Dog Manners

Cover via Amazon

It is hard sometimes realizing that dogs don't really like everything that people do to them in a spirit of kindness and love. In McConnell's The Other End of the Leash, she includes some photos of people hugging dogs where the dogs don't look particularly happy.

She also shares two stories that make the point as well.

Imagine walking down the street and seeing someone whom you know and are happy to see. What do you do? Most of us call out his name, maybe wave to get his attention, and move directly toward him. It’s especially polite to look directly at his face as you get closer, walking straight toward him, looking right into his eyes and smiling. As you get close enough to touch, you might reach out your hand to shake his or wrap both arms around his chest in a warm hug. Perhaps you move your face directly to his and kiss his cheek. The ultimate in friendliness is to look deep into his eyes and kiss him directly on the mouth. Ummmm, so sweet and friendly. Not if you’re a dog, it’s not. That oh-so-polite primate approach is appallingly rude in canine society. You might as well urinate on a dog’s head. (pg. 14)

That’s the way Letterman greets Julia Roberts, and that’s the way we all greet people we really like. In dog society that would be a scene from a sci-fi horror movie. You just couldn’t be more rude to a dog unless you walked up and bit him. (pg. 18)

Since I've read this part of her book, I can't help but watch my dog closely to see when she is putting up with something that she isn't too happy about on her own. She's a good dog.

Book Review: Dog Traing Books

In my recent post on dog training, I promised I’d write another post about dog training books that I found to be helpful. I begin by repeating what I said there, I didn’t find any truly great dog training books until after my dog had gotten by her first puppy training topics (crate training and house training in particular). None of the books I’m going to review today are truly puppy oriented. You may wish to read Ian Dunbar’s Before and After Getting Your Puppy: The Positive Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, and Well-Behaved Dog. However, I do agree with reviewers who say that the book is way over top in terms of realistic time commitment you can make to training a puppy and gives no comfort that even if your puppy has a few accidents all will work out okay.

I have three books that I think will help a new dog owner to train their dog. I think it would be wise to read all three, but time and funds might interfere with that goal so I’ll try to give you some tips on which to use for certain situations.

The book I suggest you read to set up a training program and get you going in socializing your dog is The Power of Positive Dog Training by Pat Miller. Miller will give you both the theory behind what you are doing and very specific steps and a plan to use with your dog. She even provides charts in the back to help you set up and keep track of what you’re doing with your dog. She’ll give you specific steps to train certain behaviors and often gives two different ways to get at that behavior. She gives some of the common mistakes that dogs and trainers make while learning these new behaviors.

Next, on my list is a short book, Family Friendly Dog Training: A Six Week Program for You and Your Dog by Patricia B. McConnell and Aimee M. Moore. This is the book for the impatient owner who wants results and doesn’t really care to know a lot of theory. The book will walk you through six weeks of learning with your dog. It replicates a real life training class for you. The book does include some theory and philosophy but not as much as The Power of Positive Dog Training.

My wrap up suggestion is The Culture Clash: A Revolutionary New Way to Understanding the Relationship Between Humans and Domestic Dogs by Jean Donaldson. This books takes what you’ve learned in the previous two books and expands your knowledge and skill set. Ms. Donaldson sites studies of what successful trainers do compared to owners who are struggling. She spends time on the concept of shaping and she also talks about fading your reward program so this book is a great wrap up to a training program.

I hope that these books will help other new dog owners to train their dogs.

Obedience Wars

Image via Wikipedia

Last year when we went to a friend's house in the country and picked up our cute little Labrador puppy, I had no idea that I was about to enter a battlefield over how to train a dog.
I soon needed help.

Although Sunshine proved a quick study when it came to toilet training and learning some commands. She was not a quick study in stopping annoying behaviors. In at least two instances I had to change my behavior so that she wouldn't have the object that made her so annoying. In one instance, I put away an outside chair that she had decided was hers and she should be allowed to defend by nipping at me when I sat in it. I also gave up wearing long nightgowns and bathrobes for the summer since she spent an inordinate amount of time hanging on those robes by her teeth. I'm happy to say that a year later she a fairly well behaved dog who doesn't mess with me in my chair and ignores my nightgown.

But along the way there were some frustrating moments and there is at least one pet store, I'll never go to again because of how rude they clerk was in part over issues of how to stop such behavior. The clerk who claimed to also own Labs, told me no lab every had such issues and it must be my lack of "command" that was causing this problem. I've since learned that many Labs are overly mouthy. The good news is they don't bite, but they do like to put their mouths on things and can be annoying especially as pups.

I began my summer with a couple of books and I slowly accumulated a large stack mostly picked up at the used bookstore. It turns out there's a brisk trade in used dog obedience books.
I also began my summer by taping every episode of Caesar Millan's Dog Whisperer. I admit I had an enormous amount of frustration over trying to apply some of Caesar techniques. I tried the "shhhh" and touch the neck concept over and over with my puppy to no avail. I had one episode where Caesar shows the owner right where to touch, I played that ten second segment over and over, but never got it.


Fortunately, I had a friend involved in a dog training club that my vet also recommended so I signed up for puppy obedience classes which were okay and even better Obedience I classes in the fall. One of the best things about the classes were the long lists of books and articles they gave us in handouts. In those handouts, I found books by folks I hadn't found at the used bookstore. I began to think about a different approach, and as it turned out one that worked for me.


At about the same time, my kids and I began to watch a new Reality TV show, Greatest American Dog. One of the judges was dog trainer Victoria Stilwell. After taping a couple of her show's episodes, I discontinued watching Millan and started watching her. One of the biggest differences between the two shows was how easy it was to take something Stilwell did on her show and use it at home. I didn't need to rewind and rewind to take a technique and use it. Neither did I need to have my special "energy" to be right to use her techniques. I even found a post on her forums that says the same thing:

the thing that speaks to me the most is the fact that most of Stilwell's
techniques can be taken straight from the show and used in the viewers' home
that day. my family does this all the time, and I've seen numerous posts on this
forum about what we've learned.


alternately, Millan's show begins with a "do not try this at home" warning
that makes me think it's more entertainment than education, and bears an uncanny
resemblance to the kind of show with stunts done by professionals that, despite
all warnings, viewers emulate and hurt themselves and others. it's dangerous.

It turns out I was in the middle of a the dog training battle. For the last several decades behaviorists had slowly been winning the day using mostly rewards based training techniques. Most of those in the United States looked to a San Francisco man, Ian Dunbar, as their inspiration. Dunbar had introduced many new ways of viewing and training dogs. He had pioneered puppy classes just like the one I enrolled in with Sunshine. I eventually read his two books on puppies, but sadly it was too late for me to try the techniques used in them much with Sunshine who was already long past crate training, house breaking, or many of the things Dunbar suggests.

This new style of training was going well until Caesar Millan's rise to fame on the National Geographic channel. His rise gave the dog training world much angst. Many who act as gate keepers for that world feel his emphasis on pack leadership to be a return to the dark ages of dog training.

Claudia Kawczynska, editor of Bark magazine, is one of Dunbar's many fans. "It's
irritating to see Millan treated as the expert. Ian is an animal behaviorist
with decades of experience," she says, "He should be where Millan is."
Kawczynska likens the Millan cult of personality and popularity to the
anti-science, anti-academic sentiment she sees prevalent in American culture and
politics. "Millan lived on a farm, so what? He's good looking, but he's not
smart about dogs. It seems people don't want their experts to be educated." 1

I think some of the remarks directed at Millan are unfair. For instance, even brief viewing of his show, will show that Millan is quite good with dogs. The real question in my mind is his ability to transfer that skill to other people. In my experience, he was not able to transfer that knowledge to me in any workable form.

So what's workable? In later entries I'll do some brief reviews of the books that worked for me.

What She Gave Up for Me

In my readings about dogs, I've had a reference to how dogs were brought into human society. Most folks know they originated as wolves but how did they come to live with men? Most scientists think dogs were the first domesticated animals. There is debate over whether humans domesticated them or they accommodated themselves to humans.

Either way dogs gave up their wolf brains to be with humans. Wolves are apparently much smarter than your average dog.

"Good Dog"

Yesterday, while walking Sunshine I passed a woman with a smaller dog. Since Sunshine had been fairly rambunctious and demanding with the previous dog we had passed, I put her in heel and continued on. She did pretty well in part because this time we were passing someone on the other side of the street. The lady said to me as we passed, "Good dog."

While I agreed, I had to also ponder why no one every says, "Good trainer."

I love Sunshine and she is a sweet creature, but left to herself, she'd drag anybody down the street, chase after every rabbit, crown and squirrel she saw, and jump on every passer by. It's been my hard, daily work with her that let's me walk along with a loose leash and be able to say "heel" to her and get a dog that stays by my side or say "Leave it" and "Watch me" and have her look away from which ever of her foes she's spotted in the grass. She certainly hasn't read any books on good dog behavior (chewed on one or two but not read) nor has she ever been sad that she wasn't a well behaved dog.

Greek at Eighty

This is something I've said on occasion. Recently when a friend told me they were impressed by this goal, I pointed out that if I was dead before then, I was pretty sure that it would be easier to learn Greek in heaven than on earth. Even if you had to study, you'd get to go to Paul's school of Areopagus Greek.

The other reason to wait until I am eighty is there is good research that shows an active mind stays in better shape than an inactive one. What better way to train my brain than studying a foreign language that has its own alphabet?

Finally it has recently struck me that there are times to learn new things and that some things need to be learned when your body can help as part of the process. After a year of dog training, I know that at eighty most folks would not be able to train a Labrador because physical strength and balance are two necessities.