Should we train our dogs using punishment or reward?

There’s been a lot in the press and social media recently about the use of punishment and about animal emotion. An article on the topic, therefore, seemed pertinent.

First, let’s define what punishment is. The use of punishment in dog training is where we do something unpleasant to indicate to the dog that we don’t want them to do something.

Here are some examples:

• ·      A tap on the nose
• ·      Threatening them with a rolled up newspaper
• ·      Jerking their collar when they pull (whether using a choke chain or not)
• ·      Using a shock, spray or citronella collar to stop a dog pulling or barking
• ·      Using a prong collar
• ·      Shouting at them; saying “NO” or “STOP IT”
• ·      Saying “Was that you?”

So do you use punishment in dog training? I’m hoping that if you do, then you’re saying, well yes, but just the mild kind.

The thing is that dogs’ brains are really quite simple. We don’t need to punish the unwanted behaviours. We can simply prevent unwanted things from happening until new behaviours have been learned and the original habits have faded.  Applying such preventative measures also helps to reduce our need to be frequently annoyed with them (sounds good huh?). The less we use NO, the more effective it will be.

But here’s the question is: Have they actually had the opportunity to really learn what it is that you want them to-do? Dogs need plenty of consistent learning practise.  To teach a dog to “not jump” we need to teach them to “keep 4 paws on the ground”; to teach them to “not pull” we need to teach them that “be at my leg” is great.

If we haven’t taught them what’s right, is it really fair to punish them when they actually just don’t know any better?

If you do use more active punishment, then please just stop for a moment and think about how you are affecting your dog and how you’re affecting the relationship that you may be having with them. The recent reports from the BVA (British Veterinary Association) stand clearly against shock collars. No matter what people may think of their effectiveness, the stress of the shock remains long after the actual shock.

Of course teaching dogs can sometimes be quite complex. To get a better understanding of how to effectively train your dog and resolve any behaviour problems without punishment, please do look at PawsAbility.co.uk.

First Published in The Northern Times, 1st Dec 2017. Author Anna Patfield

If you'd like to read more about how dogs think and learn, please read this free e-book Dogz Thinkz Differentz

Help for Dogs that are Fussy Eaters

I see many dogs with behavioural problems whose owners say that there dog is a fussy eater. They’ve changed their dog’s food over so many times they can’t remember and finally found that if they mix up some chicken in the food that their dog will eat it all up. Sometimes… Sometimes they pick out the tasty bits and leave the rest. Sound familiar?

Of course the old school advice would be to just let the dog starve – when they’re hungry they’ll eat. Well that works too.  Sometimes… But I have known situations where owners have tried this approach, worrying every day that their wee pooch wasn’t eating, but sticking to this advice, only to end up with the dog eating grass instead of the food.

Whilst these two options may work and be ok, neither of these solutions is best. Adding tasty bits imbalances the diet, which may cause all sorts of problems and starving a dog may cause other obvious problems too. So, what’s the solution? Well, as per my article in May about car travel, a holistic and broader approach can help to resolve the issue.

Here’s some food for thought…..

Health:

Is your dog fit and well? It can be worthwhile getting a quick vet check. We may think that our wee pals are ok as they are eating some food, but there may be something stopping them eating less tasty food.  Issues such as toothache or an abscess could stop a dog eating, as could some other digestive upset from a mild infection to swallowing something they shouldn’t have.

Calories:

Is something else filling your dog up? Many dogs are very capable of managing their own calorie intake. Is your dog skinny, fat or just right? If the latter, then it’s highly likely that they are getting enough food without actually eating out of their bowl. Perhaps they are a tea and biscuit dog? Perhaps they get lots of doggy biscuits? Perhaps their bones and chews are filling them up. Perhaps you are using lots of treats for training? All these factors can just take the edge of hunger.
Keeping an accurate diary, with all the family being honest, will provide you with some answers.

Stress:

Many dogs, even with mild behaviour problems can be suffering from some level of stress. This may simply put them off their food a little or can have major health implications. Stress impacts on the efficiency of the digestive system and may inhibit the desire to eat. Perhaps your dog doesn’t like eating when you’re not in the room? Or perhaps they are concerned that another family dog may pester them. Or there may be some other seemingly unrelated behavioural concern.
Writing down a few situations where your dog seems unhappy may highlight a growing problem. Staying beside your dog whilst they eat may help, in the short term at least. 

The act of eating:

Many times, fussy eating is actually more about eating than about the food. For instance, dogs with very short noses or undershot jaws may find it difficult to eat from a bowl, as may dogs with long ears.  The environment may also cause difficulties: a dog who doesn’t like the noise of a washing machine won’t like to eat near it; or the clanking of their name tag on the bowl might be unpleasant.

The food:

Finally, there are of course problems where dogs are actually picky about what they eat. Sometimes this is caused by preference to their puppy-time diet, or perhaps they’ve been ill whilst eating something. Most dogs will overcome any of the above ideas if the food is tasty enough; hence leading us to the fussy eater conclusion.

So, do please have a wider think about this. The important consideration when feeding is that they are getting a balanced diet. Doing some critical analysis on the ingredients in the food, rather than just randomly trying various options, may also provide you with answers.

For more information about dog food and behaviour, please look at www.TheGoodDogDiet.com and for behaviour help, please look at www.PawsAbility.co.uk.

Author Anna Patfield, Pawsability
First published in the Northern Times, Nov 2015

Considering HATE

Many pet owners and many who work with dogs use words such as Dominance, Stubborn and Hate when explaining dog behaviour.  Most trainers who consider themselves to be following what’s termed ‘modern methods’, become intensely frustrated with the persistence of such terms. Why is there such exasperation?

Well, along with some colleagues, I’ve been working on a new free e-book. The debate has been interesting and essentially, the problem appears to be terminology. Traditional beliefs consider dogs to be dominant when they pull on the lead or lie on the couch.  Science proves this untrue. Some arguments provide examples of such stealing toys to prove that dominance does exist. The book addresses the conundrum and provides practical training and behaviour advice.

Here’s a little insight into the book with regard to Hate.

We use the term Hate to describe our feelings for a plethora of scenarios. We may hate potholes. We may hate doughnuts. We may hate spiders. We may hate a person. But what do we actually mean? We feel frustrated that the potholes may damage our car. We don’t like the taste of doughnuts. We may well suffer from arachnophobia. We may feel very angry with a person. All quiet different. But, do we feel helpless to resolve these situations? Is it that frustration that we are trying to convey? And, do we then consider that we can’t help our dogs when they Hate something?

Well, the good news is, that for most scenarios, hate isn’t what’s happening in our dog’s world. They don’t (so far as we know) ruminate over what they may do in a given hateful situation. They don’t plan out ideas in their minds; they don’t think and play out options, which, for us, tends to intensify our feelings.

And that’s good because it means we can usually fairly easily help our dogs to feel calmer, more relaxed and behave more appropriately.

Let’s then consider some situations.

A common complaint is that a dog hates the posty. They may bark and growl and rip up the post or worse. When this all starts, the dog was probably simply scared of some potential intruder. Perhaps as he continues to ‘bark the posty away ‘ he becomes more and more frustrated. Perhaps he ends up feeling completely enraged. Perhaps this is hate, but, he probably isn’t planning revenge.

A second commonly used phrase is that a dog hates cats. For most situations, it would be valid to think that actually dogs love cats. They love the thrill and fun of the chase and just may end up in a successful catch. (We hope not of course!)

And our final example here, is when a dog attacks a hoover, we tend to say he hates the hoover. In fact, he is most likely scared of it although this may well escalate to anger.

So what can be done? Essentially there are 2 simple steps. We need to firstly, break the continuance of the habit and secondly, teach the dog how to behave differently; supporting them with a effective learning environment.

Of course, this is an over simplification. There’s no space to add any detail here and indeed, there may be much more going on in the dog’s life. But, if the behaviour’s not too bad, we really don’t need to just live with it; the solution may well be quite simple. For more intense and complex problems, please do seek out help from a good behaviourist.

And for more help, hints and tips please visit - www.PawsAbility.co.uk. To sign up for the free ebook please visit  Dogz Thinkz Differentz

(First published in the Northern Times 27th Oct 2017)

And finally... here's a helpful page to help to consider those things that your dog hates .. or dislikes ... or is scared or... http://chasingdogtales.com/14-things-your-dog-hates/#

More on Fireworks and Noise Fears

Bang Bash Boom

Does your dog have issues with noise? Fireworks, loud traffic, ghost noises (you know – the noises that you don’t hear), crow scarers, thunder etc? Have you just got a puppy or rescue dog and don’t know the answer to these questions? Please read on.

Fireworks fear is probably the noise fear that’s talked about most. And sadly, as ‘that time of year’ comes around, many need to pop into their vets again for some pills. And indeed, that is a sensible thing to do. There are new drugs available now that can help.  So, please do go and chat with your vet now.

However, many folks consider this a permanent problem - something that they need to put up with every year. Perhaps we go on holiday for the week, or send our dogs to a quiet kennel. Again, all good management strategies. 

The thing is, though, that for most dogs fireworks phobias can be fixed. Many have been helped with a simple noise desensitisation programme coupled with the use of some calming aid such as Adaptil (exposing your dog to the same pheromones that they experienced when they were just born).

Perhaps you’ve already tried this and it’s not worked? 

The bad news is that indeed it doesn’t work for some. But, the good news is that it does work for many and also that there are many other calming options: herbal, food supplements, clinical medication and complementary therapies. (Read about calming aids for dogs here.) It’s all about finding the one that works for your pooch. Unfortunately, we don’t know which one will absolutely work – because we can’t stick a needle in our dog’s brains and find out what’s imbalanced. So, we may need to try a few. 

But there’s another problem that’s frequently overlooked. Noise fears and other fears and anxieties and other types of behavioural problem or training issues all serve to exacerbate the intensity of actual fireworks problem. So please think more broadly about what bothers your dog – it may well help with fireworks issues.

What to do now?  Whether you know your dog or puppy is going to have a problem or not - go look at www.pawsability.co.uk - or directly here (My dog is scared of fireworks and bangs - help! ) and click through the fireworks links for help on both fixing and preparing for this year’s fireworks. There you’ll find help and advice on the various calming options, preparing a safe den, safety indoors and out, and general behaviour help too.

Originally published in the Northern Times Sept 2017

Recommended further reading - Toni Shelbourne's book  - Help, my dog is scared of fireworks.

Dogs Anonymous!

Today what’s grabbing my heart strings are the number of people out there with difficult dogs who think they are on their own. I mean, if I had £1 for every time I’d said, “don’t worry, you’re not alone”, I’d be writing for the Majorcan Gazette! Ha-ha, only kidding… you all know how much I love living in Scotland, especially with this summer heat we’ve been having (Oh no.. wait.. that's snow..!!).

Anyway, back to the point. There are about 9 million dogs in the UK.  How many do you think have training difficulties or behaviour problems?

A survey back in 2000 studied the prevalence of dog behaviour issues for dogs rehomed from rescue shelters. They did have a good response rate of 37%, but sadly mostly all of those dogs were reported to have behaviour problems including fearfulness, aggression and excessive barking.

Another more recent North Korean study reported in the Journal of Veterinary Behaviour, indicated that 84% of owners reported their dogs to have behaviour problems. We would presume to think that the rate in the UK would be much less. However aggression problems, in particular, appear to be on the rise, with over 7000 hospital admissions for dog bites in England in 2013-14.

It seems difficult to obtain a recent specific percentage figure for the UK. (If you have access to such research, please do email me). However, even if we considered only 10% of dogs to have behaviour problems then that is still very large figure – with lazy arithmetic - about 1 million dog.

So, really, you are not alone.

But back to my main point. Where would you get some support? There are certainly many support groups on Facebook and the likes, and many of them adhere to the modern rewarding and fear free methods of behaviour and training. These can be a great place to start, but, and apologies to those excellent groups, they can sometimes lead to a bewildering range of ideas to choose from. Sadly too, there are support groups out there that share outdated punishment based and emotionally challenging solutions.

Now, there’s another million $ phrase that I hear all the time – “I’ve tried everything”.

Maybe I should start an AA equivalent – Dogs Anonymous! “Hello, my name is John and I have an aggressive dog.” You get the picture.

Well the first step in that direction has led me to set up a series of group workshops, starting with reactive dogs. These small supportive friendly groups start out with a day’s education and are followed up with private or group support for people and for their dogs. And hopefully you’ll make some new friends with whom to share your woes. (For those of you out-with the Highlands / Aberdeenshire, I'd recommend looking up a good behaviourist running similar workshops).

The workshop objectives are to essentially empower you; to help you to believe in the path that you’re taking; to help you to recognize the good advice from the bad that may come your way from on line sources, seemingly new books or popular but sadly out of date TV programs. And, ultimately, to devise your own behaviour modification or training programme.

If you would like the support of new friends, to know more about why not to pin or role your dog, why it doesn’t matter who eats first and whether it’s ok to cuddle them when you come home, then please do have a look at www.pawsability.co.uk/workshop or give me a call.

(Main article first published in the Northern Times, March 2017)