Case study in communication
One of the best things about training pet animals is the almost-daily opportunity to improve communication between two different species. This opportunity is particularly precious when the pet was previously trained using outdated or ineffective methods. One communication success story from my own career concerns a dog I will call "Roger." (Note that in this article Roger's names and the names of his humans have been changed to protect their privacy.)
Roger was adopted by Sally and Wallace, an older couple living in a beautiful, rambling home. A rescue dog, Roger had been described as a pug/beagle cross—an identification that seemed accurate based on Roger's personality and appearance. While Roger was a lovely dog in many ways, he was young and much more exuberant than Sally and Wallace had expected, or knew how to handle.
When I met Roger, owners Sally and Wallace had already spoken with the rescue organization, as well as with a family friend, and had heard essentially the same advice from both: "Put a prong collar on Roger and show him who is boss."
Unfortunately, neither the collar nor the harsh training worked for Roger. He became more unruly, for reasons I discuss later on. In the face of his increasingly difficult behavior, Sally and Wallace contacted me for help.
Meeting rambunctious Roger
Upon meeting Roger, I quickly realized several things about him:
- He was younger than the rescue organization had suggested.
- He was mentally under-stimulated.
- He had learned that a surefire way to get attention, interaction, and activity was to jump up or use his teeth (or do both simultaneously).
Roger had also learned a variety of other ways to ensure that he got attention quickly, such as stealing pillows off the couch or digging violently at the door to the backyard. He was not perfectly housetrained, he pulled constantly on-leash, and he would not come when called. Roger really was quite a handful!
As is often the case, Roger's behaviors were performed with the goal of getting what he wanted—most often, Sally and Wallace's attention. If Roger did not receive the desired response, he would often work himself into a frenzy. Roger rarely settled down to relax when Sally and Wallace were home, and his constant demands for attention wore on their nerves. What's more, he was slowly wrecking their beautiful home.
My first step was to advise Sally and Wallace to stop using aversive methods with Roger, and to remove all unpleasant equipment. Punishment-based training methods tend to be very confusing for a dog, since the dog is not sure what brought on the latest round of harsh "corrections." From Roger's perspective, the seemingly random occurrences of punishment and the almost constant presence of painful equipment made the world seem very unsafe. These fearful feelings were part of a cycle: fear of punishment increased Roger's anxiety, which led to more undesirable behavior, which led to more punishment, which led to more stress, and so on.
Starting over with a click
To help improve communication, I showed Sally and Wallace how to use the clicker to teach Roger what was expected of him. The clicker is a terrific communication tool for bridging "language" differences. Dogs are a different species with different social rules. What's more, they don't speak English—other than the English words we teach through training. Fortunately, dogs can learn very quickly to speak "clicker."
When Sally and Wallace were first learning about the clicker, we kept Roger in another room, since humans don't understand how to use a clicker instinctively. I always begin teaching clicker skills without the animal present so that the humans can relax and focus on learning the technique on their own, without the added pressure of worrying about how their pet is responding.
Once Sally and Wallace were comfortable with the clicker, we started teaching Roger a simple behavior: hand targeting. I sometimes get puzzled looks when I start teaching targeting (clients question what the behavior will be good for), but Sally and Wallace seemed to enjoy the process of teaching Roger to touch their hands. Roger definitely found it fun. All he had to do to make the humans click (and feed him a treat) was poke their hands with his nose; what could be simpler?
Next was polite on-leash walking, starting with sitting and waiting for the leash to be put on. This kind of training is fairly straightforward—the animal wants the leash put on, so he will tend to do more of whatever brings the leash closer, and less of anything that moves the leash away. Like many dogs, Roger learned quickly to sit still and wait for the leash.
Once Roger was leashed, we started to work on polite leash walking by clicking and treating when Roger was in an ideal position alongside the handler—first while standing still and then while walking slowly. After just a little practice, we made things more difficult by increasing speed and by moving in different directions. As is customary when clicker training new behaviors, we started in a boring place (indoors, far from any excitement) and gradually moved to more and more exciting locations.
Relaxing, adjusting, learning
To help Roger learn to relax, we used a relaxation exercise called "Relax on a Mat" that is detailed in Nan Arthur's book, Chill Out, Fido! We eventually added Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol as well. At the same time and whenever possible, we managed the environment to prevent Roger from engaging in undesirable behavior.
For example, Sally and Wallace began taking Roger out into the yard immediately after they returned home from work. This helped prevent housetraining accidents and moved Roger away from the front door, clearly an overly exciting locale for him. They also offered Roger toys every time he got mouthy, as a more appropriate outlet for his desire to use his teeth. Sally and Wallace kept the couch cushions and other chewable items out of Roger's reach, and provided food toys on a regular basis so that he had something appropriate to occupy his time and his teeth.
As Roger's self-control improved, we added more behaviors to his repertoire. We taught him to get in a crate on cue, and to enjoy being confined in the crate for longer periods. He learned a "Leave it" cue, as well as a "Drop it" cue. He also learned to wait at doors, and to sit on cue in a variety of locations and situations.
Sally and Wallace practiced having Roger target each of their hands alternately as they stood at a distance from each other. At first, the distance was short and there were no obstructions between them, but Sally and Wallace practiced until Roger moved between them willingly and comfortably even when they were no longer in visual range. When this behavior was quite fluent, it was transferred to a more traditional recall cue, "Come!"
Patience please
Like many crossover pet owners, Sally and Wallace were fairly quick to embrace the clicker itself, but it took them a little longer to embrace the philosophy behind the clicker. Accustomed to coercing Roger into behavior, and strongly attached to the dubious benefits of the word "no," Sally and Wallace had difficulty looking for and responding to desirable, rather than undesirable, behavior.
To make matters worse, initially Roger became even more demanding as he tried harder and harder to make his previously successful techniques pay off. This type of outburst is known as an "extinction burst." Fortunately, Sally and Wallace trusted my advice and worked hard to put on rose-colored glasses. Their gradual shift in attitude and behavior, paired with the management, relaxation work, and mental stimulation for Roger, had a positive effect within a couple of weeks.
The clicker conquers
I like to consider my cases from the animal's point of view. When I came into the picture, Roger was being jerked around and manhandled. Almost everything he did, including behaviors that to Roger were very normal play, had dire consequences. When we worked together, Sally and Wallace became much more conscious of the messages they were sending to Roger. They agreed on policies and rules for the household, and started teaching Roger what they wanted him to do, rather than constantly berating him for things they didn't like. Roger blossomed under this treatment.
While Roger did not become a perfectly quiet, stately dog (he's still an exuberant animal today), he learned to direct his energy appropriately and to relax in exciting situations. He, Sally, and Wallace have learned to communicate. When communication breaks down, Sally and Wallace know what steps to take to restore it. Whether or not Sally and Wallace have a clicker in their hands, they apply the philosophies of clicker training consistently:
- Reinforce behavior you want.
- Ignore behavior you don't want.
- Manage behavior you can't ignore.
These basics have enhanced the communication between Sally and Wallace and Roger (and have helped many other humans and pets, too). When expectations are clear, your pet is set up for success. After all, successful communication goes hand-in-hand (or hand-in-paw) with successful training.
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