Certain puppy signals say “let’s play,” “out of my space,” “easy,” or “no harm intended.”

It is these signals for communications that dogs learn as puppies and as adolescents which they carry into their adulthood. These signals, when used while playing, allow dogs to communicate with each other and to keep play at a reasonable and tolerable level and most of all fun for all.

Some dogs never learned these signals because they were not given the opportunity to interact and learn how to communicate.  As they develop into adolescent pups and begin to interact with other dogs and puppies in the real world, they are unable to play normally. This is where normal play stops and threatening behavior begins to intensify. 

These dogs begin to ignore all clear signals from their playmates that would normally keep the play at
a fun level. The intensity of behavior is triggered at what is considered lower thresholds of play with the
other dogs. 

This type of aggression may also inadvertently be directed at humans who begin to play with the dog. Humans can accidently increase the intensity of the play to a boiling point and the aggression begins.

It is sometimes very difficult to tell the difference between play aggression and what is thought to be rough
play. 

I think that the lesson here is don’t rough house with your puppy and make sure that your puppy gets an
adequate amount of socialization with people, kids and other dogs.

It is a “use it or loose it” kind of thing.

Rough play can escalate into aggression for some puppies. When we see rough play in very young puppies, there is a greater chance that some puppies will develop escalated behavior (aggression) as they mature.

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children.  And remember, ‘OPPORTUNITY BARKS!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

One of my client’s young sons was bitten on the hand as he innocently reached down to pet his puppy. Those razor sharp teeth can be pretty lethal.  The puppy thought the child was going to take her Kong and defended her “rightful” possession.

Historically dogs expended a lot of predatory energy finding food and so they have developed strong instincts to guard things of value - food, space, toys you (the love and affection you provide.) 

 
While you don’t see this very often, it can occur and will usually occur in the more strong willed, leader type puppies. Being a terrier, along with the strong willed temperament, just raised the bar of concern a little higher.
This type of behavior should raise a very large red flag that this is a growing problem which needs addressing immediately.  So what do you do to get this under control?
 
In addition to putting this puppy on a learn-to-earn program – that is earning everything by doing sits and downs, there are specific exercises to do to work on “resource guarding.”  We put the pup on my 5 Step – 30 day Food Bowl Guarding Program – a progressive program beginning with hand feeding the puppy next to her empty food bowl and progressing from there.
 
The next exercise is designed to teach the puppy to release a high value article (chew bone or Kong Toy) on a command like “Drop it!”, “Release!” or “Give!”  This too is a progressive exercise program. 

We first get the puppy to release her end of a shared, high value article and then progress to releasing the article on command -  once she takes 100% possession of the article. The puppy must not aggressively guard the article once dropped.
 
They have a long way to go with their puppy but with consistency and repetition, by as many family members that can participate in these supervised and controlled exercises, the benefits will provide the family with a lifetime of good memories with a great family dog.

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children.  And remember, “Opportunity Barks!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

All of our dogs are older and well socialized so I decided to send the pup to “Sammy’s School of Socialization”  (Sammy is our 5 yr. old black lab we found abandoned under a truck at 7 wks of age).  The pup was to learn to respect the space of other dogs and to better read their body language that says “Bug off!  You’re a pain in the butt!”  He tested ALL the dogs - one at a time and got rejected by all, because his play was to too rough.

This new puppy is starting to learn his lessons from not only our black lab Sammy, who turns around and walks away from the rowdy puppy, but he’s learning from our other dogs as well.  Our youngest small dog (a 3yr old terrier mix) ran back into the house and refuses to play with the puppy because of his relentless biting, jumping and rough play.  This puppy desperately wants to engage our dogs in friendly play and is learning a valuable lesson.  Play too rough and nobody here will play with you.

Remember, dogs do what works.  The lesson here is actually being given to us by our dogs.  Don’t act right and what you want goes away!  So put some human ingenuity into this with your puppy and use Sammy’s School of Socialization tactics and tame your rowdy puppy.

We have lots of great tips on training your puppy.

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children. And remember, “Opportunity Barks!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

These were former clients of mine whose 5 year old rescue dog had been through basic and intermediate obedience with me.  Upon returning to their home I found the dog was still impeccable on sits, downs, stays and go to your place.  However, he had begun to have the behavioral issue of pacing, which coincided with the same time this couple moved into a new house and had their first baby. 

Until that time, the dog had pretty much been the center of their attention.  Now, with a new baby, that had changed.

So we started our behavior modification.  We kept the dog on his earn-to-learn program of working for everything (they were already doing an outstanding job of this) and we increased formal training in the form of 2 minute sits, downs and come- back and forth between the owners twice each evening.  We also put the dog back on his “daily” walking ritual with Mom, Dad and the new baby.  We made sure that all things associated with the baby were positive, happy things for the dog. 

Part of of behavior management protocol required closing the blinds for a while - especially during the day when Mom and Dad were at work.  We also put the doggie door down to close access to the back yard while they were away.  This confined him to the house during the work day but one or the other came home mid-day to let him out to go potty or they had a pet sitter come over.

In the evenings the blinds were reopened so that we could provide a training opportunity to call the dog back into the family room when they noticed him sneaking off towards the living room to pace. 

Three weeks of this and the pacing stopped.  Each time he was let out into the back yard to potty, he was on a long line so that if he began pacing or fence charging at the dog on the other side of the fence, Dad could pick up the line if necessary as he performed his recall/come exercise, praise the dog and send him right back to play.  If he charged the fence good ol’ Dad simply did the recall/come again and eventually with repetition, he began to respond without barking.

The pacing has now stopped.  All is well and the pup now once again has a “strong sense of place and purpose”.  He is a much more settled dog relaxing with his pack and feeling quite full of himself!

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children.  And remember, “Opportunity Barks!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

There is no doubt that successful dog training, even if it’s a simple come command, takes time, and in our busy lives, time is one commodity we are finding very little of these days.  Positive training with food treats is not only extremely good for you and your dog, but if done correctly and consistently, it can have an incredible relationship-building quality and doesn’t require nearly the amount of time you might expect. YES - TRAIN WITH TREATS! —BUT read my blog on weaning off food treats to do it the right way! As you look at structuring your dog training, keep these simple tips in mind:

• Keep your training sessions short.  If you get in quality repetitions, 2 minutes, 3 times daily will get the job done.  Being consistent is the key.  Who doesn’t have 6 minutes a day for their dog?  You can hard boil an egg in 6 minutes!
• Practice in low distraction environments at first.  Then, gradually add distractions that will be relevant to your situation i.e. visitors at the front door, or stay off the furniture.  Work consistently each day.
• Always train your puppy or dog on a leash or long line, depending on what you are working on.  Being consistent with leash and line work keeps the message the same - you are in control.
• Always use high value training treats.  Never allow your dog to predict what you are going to use on any given day as a treat.  Consistently keep him guessing by using more interesting and high value choices in treats.
• Be consistent in presenting yourself as a strong leader.  How do you do this?  Provide structure and expectations he can live up to for you, by keeping him on an earn-to-learn program.  He must do at least a sit for everything he wants.

So, what’s the common thread?  Consistency! Not time.  You will be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.  Keep your training simple by listing your dog’s inappropriate behaviors, what causes them and then what you would prefer your dog do instead.  Simply put in your 3, 2 minute daily training sessions (6 minutes total) on the issues you want to control and before you know it, you will have a perfect pooch.  By the way, have fun training the positive way, and remember “Opportunity Barks!” Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children. Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

On my first visit I discovered that she was giving her new puppy free access to water and free access to unlimited play in the family room and kitchen, thinking she would just “watch her closely”.
As the morning  would progress, the owner would become increasingly busy with chores only to find out that the puppy was having accidents all over the family room. She couldn’t seem to catch her in the act.

Like I said, house training your new puppy doesn’t need to be complicated. This is what we did.  So as not to dehydrate the puppy, we allowed the puppy to have as much water during meal times, but limited (2-3 other times during the day) access to water coupled with frequent potty trips.  When in the house, the puppy was kept on a line or leash attached to the owner, which required the owner to pay close attention to her puppy. When she didn’t have time to watch her puppy, she simply crated her puppy after taking the puppy outside to go potty.

Problem solved.  See not complicaed at all.  Just always remember to set your puppy up to be successful at house training and don’t set them up to fail.

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children.  And remember, “Opportunity Barks!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

Dogs clinically diagnosed with dominance aggression, which can also be called conflict aggression, obsess about rank order.  In other words they are in conflict with their owners over control of the environment (the home, the back yard) and the dog is ready to do battle over this at any given moment

The dog has no normal social tolerance for people who invade the dog’s own personal space as well.  This would show up as an intolerance by the dog to being touched when you try to pet him, especially on his backside.  And, in some cases the dog might be insistent on being touched ONLY to turn and snap or bite if your do indeed try to touch him.  These dogs seem to lack any other tools or methods to resolve dealing with owners, owner’s friends, or people who tend to get in “the dog’s” home or yard during daily, normal home activities or even the dog’s personal space. 

Working with this dog as a puppy to begin desensitizing him to being petted, correcting any inappropriate nipping or biting and redirecting to a sit or down, would, in the long haul, prevent snapping or biting as an adult dog.

Other tools an owner could give their dog that would be more appropriate than snapping or biting are commands such as sit, down, leave it, come, go to your bed or “look at me” - all adequately taught by the owner over time since puppyhood.

Providing this type of dog with clear expectations and boundaries on “who does what for whom” (dog sits to earn food, petting, toys, etc) will provide owners with more of a hassle-free life with their dog.

A total lack of structure or “owner leadership” from the very beginning begins to set this dog up for endless indulgence of food, space, toys and love and affection.  He never develops a way to cope with the frustration that eventually develops in his mind when he doesn’t get what he wants right away?  Remind you of raising kids?

Set boundaries for your dog right away.  Put your dog on a learn-to-earn program of sits and downs for everything they need from you i.e. food, treats, praise, love, affection, walks, potty breaks etc.  Begin early and avoid conflicts later!

Be as comfortble with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children.  And remember, “Opportunity Barks!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

The owner was fed up which, by way of interpretation, meant that the dog was literally one vet visit away from having her vocal cords severed to prevent the nuisance barking.  This poor dog was extremely frustrated and insecure with her back yard status.  After all, it was HER backyard!  But she was constantly being reprimanded for being vocal with the neighborhood dogs.

I discussed the need to have the dog be inside on a regular basis and the relevance of the earn-to-learn program.  That is, for everything she wanted, she had to at least do a sit and a down as well.  I also explained that having the dog on a leash when in the home WITH the owners (never on a leash inside when alone or unattended!) could help them establish better control with the dog.  Dogs are much more compliant when on a leash or line.

Happily, this young dog is now in the house full time and can still bark fluently, but only on an approved, limited basis.

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children.

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

Simple structure and training will usually do it.

• Structure:  put your wild child on a learn-to-earn program.  That is, immediately start requiring a sit for everything:  food, access to you, toys, or love and affection.  As soon as you can, teach your dog down, add that to the earn-to-learn requirement creating “doggie push-ups” 
• Training:  work a short 2 minute regimen on the basic commands 3 times a day with your dog, (who can’t give 6 minutes a day to their dog?).  A morning workout on commands is best as it starts each day with expectation of who’s doing what for whom.

Here’s the reason obedience training works so well.  As dogs interact daily with each other, often in subtle competition for some resource, (food, toys), there is a stimulus-response pattern with dogs that, to a large extent, determines leader-follower relationships in any given moment between the dogs.  If a dog has a bone and another dog approaches, the dog with the bone growls (stimulus-leader) and the other dog backs off (response-follower).  We can see it best explained between dogs and humans in the “nudge”- pet activity that goes on between owner and dog.

As the dog nudges the owner to stimulate a response, this is usually followed by the owner who obliges with a petting response, setting the dog up as the leader and the owner as the follower.  Definitely not the “order” you want.

This can systematically be reversed through the use of obedience commands,  If in the case of the “nudge” by the family dog, the owner says “Sit” (stimulus) and the dog complies with a sit (response) then in this case the leader-follower relationship has been put in it’s proper order.

And, if done on a regular basis with consistency and repetition, you will be well on your way to getting your bossy dog under control.  You might be surprised how easy it can be!

Jim Burwell, www.petiquettedog.com

• There should be rules.  Dogs should earn the privilege of getting on your furniture by at least, doing a sit.  This should be followed by a command to get them on the sofa, like the command “Up”.  After your dog performs a sit, simply pat the couch and say “Up”.  So his getting on your couch is on YOUR terms, not his.
• You should teach your dog a “relocation cue” (another place to go other than the sofa) and train this command frequently.  Examples would be, “go to your bed”, or once off the couch just place your dog in a down by your feet in front of the couch.  This teaches him that you can let him up, BUT, you can also tell him to get off and go somewhere else.  If your dog has a tendency or potential to “guard” the sofa, doing this exercise frequently would help to minimize any resource guarding that could develop. 
• Dogs with strong leader type personalities or temperaments would have a greater tendency to resource guard space.  The stronger this tendency, the more I would tend to limit time (IF ANY AT ALL) on the furniture. 

Jim Burwell  www.petiquettedog.com