Distracted
That “Awww, sooo cute” puppy will begin sprouting razor sharp shivs at about two weeks of age. Your little, scavenger fur muffin, will be fully furnished with her 28 pointy blades by six weeks. At the end of an eternity of six months, these “deciduous” teeth will have fallen out and been replaced by 42 adult teeth. By that time, several pints of blood may have been donated to the cause of raising little Cupcake. It seems the T-Rex, to which teething puppies are sometimes compared, was also an “adorable ball of fluff.” It popped out from its mama’s egg, helpless, cuddly and all covered in soft, downy feathers. About the “size of a ‘skinny turkey,’ juveniles would gain about 6 lbs. (3 kg) per day for 13 years.” (1). Put another way- “gaining up to 1,700 pounds per year until they reached full adult size at age 20.” (2). Wouldn’t corporate food companies have a field day offering age and breed appropriate “large and small reptile” diets! Tyrannosaurus Rex had sixty serrated teeth, some which grew to 12” in length. “Adult T. rexes could get up to 43 feet long and weighed up to 9 tons... walked at impressive speeds of up to 25 mph.” (3). Sorry…, I realize I become as easily distracted as Cupcake during her first outings- drawn to sniffing every interesting blade of grass and pouncing upon every fascinating blowing leaf. Like our dogs, sometimes it requires a big effort on our part to “Leave It,” focus and redirect behavior to the task at hand. The task could be training the dog or writing a blog.
Distraction is one of the 3 D’s of dog training. The other two being Duration (the time spent holding a position such as a Sit, Down or Stand) and Distance (the proximity of the dog). When training a pup, one will be juggling these three tenpins at any given time. The plan is to proceed gradually, advancing time and distance while keeping distractions to a minimum. Once your dog is adept at home, take his repertoire on the road. Be prepared for the pup to act like she has never heard his name or the word Sit when he encounters a new environment. As much as possible, juggle one D at a time. For example, train Sit close to the dog, building Duration, before gradually adding Distance and Distraction. Once you build up time, move a short Distance from your dog. Once successful, add more time and Distance together. Finally, introduce Distraction at a rate the pup can handle by keeping his focus on you and the behavior at hand.. Your goals are to build a solid behavior foundation and eliminate inconsistency, in any environment. You cannot not expect too much at first and do not attempt to go too far, too fast. If your dog has a fifteen second Sit, you cannot expect as much in a new, distracting setting. There may be a perfect image of flawless behavior in your head but transposing that image through an over-stimulated doggie brain into a behavior is going to take some effort. Your dog is not hopeless. He is quite normal.
A sliding scale of expectations helps begin the process of working around and through distraction. At the outset, reward anything and everything that is headed in the right direction- a fleeting glance in your direction, a brief Sit. Later, you can become selective and only reward better behaviors. Rewards will vary from dog to dog but include food, petting, praise, a game of tug, a ball or toy. Real life rewards such as greeting people or other dogs, sniffing on a walk, eating and going through a door for a walk all can be capital incentives for most dogs. Your dog will determine what and if he finds something rewarding. One dog disdainfully spits out salmon treats that run $62 a pound and prefers to munch on inexpensive Charlie Bears. A trainer on a video stated that the dog he had just begun training was not into positive reinforcement because she avoided his petting and ignored his praise. The fact was that those “rewards” were not perceived as positive or rewarding in the dog’s mind. Not in her new environment, at that time in the training.
To gain traction around distraction you must develop a working relationship with your dog. This arrangement is a two way commitment and the dog has to learn his part. You do want your dog to be a dog, have fun and do his favorite doggie things but he must learn that the human attached to the other end of the leash is somewhat relevant. A dog needs to learn that working for a living can be pretty cool but he cannot always get what he wants. Begin at home with impulse control exercises and name recognition. Specifically, a good place to start are exercises such as a Sit before eating, a Sit before greeting (dogs and people), a Sit (or Wait) before going through doors for a walk and a Sit (or Wait) before leaping in and out of the car. (4). Use a leash to have total control. Gradually build time into these exercises, a minute at the very least, so the dog learns that calm, relaxed behavior leads to the desired reward. For example, if our Lab Druid was not told to Sit, none of her kibble would have ever hit the bowl when poured. She helped me uphold my end of the bargain by fetching and bringing her bowl to me at precisely 5 pm, lest I slip up on my end of the bargain.
Teach Name recognition by saying his name and immediately rewarding when he looks at you. Repeat often and/or in several short, one minute training sessions, throughout the day. The goal is to make this and all behavior automatic. Your dog should be getting whiplash, he is looking up at you so eagerly. Later, you build the time focused on you before rewarding. Up the ante by gradually rewarding Name Recognition in different rooms and settings such as the back and front yards. After the dog responds well to his name, add short recalls from treats and toys. Work with food and toys on the ground, around people, people holding favored food and objects, in the presence of other pets and so on. If a pup does not respond to his name at home, good luck hoping he will disengage his nose from that prized puddle of yuck in public. Hope, good luck and an ever louder voice are no substitutes for training as a strategy.
People often ask, “What are the best commands to use?” The fact is, there is no magic in any word. Intonation can be an important factor but what is most crucial is getting the behavior you wish and pairing it with the cue. One day, I was working with a client to teach her dog Sit. Both of us had the dropsies and each time one of us said Sit a treat accidentally dropped from a hand- and the dog pounced on it. This happened a number of times. Soon we had untaught the verbal cue Sit, which now meant Snarf. Another example, when luring a pup into a Down, the dog is so intent on the treat, the word Down may as well be swirling about in the upper ethers. And, in fact, your dog may be responding more to your body movements than a verbal command. Check this out by telling your standing dog to Sit or Down with no voice, just using a hand signal. Then give a command with no movement,simply a vocal cue. Does your dog respond to one cue, neither cue or perhaps both cues?
Definition of cues and behavior is crucial to successfully working through Distraction. It is not up to the dog to decide when he has had enough of this Sit stuff and breaks the position. He must understand that Sit means Sit until he is released with a release word,such as Release, Free, Break, OK, etc.- or he is given another command, such as Let’s Go or Down. In practical, real life, putting a food bowl on the floor or opening a door, do not signify it is time to eat or go through the door. A dog must be given permission to proceed.
Gradually add more training structure to your socializing expeditions- Leave It, Come and Polite Walking can all be introduced at home. As you return to that once novel environment, you will find your pup starting at a higher level of attention and control. Been here, done that! The 3 D tenpins become easier to keep airborne. Your pup may actually check in with you on his own and begin to respond more steadily to his Name and the cue Sit. At this point, the Distraction of checking out the environment, sniffing, can replace a treat as a compelling, real life, non food, reward. Sniffing is paired with a release word.
As adorable, little Cupcake snuffles about her surroundings, it is difficult to accept that she is considered a scavenger. As a bona fide member of Canis familiaris, equipped with her incredible sniffer, she will need to be deterred from foraging on coffee tables, countertops, trash cans, picnic tables, cat litter boxes and so on. John Rogerson, the great English trainer, has a unique technique to end pilfering. Each time your dog snatches something from the counter, smack yourself four times with a riding crop for providing temptation.
Your canine scavenger may be full of surprises- one of our dogs once got into some nasty thing or another and calmly approached the coffee table. He stood still for about 15 seconds, he then retched an unspeakable mess onto the coffee table in front of guests. Bless him, the poor, queasy pup! Another of our dogs, a Golden, scattered an outdoor, seated group of prim musicians, as he pranced into their midst with a huge, raunchy deer haunch held high. A Lab appropriated and devoured an entire roast chicken from a counter. The family had to take a long road trip later that day and the dog voided copiously from both ends- in the car, a couple hours down the road. I cannot speak for any redemption on the part of the dog but her owners learned their lesson. Then there was the service dog walking behind the wheelchair in the crowded restaurant, who emerged with a baked potato in his mouth.
T Rex is also described as a scavenger. With an excellent sense of smell, 200 million scent receptors, and keen eyes, the size of oranges, he was quite the hunter, as well. (oranges). (Here, you must agree how easy it can be to get distracted!). The bite force of a Tyrannosaurus Rex was “between 8,000 and 12,000” pounds per square inch. (5). Cupcake may have a talent for drawing blood but not much of a bite force. In fact, the American Pit Bull has a bite force of 240- 300 psi and the Rottweiler has a 328 psi bite force. The Turkish Kangal has an impressive 743 psi bite force. (6). Impressive, for a dog!
………As mentioned a T Rex could run up to 25 miles per hour in its prime. A greyhound tops out at 45 mph. And it appears that, like dogs, a T Rex could develop orthopedic problems as he aged………”fossilized bones, which have growth rings that correspond to its age, much like trees. Experts can count the…………..”
“Leave It!” “Good Boy!
(2). Baby T. Rex Dinosaurs Were Fuzzy and the Size of Small Turkeys
(3). IBID
(4). Wait, in one definition, means the dog can Sit, Down, or Stand (her choice as long as the leash is loose).