FREEDOM!

I’ve been reminiscing about some Jack moments over the past couple of days maybe its because I reference him from time to time with clients or maybe its because Jack is transformed and I’m proud of that accomplishment and a big part is because so many stories are just too funny when you’re living with a Jack Russell Terrier.

One memory stands out for me and of course, my husband Eddie since he just reminded me of this experience last weekend.  A few years ago, Eddie and I were living in Germany in military housing and at this point, we only had Jack for a couple of months.  So, Jack was dealing with separation anxiety; was intolerant to ANYONE leaving the house and was on overdrive all day everyday.  For example, when Eddie and I were training for a marathon and take Jack out for a 12 miler, only to come home and he was ready to play and play he did for a couple of hours afterward.  At this point, we only had basic understanding of dog training, the trainer we did see didn’t necessarily guide us in the right direction and we were struggling with how to train his brain.

One evening early spring, Jack was as rambunctious as ever, I opened the door without fully knowing where Jack was in the room and as you may have guessed, he bolted!

This is how I remember Jack as he's saying FREEDOM! Jack Bear in overdrive :)
This is how I remember Jack as he’s saying FREEDOM! Jack Bear in overdrive 🙂

He ran right out the front door without any hesitation or looking back.  He ran like his life depended on it. If he could speak English, he would have said, FREEDOM! from the top of his lungs as he was sprinting around all the houses up and down the street, playing with our neighbor’s dogs and chasing squirrels and birds.  If anyone experienced a situation like this, you know the though that goes through your mind; please, don’t get hit by a car while you’re panicking to think of a way to catch your dog.  Eddie and I had some level of innate understanding of Jack.  We refrained from running after him since he would have thought it were a game and tried to corner him somewhere.  We had experienced Jack getting off his collar at times, but we were able to get into the car and act like we were going somewhere and here would come Jack, bounding his way into the car like where to next!  Not this time, he wasn’t having that booby trap work on him.

As Jack began playing with Riley, our neighbor’s Australian Shepherd, we started to move in.  While our attention was taken up with little Boogs, we left our front door wide open.  On a side note, the locks on the doors in Germany were designed that you had to flip a tiny lever to prevent the door locking when you shut it.  Well, as luck would have it, our lever wasn’t working properly, so you see where this is going.  Our other neighbors were walking by with their black lab puppy who wasn’t on a leash and who got away from them and made himself comfortable in our home.  The neighbors had to go inside our house to retrieve their dog and as they were leaving, they shut the door behind them as I was walking up the walkway to get some treats for Jack.  As I passed by they told me what happened and informed me my door was open and they closed it since they didn’t think anyone was home!  I held my breath, thanked them for their courtesy and crossed my fingers the door would open magically since we were without keys.  No magic or good fortune in that moment.  I quickly remembered we don’t always lock the back door and for some reason the back door lock didn’t operate the same way, so I was almost certain we would get in.  I sprinted around the house to the back door and wouldn’t you know, we freakin’ deadbolted the door!  No getting in.  At this point, Eddie captured Jack and came over wondering what was taking me so long. I caught him up to speed and now thinking of a plan of what to do without money, car keys or phones!

Since it was a Friday evening and we lived on a military base in Germany, we couldn’t just call a locksmith to come out and we couldn’t wait until Monday to go to the housing office for help.  All the houses are designed the same with master keys held by the installation.  What to do!  We walked about a mile to the Military Police station since they would probably give us an idea of how to handle this.  They said since its a weekend, we had to go to the fire station to request the master key.  We walked another several miles to the fire station.  After several minutes of them grilling Eddie about what happened and the legitimacy of his claim, they handed over the master key and gave us one hour with it.  We had to run home with Jack in order to turn around and get the key back in time.  All in all, this took up a few hours of our evening, but now we have a funny story to tell and a great memory of the early days with Jack Bear!

Now, as I gain more experience in the dog training world, I emphasize the importance of leadership building with your dog and training consistently and gradually in order to prevent situations like this.   Your dog must have a reliable sit/stay or preferably a reliable down/stay at the door and practice opening and closing the door as he is doing those commands.  Also, the importance of ensuring your dog knows the rules of your house and works for privileges is a necessity, especially when you have a high energy, working breed like a Jack Russell Terrier.  I’m happy to report, Jack bolts no more!  He earns his freedom!

Body Language in Dogs

The past couple of weeks, I’ve been pretty busy with new clients.  Its been amazing to work with a 12 week old Belgian Malinois during a week long day training session.  He worked the whole time without usual puppy behaviors of being distracted or majorly nipping.  Well, he had a bit of a nipping fit, but that was primarily because I locked myself out of the client’s home and his rope toy lost its charm.  Otherwise, a really incredible puppy to work with and train!

On the other side of things, I met a couple of clients who hired me to work on behavior modification.  They were interested in the “why’s” their dogs do certain things.  As I began to listen to their stories and to observe their dogs, I started thinking about how and what is the dog communicating to them and if the owners were picking up on their dog’s signals.  So, I decided to ask them if they notice lip licking, yawning, play bow, rigid body; all of which are more noticeable and easier to see.  The answer I received from them is, “no, my dog doesn’t do those things”.  That left me wondering about a few things; have the dogs not learned some of those communication signals, did the dogs suppress those lower level calming signals because of being punished for showing them in the first place, or did the families not notice what the dogs was communicating to them?  I left that question hanging around the back of my head.

After a few days, I had another session with a client.  The same question came up about how their dog, Benny communicates with them and if they notice any lip licking, yawning, scratching behind the ear”?  This family also said, “no, I’ve not seen those behaviors from Benny”.  We started working on some basic obedience training.  Then, it happened.  After, one of the kids gave the dog a hug and a kiss, Benny began lip licking, and yawning.  I asked the parents if they noticed the same thing I did with Benny.  They were shocked to see him give those signals as though he’s never given them before.  I reiterated, those are lower level calming signals.  Benny is communicating he felt stress when one of the kids hugged and kissed him and Benny communicated he wanted that to stop.  I mentioned to the family, in order to ensure they protect Benny, they are charged with the responsibility to interrupt whatever is causing him stress and praise him when he’s calm.  In this case, Benny doesn’t like to be hugged so tightly, so I encouraged the family to pet Benny under the chin and to be gentle when giving him affection.

Body language in dogs is an amazing mode of communication and one us humans really need to pay attention to at all times.  Many of the calming signals are subtle and they happen between dog and human interactions and between dog and dog interactions and between dog and whatever interactions.  A dog giving calming signals is the only manner by which a dog has to voice his pleasure and displeasure with his environment.  Now, I’m curious, how many dog owners who read this, observe their dog’s body language and how do you interpret it?

Jack is not enjoying the camera in his face!
Jack is not enjoying the camera in his face!

I took several pictures of Jack.  After awhile, he began to look away (another calming signal) and then he did this.  This one of him was amazing to see a full lip/nose lick.  After this pictures was taken I removed the stress away from him and praised him.

I learned so much from reading On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals by Turid Rugaas.   It was interesting seeing a picture of the behavior alongside an interpretation of what the dog is communicating.  Its enhanced my understanding of how the dog feels in different situations and the topic of body language is a central component when I’m educating clients.  There are many other resources which delve deeper into the subject of body language and I urge dog owners, if they don’t already know, begin learning about it.  A better understanding of what your dog is communicating to you, and interpreting it correctly, will only enhance your relationship with your furry friend.

Pinch Collars No More…..

While working with a Golden Retriever, Sadie, on leash reactivity (which is like saying, aggression or lunging, incessant barking at strangers and other dogs while the dog is wearing a leash), I came to find out the family utilized the dog training services from a local company which relied on pinch collars for getting the desired behaviors.  Well, let me tell you, pinch collars may seem to work with immediate results, but most everyone who uses pinch collars runs the risk of creating reactivity in dogs. I can attest to this as I was instructed by a trainer (before I became a trainer who uses positive reinforcement techniques) to use one on my basket case of a Jack Russell when we first rescued him.  What soon developed and I eventually corrected, was leash aggression towards strangers, other dogs, motorcycles, people on bicycles and even children.  The pinch collar is designed to apply pressure to a dog’s neck when the handler gives a pop of the leash.  Since we’re human, we may not give enough of a pop of the leash at the first correction in order to completely eradicate the problem behavior.  When that happens, the dog develops resistance to the pinch and then the handler requires more and more pop of the leash with frequent intervals to correct the behavior.  What results is the dog associates pain towards those very things you’re wishing for him to stop reacting towards and then aggression is imminent.  Since I was intimidated and highly uncomfortable to use the pinch collar, my timing was off and eventually, the trainer wanted me to lift Jack up by the leash (while he’s wearing the pinch collar) with all four paws off the ground while he was barking.  Let me tell you, he still didn’t stop barking.  I didn’t know what she would ask me to do next, swing him around like a helicopter!

As I’ve become more familiar with Jack, I realized, he is WAY more responsive to positive reinforcement and rewards when he does a desired behavior rather than receiving a positive punishment for a undesirable one .  He’s easier to train, he is able to learn new behaviors in a very short amount of time and even his reactivity to strangers, bicycles and motorcycles diminshed due to rewarding him when he focuses on me and when he’s quiet when we pass any of his triggers.

I’m very happy to have a different approach in training Jack and other dogs.