, recommending good quality ones; not junk food. Personally I like to go shopping in the refrigerator and use Swiss cheese (because it has a strong scent), grated cheddar cheese, bits of cooked chicken, or microwaved hot dogs. My dogs also like Jillcookies (google them).
If you want to purchase some commercial treats, make sure you read the labels completely. Make sure the ingredients are good – few cereal grains, a good protein, and ingredients that you understand. If there are way too many chemical names, preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, look for something else.
Also, avoid any dog treats made in China. After the pet food recall of 2007 (and the deaths of far too many dogs and cats), and the warnings in effective at this writing about jerky treats, I suggest avoiding ALL pet foods and treats that originate in China or contain ingredients from China.
Here is my post from the HonestDog blog:
http://www.honestdog.com/2012/01/22/why-cant-the-akc-sell-treats-made-in-the-usa/
Be safe and choose wisely.
We’re teaching our dogs all the time. Everything we do teaches them something even if
we’re not aware of it.
For example, if you’re sitting at your computer while reading this, and your dog nudges your arm, what do you do? If you turn to your dog, talk to him, and scratch his ears, you have just taught him that nudging your arm will get your attention. Now this can be good if your dog needs to go outside to relieve himself. However, what if your dog has a doggy door to go outside and he’s simply trying to interrupt you so that you’ll pay attention to him? You’ll have to decide if interrupting you is good or bad.
So our dogs are always learning something. But what if you’re trying to deliberately trying to teach your dog and he’s ignoring you? And it seems like he’s ignoring you on purpose? Or he’s distracted? Or purposely trying to appear distracted? Hmmm……There’s that teaching/learning scenario again.
In my last post I introduced a couple of games that help teach attention. In this post I’ll build on those skills but make sure you teach and practice those first skills before you teach these.
The walk away attention skill builds on the watch me. When your dog will pay attention to you when sitting in front of you, and is doing it well, then you can begin this game. Ask your dog to sit, praise and reward him for sitting, then step to the end of the leash and ask him to watch you. Praise him at a distance, go back to him, praise him again, and give him the treat. Repeat a few times then take a break and play with him. Then repeat again.
Then as you practice, wait a few seconds before going back to him. Very gradually increase the time. You may only ask him to watch you for three seconds when you’re two steps away. Then increase it to six seconds, then nine. Then go back to two steps away but ask him to hold the watch me to twelve seconds. The training steps you use will depend entirely on your dog. If he’s a wiggle worm and it’s hard for him to hold still and focus, keep the training steps tiny so he can be rewarded for his efforts. Never set your dog up to fail; instead, set him up to succeed.
As your dog gets more comfortable with this, add some variations. When you walk to the end of the leash, don’t just step in front of him but go to the right side, or left, or diagonals. Vary it.
When your dog is doing this well, add walking to the exercise. Begin with your dog in motion; walking forward without a command (don’t ask him to heel) is fine. After walking forward a few steps, ask your dog to watch you, using that treat and hand signal towards your chin, and at the same time, back away from your dog. Praise him as he turns, follows you, and watches you. After a few steps backwards, praise him and pop the treat in his mouth. Repeat a few times, stop, play with your dog, and then repeat.
When your dog has the hang of this, vary it. This exercise can have lots of variations – just use your imagination. Instead of walking backwards, go to the left behind your dog, or in front of him. Go to the right. Dash ahead of him. Back to the right or left. Have fun with it.
When I practice this one with Bashir, I look upon it as a game while he thinks of it as a challenge. I want to see if I can lose his focus while his entire intent seems to be, “I can follow her without EVER taking my eyes off her face! I can!” And he’s always right and it’s a fun game for us.
All of these attention games are training exercises but think of them as games instead of work. Have fun with them, use high value treats (treats your dog really likes), and lots of praise. Laugh with your dog, pet him, and take a break to play often. Keep the training sessions fun.
Photo: Kate Abbott and Walter practice one of their tricks. Even trick training begins with teaching attention.
I was watching a dog owner and her dog in class last week. The dog, a young mixed breed
with some lab heritage, was sniffing the ground, watching the birds fly overhead, and was pulling on the leash away from his owner. His owner was holding the leash, braced against her dog, while at the same time was repeating herself, “Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit!”
Although I know she was trying to have her dog sit, she wasn’t succeeding and instead of teaching him that sit means put your hips on the ground and hold still, she was teaching him that sit means pull against the leash as hard as you can or alternately, ignore your owner. Although the dog was having a good time, his owner was increasingly getting more and more frustrated. Although she was probably teaching her dog something – after all, everything we do does teach them something – it wasn’t the lesson she was trying to teach.
To teach the dog the behaviors we want them to learn, we must get and keep the dog’s attention. How to do this varies with every dog but here are some of the skills I use with my dogs. I use a lure and reward technique for these exercises.
1. Find a motivator. If your dog likes food, that makes it easier. Choose some treats that your dog normally doesn’t get – Swiss cheese has a strong smell and taste and most dogs like it. Or use left over cooked chicken from dinner last night or some microwaved hot dogs. You need a good treat.
2. If your dog doesn’t like food, find a special tug toy, a squeaky toy, or a tennis ball.
3. The dog’s name is always positive. Say, “Fido!” in a happy voice as you pop that special treat in his mouth or toss him the toy or ball. Do this three or four times and then walk away from him. Repeat it later. And then do it again over the next few days. Pretty soon you’ll find your dog watching you intently, perhaps following you, and then sitting in front of you making eye contact. Praise him!
4. Teach him a word that means, “Watch me!” Start again with his name as you did in step 3 but as soon as he looks at you, say, “Watch me!” Then praise and reward him. Repeat three or four times, then walk away. Repeat several times over the next few days.
5. If your dog begins to look away, put that treat in front of his nose, let him sniff it, and then bring it up to your chin. As his eyes follow the treat to your face, praise him and pop the treat in his mouth.
6. When he’s watching you reliably, you can begin playing the two treat watch me game. Put a treat in each hand and hold your hands down by your sides. Then without saying anything, watch your dog. He can sniff your hands or lick them but don’t respond to these actions. However, when he looks at your face, tell him, “Good to watch me! Yeah, awesome!” and pop the treat into his mouth. Repeat, alternate giving him the treat from the right or left hand. Do this three or four times and walk away.
7. After several short training sessions over three or four days, when he’s looking at your face quickly (rather than nosing your hands), you can move on to the next step. The game is the same as it was in step 6 except hold your hands straight out to each side, at shoulder height. Wait for your dog to look at your face, praise and reward him.
8. After several more days, when your dog is doing well and looking at your reliably, you can move on and make the game a little harder. Now, repeat the game at step 6 but don’t praise and reward your dog until he looks at you for a count of three: one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi. “Yeah! Good to watch me! Awesome!” And treat. After several days, make it five seconds, then seven seconds.
Some dogs may progress through all of these steps in a week or a week and a half. Don’t try to push through any faster as your dog needs time to master each skill and to learn that it’s fun to pay attention to you. If your dog has a hard time concentrating, take your time. There is no particular time table for this. Just keep it fun.
in my next blog post, I’ll teach some additional attention games that will help make his skills even better.
Photo: Petra Burke practices the watch me with Bashir.
Sometimes things are just different when a dog is involved.
I was at the grocery store with my service dog when some lady walked up to me and said, “I wish I could take my dog everywhere I go.” The weird thing is that she was angry! I kid you not, she was mad. I smiled anyway, ignoring her tone, and said pleasantly that Toby is a service dog. She made a sort of snort and glared at me. She must’ve already known about service dogs. I smiled and said that it takes a lot of work (I was trying to explain that it’s not as appealing as one might think). She made a sort of harrumph noise then turned around and walked away.
What on earth did she want to hear? I don’t think there’s anything I could have said that would have made her happy. And she was the one that started the conversation! The only other thing I could think of to say was ‘I’m sorry you’re not disabled’. That’s what she wanted, I think. I kept my mouth shut. Probably wise; I didn’t want punched.
Anger is a unique response, but I suspect that a lot of people like the idea of getting to take their dog places. Have you ever considered it? Really, actually, considered what it would be like?
Have you ever not gone somewhere because the pavement was too hot?
Have you ever been in a dressing room and suddenly worried about when your dog last went potty?
Have you ever been in Trader Joes trying to get dinner while simultaneously watching your dog’s tail to keep it from getting stepped on?
Have you ever had to keep your dog safe from children while you’re trying to get out a credit card?
Have you ever had to brush your dog before you could go to the grocery store?
Have you ever tried to maneuver you and your dog into a narrow bathroom stall and close the door?
Mostly, are you willing to train your dog all the time?
It isn’t easy having a service dog! Yes, I do occasionally look down and smile at Toby. Mostly, I just want to run my errands and get them over with. It certainly is not made easier by having a dog attached to my hip.
The other day, I was getting fruits and vegetables and passed the bananas. Woops. Then I made a sudden stop, made sure Toby stopped, had Toby backup, then turn left with me, then cross in front of me to avoid him sticking out into the aisle, then I had him circle around back to the heel position. That was just for the bananas. Then we had to do more turns, stops, and backups to get around people and to the cilantro. Having a service dog is like a really complicated impromptu dance with a four legged partner who doesn’t speak English!
It gets easier after practice, but that doesn’t make the dance any less complicated.
It takes work. During classes at the yard we have to remind people to stop and work with their dog, and that’s the people that come to class, and during class! And, most of our students don’t spend much time training their dog. It’s just a fact of life; people are busy and often find dog training boring. If our students do a few sessions a week in their living room, I’m thrilled! Imagine asking the average dog owner to take their dog out to a store to practice training. Regularly.
I get to have Toby with me, but he also has to be well behaved. I don’t stop and play with him, or scratch his belly, or snuggle him a whole lot. He’s supposed to be walking next to me, paying attention, quiet, and calm. It’s not the same as being at home with your dog.
It might be fun to be able to take your dog some places, but imagine if you had to take your dog everywhere. Having a service dog is probably way less fun than most people imagine. It’s not a privilege that you want. And, even if you still like the idea, for goodness sake, try not to be angry about it!
We hear it so often. “He’s such a good dog.” People say it with that look on their face, I’m sure you’ve seen it! That dreamy “you know what I mean” look. And they say it with such finality on the subject as though it is all there is to say about the dog no longer in question. But… what does it mean?
After all, I need to know what it means. I am a dog trainer. Many people bring dogs to Kindred Spirits, hoping that some time and training later they too can get that look on their faces and say she’s such a good dog. This is our job—how can we perform this miracle without understanding our task?
I had been pondering this, and by “pondering” I mean waiting to interrogate the next person to utter it. Then someone did—my unsuspecting husband. Poor guy. He had no idea what was coming.
Bradley (back) and Jake (left), both great dogs
He was talking about one of his old dogs, Bradley. I accosted him with queries: What did Bradley do that was so good? What of parts of his personality were good? What commands did he know? What specific traits qualified him to receive this honor? What made him a good dog?
My husband was in shock. I’m not sure if the shock was caused by someone questioning what the phrase meant or if it was the barrage of questions. There was puzzlement for a while, then a bit of false starts on answering. “Well, uh, he, um, he…. well, he just … was.” Did my sweet husband think that I was going to accept that for an answer? Oh, no, no, no!
After much pressing, he started giving examples. I was looking for overarching theories here, but okay, I can work backwards. What did Bradley do? As it turns out, not a lot. Bradley could go with him on errands. He would play fetch for a long time. He was mellow and friendly with everyone. You could balance a treat on his nose. You could take him anywhere (I told my sweet husband that he’d said that one twice, no doubling up allowed). He kept listing things, things he’d already said.
Taco, a good dog and an easy companion
What I gathered is that Bradley didn’t know many commands, he didn’t do many skilled activities, he just never caused trouble. It was really that he was well mannered, mellow, and knew a few basic house rules. He was a pleasant companion.
It soon became apparent that what my husband really liked was all of the things that Bradley didn’t do. He didn’t bark excessively, dig, chew couches, counter surf, bark on car rides, pull on the leash, dash out doors… He was cool to hang out with and didn’t do anything that particularly annoyed anyone. Really, he just had good self control and walked well on a leash.
That’s it? Really? He was sure. That was it. That’s all he wanted from his dog. It took me a while to get over my surprise, but then I realized that it wasn’t that surprising. Bradley was a good companion.
Most people just want their dog to be a good companion. That’s why we have dogs, right? Often, just a few commands help make life with your companion better.
Riker, good dog extraordinaire
With this in mind, I’ve really been trying to emphasize walking nicely on leash and being able to call your dog. I’ve been a cheerleader for having fun with your dog.
It takes a little time and effort to teach your dog, but it’s so worth it. Pat smiles when he talks about Bradley. The joy of a good companion lasts a long, long time.
I can’t tell you how re-affirming it is that so many dogs are “such good dogs”. For the vast majority of dogs that have an area or two to that needs practice, being a “good dog” is so very close! Isn’t it wonderful? I can’t wait for class!
Recently, I took my puppy to visit family. Family with a toddler.
Toby hasn’t been around young kids a whole lot. He stares at them like aliens when we see one. Living with a toddler for a week was an adventure! Finally, someone his height! Someone who often has food clutched in hand!
I am a firm believer in what we teach at Kindred 
Spirits, I’m a really big fan. We’re talkin’ real world skills here! However, recently, I was reminded just how useful and necessary training is. I was thanking my lucky stars for ‘leave it’.
We did ‘leave it’ with the toddler, the toddler’s food, the toddler’s diaper, the diaper bin, the potty chair, small fuzzy stuffed animals that looked exactly like brand new dog toys, bouncy balls–you name it, we left it. So many new things! It felt like every other thing I said was “leave it”. For us, our vacation was National Leave It week.
I was so thankful that we had practiced the leave it and that Toby understood what I meant. He didn’t come out of the womb knowing how he should react to a toddler! I had a way I could tell him “ignore that, it’s not for you” and he understood! I could communicate with my puppy and explain to him what I wanted from him. We had practiced the command enough that he was able to do it and then I could praise and reward him. It was beautiful. It was beautiful, and yet, also subtle and quiet, it didn’t detract from my visit at all.
I took my puppy along and he was safe, under control, and well behaved and it did not take a whole lot of time and effort. It did, however, take a lot of attention. Puppies require constant attention but training makes it much more pleasant.
‘Leave It’, to me, means “ignore that”. It’s so useful! I had no idea how many things needed to be ignored!
This command becomes useful as soon as your dog understands that ‘leave it’ can be used on anything. After your dog understands leave it with one item, move on to another item. Practice with all kinds of items! You can use anything that your dog should ignore; shoes, stuffed animals, socks, the clothes hamper, the trash can.
Food is a good item to practice with because it’s easy to use, readily available, and it’s one of the things your dog will need to ignore throughout his life. Practice with food in the trash can, on the coffee table, on the counter, on a desk, and even dropped food.
Leave It can be a lifesaver. Imagine 
dropping a pill, putting chicken bones in the trash can, buffalo wings on the coffee table, chocolate cake on the kitchen counter. And that’s just food! Practice with everything you can think of, it will be worth it for the rest of your dog’s life.
‘Leave It’ is one of those commands that you’ll need countless times during your dog’s life and when you need it, no other command will do!
Bashir has always been afraid of water and I have no idea why. But when we went on vacation he conquered that fear. Why he decided to do that now who knows. But he got lots of praise for being so brave.
Read my post on Connectedbypets.com http://www.connectedbypets.com/blog/archives/758-Bashir-braves-the-water.html
Liz
The vacuum cleaner attachment
Roup and I walk every day. We never know what we will find out on our walks. Most days we never find anything very special but this week we found a treasure! Roup found a vacuum cleaner attachment! Now you say, “what is so special about that?” but to a Labrador retriever who loves to have anything in his mouth, that is a treasure!
When we walk, we always do some training on our walks. I have Roup do sits, downs, stays and “watch me”. He also loves to go up and down on benches and boulders. We have fun. Now that he has found this vacuum cleaner attachment, I have been letting him bring it along on our walks and he carries it in his mouth the whole time. I wasn’t sure if he would have a hard time doing the training but low and behold he is doing everything just the same and doing it well!! But to my surprise, there is one thing he just can’t seem to do while holding this attachment in his mouth. He doesn’t know how to relieve himself on a tree like he did before he was carrying this precious treasure he found! He will either just not go ( I have him go where I tell him to go, not just anywhere) or he will squat like a female. It is rather funny that he just doesn’t understand how to do this that I will ask him if he would like me to hold the vacuum attachment so he can go and he politely gives it to me so he can relieve himself. Then I give it back to him and we continue on our walk.
I have never seen Roup’s tail wag so much during our walks as I have this week while he is holding his new found treasure. I have never seen so many people drive by in their cars smile at us or people outside of their house ask me what he has and when I tell them, they burst out laughing. I never would have thought a vacuum cleaner attachment could bring so much joy to the world!
Now, since we have adopted this new treasure, I believe it needs a name…any suggestions?
When I began training one of my dogs years ago (and no, I won’t tell you how many!) the
trainer used food treats as a training tool. Having previously trained my German Shepherds in schutzhund with a trainer who did not use food, I was skeptical. Not only did one of my GSDs have food allergies, but I had never used food in training. Without food treats, my dogs had been very successful – schutzhund titles, AKC titles, and both were certified search and rescue dogs. Why add food now?
So, being the obnoxious person I can sometimes be, I argued with the trainer. Thankfully he was patient and just said, “Just give it a try.”
I’ve used food as one of my training tools ever since. I like to use food because it works.
I can’t teach a dog until I get his attention and food is a great way to do that. A piece of chicken or Swiss cheese will get a dog’s attention faster than just about anything else. Plus, treats can be both a lure and a reward.
Using food as a training tool is also a positive technique; there is nothing negative or inhibiting about food. Especially if the food is something exciting, smelly, or new. I don’t use dog biscuits; I like to use leftover meat from dinner, cheese, or healthier dog treats with meat as the primary ingredient. I’ll even use bits of carrot or apple slices as training treats. And I vary treats so in any given training session the dog doesn’t know what’s coming next.
If your dog doesn’t like treats or is picky about food, there is always something that will work. A few years ago we had a woman in class with a picky dog. He just didn’t like any of the treats we had. So I told her that her homework this week was to find something in her refrigerator that her dog liked like. She came back to class with some Brie cheese and her dog was working awesome! She had his undivided attention. Of course, she had the attention of most of the dogs in class but that was fine.
Many dog owners are worried because they think they will need to use treats forever. And I admit, it gets old when you find leftover bits of food in the washing machine after forgetting to empty your pockets. That’s why I try to keep treats in the treat bag.
But treats are like any other training tool. I use a variety of training tools when I teach my older dogs anything new. I may use my voice, a leash, a collar, a clicker, a toy, a dumbbell, a scent article, a two wheeled cart – it all depends on what my dog and I are doing. As the trick or exercise is learned, some of those training tools will disappear. How to make those training tools disappear is a technique unto itself and I’ll write a blog post about that soon.
Although using treats to train dogs is a much more common technique now than it was when I argued with the trainer, we still have people come to class at Kindred Spirits and say, “I want my dog to be good for me, not just because I have some treats.” So I tell them what I was told, “Just give it a try.”
Photo: Petra Burke does a “Watch me” with Bashir, using a food treat. Photo by Becca Siminou.
