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Emergency Commands

July 16, 2016 / Sam Shadow (SMSHDW)

Increasing survivability over time by creating emergency commands and cultivating a cautious mindset

The first emergency command I taught Ellie was a bird call I mentioned briefly in the Off-Leash Training article. By cupping your hands and blowing air along the gap between your thumbs you can produce a very unique and loud sound. It alone should grab your dogs attention and curiosity. Once they come over, give them a luxurious and uncommon reward. It needs to outweigh whatever they’re engaged with and a normal treat won’t do. What’s especially useful about this command is that you don’t need anything special except your hands and a lungful of air. Making it ideal for an emergency situation where you might fumble trying to pull out a whistle or hit the button on your radio collar.

The second training exercise is what I refer to as “emergency mode.” I suddenly become serious and use a hushed, but urgent voice with Ellie. I attempt to “plead” or “reason” with her in a tone that humans would use in an emergency situation where they’re trying to escape a looming threat. This sudden switch sparks Ellie’s curiosity and she becomes surprisingly complicit as we quickly exit the park. I haven’t fully trained this behavior yet, but what I’d like to accomplish is an “emergency” command which results in a rapid exit from wherever we’re at without getting distracted. No stopping to sniff, no socialization, just a concerted effort to put distance between ourselves and some danger.

The third is a tool that falls more under “safety,” but I still wanted to mention it. I purchased a cowbell for off-leash training and hikes. It’s a lot louder than the jingle from her collar and helps keep me aware of her position. Often times when off-leashing she ends up behind me and the cowbell alerts if she were to chase or disappear from sight. It was also useful indoors during the puppy stages when she would get into trouble more often.

Last up is a safety related style of training. I am intentionally severe about certain indiscretions because I am considering both the present moment and future possibilities. I demand a level of compliance because I can imagine situations in which disobedience could result in serious injury or death. In a particular slice of time it might seem overly controlling, but when you switch your focus to long-term goals it’s fitting to set strict boundaries. This applies primarily around busy streets, exploring outside acceptable areas, not returning to “come” or the emergency call above, etc. It’s about being cautious and thinking ahead. An example is the seriousness with which I take chasing small animals. It’s a serious offense because she could potentially chase them into the street when we’re off-leashing. I don’t actually care if she chases them, but I am forced to train her to avoid future consequences.

UPDATE 2016-11-07: Ellie lost track of me in the park tonight and ran away. It was scary, not only because I lost complete control of her, but because it was so unusual. She’s never done anything like that before and for a few seconds I thought I might not be able to catch her. Fortunately, it occurred to me as I chased her, that I had designed an emergency call for this exact situation. I cupped my hands and blew and saw her come to a halt a distance in front of me. I blew it a second time and knelt down like I used to when she was a puppy. She beelined back to me and I breathed a sigh of relief. I believe this call worked because it’s entirely unique. Ellie has never heard anything like it and it has only ever originated from me. Unlike her name, yells, whistles, and other noises, this call has a specific meaning to her and usually a high food reward. In the dark of night, when visuals are unclear and sound can bounce around, this call stopped her in her tracks and returned her to me.

Priming

July 1, 2016 / Sam Shadow (SMSHDW)

Setting a mental state into motion before you actually need it to increase the probabilities of success and to realistically adjust your expectations

Priming is the idea of setting a mental state into motion before you actually need it. In this case, it involves training indoors for short, intense bursts to get your dog engaged and focused. I’ve noticed a distinct difference between the dog who is primed and the dog who isn’t. And of course, the more you do it, the better they’ll listen over time.

Training outside can be challenging because of all the distractions, but priming can give you a higher probability of success. It’s also much easier to train inside which means it’s low cost for a high benefit. I’ve had even greater success by priming outside around my building and THEN going for a walk. This involves strict training out the door, down the elevator, through the lobby, and in circles around the building. Once I feel we’ve reached a good point we depart to explore the city. I also usually restrict the first few social encounters as well. Think of it as a fading practice. You prime inside, then outside, then for the first five minutes of your walk allowing more freedom the longer you go. Use commands, keep them engaged by requiring eye contact, and setup boundaries that require them to walk politely alongside of you. The goal is to slowly expand outward and slowly diminish the rules until you have a well behaved dog.

The idea of priming came to me when I started to treat outdoor environments as a completely separate training area. Meaning that it has it’s own progress that’s disconnected from indoor success. Just because Ellie sits, stays, and comes inside, doesn’t mean she’ll succeed at the same level outside. This was a helpful perspective to adopt because it also required me to reset my expectations. Expecting Ellie’s indoor performance to match what happened outside was naive and unnecessarily increased frustration. The outdoor world is a fascinating place for a young puppy full of distractions and new challenges. Adapt accordingly.

Another helpful tactic during the first five minutes of walking is to use treats and count out eye contact. I do this by counting each glance up to 5, taking out a treat, and then counting to 10 before I reward her (read more here). I also tell her “no” when she tries to stop and tug gently on her leash to redirect her focus forward. The objective is to remain focused, keep walking, and give me eye contact for a sustained period of time. Anything outside of that is not allowed (besides potty breaks and greeting best friends of course).

Don’t expect these things to work right away though. It gives you an advantage, but requires time and effort to optimize. Be patient, accept failure, and keep trying. It WILL shape your dog over weeks and months, if you make it consistent. A simple hack to help improve performance is to show and hide treats in your pocket. There is a noticeable difference between Ellie with treats and Ellie without, but I can achieve similar results by showing her treats and then hiding them back in my pocket. I distribute just a few in the beginning and randomly along our walk to remind her that they exist. This increases the likelihood of good behavior and doesn’t require a treat bag or excessive rewarding.

Sometimes during these early training sessions you might feel bad restricting your dog or get looks from people when you avoid socialization. However, it’s ok to temporarily apply strict directives, not just in single sessions, but over a period of time as well. It can help lay a foundation for future good behavior and I’ve found that dog training relies not just on situational knowledge, but also an ability to predict future events. Priming and strict walks might seem overbearing at times, but look forward and see the potential for a positive walking experience that’s only 15 minutes away and the well-behaved, trustworthy dog that develops over the coming months.

Priming is a useful tool that helps shape your dog and boosts immediate results. It also helps readjust your expectations and reveals the differences between indoor and outdoor training. By testing out the recommendations above you can start to better understand your canine friend and realize the deliberate effort, the consistency, and the commitment required to achieve great results.

Off-Leash Training

June 24, 2016 / Sam Shadow (SMSHDW)

Train early, rigorously, and exploit the benefits of puppyhood – it doesn’t last forever

I adopted Ellie between 7 and 8 weeks of age started with off-leash training immediately. This meant she had freedom in the park to run and play while also learning commands and boundaries. It was important to do this as a young puppy for a few reasons:

Puppies are easy to manage – they can’t go far, they’re generally more timid and will stick by your side, and they’re just easier to manage overall. This means there’s inherent trust and you don’t have much to worry about it while training. It allows you to stay focused on what you’re trying to accomplish without thinking they might bolt or disappear.
I was especially energetic and motivated to train – I’ve wanted a dog for a long time and getting Ellie was an exciting new chapter in my life. I made sure to exploit those positive emotions by training, socializing, and learning everything I could during those first couple months. Off-leashing was a great part of this because I was patient, confident, and accepting of failure.
It builds a foundation – Ellie learned what was acceptable and off-limits within a safe setting during those early months. This would have been much more difficult to train later on when she was faster and more independent. Take advantage of it before it’s too late.
As a bonus, park rangers didn’t seem to care that she was off-leash. Puppies seem to get a free pass because they’re so awesome and adorable. Take advantage of that as well.

Between all these things, those first months are basically the golden age for off-leash training, but off-leashing isn’t always a good idea. Ellie has gone through phases of varying obedience and after 4-5 months of age she started to become more independent and I could no longer trust her. This lasted for awhile, but eventually through all the other training we did, she became trustworthy again. During that period though I tried a few partial off-leash options. Initially it was simply a second cheaper leash that I allowed to drag on the ground behind her. It served as a possible life-line I could grab or step on if I thought she was about to run. That worked for awhile, but eventually she became too fast, wanted to explore too far, and was running away too frequently. So I purchased a 25-foot lunge line which gave me more time to catch her. It also has a rubber stopper on the end which means you can step on it and stop a runaway dog in their tracks. Please note however you should absolutely NEVER do this with a collar. She wore a harness from day 1 to avoid neck injury and stopping a dog in their tracks with a long leash could be very dangerous.

Ellie is now a little over 1 year of age and, for the most part, those early months of training helped instill the basic lessons of good off-leash behavior. Unfortunately I don’t off-leash at the park much anymore because, once your dog grows up, park rangers are much more inclined to warn and cite you. Instead we’ve turned to off-leash training in quiet neighborhoods (which is a bit of a challenge in the heart of Denver, but they do exist). I would be really uncomfortable off-leashing without those initial months of training and having to start fresh on sidewalks would seem much more dangerous. The major point to walk away with here is that without that initial foundation it would be highly risky to start training off-leash capabilities on sidewalks. I needed to instill those initial lessons with her in a wide-open safe environment like a park before I could trust her on sidewalks with cars passing by.

How can I achieve successful off-leash training?

Choose an ideal time to train – The ideal time to train off-leash is after your dog is worn out. For instance, Ellie may only off-leash a small portion of our walk to the dog park, but a high portion on the way back. She’s tired and well socialized so a dog across the street won’t seem as appealing. This isn’t a permanent thing either. You’re exploiting their low energy to teach them basic lessons and eventually you will be able to off-leash in both directions without worry. I also off-leash any time vehicle and foot traffic is low. Sunday mornings, certain holidays, right after a rain storm, or during a snow storm we off-leash like crazy because there a few distractions and dangers.

Teach “cross” and the danger of roads – Another helpful lesson to teach is the importance of a “cross” command and the off-limits nature of roads. The “cross” command happens at crosswalks and is very strict. Early on it meant she must sit before we cross the road. Sometimes this meant standing awkwardly at a corner waving on cars as I stubbornly insisted Ellie sit and give me eye contact. Eventually I lightened up as she got better and now we comfortably pause at crosswalks and proceed once I give the signal. I’ve also made sure to scold any walking into streets and especially if she runs across them. All the fun ends immediately and she is crated if she runs across a street. There is no room for error and it must be taken seriously. These lessons have helped stop Ellie in her tracks when approaching roads and even stopped her from chasing another dog into a road (luckily there were no cars). I also learned a good addition to the “cross” command by bringing out a treat on the other side of the street, leading her 10-20 paces beyond the road (down the sidewalk) and rewarding at that point. The idea being that “cross” doesn’t end right away, it ends when there’s distance between her and the street.

Teach “no chase” and “leave it” training for critters – One area of foresight I had early on was to teach Ellie not to chase squirrels, birds, and other critters. The original idea was that one day we would go hiking and I didn’t want her chasing animals into the woods. However, it became rapidly apparent that this training was even more useful off-leash. Now Ellie doesn’t chase or pull towards critters and I always make sure to continually train her to leave them whenever they cross our path. You might think it’s mean to block her instinct to chase, but on the flip side we’ve had some really fascinating interactions with small animals. We’ve gotten within 2-3 feet of squirrels and geese, a few paces from rabbits, and made some feline friends as well and Ellie just stares curiously at them without lunging or barking. In my mind the trade-off of not chasing is well worth it.

Be stern, be clear, be confident, and be vocal – when you’re off-leash training you need to be especially loud and clear. You need to pay attention and confidently express yourself. Off-leash training should be taken seriously and be a deliberate training exercise. Say “no” and mean it. Set boundaries, be cautious, and be preemptive. If you suspect they might run, chase, or become frightened, trust your gut and leash them quickly. Don’t take chances, it’s not worth it. Don’t let your dog fail off-leash either because failure, despite how we conceptualize it as humans, may become learned behavior for the dog. For instance, a dog approaches and you don’t catch yours from running up and saying “hi.” You brush it off, but it happens a few more times, and now the dog has learned that this is an OK behavior. This is a dangerous path and you need to be strict and set unbreakable boundaries. I also recommend training your dog to sit and let other dogs pass-by without interaction. This will help them learn that you alone get to decide who they encounter and will be more willing to accept a safe signal then making the decision for themselves.

Always reward “come” and passive returns – before seriously off-leashing your dog you should be training the “come” command. If your dog doesn’t want to come back to you off-leash training is much more dangerous. Work on that first. I also reward passive returns where Ellie comes to me without being told to. Just being by my side is “good” behavior regardless if I asked for it or not and she’s rewarded for it. I also instruct her to come off-leash to show that I want her near me, but it doesn’t always result in getting leashed back up. This is another important point to drive across and bleeds into theoretical territory. I have a theory that being on and off-leash regularly makes her more complicit because she knows that more off-leash freedom will happen. I also give her lots of freedom on and off-leash to explore and be herself and I think that helps make the dog want to come back to you, more willing to obey, more willing to leash up, etc.

Emergency call – I also taught Ellie an emergency call I make by cupping my hands and blowing air through them. It sounds like a bird call and is unique to us. Every call is rewarded with the best treats I have and I strictly reserve it either for training or for what it’s meant to do: save her life. During our training sessions with it, I’ve managed to stop her in her tracks and return to me because of the special high reward nature. Hopefully I’ll never have to actually use it but it’s nice to know it’s in my arsenal.

Using commands off-leash – It’s important to train like normal when off-leashing. This will drive across the importance of obedience regardless of whether they’re leashed or not. It also helps keep their attention on you and improves eye contact from a distance. Ellie actually “checks-in” with me regularly when we’re off-leash to make sure I don’t get too far or to make sure I’m still following. You should also be cognizant of your dog’s current mental state. There are times when Ellie is very obedient and off-leashing is easy. There are other times when she’s hyper or in her own little world. You can test this by issuing random commands during a walking session to make sure they’re listening. Gauge their response and try to determine whether off-leashing is a good idea. The random commands also test this along the way and if they start to become more disobedient, then it’s time to leash up.

Pretending to off-leash – If you’re nervous about off-leash training you can test in the middle-ground by pretending to off-leash. This simply means keeping the leash loose, chasing your dog to avoid it restricting them, and instead issue commands to convince them to comply. If they listen and work with you without being forced or pulled around by the leash, that is a good sign that maybe you can trust them off-leash.

Lastly, off-leash training provides a useful metric – once you unclip your dog and let them run free you will quickly realize how well trained your dog actually is. When they’re on-leash you can’t necessarily tell this and how well they’ll respond to commands, come back, stop from a distance, etc. It helps expose those weaknesses so you can focus on training them.

Off-leashing is a wonderfully positive experience for both dog and human. Walks are fluid, unrestrictive, and free. I find them to be significantly more positive than leashed walks and it’s generally more fun and playful. Learn to recognize when off-leash training is optimal and begin working with your dog to increase trust. Start slow and work up so you have realistic expectations about what will happen. You shouldn’t unclip them and not know what the next minute or two will bring. It’s a serious training endeavor with excellent rewards if you’re willing to bear the responsibility.

Disclaimer: Ellie is a fairly lazy and timid dog. My off-leash experiences may differ from your own. I also have a fairly good grasp on dog training overall and may have other knowledge and insights that make our particular case more successful. Be smart about off-leash training. It can be dangerous if not taken seriously. Even though Ellie does really well, I NEVER off-leash her near busy streets. I am extremely attentive and cautious when off-leashing and you should be too. Protect your furry friend because they don’t know any better. You have been warned!

Socialization Insights

February 15, 2016 / Sam Shadow (SMSHDW)

It’s more than just socialization. I made a mistake by thinking that the park, dog park, and socialization was enough. It’s also variety that matters. Colfax, Downtown, doggie daycare, letting others watch her, etc. is really important for them to trust strangers and not get overwhelmed in strange environments. If I did it again, I’d do more of those more frequently. Dog swap was Jackie and Justin? Let Pat and Megan watch her?

Sometimes not training, and letting things happen, is good training. Let events transpire so it occurs to the dog naturally as it would in a natural environment. This is especially prevalent in socialization. Humans interfere far too much and I think it does damage to healthy canine relationships. They know how to resolve issues and set boundaries, only step in if it becomes aggressive.

Theory: If I sit on the same bench every time, will she trust that I will be there in the future and feel comfortable enough to leave my side?

Positive vs Negative Reinforcement

February 10, 2016 / Sam Shadow (SMSHDW)

Using carefully managed negative reinforcement as a tool to shape your dog and protect them from catastrophic dangers

There seems to be room for confusion in the positive vs negative reinforcement arena. As always with a societal pendulum swing people get caught up in the extremes, imagining that if negative reinforcement is a bad and dated methodology, then positive reinforcement is strictly the way to go.

Positive reinforcement to me is the base at which we should operate as good dog owners. As often as possible we should be utilizing methods which empower and support our canine friends as they explore and become accustomed to the world, but negative reinforcement has its place as well.

I discovered early on with Ellie that there were thresholds she crossed which closed off my ability to “reason with her.” These thresholds required me to either forcibly remove her from situations or use more aggressive behavior to regain her focus. I never hit her, but a stern voice and a strong grip can go a long way in making them realize you mean business. I also had success with swats from a magazine which made a loud slapping noise that would catch her attention. The point is that you are trying to find a sweet spot between too little intervention and too much aggression. And this sort of action needs to be practiced so that when you do really get frustrated you set boundaries on how aggressive you’re willing to go. It’s similar to the advice that expressing your anger is healthy and that bottling it up isn’t. To me it seems perfectly reasonable to express negative reinforcement in a safe, painless, but effective manner.

Additionally, you could treat negative reinforcement training as tool in your arsenal. Rather than stumbling upon it during legitimate frustration, in which you risk being overly aggressive, you could simply engage it as a tool you don’t want to use, but which provides some effective means for shaping your dogs behavior. Set limits, start low and work up, experiment at the right moments until you and your dog understand what boundaries are set and what “NO” really means. Just to clarify though, I’m not suggesting using negative reinforcement needlessly, I’m saying prepare your mind for the moment when it needs to be used so opportunities don’t pass by. You probably already do this but it’s unmanaged and hasn’t been reflected on.

I would also argue from an abstract theoretical view that negative reinforcement defines boundaries that would otherwise not exist. If you have a dog who’s never experienced an aversive response, they may never understand what “NO” really means. Ellie responds immediately and effectively on the rare occasions I raise my voice or display certain body language. This is because she understands the degree to which aversive action can occur if her behavior continues. She’s never experienced the maximum, but she experienced a degree and that’s the important point to walk away with. Too much aggression and your dog will fear you, too little and their memories won’t retrieve anything relevant. This can be dangerous because the world can kill them. I’d argue that the dog who’s experienced aversive action will more likely register that a potentially deadly behavior should cease immediately.

I also don’t consider it a strategically realistic approach to dog training for the average person either. Strict positive reinforcement would require a vast understanding of dog psychology to employ because you would need to accurately predict the future results of your methods. Negative reinforcement has the uncanny ability of quickly modifying bad behavior that would otherwise require a radical rethinking about how to resolve it with only a positive approach. Most dog owners don’t seem nearly capable of pulling that off not to mention the amount of time, patience, and energy it would take.

So a more accurate description of proper positive and negative reinforcement training in my opinion should be “mixed reinforcement.” I think the terms themselves create ambiguity for the average dog owner. Most people I observe aren’t intuitive enough to understand that just because something is labeled a certain way, or expressed as a progressive and positive direction, doesn’t mean it is a blanket solution for all circumstances. Although we do need to be equally careful about supporting negative reinforcement for basically the same reason. But I fear that people may begin to completely disregard negative reinforcement training and thus never reflect on the utility it could provide you and your dog. This is a problem because anytime we lose the ability to ask questions or explore new information we’ve lost some level of critical thinking.

Lastly, as negative reinforcement becomes less socially acceptable, I fear that we lose the ability to properly scrutinize one another as it leaves the public sphere. I’ve seen dog owners who thought they were alone use negative reinforcement, occasionally to levels I considered too aversive, without any public scrutiny. And I fear even more what goes on behind closed doors in most households. But if we were more open to discussing the topic we could help set limits and share ideas about methods that minimize pain and fear, but maximize effectiveness.

An Overview of Response Time Training

February 1, 2016 / Sam Shadow (SMSHDW)

Improving and maintaining response times by adjusting your strategies over time

When I first got Ellie as a little puppy she listened well and stuck by my side, but as time passed she grew more confident and independent. She began running away to meet other dogs despite commands to stay. She became more distracted and felt less compelled to listen. It was harder to grab her attention and if she wasn’t giving me eye contact there was a significant dip in obedience. That’s when I began considering “response time” as a new focus to our training.

Unfortunately, training response time is challenging and hard to influence without rigorous consistency. My commands are just not as interesting as the outside world and this is problematic because eye contact and breaking away from interesting stimuli can greatly improve your dogs obedience. If they glance at you, even for a second, the command to stay and not chase after another dog suddenly gains more weight and they’re hesitant. So how do you make responding to your voice more consistent?

My original hypothesis was simply that training and rewarding responsiveness whenever possible will eventually yield results based on the assumption that she will grow more bored with the world as she gets older (i.e. there are less surprises, less interesting, engaging stimuli and thus she will become more inclined to respond over time). But this mindset is hard to maintain because it is inherently frustrating when you’re on a schedule, when you want to train, etc. I kept telling myself, “she’s young, just reward when she does give attention, reward eye contact, don’t repeat commands too frequently, just reward for the quick ones.” But I also found myself occasionally forcing eye contact with my hand, pulling her away from interesting things to try and regain control, etc. It made for less positive walking experiences and thus was not an optimal solution. Again the issue being simply that trying to be patient is not always easy and so dealing with a lack of response time is just hard to deal with. One of the other problems with this hypothesis is that it breaks down if you encounter novel stimuli throughout the dogs life. If she gets bored of her normal life, but travels with me to the mountains or a new locale I should expect a dog who no longer listens.

Another aspect of this training is that we often look at behavior as either “good” or “bad”, but there is a third type to consider: “neutral behavior”. Neutral behavior is something that changes frequently based on setting updated expectations about behavior. In this case, “not listening or responding” is neutral because of her age and training experience, but eventually “not listening or responding” will become “bad” if she does well in the future and I update my expectations about what is reasonably expected from her. Neutral behavior doesn’t require a response from you, it is neither good nor bad. Instead it helps diffuse frustration when training challenging commands because you have one additional non-bad area your dog can operate in. Otherwise you might lump in not responding quickly as “bad” when running away from you is bad, but not listening is neutral, and quick response times are good.

So I went back to the drawing board and began to consider new strategies and also what I might be doing wrong. One recent instance came to mind. I was in the elevator with another person and Ellie was overexcited. I tried to get her to sit and eventually had to force her down. I realized after reflection that I was skipping steps here. This is kind of hard to explain but basically I imagine two extreme ends: on the left is an overexcited dog that doesn’t want to listen, on the other a well-behaved, calm sitting dog. I tried to jump from the left to the right without any intermediate stages. First up should have been a resounding “no” to break her focus and tell her that she’s doing something wrong. It probably would have taken a few of those plus a shortened leash and a commanding voice. From there I should have re-positioned her away from the person and focused on getting eye contact. Sometimes this means kneeling down to their eye level so they really know you’re talking to them. From there I should have used treats or faked a treat to get her to pay closer attention followed by a sit command. This would have been far more realistically achievable. The lesson here is to start at the most basic level of a desired behavior and work towards an actual goal. If you don’t know what those stages are this is a good red flag that you might need to study up and reflect on it. Remember, we know what we want, but they are relying on a loose understanding of our desired behavior.

From here I started focusing a lot of attention to rewarding eye contact and treating walks more like training sessions and less like an opportunity for exercise. I stopped forcing eye contact but also stopped looking at this as something I couldn’t train. And from there I began to realize some new opportunities for how to train response time which will be covered in Part 2 (I have to stop writing because Ellie is whining and wants to go outside).

Current Walking Optimizations

February 1, 2016 / Sam Shadow (SMSHDW)

I am successfully walking Ellie at 8 months without a harness or a gentle lead by doing a few key things. The first is that I basically just focus on her. When I work with Ellie I get intensely focused and basically ignore other people and dogs. Sometimes I imagine it must seem rude because I don’t say hi and I barely interact with them (even if they’re interacting with me) because Ellie gets my attention. Without being distracted, I can notice and correct behavior much more easily than worrying about being polite to a stranger I will most likely never see again. The second thing is that I heavily focus on eye contact for our walks and spend the vast majority of time looking down at her waiting for the next successful glance. When it happens I say, “Ellie 1 good,” which indicates I want her to look at me when I say Ellie, I count 1 which indicates where she’s at the in the process towards receiving a treat, and “good” so she knows I am happy with her. At the count of 3 I take a treat from the pouch so she know she’s making progress and then give it to her at 5. Eventually I will up this to 5 engaging the treat and 10 giving it to her. When I initially started this process she received a treat at every glance. I also had variations like only giving treats when I said, “Ellie,” instead of counting when she looks at me. I also tried doing it based on the general distance we traveled like counting sidewalk squares or making it to the end of a block. You will need to customize based on your particular dog, but the overall concept seems to work pretty well. I noticed a decrease in the amount of pulling and an increase in overall good behavior by following this process.

When passing dogs or people Ellie will get an excited, intense look in her eyes because she wants to meet them. I try to catch her attention prior to this with a treat and eye contact. This allows us to almost always pass by without jumping, barking, or any other undesirable behavior. Focus on the dog, not the passing people. Maintain eye contact, distract your dog with the treat, and they will learn to pass calmly. If you can’t keep their attention, or they still jump or lunge, try adding “barriers” in front of them. What this means is that at 0 barriers you have a dog with existing momentum walking towards another dog or human. It is 1 small step away from increasing that momentum and misbehaving. By stopping ahead of time and having your dog sit, you’ve added 1 barrier to the mix. Now they need to stand and regain momentum from rest to misbehave. You can add another barrier by having them lay down which requires even more energy to misbehave or you can move out of the way and sit on the side with additional space between you and the passing party. With enough distance, the space alone becomes a barrier to interaction.

I use the “roam” command either as a command or if she deviates on her own. Any time we leave the sidewalk or path I say “roam” to indicate that this change in direction/environment/etc. is different. I think it also reinforces her understanding of the roam command overall so she realizes it’s a reward. She doesn’t get treats during roam, but I do treat the experience as a reward itself.

If she consistently starts pulling because there’s a dog in front of us, or the park is coming up, or there’s a squirrel nearby I cease moving in that direction, turn us around, and say, “start over.” We walk roughly 20-30 feet back, turn, and try again. If this continue to fail, which it sometimes does, I turn us around and we go in an entirely new direction. This happened recently when heading to Petco. She knew where we were going and I looped multiple times back and forth, trying to regain control and stop her from pulling until I finally decided to completely change direction. We walked significantly further than we needed to, but she was far more well-behaved when we arrived. Which is a win in my book.

Lastly, I pretend she’s off-leash so as to never fully rely on the leash as my control mechanism. Instead I use commands while the leash is loose, I compromise with her, sometimes I lose the battle of gaining her attention or stopping her from eating something, but it enhances the training experience by forcing me to find things that work. Once you start relying solely on the leash to control your dog you’ve lost a significant battle.

An Overview of Puppy Socialization

February 1, 2016 / Sam Shadow (SMSHDW)

“Early socialisation is absolutely vital to ensure a balanced and well-behaved adult dog — current statistics show that more young adult dogs are put down because of behavioural problems than die from the diseases we vaccinate against.”

– Source

Shortly after adopting Ellie, my vet instructed me to avoid high traffic areas like the park, unfamiliar dogs, puppy classes, and the dog park. I asked for how long and she said until the vaccination process was complete at 16 weeks or 4 months of age. Ellie was currently 2 months old so that meant for another 2 months I should limit her socialization. I am skeptical of this advice.

The rate of transmission for serious diseases among responsible dog owners (or well cared for dogs) seems to be very low whereas the consequence of avoiding socialization during this early critical period seems very high. In fact, of the many dogs I’ve come to know in my neighborhood over the past 2 years I don’t know of any that have died from illness. So you can avoid a low probability health risk for a possible high probability behavioral risk. In my opinion, that is not worth the trade-off.

Ellie met hundreds of dogs in those first 2 months before she was fully vaccinated. We were out every day for hours when I first got her because I wanted to make sure she had a wide range of experiences. It was a blast and I can’t imagine sacrificing those experiences just to avoid the low probability event of her getting sick. I will admit that, if it happened, I would have felt terrible, but that doesn’t change the math. The other important factor to consider is that, during those first few months, you’ll have more energy and patience, and be more intimately involved in your puppy’s life. If I would have waited, I might have been worn out and less patient because I was starting to deal with the harder side of training a puppy. Do not underestimate those early months and how critical they can be for both you and your dog.

With that being said, you need to use common sense. I did avoid some things like the dog park, doggy daycare, and puppy classes because I felt it increased the likelihood of transmission too much. I also avoided dogs that looked visibly ill or were dirty/rough looking. Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to decline socialization if you feel the other dog is sick or seems unfriendly. Pay really close attention, don’t let your puppy dig in the dirt as bacteria can live in it. Don’t let them eat trash and weird things off the ground. Don’t let them drink shared or dirty water. All these little things greatly diminish the probability of illness while still allowing you to socialize. You also need to remember that the vet has to give you “good advice”. If they tell you not to worry and then your puppy dies you may hold them liable, but it doesn’t mean they’re right. I’ve asked for training advice from them before and they don’t seem to know any better than anyone else. They’re not dog trainers. They don’t necessarily delve into the world of critical periods and optimized training. They ARE experts in health though and their advice should be considered, but ultimately you as an intelligent adult needs to weigh that with knowledge from other fields.

Lastly, there are a couple other important notes about early socialization. First, be cautious about people picking up your puppy. Ellie was nearly dropped once and actually dropped a second time. Fortunately she wasn’t injured, but people don’t understand that when you go to set a puppy down they try to wriggle out of your arms. That’s how both instances happened and I’ve seen it happen to other people with puppies. Only someone who has a puppy or recently had a puppy should be fully trusted. The second note is that puppies tend to frighten easily, especially at night. One instance sticks out in my mind when a friendly, but large Bernese Mountain Dog approached her at night. She squealed in fear and tried to get away. I’ve wondered if that event and others have contributed to her nervousness of night walks. If I were to do it all over again I’d be more cautious about how fast other dogs approach (to give her more time to feel comfortable). In the very early stages I probably should have just picked her up and held her while those dogs approached.

The Early Lessons of Walking a Puppy

January 26, 2016 / Sam Shadow (SMSHDW)

The intricacies and ever-evolving strategies of walking a puppy

When I first got Ellie my focus for walks was on tiring her out. It worked well because she was little and needed lots of rest, but after the first few months she grew more energetic. The idea of wearing her out from a walk no long worked and I realized my focus on that aspect was taking away from actual training and so I adjusted.

I also realized that just because we went outside to “take a walk,” doesn’t mean I need to actually bring her anywhere. Instead I started to focus on walking her around the building I live in. Nothing more than loops around the parking lot and neighboring sidewalks. This kept training fresh in my mind and allowed us to repetitively train different elements over and over instead of facing distractions at the park.

But our walking experiences were still combative. She would pull, fight against her harness, get overly excited to meet other dogs, or simply want to sniff every inch of grass. As a result, I began to be more forceful about our walks. They needed to be strict and the pendulum swung in the other direction. Those walks were equally frustrating because neither of us enjoyed it.

If she became too interested in an area I would avoid it. If she really wanted to sniff somewhere it was suddenly off-limits. I still feel this may be a valid strategy to some degree because it forces attention and removes distractions, but it also just seems mean. She’s young and curious, the world is a fascinating place full of interesting smells, I don’t want to be the thing that stops her from experiencing it.

My expectations were wildly optimistic as well, due mostly to the fact that Ellie started out so strong. She’s intelligent, submissive, and excelled at commands within weeks of getting her. But as time moved on she grew increasingly independent and I didn’t adjust my expectations to match this new challenge. As a result, I grew increasingly frustrated with her performance.

Eventually this led me to reassess the situation entirely because something clearly wasn’t working. I implemented a compromise between strict walks and total freedom. If she requested to explore a patch of grass during our walk, she was required to make eye contact, sit, and sometimes perform additional commands before I issued a “roam” command to her. Upon “roam”, I would loosen the leash and wave my hand to indicate she is free to explore. This method has worked fairly well and I continue to use it today with some improvements that I will mention in a future video.

However, I noticed that if she roams too frequently the rest of the walk can become increasingly dysfunctional. This runs contrary to my starting hypothesis in which I thought that lots of early free roam would “get it out of her system”. This has not been the case. You need to strike a continual balance between obedience and freedom.

Overall I’ve found that setting boundaries and defining the walking experience has been most optimal. I try to let her roam frequently, but not too frequently. I deny some of her requests, but I do not forcibly pull her away. Instead I keep the leash taut until she realizes she can’t win. Then I reward her when she comes back to me and we continue our walk peacefully. This middle-ground of free roam and boundaries and patience on my part has worked wonderfully in the past few months.

I also believe the success of this new method was primarily due to a change in how I approached walks. As I mentioned earlier I thought of walks as a chance for Ellie to get fresh air, exercise, socialize, and explore. It’s what I envisioned a good owner would do with their new puppy. I wanted walks to be her time considering how infrequently a dog gets to “make decisions” and feel free. But this wasn’t the case for us. That freedom at this young age simply spiraled into a dog that wanted to misbehave more. Our walks have significantly improved with discipline and more importantly once I started to treat them all as a training exercise.