Your Last Dog: A Case Against Unfair Comparisons

11/11/16 • -1 min

Your last dog is not your current dog. It might be a dog that you had to give away, or passed away from old age, or a great companion who died too early from cancer. But it isn’t your current dog. This is a big source of frustration for dog owners, and a big hurdle that prevents them from doing the best for their current dog. Owners will say things like: “I’ve had golden retrievers my whole life, and this is the first time I’ve ever had a problem with one.” How many golden retrievers did that owner have? Probably three or four. What they’re really saying is that they’ve had a few good representatives of the breed and can’t believe that one is showing them difficulty. I’ve heard this with countless breeds over the years, and it’s always a source of shock and frustration. That attitude becomes a hindrance when owners use it as a reason not to seek out more help, whether that’s hiring a trainer or going to a seminar or investing in a good program. When all you can think is “I’ve never had this problem before,” you hit a mental block. They assume that because they figured things out with their last dog, they’ll be able to handle this new dog on their own. But in reality, the average dog owner hasn’t had more than six or seven dogs—whereas the average dog trainer might see that many dogs in one day. Trainers see a huge variety of dogs, and have a much larger ability to understand a dog’s issues. Still, plenty of people fool themselves into thinking that they can solve their current dog’s problems simply because they’ve owned a lot of dogs in the past. Another problem that this mentality creates is that we love our dogs so much that they erase our memories. I mean that quite literally. This conversation occurs all the time: “Our last dog was so amazing! We’re doing the same things with this dog, and he’s just not getting it. Everything is the same, we’re raising him the same way, but our last dog was so much easier.” I often call on the spouse and ask them if this is true. The more logical of the two will say it’s not. Maybe the dog was indeed great, but also had another set of issues. By the time your last dog was four or five years old, they probably calmed down for another five to eight years. Your memories are of those great times, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But sometimes those memories cloud our recollection of what actually happened. Sometimes a husband will tell me that he doesn't think training is necessary, simply because “they figured things out with the last dog.” But when I talk to the wife, she’ll say that the dog just grew out of the problem. That husband is setting himself up to deal with those behavior issues for years and years, until the dog gets too tired to present them any longer. If you have more than one child, then your second child isn’t the same as your first. Likewise, your current dog isn’t the same as your last dog. Every dog has different needs, wants, desires, and challenges. It isn’t fair to keep applying the same strategies to your current dog that you did to your last dog. As Einstein said: “You can’t solve a problem with the same mindset that created the problem.” (That’s a paraphrase.) Many people are sorely lacking in mindset. They need a new tool bag this time around. So don’t keep living in the past, where the dogs were amazing and brought you breakfast in bed. Live in the here and now, where you’ve got an awesome dog who needs some help. What’s it going to take to help that dog through its behavioral challenges? Probably not the same thing that your last dog needed. Keep that in mind as you train.

Previous Episode

Creating Harmony: How We Prevent Dog Fights

In this post, I want to tackle the somewhat controversial topic of dog fights. This subject came up recently because I was chatting with a client about our daycares. We run a daycare, and it’s a little different than most. I was explaining the difference between our daycare and other daycares. They asked what we do in case of a fight, and I realized that we’ve never actually had one. I’m looking for some wood to knock on as I write this, because I know that it’s improbable to expect that we will never see a fight. But as a rule, we don’t see fights in our facility. There’s a reason for that. I’ve been doing group work for about ten years. Before I had a training facility, I had eight to ten dogs at my house training most of the time. We have had the daycare facility for almost three years. So I’ve been working with a lot of dogs for a few years, and a decent number of dogs for the years previously. In all that time, I’ve never had a full-on fight. Once or twice, we have had dogs bite at kennel staff. On one occasion, the dog made contact and caused an injury. We’ve also had dogs get into scuffles and skirmishes, but never a true fight. Why is that? There are a few reasons that I’d like to mention, so that you can apply them to your dogs. For starters, we do a lot of what we call “personality matching.” Basically, we try to understand dogs. If we have a dog with a shy personality or reactivity issues, we don’t place them with an annoying younger dog that loves to get in everyone’s face. If we have two dogs that love to play really hard, we probably won’t put them together either. Personality matching is huge for us. Many people run into problems because they put any dogs together, whether they’re going to the dog park or visiting a friend or going camping. “Well, dogs are dogs,” they think. Consider that for a second. Why on earth would that work? Can you just throw people together—especially kids—and expect them to play well together? There are always personality conflicts in play that you should be aware of. We also don’t allow very rough play. When I say “super rough,” I’m talking about behaviors like stomping all over the place, barking like crazy, running in circles as fast as they can, and other things like that. We simply don't allow that. If we did, then the dogs’ adrenaline would shoot up and they would be more prone to bad decisions. A dog that has anxiety issues might run off or become aggressive, whereas a dog that’s confident might get hyper and annoying and hurt someone. Adding adrenaline to a dog’s personality can be a recipe for trouble. Now, there will always be adrenaline in a daycare setting. Dogs will always play and have a good time. But if you prevent that play from escalating, then you can make sure that the dogs don’t even get to the point of thinking about aggression. The third thing that we do is insist on good behavior outside of play. We don’t let them jump on people, we make them wait at doors, and we don’t allow them to pull on the leash. Plus, we do rotations. At some daycares, dogs play for eight hours straight. People sometimes take their dogs out for playdates where they’re out in the backyard all day. That amount of play is so over-stimulating! Nearly every dog I’ve ever met that spent eight hours a day in full-time daycare has some kind of problems—whether it’s hyperactivity, aggression, or irresponsibility around other dogs. Instead, we practice something called “cycling.” Our daycare dogs move from play into rest and back into play, usually with walks or other training in between. Doing that is what has enabled us to go for three years with no fights that have sent dogs to the vet. I’m going to make sure that we keep doing everything that we can to make sure these dogs are safe, happy, and healthy. I’d like to keep that good track record for as long as possible. If you can do those four things whenever you’re dealing with dogs in a group, you’ll make huge progress. If a client comes to me and says: “We’re going camping with our friends, and their dog is out of control.” Keeping your dog separate isn’t fun—but that other dog is running around with knives in his mouth and paws. imagine that you’re going to an event with kids and one of the parents said “We gave our kid a bunch of knives. He’s super irresponsible and badly behaved, but hey, he’s a kid! Shouldn't he be able to play with everybody else?” That would be ridiculous! You wouldn't let your kid around another kid who had knives and zero impulse control. It’s the same with our dogs. If someone else doesn't have control over their dog, then I will absolutely keep them separate. There is no reason to force a square peg into a round hole, and no reason to force your dog into an unstable interaction. You owe it to your dog to manage situations better than that. Pay attention to those four factors, and you will have success.

Next Episode

A Perfect Match: What To Look For In the Shelter

Today I want to have a conversation about selecting shelter dogs, a topic about which many people have questions. Recently I spoke with someone who wanted to rescue a dog from the shelter and train it to be a therapy dog. They asked for our help, and I told them I could give them some ideas about what to look for in a dog. I’d like to give that same information to you here. This list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s extensive enough that we can generally use it with success. So I thought I’d share at least a handful of the more important bullet points on that list with you today. Hopefully, if you’re looking to rescue a shelter dog, you’ll find this helpful. The first thing that you should realize is that you’ll probably want to test several dogs. I hate to say this and come across as mean, but there is a reason why some dogs are in shelters. They might have a problematic nervous system, been neglected, or have negative behaviors. Lots of things can totally prevent a dog from being a therapy or service animal. Not every dog can fulfill those roles—in fact, most dogs can’t! Service positions require a certain set of characteristics that aren't present in every dog, especially when you’re looking for an animal that can perform a specific task. That kind of exclusivity immediately rules out a huge portion of dogs that you’ll see, in a shelter or anywhere else. If you need a car that can run in a race, you won’t look for a minivan. There’s nothing wrong with a minivan, but it’ll never be a race car. Even if you put in a ton of time and effort into streamlining and modifying it, it will still never race as fast as other vehicles. Why would you put that effort into But unfortunately, that’s what people do with dogs: they reduce the wrong kind of dogs for service or therapy roles. The same could also be said for agility dogs, protection dogs, search and rescue dogs, and more. What I look for most in a therapy or service dog is confidence. I want a dog that can handle pressure and stress, because those are huge parts of these dogs’ lives. Therapy dogs meet with hundreds of people during their lives. They have to be around medical equipment, strange owners, screaming people, and all sorts of other stressful things. We need a dog that can handle that. So the dog that’s huddled in the corner, frightened of everything? I wouldn't try to train it as a service dog. Now, if you’re equipped to handle that dog, then by all means rescue it! But don’t expect it to be a therapy or service dog. Many owners will rescue a dog like that out of pity, because they see that it needs a home or responsibility. It’s certainly noble, but the chances of a dog who’s already timid becoming confident enough to become a service or therapy dog are pretty slim. So the first glance at a dog can tell you something about a dog. Certainly not everything, but sometimes enough to make a judgment. If I see a dog that’s aggressive or fearful, or is backing into a corner or barking at everyone, I automatically won’t take that dog. I want a dog that wants to confidently greet me. When looking for a service dog, I don’t mind a dog that jumps up on me. That can be fixed through training, and it shows the dog has the confidence to greet a stranger. But I don’t want an overly-hyper dog that’s constantly stimulated and can’t calm down. For therapy work, you ideally want a social dog that wants to engage with new people but is also calm.