When Vinnie was an adolescent dog he began to counter surf in earnest. As soon as no one was looking, he’d rear up on his hind legs, put his front paws on the kitchen counter and start sniffing. Somehow he managed to jump and stretch his muzzle farther than we could imagine and in the blink of an eye, he’d help himself to food on the counter. He scored quite a few yummies in this way including a third of a freshly baked pan of cornbread, a handful of cookies, a few hunks of cheese, a piece of chicken, and a burger.

This has got to stop, I thought. But the first order of business wasn’t training. It was management.

Early attempts at counter surfing

Management, a cornerstone of just about every training or behavior modification plan I can think of, means taking steps to prevent the dog from doing the undesirable behavior while training is under way.

When dogs are rewarded for behavior, the behavior becomes stronger in intensity and frequency. In Vinnie’s case, counter surfing had paid off big time in the way of uber-delectable food rewards. The more he scored food from counters, the more likely he would be to raid them in the future. The best laid training plan would have been ineffective as long as he was still able to nab food from counters, even if only occasionally. Preventing him from getting food on counters went a long way to stopping the behavior because it ceased to be rewarding for him.

Here are some common examples of management as compared to training:

Cody loves to rush the front door when guest arrive and jump and slobber all over them.

• Management: Strategic placement of baby gates to prevent Cody from rushing the front door until his greeting manners improve.
• Training: Teach Cody to stay on a mat while guests arrive and enter the home, then to hand target guests to greet them.

Sylvie growls and snarls whenever Rex, the other family dog, approaches her when she’s gnawing on rawhides, bully sticks and bones.

• Management: Separate Sylvie from Rex in another room behind a closed door whenever it’s chewie time.
• Training: Desensitize & countercondition Sylvie to have a positive response to Rex’ approaches when she’s eating chewies or bones.

Fergus pulls nonstop whenever he goes for a leash walk.

• Management: Prevent Fergus from pulling on leash by walking him on a front-clip anti-pull harness.
• Training: Teach Fergus to heel and/or walk on a loose leash.

Vinnie counter surfs in the kitchen every chance he gets.

• Management: Never ever leave food on kitchen counters.
• Training: Teach him to stay on a mat when food’s being prepared and to get down from the counter when asked to do so.

Like good training, effective management requires consistency on the part of dog guardians. Lapses in management enable dogs to engage (again) in undesirable behavior and to self-reward for doing the behavior, which in turn makes the dog more likely to repeat it.

If your dog is doing something you don’t like, think first about how to change the environment to prevent him from engaging in the behavior. Once a solid management plan is in place, train him to do another acceptable behavior instead. When his manners have improved through training, it’s time to relax management.

Many people find that effective management works so well, they don’t do training to address the undesirable behavior. If that works for you and your dog, wonderful.

I see it every day, far more often than I care to remember. Someone walks down the street with a dog on leash, yanking and jerking the leash as they go. The dog pulls ahead of the human, the human responds with a swift sharp jerk on the leash. The dog doesn’t sit when asked to, the human pops the leash. The dog stops to sniff a hydrant, the human yanks the leash.

What’s wrong with this picture? Plenty. Leash popping hurts the dog by tightening collar pressure on the dog’s neck. Over time, leash popping can injure the dog’s trachea. Add a choke chain or prong collar into the mix, and the short term pain is worse, and risk of tracheal damage even higher.

There’s more. Leash pops and other painful/forceful tactics don’t teach your dog want you want him to do. Assuming the timing of the leash pop is spot on – and that’s a big “if” as I’ll explain later – the pop might teach the dog that you don’t want him to pull ahead, but doesn’t teach the dog what you want him to do instead.

Imagine learning to ballroom dance for the very first time. Though the instructor hasn’t spent time teaching you the correct moves, she tells you to go ahead and dance. Every time you make a misstep, she yells, “Wrong,” or worse, slaps you.

Would you learn how to do the foxtrot with that kind of training? Unlikely.

Would you feel confident about dancing? Hard to imagine.

Would you have any desire to dance at all with that sort of “instruction?” Probably not.

What exactly would you like Rover to do when you take him on a leash walk? To maintain a strict heel position, walking glued to your left side? Is it OK if he pulls ahead at all? Is it OK if he lags behind? Is it OK if he walks at your side but 2 -3 feet away from you? Is it OK if he stops and sniffs a tree? It must be incredibly difficult if not impossible for Rover to figure out exactly how and where someone wants him to walk on leash when all he gets is leash pops as feedback.

Let’s talk about timing. Consequences must occur within 1-2 seconds of a dog doing a behavior in order for the dog to connect the two. This basic training principle is true for the timing of rewards and punishments. But humans are notorious for sloppy timing and inconsistency when delivering consequences. Rarely are humans skilled at popping the leash at just right the moment and in time for the dog to understand what behavior is being punished. Given humans’ inconsistency and poor timing, as far as Rover is concerned, sometimes he’s punished for pulling on leash, sometimes he isn’t punished for that, and sometimes he’s punished for walking quite nicely on leash. Confusing and unfair, don’t you think?

Leash pops are good way to build frustration, fear and anxiety in a dog. Wearing the leash becomes a predictor of nasty things for the dog. Depending on when the leash pops occur, the pain may become associated with whatever’s in the vicinity at that moment.

Let’s say Fred jerks the leash whenever Fluffy pulls towards others dogs. The sight of other dogs when Fluffy’s on leash would easily become a predictor of pain for her. Soon Fred may find himself walking a dog who turns into a snarling, lunging, barking mess whenever she sees another dog.

Thankfully, there is a humane effective alternative. Instead of leash popping or giving Rover other forceful, painful and unkind corrections, your time is far better spent training him to do what you want him to do using positive reward-based methods. If you want Rover to maintain a heel position on leash walks, train him to do that and reward him for doing so. If you want Rover to sit at every street corner, train him to do that and reward him for doing so. Behaviors trained in this way become stronger and more frequent, and a lovely side effect of positive training will result. Rover will want to do the things you’ve rewarded him for! I suspect if he could talk, he’d thank you for taking the time to teach him those things.

If your dog’s an ardent leash puller, enroll him in a positive training basic manners class, a leash manners workshop or consult with a qualified positive trainer. No doubt, training leash manners takes lots of time, practice and patience, but in this trainer’s humble opinion, that’s infinitely better than inflicting pain and confusing a dog every time he goes for a walk. To reduce/prevent pulling on leash while your dog is learning better leash manners, read my post, A Better Way to Walk Your Dog.

There’s a pet store in my neighborhood where the kind staff gives all doggy visitors free treats. Naturally it’s one of Vin’s favorite destinations. If he’s within a half-block of the store in any direction he tries to pull towards it. If we walk by the storefront he always wants to go in. I usually give in.

For a long time Vinnie would pull furiously towards the pet store on night time walks especially when his papa stopped at the convenience store a few doors down from the pet place. I worked on training stays with Vin while we waited outside the convenience store but he always had pet store fever and wouldn’t give up on pulling in that direction.

A few months ago I decided to give up that battle. If Vin wanted to go the pet store at night, I let him. I’d stand there silently as he pawed and nosed the door, waiting for him to turn away and leave.

Last week we had a first. During a night time stroll, hubby stopped at the convenience store but Vin did something different. Instead of pulling to the pet store he stayed right next to me waiting for his papa without so much as a glance in the pet store’s direction.

What changed?

Extinction! Extinction means withholding reinforcers for a behavior that’s previously been maintained by reinforcement. The behavior goes away because it no longer works – it’s no longer rewarding to the dog.

Going to the pet store at night had ceased to be rewarding for Vinnie. Every time he’d visited at night the store was closed and the human treat dispensers were away.

Dressing Vin in costumer - a behavior he'd love to extinguish!

Extinction is one method positive trainers use to get rid of unwanted behavior. When used correctly, extinction is a powerful tool. The key is 100% consistency – never rewarding the unwanted behavior.

Vin made a total of 8-12 night visits to the pet store over a period of 4-5 months before his breakthrough. During that time he continued visiting the store during the day and scoring treats. If that hadn’t happened night time trips to the store would have stopped sooner.

Extinction can be used to get rid of behaviors like attention barking, counter surfing, jumping up and mouthing. If you decide to use extinction, make a plan and try to be as specific as possible:

• What behavior do you want to extinguish?
• How is the dog currently being rewarded for the behavior? How has the dog been rewarded in the past for the behavior?
• What’s your plan to remove all reinforcers for that behavior?
• Can you and everyone else in the family realistically commit and follow through with the plan? Is your plan workable for you?

Follow through is crucial. In fact, if you can’t realistically follow through 100% of the time, an extinction plan is a waste of time. Why? If the dog is rewarded even just occasionally for the behavior, it will become more resilient instead of going away!

Follow through needs to continue as long as the dog is doing the behavior, particularly if there’s an extinction burst – a sudden temporary increase in the behavior that sometimes occurs after the start of an extinction plan. Remember, the flare up is normal and temporary, so just dig in and stick to your plan, or you’ll end up with an even stronger more resilient behavior.

Extinction is useful for stopping a variety of behaviors such as attention barking, counter surfing, mouthing and jumping up. My strong preference for getting rid of unwanted behavior is a two-fold strategy: removing all rewards for the undesirable behavior, and training the dog to do another acceptable behavior. (Read more about that here.)

The more I train dogs, the more fearful dogs I encounter. Dogs that are afraid of mailmen, being alone, kids, strangers, other dogs, being handled, traffic noises, novel things they haven’t seen before, things appearing suddenly in the environment . . . the list goes on. One little dog I worked with a few years ago was afraid of so many different things that her guardian was overwhelmed after just a few weeks of life together. She’d asked me for recommendations on books about fearful dogs. How I wish Debbie Jacobs’ A Guide to Living With & Training a Fearful Dog (“Guide”) had been available then!

A committed dog geek, I’m always studying dog behavior and training. I’ve read several books on training fearful dogs but the Guide is unique. Drawing from years of experience living, working with and training her extremely fearful dog Sunny, Debbie cracks a tough nut that’s essential to helping any fearful dog – putting ourselves in their paws as they navigate a world fraught with scary triggers.

As the Guide explains so well, rewiring one’s mindset is vital to helping a fearful dog. Goals and expectations that might be entirely reasonable when training confident well-socialized dogs are often unrealistic for dogs with severe and/or multiple fears and anxieties. Imagining life from a fearful dog’s perspective helps guardians cultivate compassion, empathy and patience both in daily life with the dog and when training to reduce/overcome fears.

Grounded in solid science-based training, the Guide also addresses the significance of the relationship between guardians and dogs. Establishing trust in the guardian is crucial to building the dog’s confidence, reducing fear and anxiety, and changing fearful behavior.

Wonderfully readable and easy to understand, the Guide provides a wealth of concrete information on a host of useful topics including why positive training is a must; the dangers of punishment-based training; suggested treats and rewards; how play can help a fearful dog; how to gauge the dog’s progress; training games and exercises; medications and other calming remedies.

One of the things I like best about the Guide is the discussion of real and sometimes difficult questions that many fearful dog guardians face. Living with and training a fearful dog can be taxing and draining. It may require more of an investment from a guardian than s/he can realistically or wants to make. The Guide takes on these issues with refreshing frankness and lack of judgment considering not only the dog’s well-being but that of the human caretaker.

Debbie Jacobs’ knowledge, candor and humor shine throughout the Guide. Her sound practical advice spells hope for guardians of all dogs, fearful, anxious, and otherwise. For those with shy or fearful dogs, reading and following the Guide will be one of the best things you can do for your dog. I suspect you’ll find yourself returning to its pages over and over again. Thank you Debbie for this gem of a book!

To order the Guide and learn more about Debbie Jacobs, CPDT-KA, CAP, visit her fabulous Fearful Dogs blog at www.fearfuldogs.com.

Chances are you’ve got one in your neighborhood – the backyard dog that seems to bark all day and night. There’s one down the street from me and another a couple of streets away. No matter when I walk by those houses the dogs are barking, one from a garage, the other from a backyard. Bad dogs? No. Bored dogs? Yes! . . and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.As a shelter worker I counseled many people who were considering adopting a dog. I always asked where the dog would be living most of the time. Most people said in the home, at which point I breathed a silent sigh of relief, and began discussing potty-training and house manners training.

Some people said they had garages or backyards that would make “great” homes for a dog, day and night. That answer prompted a different discussion – why backyard/garage living isn’t a good idea.

Dogs are tremendously social critters. That’s one reason they make such great pets and companions. Dogs don’t just like social interaction, they need it. Banishing them to an isolated existence in a backyard or garage is inhumane and bound to result in a cornucopia of unwanted behavior. Dogs living in isolation are lonely, sad, anxious, frustrated and bored out of their minds. When they are permitted to be around humans, the dogs so starved for companionship, their behavior’s out of control.

Dogs - an incredibly social species

Dogs who live in solitary don’t get training in house manners, or if they get it, don’t get a chance to practice those manners on a regular basis. As a result, if and when the dogs are allowed inside, they don’t do well and are again relegated to yard or garage.

It’s a vicious cycle. The dogs’ behavior justifies their banishment to the yard. The longer they live in the yard, the more desperate they are for attention and interaction. The more desperate they are, the worse they behave when around humans. The worse the dogs behave, the less the humans want them in the house.

Dogs in solitary confinement will very likely develop frustration and boredom-based problems such as digging; destructive chewing of outdoor furniture, decks, fences and siding; fence-fighting with people and animals passing by; and excessive barking and howling. Backyard dogs are also at risk for developing obsessive-compulsive behaviors like nonstop tail-chasing, shadow or light chasing, fly snapping, and self-mutilation. In addition, because they’re not around humans or other dogs, they’re often severely undersocialized to dogs, people and the sights and sounds of everyday human life. Undersocialization leads to fearful and aggressive behavior. All of this spells disaster for the dogs. They’re more likely to be surrendered to a shelter and to be euthanized.

Besides the ill effects on behavioral wellness, backyard dogs are at risk for health problems. Dogs may be too hot, too cold, wet with no place to dry out, dehydrated, dirty and matted, or attacked by wild animals. Small dogs have been attacked by raptors. Minor illnesses can become major before anyone notices.

What’s the solution?

• First and foremost, don’t get a dog if you don’t want or aren’t prepared for him to live inside with you.
• Dog need daily mental and physical exercise, and ongoing socialization and training. If you don’t have time for those things, get a low maintenance species of pet (like fish and some reptiles) instead of a dog.
• If you leave your dog outside while you’re at work, don’t tether or chain her up. Doing so severely restricts dogs’ movements and can cause neck injuries, strangulation, and anxiety or frustration-based behavior problems. The dog should have shelter from the elements, s warm dry place to sleep, safe chew toys, and lots of fresh water. The yard should be securely fenced – high enough that she can’t jump over the fence, and deep enough that she can’t dig under it. Opaque fencing reduces the chances of fence-fighting and barrier barking at other dogs and passersby. Bring her in when you come home and let her sleep inside at night. Make sure she gets daily walks and aerobic exercise.
• If you have a backyard/garage dog, you’re missing out on the many benefits of having a dog. Get to know your new best friend and roommate starting now! Move her inside and start a positive training program right away. It’s our responsibility to teach dogs how we want them to behave. Enroll in a basic obedience class or read one of the books suggested below. Be patient and set consistent limits. Don’t expect her to learn how to behave in a human home overnight.
• If you know someone with a backyard/garage dog, try to educate him/her about the dog’s sad predicament. Suggest a local positive training class or one of the books below. (All great reads, they’re loaded with useful information and clear instructions for training basic obedience and preventing and dealing with unwanted behavior.)

The Power of Positive Training, Pat B. Miller
How To Teach A New Dog Old Tricks, Dr. Ian Dunbar
Good Dog 101: Easy Lessons to Train Your Dog the Happy, Healthy Way, Christine Dahl

It took me a LONG time, much diligent training and careful management to teach my Kelpie mix Vinnie not to chase my cat Ted, and to get a tug toy instead when he gets the cat-chasing urge. We enjoyed a lengthy stretch of peace at home; dog and cat could both chill out in the same room in close proximity to one another without problems.

Vin Settled With Ted Nearby

I was overjoyed. There’s almost nothing I like better than the company of both my critters at the same time. And the dog-cat harmony at home was no small achievement. Vinnie is a herding mix with high energy and an intense desire to herd moving critters.

But that was then.

Lately Vinnie starts whining in frustration and his eyes light up in that, “I’m dying to chase you now!” way whenever he sees Ted. Vinnie has also taken to following Ted so closely, he’s practically standing on top of him. Ted is not amused.

At first I was puzzled about the change in Vin’s behavior. Then I remembered that of late, our garden has been overrun with feral cats. There always seems to be at least one feral kitty lurking in the shadows. (I don’t leave food or garbage out there. A well-meaning neighbor has been feeding the ferals daily and ever since, the surrounding yards have become a feline playground.)

No wonder Vin’s interest in Ted has revived. Vinnie’s had plenty of recent opportunity to chase the feral cats outside. And chase them he does!

For Vinnie, chasing cats is a self-reinforcing behavior. Chasing cats is tons of fun for him. He’s rewarded powerfully whenever he does it; chasing and herding cats must feel incredible to him. Herding is after all, what he’s hard-wired to do.

Animals aren’t static entities or robots. They’re living organic creatures who respond and react to their environments. In other words,behavior changes. It can change for a host reasons such as an illness, a health problem, or as a result of natural development and maturing (transitions from puppyhood to adolescence to adulthood to the golden years).

Ted

Behavior can also change as a result of environmental factors. These run the gamut and include changes in diet, in amounts and types of exercise and mental stimulation, in life routines, a move to a new home, the addition of a new pet or family member, or the death of a loved one to name a few.

Vinnie’s in perfect health and the only recent change in his life has been the feral festival in our yard and the many opportunities he’s seized to chase those cats. Behavior that’s rewarded increases in intensity and frequency. The more Vinnie chases cats — a rewarding behavior to him — the more he wants to chase cats, and the more he wants to chase cats, the more he chases them. This explains his changed behavior and attitude towards Ted.

One of my instructors at the SF-SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers always said, “If you want the animal to change its behavior, change your behavior.” So true.

If I want to curb Vinnie’s desire to chase Ted, I need to change my behavior. Relying on my pre-feral cat training plan won’t suffice. I need to manage the environment to prevent Vin from chasing the outdoor kitties.

I can’t block them from my yard and it doesn’t seem fair to suspend Vin’s yard privileges. My management plan is to go outside and get any feral cats to skedaddle before Vinnie is allowed into the yard. I also need to ramp up the training – more recall and leave it practice away from Ted, lots of practice calling Vinnie to come inside from the back yard, and stupendous rewards for those behaviors.

If your dog’s behavior has changed suddenly and it’s not to your liking, try to figure out what may have caused the change. If it’s not due to maturing, rule out any physical problems with a vet exam.

If there are no health issues, consider whether there have been any changes in your dog’s life or routine. If he’s been getting less physical or mental exercise, increase it. If the environment has changed, depending on what’s changed and how intensely it’s affected your dog, he may just need some time to adjust.

If you’re concerned and/or your dog’s behavior doesn’t improve, it’s best not to let the undesirable behavior continue as it will most likely worsen.

Do your best to prevent your dog from doing the behavior and consult with a good positive reinforcement trainer. Deciphering behavior puzzles and crafting a plan to address them is what dog trainer geeks like me relish.