BUTTERCUP I know it’s more efficient to say “dog-reactive Border Collie” – but I don’t like using behavior terms in a manner that labels the entire dog. Hence the more cumbersome but more appropriate “dog-reactive behavior.” Similarly, I will say “dog with aggressive behavior” rather than “aggressive dog” and on down the line with all the various dog behavior challenges I encounter. Last week on our appointment calendar was a lovely Border Collie, Buttercup, reported to be fearful in addition to her dog-reactivity.  She turned out to be the sweetest dog in the world – until we brought out my Pomeranian, Sunny, for some Counter Conditioning and Desensitization (CC&D) practice. Here was my initial evaluation, from her consultation report: “Buttercup entered the training center and explored the room with confidence – did not appear timid or fearful. We discussed this, and Abby (Buttercup’s human) explained that she is more likely to be timid/fearful in “busy” environments. We agreed this is likely because she probably came from rural West Virginia, so is not used to city sights and sounds. Buttercup was lovely with me – affiliative, soft body language, inviting interaction. She kept herself very busy during the entire session – exploring surfaces, finding stray treats under the refrigerator and various table legs. The only time she appeared environmentally concerned was when she heard noises from the adjoining office. I let her in to explore – she was worried about Lucy and Shirley at first (piloerected, behind the vertical) but quickly decided they were okay and then was affiliative with them as well.” We practiced several of my favorite Operant protocols – useful adjuncts to include in a behavior modification program. Operant behaviors that a dog loves can help move the emotional brain from very worried to happy, along with a CC&D protocol. We practiced Walk Away, the 1-2-3 Pattern Game, my Nose Games, and Search/Find It. Buttercup and Abby excelled in all of these excelled in all of these! (See below for my previously promised Nose Games protocol) According to Abby, Buttercup has had a history of good encounters with smaller dogs, so we started our CC&D practice with Sunny, my 25-pound Pomeranian as our neutral dog, entering behind a barrier at a distance of about 40 feet: Buttercup was immediately over threshold - barking and pulling toward us. Abby began feeding chicken and we increased the distance to 50 feet. I was pleased to see that Buttercup was able to come back down from threshold and relaxed noticeably but was still pretty much on edge. She stayed below threshold if Sunny was still, but clearly got more tense and did some barks if he was in motion. In addition to a management plan to avoid opportunities to practice the reactivity we agreed on the following protocols and commitments to help Buttercup learn to be socially appropriate with other dogs: Behavior Modification Protocols/Minimum Commitments (more is fine/better): 1.       Other Dogs: CC&D at least 3 times per week, 20 minutes or more; As we did in the training center – find a set-up where she can be below threshold, feed every time she looks at the other dog. 2.       Walk Away: At least 5 times per week, 5 minutes or more per session. Start with no distractors – when she is doing well gradually increase the value of the distractor – neutral at first, then something she might want – a toy, a food bowl… 3.       Pattern Games: At least 5 times per week, 5 minutes or more per session. 1-2-3- for sure, and any of the others that appeal to you. 4.       Nose Games: At least 3 times per week, 10 minutes or more per session; As described in the handout provided. 5.       Search/Find It/Meals: At least 5 times per week, 5 minutes or more per session. Scent work using her meals – stand and toss food bits to one side, then the other side, for her to search for – OR – Go out in the yard, scatter her entire meal in a wide area, then let her out to search for it. Buttercup’s human is a knowledgeable and skilled canine caretaker, and I am very optimistic about her likelihood of success. She would love to do some canine sports with her girl, so my fingers are crossed. NOSE GAMES PROTOCOL Now, as promised earlier, here is my Nose Games protocol. And just FYI - I had a woman take this class with her little Terrier mix and her eight-year-old son... by the end of her second set of six weeks her dog could find her son hiding in the woods! This is one of my favorite activities for dogs. Scent Work is great enrichment – both mentally and physically stimulating and tiring. We have also found that it can help a fearful dog become more confident. My Nose Games process is different from that use for the Nosework™ canine sport, which uses specific scent” detection – searching for a specific scent that the dog has learned to look for (ie: drug detection dogs). My Nose Games is a “Smell this smell, find this smell” protocol and is used to find missing persons, missing pets, etc., who each have a unique odor. “Nose Games” involves teaching your dog to look for and find hidden objects when you ask him to. This is an exceptionally useful game as it uses lots of energy and can tire out your very active dog, plus has very practical applications as well. We start with treats, since most dogs will happily look for food. You can eventually ask him to look for hidden objects (favorite toys, your lost keys) and even hidden or missing humans! Here’s how to start: Step 1: 1.     Have your dog sit and stay. (If he doesn’t know sit/stay, have someone hold his leash). 2.     Walk six feet away, show him a treat, remind him to stay, and place the treat on the ground. 3.     Return to his side (don’t let him get up yet!), turn and face the treat, then tell him “Search!” (If he won’t get up until you release him from the say “Search!” and then give your release cue.) He should run right out and eat the treat. 4.     Repeat a half-dozen times. Step 2: 1.     Have your dog sit and stay. 2.     Let him watch you “hide” a treat in plain view (next to a chair leg, by a waste basket, etc.). 3.     Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treat, then tell him “Search!” He should run right out and eat the treat. 4.     Repeat a half-dozen times. Step 3: 1.     Have your dog sit and stay. 2.     Let him watch you hide several treats in plain view. 3.     Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treats, rub one of the treats you’re using on a paper towel, hold the towel in front of his nose (don’t let him eat it!) and tell him “Sniff!” (Don’t worry if he doesn’t appear to sniff it.) 4.     Then tell him “Search!” He should run right out and eat the treats. 5.     Repeat a half-dozen times, having him “Sniff” before each set. Step 4: 1.     Have your dog sit and stay 2.     Let him watch you hide a treat in a harder place (behind a chair leg, etc.) 3.     Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treat, do “Sniff!”, then tell him “Search!” He may have more difficulty finding this treat. Don’t help him! This is where he starts learning to use his nose. If you help him, he won’t use his nose. If he truly can’t find it, reset, and hide it in an easier spot. Make sure he watches you! 4.     Repeat a half-dozen times. 5.     Gradually hide the treat in harder places, having “Sniff” before each set. (Note: on the ground is easiest - it's harder when you place treats on raised surfaces) Step 5: 1.     Have your dog sit and stay 2.     Let him watch you hide 2-3 treats in somewhat easy places (behind a chair leg, etc.) 3.     Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treats, then tell him “Search!” He may have more difficulty finding multiple treats. If necessary, indicate an area by spreading your arms and saying “Search here!” Don’t point to the treat! This is where he starts learning to use his nose. If you help him, he won’t use his nose. If he truly can’t find it, reset, and hide it in a slightly easier spot. Make sure he is watching you! 4.     Repeat a half-dozen times. 5.     Gradually hide treats in harder spots, having “Sniff” each time before you send him. Step 6: 1.     Put your dog in another room. 2.     Hide 2-3 treats in somewhat easy places. 3.     Bring him back to the room, have him “Sniff!” then tell him “Search!” He may have more difficulty finding multiple treats. If necessary, indicate an area by spreading your arms and saying “Search here!” Don’t point to the treat! This is where he starts learning to use his nose. If you help him, he won’t use his nose. If he truly can’t find it, reset, and hide it in a slightly easier spot. Make sure he is watching you! 4.     Repeat a half-dozen times, doing “Sniff” each time. 5.     Gradually hide treats in harder spots. Step 7: 1.     Generalize his “Search” behavior to other objects as you desire, starting with a favorite toy. Rub the toy on the paper towel, and proceed as your dog needs. Start back at Step 1, placing the toy in plain view and move quickly through to Step 6. 2.     Then use less favorite or neutral objects. For humans, rub the human’s scent on the by having them rub it on their neck, and then have them hide – easy at first (let the dog find them in plain view, then watch them hide behind a barrier, or around a corner, then through Step 6.)   ON THE FARM – FREDDIE THE PIG LEARNS TO USE A TREAT-DISPENSING BALL Well, okay – it wasn’t hard… If it’s about treats, Freddie can usually figure it out pretty quickly. The same way we teach dogs… put the ball on the floor with some treats underneath so he pushes it to get the treats, and before you know it he’s pushing it all over the barn aisle. And, by the way – he’s also putting his front feet up on the mounting block and on a bale of hay… and begging treats from everyone who comes in the barn! He has also learned the "scratch my tummy and I'll fall on the floor for you" trick... 20241209_102100.mp4 MY ANIMAL COMPANION LIFE LIST A few years ago I decided I wanted to make a life list of all the animal companions I have shared my life with over the years – at least all the ones I could remember. I am now at 146 – all the dogs are listed below - I'll do cats next blog. Then horses. Then other. Any of you have a life list? If so… I would love for you to share it here!!! Dogs 1. Flag - Beagle 2. Rusty – Retriever mix 3. Taffy – Retriever mix 4. Pudding – Retriever mix 5. Schmirks – Retriever mix 6. Cinders – Spaniel mix 7. Squire Perkins – Rough Collie 8. Sandy Perkins - Rough Collie 9. Tammy - Rough Collie 10. Miss Fluffy Candy Perkins - Rough Collie 11. Moby - Rough Collie 12. Tempie - Dalmation 13. Rocky - Rough Collie 14. Marty - Rough Collie 15. Brandy – St. Bernard 16. Watkins Glen – Irish Setter 17. Yenta – Irish Setter 18. Jacoby – Springer Spaniel 19. Otis - Bloodhound 20. Clown’s Caper – Bull Terrier mix 21. Mandy – Rough Collie 22. Keli – Australian Kelpie 23. Dusty - Pomeranian 24. Smokie – German Shepherd mix 25. Josie – Terrier mix 26. Tucker – Cattle Dog mix 27. Katie – Australian Kelpie 28. Dubhy – Scottish Terrier 29. Lucy (Footloose and Fancy Free) – Cardigan Corgi 30. Bonnie Wee Lass – Scorgidoodle 31. Scooter – Pomeranian 32. Missy – Australian Shepherd 33. Kaizen (Kai) – Australian Kelpie 34. Sunny (Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows) – Pomeranian 35. Kelpie Chaos (KC) – Australian Kelpie   And one of our many gorgeous sunsets from our farm to end this blog: HAPPY HOWLIDAYS!!!   Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com

APOLOGIES!!!!! My apologies for the malfunction of last week’s Zoomies video. I have now replaced it with two other Zoomie videos that are working – so if you want something to smile about go back to last week’s blog and take a look. By the way, did you know that the technical term for Zoomies is “Frenetic Rapid activity Period”? FRAPPING!   CANCELLATIONS AND A BOOK Well, my slow holiday week got even slower when my two clients cancelled/rescheduled their appointments. One realized it was time to say goodbye to her other (senior) dog – and we all know those things cannot wait; when it’s time, it’s time. The other was down with a bout of stomach flu. Both legitimate reasons to cancel, and the $100 deposit I started charging recently will transfer to their future appointment date. It’s the no-shows, and last-minute poor excuse clients who lose their deposits. Just because my clients cancelled didn’t mean I wasn’t doing anything, however. The deadline to submit my finished manuscript for my next book (on Canine Cognition) was today, December 1. I just finished sending it off to Dogwise – Phew!!! Release date is probably sometime late Spring/Early Summer 2025. I will keep you posted!   ON THE FARM We had a lovely Tofurkey dinner (we’re both vegetarian) with all the trimmings. USDA says tomorrow (Monday) is toss-out day (time to throw away your leftovers) but I don’t think so!!! I suspect they’re being ultra-conservative – we eat our leftovers until they’re gone – or have obviously gone bad. Do you throw away all your leftovers just four days later? Freddie the pig is settling in nicely and becoming a lot more social. While he is clearly very much Paul’s pig, he now let’s me scratch his head and back, and seeks me out if Paul isn’t with us in the barn. Yesterday when I came in the back gate of the barn, Sunny, Kai and Freddie were all at the far end of the aisle. When they saw me come in all three of them galloped full speed to greet me. If you haven’t seen a pig gallop, you are really missing something. Wish I’d had my camera with me to video it! I will try to recreate and video for you. A pig and his boy And now it’s d*** cold out there. Fifteen degrees wind windchill when I woke up this morning. We had put heaters in the horse water tanks yesterday and realized that two of the tanks were shocking the horses!!! Oh no… Horses react badly to shocks – we once had a pony whose tank shocked him, and it took us weeks to convince Mikey that it was safe to drink out of the tank again. Colic is a major danger when horses don’t drink enough water – and colic can be deadly. After some sleuthing we discovered that the culprit was the engine block heater from my husband’s truck that was plugged into the same outlet as the heaters. Fortunately, Levi had already discovered that the tank was safe. For Suede, Jack and Percy, we had to take a plastic food bowl, fill it with water, get them to drink out of the bowl, gradually bring the bowl closer and closer to the tank, eventually submerging it in the water until they were drinking out of the tank again. Fortunately, they recovered much more quickly than Mikey did. Levi - 33 years old and still going strong... LET’S TALK AGGRESSION A lot of behavior professionals don’t take aggression cases, and I respect them for that. There can be a lot at stake when you’re working with a dog who bites. I do take aggression clients, and in addition to my mainstay counter conditioning protocols and a long list of adjunct operant protocols that can help with management and modification of aggression, I do a heavy focus on stressors – identifying them and eliminating as many as possible from the dog’s world. By the way, I always refer to these canine clients as “dogs with aggressive behaviors,” never as “aggressive dogs.” Because they are great dogs most of the time, which is why clients are willing to invest in helping them have a better quality of life. Aggression is caused by stress. Across the board, with only the very rare exception of idiopathic aggression (which used to go by the unfortunate label “rage syndrome), aggression is caused by stress. Not just the immediate stress of the trigger that induces the dog to aggress, but all the other stressors in the dog’s world. So I work with a client to list as many stressors as we can think of, and then assign strategies to each stressor to help shorten the list. My five strategies are: 1.     Counter conditioning (CC&D; Change opinion) 2.     Operant conditioning (Change behavior) 3.     Management 4.     Get rid of it (the stressor, not the dog) 5.     Live with it – because you can’t make all stress go away. Here’s what a list might look like (numbers assigned from above strategy list): 1. Xander (other dog) - 1,2,3 - use leashes, baby gates, etc. to manage, use Mat and Touch, consider medication 2. Dogs going outside (arousal) 1,2,3 - take out on leash until calm, use Mat and Touch, consider medication 3. You getting up - 1,1,3 - Do CC&D as discussed in session 4. Vehicles in driveway - 3 - Cover windows, white noise (calming music), cotton balls in ears, can do CC&D 5. Dogs barking on TV - 1,3 - cotton balls in ears, can do CC&D 6. Neighbor dog howling - 1,3 - white noise (calming music), cotton balls in ears, can do CC&D 7. Use of Aversives - 4 8. Shock collar - 4 9. Car rides - 1,3 - Can do CC&D 10. Vet Hospital - 1,3 - Happy Vet Visits 11. Visitors - 1,2,3 - leashes, baby gates, etc. to manage, use Touch and Mat, Treat and Retreat 12. Emery (child) - 3,5 - Always have direct adult supervision, do not allow inappropriate interaction 13. Itching - 3, 4 - Watch to see if additional treatment is needed 14. Household Stress - 5 - Live with it; be aware that household stress can affect your dog - increase management Ivy Ivy’s humans, by the way, are overdue for their progress report to me. I will go nag them, and let you know how Ivy is doing if I hear back from them.   NEXT Another slow week coming up – I think everyone is busy with the holidays. Assuming she doesn’t cancel, I have one client coming, with a six-month-old Heeler mix with dog-reactive behavior. I will let you know! Meanwhile, stay warm and dry… I hear Pennsylvania and New York might be getting six feet of snow! Ouch. Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com

Yes. We’re pig lovers. We got our first pig many years ago (2007) – Sturgis. I was coming home from giving a seminar at Sue Sternberg’s place in upstate New York and stopped to visit a friend, Bill Lloyd (best man at our wedding in 1987!) at the shelter where he was Executive Director. As he was giving me the tour, he took me to the barn and asked if I knew anyone who might want a baby potbellied pig. Sturgis - Pig #1 at Peaceable Pastures! I laughed and said “No!” but when I called Paul to let him know I was on my way home I asked him, and he said “YES!!! You never knew I loved pigs, did you…???!!!” So baby Sturgis came home with us. Dexter, Pig #2! We lost Sturgis to old age in 2018 – and then adopted Dexter as an adult a year later. (He kept escaping from his neighborhood backyard and Animal Control was threatening to impound him if he got loose again.) We said good-bye to Dexter this past summer (age-related medical issues) and weren’t really planning on getting another… Then last week I got a text from my friend Bethany at Frederick County Animal Control (FCAC). They had Frederick Cute and Curious; Peaceable Pastures Pig #3 a stray adolescent pot-belly – black, just the right color! So yes, we have another pig. He is settling in well – loves to follow the horses, pushes the dogs around… and we have named him Fred (or Freddie) short for Frederick Cute And Curious (FCAC). NOW THE DOGS Two client last week – an Aussie who is very reactive to dogs and humans, and an adolescent Pit mix who is very high-energy/high arousal (surprise, NOT!!). MISS MAPLE, THE AUSSIE First, Miss Maple, the Aussie. Maple was adopted from ARMA (Aussie Rescue of the Mid-Atlantic) last February, and MAJOR kudos to ARMA – they give terrific support to their adopters. They paid for Maple’s humans to do private training (many sessions) with a force-free trainer who really helped Michael and Sam with her adjustment period, using Pattern Games and a Relaxation Protocol. Maple has adjusted well to life in their home, but still has very challenging reactivity when she’s out in the real world, so ARMA paid for them to do a consult with me. Way to go rescue group, can’t sing enough praises for ARMA!!! The lovely and brilliant Miss Maple Maple warmed up to me immediately, so we began by adding some protocols to their repertoire that would hopefully help with attention and focus when they are walking her in their busy downtown DC neighborhood: Tug – Maple gets very happy about toys, so inviting her to engage in tug may be a successful strategy for drawing her attention away from the stimuli that trigger her reactive barking. Tug used to be frowned upon, erroneously believed to cause aggression. Now we know better. I do like having some rules for Tug to ensure appropriate play: o   Only tug sideways. Vigorous up-and-down tugging can injure your dog’s spine. o   Tug gently for puppies and senior dogs. Healthy adult dogs can engage in vigorous tugging, but pups and seniors could be injured by too much tug-intensity. o   Teach your dog to wait politely until invited to tug. Say “Wait,” then hold up the tug toy. If she jumps for it, say, “Oops!” and hide the toy behind your back. Repeat until you can hold up the toy and she doesn’t try to grab it. Then you can say, “Take it!” and push the toy toward her. o   Teach your dog to give you the toy when you ask for it – then play again! o   If your dog is already an aroused tugger – jumping on you, or nipping/grabbing the toy – stand on the other side of a baby gate or inside an exercise pen to play Tug. o   Children only play Tug (under direct supervision!) with a dog who knows and respects the rules. o   Your dog can play-growl during tug. You should be able to tell that this is playful by analyzing the rest of her body language: playful dogs have wagging tails and a loose, wiggly body. If she growls in an intense way, with hard eye contact, a stiff tail or body, grabs at the toy with a hard mouth and gets your hand, or moves toward you aggressively, Tug is not a good game for her. If you can’t tell whether she’s resource-guarding or playing, ask a force-free professional for help! o   Don’t let anyone Tug with your dog who won’t follow your rules! Touch – Some dogs get really happy/excited about Touch (nose touch to designated object. When this is the case, it can be used to help move their emotional brain from worried to happy, and thus reduce reactive behavior. We usually start with nose targeting, because dogs tend to investigate with their noses, making a “nose touch” an easy behavior to prompt and capture. If you offer the palm of your hand to your dog with your fingers pointed toward the floor, most dogs will stretch forward and sniff it. Mark (click a clicker or use a verbal marker, such as the word “Yes!”) and give your dog a treat, and you’re on your way! If your dog needs a little encouragement, you can rub a bit of a tasty treat on your hand, and when she sniffs it, mark and treat. Most dogs learn to touch the proffered palm within just a few tries.   As with all behaviors we teach, as soon as you can predict that your dog is going to touch your palm with his nose when you offer it, begin using the verbal cue; I use “Touch!” Note that if she already thinks an open palm is the cue to offer her paw to you for a “Shake,” then you can offer a closed fist or two fingers in place of the open palm.  Maple hadn’t previously learned Touch, but caught on with lightning speed – not surprisingly, since she is a brilliant Aussie... Choice – As the wonderful Dr. Susan Friedman reminds us, “The opportunity to control one’s own outcomes is essential to behavioral health.” Our dogs’ lives to so controlled, it’s no wonder we’re seeing an escalating level of canine behavioral challenges – they have very little opportunity to control their own outcomes! Adding Choice into a dog’s routine really can help with a wide variety of behaviors. We usually start by teaching the Choice concept with food or toys, and then generalize it to other opportunities. With Maple, we showed her one toy and named it (Stuffy), then showed her a second toy and named it (Stick), then had her Wait while we presented both toys, and said “You Choose!” and encouraged her to pick one. She chose Stick (a solid cotton fetch toy) and we immediately threw it for her to fetch. She knew right away that she loved this game! Counter Conditioning and Desensitization (CC&D) – Finally we addressed the core concern, Maple’s reactive A tired Miss Maple!!! behavior. Our training center is 80 feet long. We put Maple and her humans at one end, and set up a visual barrier at the other end. I entered the room with my Kelpie, Kai, behind the barrier, and Maple barked. Slightly over threshold, but not bad – and she was able to eat the chicken treats Micael offered her, so we were able to continue. We did this for about 15 minutes, feeding a bit of chicken every time Maple looked at Kai. We moved out from behind the barrier (occasionally ducking back behind to give everyone a break) and were ultimately gradually able to move some 20 feet closer (zigzagging, not moving directly toward her), ending the session about 60 feet from Maple. We were all pleased with how she did here, and her humans were optimistic that they could find a location near their home to work at an appropriate threshold distance and set Miss Maple up for success. I look forward to hearing about their progress and hope they will be back for some Cognition work and follow-up with the CC&D as I suggested. Miss Maple was a tired girl at the end of our session!! FAITH, THE ADOLESCENT PIT MIX Faith - a firendly bundle of ENERGY!!! Faith was adopted just recently by a retired lady with considerable prior dog experience. Still, she realized pretty quickly that she was going to need some help with Faith, as the young dog’s energy level is pretty overwhelming. Indeed, I had to call Lucy in to keep Faith engaged so Lynne and I could talk without being constantly body-slammed. Other than that, Faith is a very friendly, outgoing normal dog, just at the high-end of the adolescent energy continuum. So, we were able to focus on establishing routines and implementing enrichment protocols that would help tire Faith out and direct her energy in more appropriate ways: Scatter Feedings: Faith has a fenced yard, so I suggested that Lynne take at least one meal per day and scatter it all over the yard so Faith has to hunt for it. Great enrichment, and scent work can be very tiring. Frozen Kongs: As Faith tends to bug Lynne constantly when she’s trying to work at her desk, we agreed that feeding her other meal per day frozen in a Kong could keep Faith busy and give Lynne time to attend to her desk work without interruption. ·        Flirt Pole: I do love a Flirt Pole for canine exercise especially for high-arousal dogs. And if the dog wants to redirect to the handler, the human can stand inside an exercise pen and run the toy at the end of the pole around the outside of the pen. Protected contact!!! Exercise Pen: Another great use for an exercise pen – I suggested to Lynne she could set it up to enclose her desk/work area so Faith couldn’t bug her even if she finished her frozen Kong. ·        Nose Games: As described in detail in my previous blog, “Beyond Sit and Down,” https://www.puppyworks.com/trainertalk/pat-miller-blog/beyond-sit-and-down-a-good-time-was-had-by-all-and-the-cat Nose Games is a great way to engage your dog’s scenting abilities, and tire her out at the same time. Dogs and humans usually both love this game. ·        Go Wild and Freeze: This teaches the dog a cue to help her settle when she is starting to get too aroused. The short version – stand in front of your dog, fold your arms and say “Freeze.” If she sits, mark and treat. If not, cue “Sit,” then mark and treat. Repeat until she auto-sits when you fold your arms and say freeze. Now get her a tiny little bit excited and do “Freeze.” (If she can’t freeze you got her to excited.) Very gradually increase your (and her) level of excitement until she will easily Freeze from high arousal. Lynne agreed to practice at least several of these protocols every day. This is, of course, just a start. Faith needs to learn all her Basic Good Manners skills, so Lynne signed up for Lucy’s “Wild to Mild” class – a class that high-arousal dogs can take so that they will be more successful for the next step, their Basic Good Manners class. We look forward to seeing Lynne and Faith back here at Peaceable Paws very soon. AND ZOOMIES!!! Do you love Zoomies as much as I do? Especially when your Zoomer gets your other dogs to join in? I caught this video in our back yard the other day. (Note that Stripes the cat is being a calm bystander…) 20241124_093234.mp4 20241124_093216.mp4 NEXT Hey, it’s Thanksgiving Week – Happy Tofurkey Day!!!  I do have two private clients this week, so more fodder for our next blog: a 7-year-old Airedale/Irish Terrier mix with human-directed aggression, and an 18-month-old Pit/Lab/GSD with fear and anxiety. See you then!!! Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com

FIRST, THE CAT I just have to share this… one of our two house cats has been telling us he would like to go outside. Stripes kept trying to dart out the door when we would take the dogs out in the back yard. Fortunately on the few occasions he did slip out he just stood there and waited for us to pick him up – he didn’t make a dash for the fence. Ever since working at the Marin Humane Society (1976 to 1996) I have been a huge advocate of keeping cats indoors – there are just too many risks for them outdoors. But as plainly as Stripes was telling us he wanted to go out, we purchased a harness for him, and now he goes out on a long line with us and the dogs. He’s loving it!! 20241116_101352.mp4 AND NOW, THE DOGS We held a two-day workshop last weekend – Beyond Sit and Down! The plan was to introduce a smorgasbord of more advanced training protocols so attendees could dip their toes into new waters and take away whatever they found useful for them. We built in a lot of flexibility – if you or your dog didn’t like something or weren’t interested in it, you did have to do it. No pressure – just fun! The lineup for the weekend included: ·        Hand Signals, Distance Cues and Blind Cues ·        Nose Games ·        Reading ·        Behavior Chains ·        Imitation ·        Shaping, and ·        Premack Pretty ambitious, right? I think it worked – dogs and humans both seemed to have a good time! Here’s a little more detail on each of these: HAND SIGNALS, DISTANCE CUES, BLIND CUES Hand Signals I encouraged attendees to use competition-style hand signals – big and bold so they can be easily seen by the dog from a distance. This is how we taught them: Down: Right hand raised straight up in the air, pause, give the verbal “Down” cue, then lower the arm. Repeat until the dog realizes that the hand in the air is a new cue for “Down.” Sit: Left hand makes a large circle, coming up from the chest, swinging far out to the side, pause, give the verbal “Sit” cue and finish the complete circle, finishing in the middle of the chest. Repeat until the dog understands this is a new cue for “Sit.” Come: Right hand swings straight out to the side from the chest as if you wanted to smack someone standing behind you, pause, give the verbal “Come” cue, and swing the hand back to the chest. Repeat until the dog understands this is a new cue for “Come.” Of course, with each of these you prompt the dog as needed to get the behavior to happen if they don’t do it on your verbal cue. And of course, we are marking and treating each time. Distance Cues For this one, you leave your dog on a sit stay, or leave her tethered or have someone hold her leash if she doesn’t have a solid stay. Facing her, take one step back, mark and treat, and return. “But wait!” you might be saying. “You didn’t cue her to do anything!” You’re right. If you cue her to “Down” every time you take a step back she will come to think that you stepping back is a new cue for “Down.” So for every one time you do cue the “Down,” you need to do several repetitions where you step back, mark and return without cueing a behavior. For those repetitions where you do cue, take a step back while facing your dog, cue “Down!” (or whatever behavior you want to ask for) and be ready to remind your dog to stay where she is – since you’ve probably always asked her to lie down in front of you and she probably thinks that’s what “Down” means. When she lies down, mark and return all the way to her to feed the treat. Continue with repetitions of various behaviors until you are able to ask her for any behavior from various distances. Always return to her to feed the treat so she doesn’t think a mark-and-treat means to come to you. Unless, of course, you used your Distance Come cue! Blind Cues No, we’re not talking about a Seeing Eye Dog – we’re talking about teaching your dog to respond to cues even when you aren’t facing her. Since you will be turning your back on your dog you’ll need to stand in front of a mirror so you can see what your dog does when you give the cue, or have a spotter who can tell you if the dog did it. Again, you will tell your to stay or have her restrained. Begin by turning your back, marking, turning again to face your dog and feed the treat. As with Distance cues, we don’t want your dog to think that turning your back is a new cue for “Down.” Between multiple “blank” turns, occasionally turn your back to your dog and give the cue. “Down!” If your dog lies down, mark, turn around and treat. If she doesn't, give the cue one more time, and if she still doesn’t lie down, turn around and prompt, mark and treat. Continue to do occasional real “Down” turns in between the blank ones, until your dog will lie down (or do whatever other behavior you ask for) with your back turned. Now you can combine distance, back turned, and even out-of-sight cues in your repertoire! NOSE GAMES “Nose Games” involves teaching your dog to look for and find hidden objects when you ask him to. This is an exceptionally useful game as it uses lots of energy and can tire out your very active dog, plus has very practical applications as well. We start with treats, since most dogs will happily look for food. You can eventually ask him to look for hidden objects (favorite toys, your lost keys) and even hidden or missing humans! Here’s how: Step 1: 1.       Have your dog sit and stay. (If he doesn’t know sit/stay, have someone hold his leash). Walk six feet away, show him a treat, remind him to stay, and place the treat on the ground. 2.       Return to his side (don’t let him get up yet!), turn and face the treat, then tell him “Search!” (If he won’t get up until you release him from the say “Search!” and then give your release cue.) He should run right out and eat the treat. Repeat a half-dozen times. Step 2: 1.       Have your dog sit and stay. Let him watch you “hide” a treat in plain view (next to a chair leg, by a waste basket, etc.). 2.       Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treat, then tell him “Search!” He should run right out and eat the treat. Repeat a half-dozen times. Step 3: 1.       Have your dog sit and stay. Let him watch you hide several treats in plain view. 2.       Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treats, rub one of the treats you’re using on a paper towel, hold the towel in front of his nose (don’t let him eat it!) and tell him “Sniff!” (Don’t worry if he doesn’t appear to sniff it.) 3.       Then tell him “Search!” He should run right out and eat the treats. Repeat a half-dozen times, having him “Sniff” before each set. Step 4: 1.       Have your dog sit and stay. Let him watch you hide a treat in a harder place (behind a chair leg, etc.) 2.       Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treat, do “Sniff!”, then tell him “Search!” He may have more difficulty finding this treat. Don’t help him! This is where he starts learning to use his nose. If you help him, he won’t use his nose. If he truly can’t find it, reset, and hide it in an easier spot. Make sure he watches you! Repeat a half-dozen times. 3.       Gradually hide the treat in harder places, having “Sniff” before each set. Step 5: 1.       Have your dog sit and stay. Let him watch you hide 2-3 treats in somewhat easy places (behind a chair leg, etc.) 2.       Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treats, then tell him “Search!” He may have more difficulty finding multiple treats. If necessary, indicate an area by spreading your arms and saying “Search here!” Don’t point to the treat! This is where he starts learning to use his nose. If you help him, he won’t use his nose. If he truly can’t find it, reset, and hide it in a slightly easier spot. Make sure he is watching you!       Repeat a half-dozen times. 5.       Gradually hide treats in harder spots, having “Sniff” each time before you send him. Raised surfaces are even harder, as the scent moves in different ways as it flows down from the raised surface. Step 6: 1.       Put your dog in another room. Hide 2-3 treats in somewhat easy places. 2.       Bring him back to the room, have him “Sniff!” then tell him “Search!” He may have more difficulty finding multiple treats. If necessary, indicate an area by spreading your arms and saying “Search here!” Don’t point to the treat! This is where he starts learning to use his nose. If you help him, he won’t use his nose. If he truly can’t find it, reset, and hide it in a slightly easier spot. Make sure he is watching you! Repeat a half-dozen times, doing “Sniff” each time. 3.       Gradually hide treats in harder spots. Step 7: 1.       Generalize your dog’s “Search” behavior to other objects as you desire, starting with a favorite toy. Rub the toy on the paper towel, and proceed as your dog needs. Start back at Step 1, placing the toy in plain view and move quickly through to Step 6. 2.       Then use less favorite or neutral objects. For humans, rub the human’s scent on the by having them rub it on their neck, and then have them hide – easy at first (let the dog find them in plain view, then watch them hide behind a barrier, or around a corner, then through Step 6.) Note that this process is very different from the “Specific Scent” protocol taught for the K9 Nosework™ competition and for drug detection work. This is a “Smell Thie Smell, Find This Smell” protocol, and it also has many uses, including Search and Rescue work, and finding missing pets. I had a client come to my Nose Games class twice (6 sessions each time) and by the end of the twelve weeks her little Terrier mix could find her eight-year-old son when she had him go off and hide in the woods.! READING Reading is another very fun thing to teach your dog. Yes, dogs can read. Here’s how: 1. Make two white signs that are identical in size and shape, with the word “SIT” in large black letters on one sign, and the word “DOWN” on the other. 2. With your dog standing in front of you, hold up the “SIT” sign, pause, and verbally cue your dog to sit. When your dog sits, mark with your clicker or verbal marker, and feed him a treat. Lure or prompt if necessary. (If your dog won’t stay in a standing position, see the Sidebar, “Helping Your Dog Stand.”) 3. Repeat Step 3 until you can hold up the sign and your dog sits without you having to say “Sit,  and with no luring or prompting.” He now thinks holding up a white square with black squiggles on it is a new cue for “Sit,” 4. Now hold up the “DOWN” sign in the exact same position you previously held up the “SIT” sign, and verbally cue your dog to down. Lure or prompt if necessary. When he lies down, mark and treat. 5.Repeat Step 4 until you can hold up the sign and your dog lies down without you having to say “Down, and with no luring or prompting.” He now thinks you’ve changed your mind, and that holding up a white square with black squiggles is the new cue for “Down.” 6. Now randomly vary which sign you hold up in the exact same position. Pause and cue the appropriate behavior, until you see that your dog is beginning to offer the correct behavior in response to whichever sign you hold up. If you realize he’s about to make a mistake (i.e. he starts to lie down when you hold up the “Sit” sign, cheerfully help him get it right – verbally cue the “Sit” and lure him back up into position. 7. Continue to repeat Step 6 until your dog is offering the correct behavior 80% or more of the time. Hey – your dog is reading!! He is recognizing that one set of squiggles means he should sit, and the other means he should lay down. He is able to interpret the meaning of the squiggles and offer the correct behavior – that’s reading! 8. If you want to take it further, you can make additional cue cards for behaviors your dog knows and use the same procedure to teach him new words. Note that if you use cues that require a body prompt from you, you won’t really know if he’s reading the card or responding to your prompt (i.e. shake – where you offer your hand; touch – where he touches his nose to your offered fist), so it’s best to stick to behaviors where you don’t have to move to invite a response. NEXT Okay, that’s half of our weekend workshop. Too much for one blog, so you’ll get the rest next time. Yes, that’s a tease… I want you to come back!!! And I’d love for more people to see these – please share with friends! Until next time… Loving the Fall weather, but boy, do we need rain – Maryland is under a “No Burn” advisory until further notice. My husband does volunteer Fire Police work and they’ve been out on several mountain fires in addition to their normal load of traffic accidents and house fires... Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com

3-DOG-DAY: LEASH REACTIVE/FEAR REACTIVE/ANXIETY No – not all three behavior challenges in one dog, thank goodness; this was three consults all in one day – something I try to avoid doing because I find them exhausting. And then I have to write three consultations reports within the next 24 hours. But sometimes you do what you gotta do! Our three clients on Friday of last week were: ·        Viktor, the Australian Cattle Dog with leash reactive/squirrel chasing and mouthing behaviors ·        Luna, the Husky mix with fear-related reactive behaviors ·        Ivy, the German Shepherd with anxiety-related behaviors Let’s take a closer look… VIKTOR, 2-YEAR-OLD NEUTERED MALE AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG Viktor has been with his new humans for about eight weeks now. His presenting complaint was: “Reactive barking to dogs, human walkers and moving vehicles; predatory behavior with squirrels; occasional mouthing of humans.” He had spent a difficult 17 weeks at the shelter from which he was adopted – that housed him in the “not for adoption” section because of his excessive barking at the other dogs, and because there was less stimulation there, and hopefully therefore less arousal. They also had a force-free trainer working with him, and he had learned some solid operant behaviors, including “Sit” and Shake.” Viktor entered the training center and explored the room with confidence. He approached me to check me out but was not affiliative – he did not invite interaction. I discussed a number of topics with his human, and emphasized the importance of management, as well as eliminating the verbal and leash corrections he had been doing when Viktor would bark. We did 15 minutes of counter conditioning and desensitization (CC&D) with Viktor, starting with my dog Kai at a distance of 70 feet, his human feeding chicken every time Viktor looked at Kai. Viktor did exceptionally well. He was near threshold at first (tense, hard staring, small bark), but de-escalated quickly, and we were able to decrease distance fairly rapidly, adding movement toward the end, with Kai leaping 6 feet into the air about 15 feet away with no reaction from Viktor. We also practiced some operant protocols. These can be used to engage the dog in the presence of his arousal-causing stimuli, and move his brain from worried/excited to happy/engaged. They can also be good (tiring!) enrichment, especially the Nose Games. We practiced and agreed on commitments for: 1.       Find It/Search: This can work well to bring his focus back to you (Treats at your feet for “Fin dit!”) and can also be used for exercise: Say “Search!” and toss a treat one direction, then “Search!” and toss it the opposite direction. Viktor performed this game easily. At least 5 time per week, 20 minutes or more per session. 2.       Pattern Games: The predictability of the Pattern Games provides for behavioral stability – the dog knows what to expect, and that decreases stress and arousal. (You can find information on Leslie McDevitt’s Pattern Games here: https://www.dogcrazylady.com/post/pattern-games ) My favorite is 1-2-3, we practiced that and Viktor was very focused on his human. At least 3 times per week, 5 minutes or more 3.       Walk Away: This is an emergency escape behavior. Taught as a very fun party game, it works because when the dog hears the “Walk Away” cue his brain switches to “Yay, fun game!” and it takes his mind off his concern, moves his brain to happy, and at the same time allows the handler to increase distance from the stimulus (other dog, etc.). At least 3 times per week, 5 minutes or more 4.       Nose Games: This is an excellent enrichment activity. Dogs generally love to use their noses, and it’s fun for canine and human, especially as you get to the more advanced steps. It is also very tiring for your dog – although they are great at using their noses, it is a brain-tiring activity. At least 3 times per week, 5 minutes or more I will post my Nose Games protocol in another blog. Soon. Promise. I’ve already gotten this lovely follow-up from Viktor’s human: “Viktor is already making progress. I have used the find/search, 1-2-3, and walk away games to great effect to get him past school busses and children waiting for the bus. The counter conditioning we did with Kai has been a good tool. I have used it with a well-behaved neighbor dog behind an e-fence. I used it again on Monday when we got barked at by the big dog that lives behind us. I brought Viktor to about 60 feet within the fence. All Viktor cared about was the food in my hand. Even when a second dog joined the first one. I wasn't using chicken, just his regular mix of treats.” YAY!!! LUNA, 2.5-YEAR-OLD SPAYED FEMALE HUSKY MIX Luna has been in her current home since she was three months old. Her people’s main concerns are: barks at people and other dogs, jumps on people. I was seated when she entered the room with her humans. She appeared confident and friendly – she greeted me, put her paws on my lap and licked my face. She continued to be affiliative/friendly with me throughout the session. I do make it a point to be seated when all my clients enter the training center with their dogs – it makes a monumental difference in the dogs’ acceptance of me as a non-threatening human. Indeed, when we had Lucy come into the training center halfway through the session, Luna did considerable reactive barking at her at first. We immediately decreased intensity of stimulus to get her below threshold, and did CC&D. Here are Luna’s protocols: 1.       CC&D for barking:  At least 3 times per week, 20 minutes or more per session 2.       Polite Greeting: At least 1 time per week, 5 minutes or more – with people she knows and is happy excited, not worried-barking. 3.       Mat: At least 5 times per week, 5 minutes or more (more is better!) – practice indoors at first, then generalized to real-world when she is ready. 4.       Find it/Search: At least 5 times per week, 5 minutes or more (more is better!) –indoors at first, then generalized to real-world when she is ready. 5.       Walk Away: At least 5 times per week, 5 minutes or more (more is better!) –indoors at first, then generalized to real-world when she is ready. 6.       1-2-3 (and/or other Pattern Games): At least 5 times per week, 5 minutes or more (more is better!) –indoors at first, then generalized to real-world when she is ready. I have no updates yet on Luna – but she did very well here, and I am optimistic. IVY, 3-YEAR-OLD SPAYED FEMALE GERMAN SHEPHERD Ivy was purchased from a breeder at the age of eight weeks. Her humans’ main concern is her anxiety – they say she is always on edge: “We can't even get up from the couch without her springing up and barking. She also aggressively goes after our other dog Xander during moments like this or when we let them out. It's like she doesn't know where to channel her energy and does so through barking and going after Xander.” Ivy was friendly with both Lucy and me – and was also clearly an anxious dog. Her constant nervous-energy activity, and especially her frantic jumping on and hugging Lucy, were indications of this. Lucy kept Ivy occupied with toys, play and Frozen Kongs the entire session in order to keep the active girl out of trouble. And yes, Ivy would erupt into bouts of extended barking with very little stimulus. I could see why her humans were seeking help! Ivy had been on Fluoxetine (Reconcile) but when that didn’t appear to make a difference in her behavior. They actually felt it had made her behavior worse – more barking, and an increase in aggressive behavior toward their other dog. Xander was slightly injured (tear to tan eyelid) in their last altercation. These medications can sometimes have a “paradoxical” or disinhibiting effect. With their vet’s guidance they gradually weaned Ivy off the Fluoxetine and started her on Trazadone, which they said seems to be helping. I told her that the veterinary behaviorists I work with will often use a “cocktail,” combining various medications for the best effect. And that it is often a process of trial and error to find the best combination for a particular dog. I suggested that if her vet isn’t “behaviorally knowledgeable” she could ask them to do a phone consult with a veterinary behaviorist for guidance on appropriate medication cocktails. The did say that Ivy's behavior had significantly improved since taking her off the Reconcile, so some of the behaviors that were problematic when they scheduled their appointment had noticeably improved - but they were still happy for the consultation and additional suggestions. And yes, I had some. Of course.<G> This was one of those cases where the wife shared that Ivy behaves better for her husband than she does for her. Upon further exploration I found that yes, the husband uses aversive corrections. It is not uncommon that it’s more often the husband who is using aversives to try to stop an unwanted behavior. Because the dog does appear to behave better for the aversive partner, they usually try to convince the other partner that they should be using them too. I explained that when one partner uses aversives they can often succeed in shutting down the dog’s behavior in the moment. In fact, however, the dog fears the potential application of aversives and is therefore more shut down in the presence of that partner. This does not, however, change the underlying motivation for the behavior, and so the behavior often returns in the absence of the aversive partner. Aversives also add stress to the dog’s world, which is very counterproductive, as the vast majority of behaviors we work to modify in clients’ dogs are stress-related, and we are trying to reduce stress, not increase it. Ivy's humans agreed they didn't want a relationship based on fear. Instead, I suggested we use a combination of management, CC&D and operant protocols to manage and change Ivy’s behavior. Because Ivy and Xander get along well together much of the time and enjoy playing togethr, we don’t want to eliminate all dog-dog interaction. We identified the arousal of running out the door to the backyard as a primary flashpoint for Ivy to turn on Xander, so I recommended taking both dogs out into the yard on leash, walking them until they have gotten over the initial “wheeeeeeeeeeeee, outside!!!!! excitement, and then letting them off leash to play. I also urged them to use a more neutral sound interrupter like a whistle (not an angry voice!) when they observed tension being telegraphed from Ivy toward Xander, as using an angry voice for intervention can actually trigger aggression. Finally, we agreed on these commitments: 1.       Going Outside: Daily – every time both dogs go out; have dogs on leashes, walk them outside calmly until they are settled, then let them off leash to play. 2.       Getting Up: CC&D several times per week, 5-10 minutes per session, rising and feeding: with both of seated, one holding Ivy’s leash and a supply of chicken. The other rises slightly, and as soon as Ivy notices, the seated person feeds a bit of chicken. Repeat over and over until Ivy looks for chicken when the riser starts to move. Gradually increase the amount of rising, until the person can stand and walk away without Ivy getting excited. 3.       Leash Management: Daily – manage with Ivy on leash as much as possible to prevent her from practicing her arousal behavior. 3.       Mat and Touch: 5 minutes or more per session, at least 5 days per week (more is fine!) practice these behaviors to fluency (first in the home, then in the real world) so you can use them to manage Ivy’s behavior as needed. I am optimistic about Ivy too… as long as Dad hops on board and stops using aversives. No reports back yet – I usually ask them to send a report in two weeks, and it hasn’t been that yet. We shall see… FOR NEXT TIME So that was my 3-Dog-Day… one I hope not to replicate too often. Right now we’re in the middle of a 2-day “Beyond Sit And Down” Workshop, introducing a variety of advanced training protocols, including Hand Signals, Nose Games, Behavior Chains, Reading, Premack and Imitation. Fun!!! And much less stressful for all concerned than those Academies!!! Until next time… Veteran’s Day November 11 – Thanks to all who served… Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com

IKE, THE BLOODHOUND Busy week last week! I promised to fill you in on Ike, the Bloodhound who has challenges with aggression, reactivity and resource guarding. I had a lot going on, including visits from the equine vet and the farrier early in the week, and three consults on Friday. I usually don’t do more than two consults in a day because between preparation, the actual 2-hour consult and writing the follow-up report, they can be pretty draining. So now I’m coming up for air and I invite you to meet Ike. BUT FIRST, A PEACEABLE PAWS HOLIDAY OFFER But first... We’re done with our 2024 academies, have one workshop coming up November 9-10, and are planning our 2025 events. As a thank you to all of you who are reading my blog, I’d like to offer you our PPaws Holiday Special – a 10% discount on next year's academies and workshops. If you sign up for a 2025 event during the months of November or December using the code ppaws10 you will receive a 10% discount. If you pay the amount in full, you get the discount when you pay. If you pay the deposit, you will receive the discount when you pay the balance next year. Academy tuition is $1500 for the 6-day course, so a 10% discount saves you $150. Happy Holidays! You can go here for more information: https://peaceablepaws.com/programs-services/ or contact our office at info@peaceablepaws.com or call 301-582-9420. We’d love to see you here in 2025!!! AND NOW, IKE! I have to begin by confessing that I love Bloodhounds. I had one myself, Otis, many years ago during my long-gone hippie days. Yes, I was a hippie, living in a school bus – in California, of course, because that’s where all good hippies went. I adopted Otis from the Marin Humane Society, before I even started working there in 1976. I’d post a phot of him if I had one, but we didn’t have cell phone cameras in those days, and hippies couldn’t afford real cameras and photo developing. I’m happy to say that Otis was a lovely boy - he didn’t come with the behavioral challenges that Ike presented. Ike, now four and neutered, was purchased as a puppy from a breeder who stopped returning the owner’s phone calls when she contacted them about his behavior issues. (That tells you something about the breeder…) His aggression manifests as resource guarding of food, space and his humans, and the other two dogs in the home, older Beagles, are the unfortunate recipients of much of Ike’s attention, as are some human visitors. Doing the best they knew how at the time, Ike’s humans unfortunately have used verbal corrections and some physical coercion in their attempts to deal with his behavior. Not surprisingly, Ike’s behavior had escalated over time, likely a function of his behavioral success (the Beagles try to avoid him and his resources!) and the additional stress resulting from the use of aversive "correction" attempts. As we know, aversives can succeed in shutting down behavior in the moment, but they add stress to the dog’s stress load (and stress causes aggression) and they don’t change the underlying cause of the behavior – so when the relevant antecedent occurs again (ie – Ike perceives a threat to his resource) the behavior happens again, this time with additional stress due to his anticipation of human aggression. The Consult I was seated when Ike and his human entered the room. Ike checked me out and did not bark at me, but was not affiliative – he did not invite interaction, which suggests a level of discomfort with strangers. He explored the room with reasonable confidence, although he was concerned about a dog statue on the windowsill. We know that Ike missed out on early socialization during COVID. His reactive barking is likely a result of this, and probably fear-related, even though he doesn’t appear to be an overly fearful dog. He has learned that barking makes the bad things go away (he doesn’t know they were often going to go away anyway), so the behavior is reinforced – and behavior that is reinforced increases – the likely explanation for the escalation of his arousal behavior over the past 3 years. I emphasized with his humans the critical importance of management so Ike’s behavior doesn’t continue to escalate, and so our modification program can be successful, and also so no one gets hurt. Management for Ike includes anti-anxiety medication (which he was already on via his veterinarian; I encouraged them to discuss an anti-anxiety “cocktail” for possible further benefit via a phone call with a veterinary behaviorist if necessary), covering windows to prevent daily reactive barking at passers-by and vehicles, and changing their feeding locations so the Beagles didn’t have to walk past Ike’s feeding station. I also explained why it was vitally important to stop using punishment for Ike’s behaviors, and they seemed on board with this. Medical: It is always imperative to consider possible medical contributors to behavior (I always ask my clients to provide me with a complete set of their dog’s medical records prior to our appointment). Ike has had some past issues with itching, and I noticed his left ear was hanging lower than his right, so I urged his humans to get that looked out. (There’s nothing like pain in your ear to make you grouchy!). He is also overweight. Since Bloodhounds are one of the breeds that is genetically prone to hypothyroidism, I strongly suggested she have her vet check that as well. Hypothyroidism, even subclinical levels, can contribute to behaviors such as stress and anxiety. (See: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/health/help-for-dogs-with-hypothyroidism/ ) Here is a link to a great resource - it lists many different breeds of dogs and the heritable/genetic disorders that are common in those breeds: https://www.hsvma.org/assets/pdfs/guide-to-congenital-and-heritable-disorders.pdf Protocols: We explored several protocols for Ike, and agreed on the ones below to start with. I always come to agreement with my clients for “commitments” – they tell me what frequency is realistic for them, rather than me telling them how often they have to practice. I find this makes it far more likely that they will stick with the program. Here are the commitments we agreed on for Ike and his human: •        Feet/Search: Dropping treats at your feet and tossing treats away from you, at least 1 time per day, 5 days per week, 5 minutes or more (more is fine!). This can help to get him refocused on you (at your feet) when he hears “Feet!”. You practice this without distractions at first so he develops a very happy association with the “Feet” cue, and then if you use it when he’s starting to get worried/aroused it can also help to move his brain from worried to happy.  You and Ike did well with this. •        1-2-3 (and other pattern games): At least 1 time per day, 5 days per week, 5 minutes or more (more is fine!)– Leslie McDevitt’s Pattern games help create a predictable routine, which can be very helpful for reactive dogs. You practiced this with Ike and you both did well. •        Counter Conditioning and Desensitization (CC&D): At least 3 times per week, 20 minutes or more per session - doing CC&D as we did in our session, at a location where you can control intensity of stimulus to keep Ike below threshold (not barking, and willing to take treats). This is a very important piece of our modification program – changing Ike’s association with the things that concern him so he no longer feels the needs to bark at them. We did CC&D with me moving at first. Ike was aware of me but not overly concerned about my presence, as he had already spent 90 minutes in the room with me. We started about 30 feet apart and decreased the distance to about 15 feet as he started giving you CERs (conditioned emotional response looks) when he realized that my presence was making you give him chicken. We then had Lucy come in. He was definitely more tense and concerned about the new person in the room, starting at a distance of 70 feet, but was mostly able to take treats and eventually did a few CERs for Lucy as well. Our goal behavior is this: “Ike is able to remain calm, quiet and relaxed in the presence of the stimuli that presently put him over threshold.” This is important for Ike’s quality of life as well as the quality of life of the humans who live with him. I shared with Ike’s humans that I am optimistic about our potential for success, as long as everyone in the family is committed to following the program. Fingers crossed for this big guy!! Since not all family members attended the session, I included this in my written report: “Know that the cooperation of the rest of your family will be critically important to our success. If different family members are applying different methods and philosophies it will only confuse Ike and stress him more. Consistency is key to helping him learn how to be the dog we want him to be.” FOR NEXT TIME By the way, I just had cataract surgery in my right eye yesterday (with miraculous results!) and so am taking it easy for the next week – just one consult this Friday. For my next blog, I plan to share one or more of my three last Friday consults: Viktor, a 4-year-old neutered male Australian Cattle Dog, leash reactivity; Luna, a 2-year-old spayed female Husky mix, fear-related behavior; and Ivy, a 3-year-old spayed female German Shepherd, anxiety and arousal. Until next time… HAPPY HOWLOWEEN!!!!! Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com

BMOD ACADEMY… AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE! Well heck – We were all excited that, for the first time in PPaws history we had ***5*** men out of 8 students in one of our academies. And it started out that way… but it wasn’t that way at the finish (sad face). Many of us bemoan the fact that, while there are certainly a growing number of male trainers in the force-free world, the field is still overwhelmingly dominated by women. Maybe it’s due to hegemonic masculinity (go ahead, look it up!!!) – where men in our culture are supposed to be tough. At any rate, it’s rare for us to have more than one or two male human students in our courses. What started out on October 7 with what was supposed to be a full academy of 8 students ended up with just 5 graduating. One (female) had a car accident out of town Saturday (academy started Monday) and couldn’t get a rental car from her insurance company in time to get back for the class. One (male) had a family emergency and they needed his car at home, so he had to leave. One (male) had brought his dog with him to the course and it turned out to be much too stressful for his dog, so he left and went home for the sake of his dog’s mental health. So we still ended up with a preponderance of males (3 men, 2 women) but not quite as many as we expected. ACADEMY DOGS AND THEIR BEHAVIORS We encourage students to bring their own dogs for this academy so they can continue to work on their modification protocols when they go back home. When some students don’t have a suitable dog for the course we call on our friends at Frederick County Animal Control (FCAC), and they always come through for us. This week we had a lovely variety: Abbie Penland and her sweet Pembroke Corgi, Ahsoka, working on fear-related behaviors. Brian Markowich with his gorgeous Belgian Tervuren, Kit, working on husbandry, especially vet handling. Sara Millbrandt, with the very handsome German Shepherd, Armand (from FCAC) working on arousal, impulse control and handling. Ross Miller, with the wonderful Rottweiler, Kurtis (from FCAC), working on husbandry and handling. and Gerry Van Loon with the stunning Husky, Lorenzo (FCAC), working on arousal and mouthing. ACADEMY DOG PROTOCOLS Each of the students is required to keep a journal of the work they do with their dog for the week. Here are snippets from their journals: AHSOKA and ABBIE Abbie says: “Ahsoka is fearful of novel objects. She will alarm bark and sometimes howl upon discovery of a novel object. After the initial discovery of the object she will back up while growling. If the novel object is something that is presented to her (i.e. someone holding something), Ahsoka has whale eye, will back up and sometimes growl. She will avoid the novel object. Ahskoa also jumps at loud sounds and sudden movement.” Behavior Modification Plan for the week: Abbie says: “I plan to try several operant and classical protocols.  My operant protocols will be Targeting and Find it and I will use CC&D and Treat & Retreat as my classical protocols. This week I hope to counter condition and desensitize Ahsoka to novel objects so that she is happy, relaxed, and can ignore novel objects so that she no longer barks repetitively at them. I then hope that Ahsoka choses to readily and happily investigate novel objects that she discovers and does not react when surprised by loud noises, people, or sudden movements.” After two days, Abbie abandoned this plan and we focused on doing scent work (my Nose Games protocol) and confidence building operant behaviors such as Targeting and Leslie McDevitt’s Pattern Games. Abbie realized that helping her dog become more confident in general was a better approach than individual one-at-a-time Counter Conditioning and Desensitization to a multitude of objects. It worked well – by Thursday Ahsoka was happily dashing across the floor when released to go find the hidden treats, and clearly much more confident moving around the Peaceable Paws campus. Score! 20241008_140528.mp4 KIT AND BRIAN Brian says: “During normal vet exams and vaccinations, Kit can become stiff and softly growls during the exam. I gently restrain him and he “tolerates” the exam but he does not like it.” Behavior Modification Plan for the week: a. Greeting protocols to get initial contact with staff off on the right foot. (Follow me and Say hi) b. Chin Rest c. CC&D with food during physical contact/exam by strangers or new people. Brian was able to improve Kit’s comfort level with introduction to new humans by teaching him to do a “Touch” behavior to an offered hand (for a click and treat) – with a different partner each day. He made some progress with the Chin Rest – but still has a long way to go. He had the greatest success with feeding Kit squeeze cheese from a Kong while gradually increasing the contact by his partner. By Day 5 he did: “9 long touches with talking with 2 hands down both sides. Shoulder to tail. He actually stayed in his spot while I stepped away and got more treats, so this is working for him!” 20241008_135256.mp4 ARMAND AND SARA a.      Touch sensitivity 1. Veterinary visits: touching face and muzzle wearing 2. Harness: very wiggly, jumpy and occasionally mouthy b.     Impulse Control: 1. Takes treats roughly 2. Pushes past handler at doors 3. High arousal around other canines; potential for conflict Behavior Modification Plan for the week: 1. Bucket game: Empower his participation at a vet visit (switched to Chin Rest) 2. CC&D: Touch–developing a positive association with touch of head and muzzle 3. WAIT! development of impulse control 4. CC&D: Muzzle-developing a positive association with wearing a muzzle Armand did very well with the CC&D for touch, and by the end of the week was happily shoving his nose into the muzzle (for squeeze cheese). He was a rock star with the “Wait for the Food Bowl” game for impulse control, and did better with the Chin Rest than the Bucket Game. 20241008_094209.mp4 KURTIS AND ROSS Ross says, “The shelter reported sensitivity around his face and neck, but we didn’t see that here, so this week, I will be working on Kurtis’ sensitivity to being touched around his abdomen, which we did observe here. Behavior Modification Plan for the week: The plan is to use desensitization and counter-conditioning (CC&D), along with teaching him the Bucket Game to help Kurtis feel more empowered. By helping Kurtis feel more comfortable with touch, and also giving him a way to say “no” to handling when he’s uncomfortable, the expectation is that he won’t feel the need to escalate to growling and snapping. In addition to the CC&D Kurtis also switched to the Chin Rest instead of the Bucket Game, as this seems an easier protocol with which to see progress in the short 6 days we have with the dogs. On Day 5 Ross said: “This was my favorite session of the entire academy. We had Abbie do the CC&D to see how easy it would be to generalize to other people. The CER (conditioned emotional response – dog looking for treats after touch – that tells us he has made the association between treats and touch) appeared on only the second the repetition, and never disappeared throughout the session. Even when changing hands, we didn’t need any warm-up repetitions. The CER was present immediately. After the final recorded step, Abbie did a series of light touches down Kurtis’s back and both sides, and we still never lost the CER. Then I jumped in and did just one or two light touches to warm up. I then touched Kurtis from shoulders to rear end, on both sides, and everywhere under his chest and belly. Once again, we never lost the CER. Great way to end the week! 20241011_100951.mp4 LORENZO AND GERRY Reported Behavior: During moments of heighted excitement or overstimulation, such as playtime or greeting Lorenzo exhibits arousal mouthing behavior. Behavior Modification Plan for the week Gerry says: I plan to try several protocols and gentle play to reduce Lorenzo’s arousal mouthing. The protocols and play will incorporate operant (positive reinforcement) conditioning to modify Lorenzo’s behavior. We decided to utilize the protocols, “Go Wild and Freeze,” “Trade,” “Leave it,” and structured play including “Tug of War” and “Flirt Pole.” Additionally, we will introduce the Basic Good Manners protocols of Friendly Greeting, Sit, and Down Lorenzo did very well with all his protocols. The structured play with the Flirt Pole worked very well, especially when “Trade” was added to prompt him to give up the toy easily and settle in anticipation of the next invitation to play. Gerry also learned the value of carrying a toy with him and offering it to Lorenzo when he would get excited and start to mouth. “Here, put your mouth on this instead!!!” OUTCOMES A great week for all – everyone made excellent progress and graduated with honors. Of course, Ahsoka and Kit went happily home with their humans at the end of the weeks. Extra great news – Lorenzo and Armand both had adopters, and both adopters came and watched the graduation presentations! Kurtis, however, is still available at FCAC – and he is a GREAT dog – we all fell in love with him…! If you’re looking for a canine companion – or know someone who is, spread the word!!! You can find him here: https://frederickcountymd.gov/114/Adopt Oh yes - we got to see the Northern Lights here - a Bucket List item for me!!! And by the way - if you might like to attend one of our Academies, our 2025 dates are up on our website - feel free to check them out - and sign up!!! https://peaceablepaws.com/peaceable-paws-intern-academies/ Next blog – a Bloodhound Behavior Consult! Until next time… Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com

WHAT IS REACTIVITY? ASK PABLO It’s been a relatively slow week – I only had one private client, although here on the farm it never really seems slow. But more about that later… My client this week was Pablo, a lovely, goofy, one-year-old, Great Pyrenees/American Pit Bull Terrier/American Bulldog mix who is becoming increasingly reactive to other dogs. But what, exactly, is reactivity? My favorite definition, provided by the amazing Veterinary Behaviorist, Dr. Karen Overall, is: “An abnormal level of arousal in response to a normal stimulus.” It doesn’t necessarily mean aggression. While it can include aggressive behavior, reactivity is often simply an expression of frustration or excitement. By the way – I never call a dog a “reactive dog” (or an “aggressive dog” for that matter). Rather, they are dogs with reactive or aggressive behaviors - they do not need to be defined by a label. Most of my clients’ dogs are great dogs most of the time – which is why they are willing to invest in helping them through the difficult times when they are exhibiting those challenging behaviors and work to give their dogs a better quality of life. But – back to Pablo. He greeted me with soft, warm affiliative behavior – clearly not reactive to humans! As I chatted with my client we allowed him to wander around the training center off-leash, as is my normal routine. Although he generally explored with moderate confidence, he was clearly disturbed by some random stimuli, especially the several dog statues we have sitting around the room and some sounds from my assistant working in the office next door. My client had said she wasn’t sure if Pablo was being reactive to other dogs due to fear or frustration. She said he got along well with some dogs – and other dogs… not so much. I shared that we often see dogs who are somewhat cautious or fearful as puppies become increasingly reactive in adolescence as they become more confident about expressing their opinions and discover that their distance-increasing behaviors are effective in keeping them safe and alive. We also see increasing frustration reactivity with some dogs who have been allowed to greet other dogs when they are then sometimes restrained and not allowed to greet (which is one reason why I don’t recommend allowing dogs to greet on leash). The behavior I had observed already suggested to me that it was more likely fear-related reactivity, but I held off on my judgement until I saw more. OPERANT PROTOCOLS While Classical Counter Conditioning is often the mainstay for my client dogs with fear and aggression-related reactive behaviors (and we would get there with Pablo), I often begin by introducing several operant protocols that can help my clients manage their dogs’ behaviors. This also gives them opportunities for quick success while they work on the more challenging, longer-term counter conditioning. Additionally, while operant behaviors are the purview of the thinking part of the brain (the cortex), if we succeed in convincing the dogs that they love the operant protocols, they can get really happy when the human asks for them, which can also help move the emotional part of the brain (the amygdala) to a happier place, which moves them away from the stress threshold that can trigger reactive or aggressive behaviors. For Pablo, I suggested (and we practiced): ·        Find It (dropping treats and your feet) and Search (tossing treats away from you) ·        Nose Games (having your dog find hidden treats – great, tiring enrichment and dogs love it!) https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/how-to-teach-your-dog-to-play-nose-games/ ·        1-2-3 (One of Leslie McDevitt’s many marvelous Pattern Games for fearful dogs - https://www.dogcrazylady.com/post/pattern-games ) ·        We also practiced “Trade” to address what Pablo’s human had described as mild resource guarding: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/protocol-for-teaching-a-safe-trade-with-your-dog/  COUNTER CONDITIONING AND DESENSITIZATION (CC&D) Then we got to the challenging part – CC&D – working to change Pablo’s association with other dogs from negative or arousal-causing to calm and relaxed. My client had mentioned that he was worse with black dogs and small dogs, so I opted to bring out Sunny, our 25-pound Pomeranian. She said she thought Pablo’s threshold distance was about 40 feet – so we started at 70 feet. At that distance he was initially very close to threshold – tense, staring hard and offering a very low growl. We did brief appearances, with my client feeding him a bit of chicken each time Pablo looked at Sunny. At first we disappeared behind a barrier after 10-15 seconds to give Pablo a chance to de-stress a bit, then reappeared with Sunny for more chicken delivery. (https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/counter-conditioning-and-desensitization-ccd/ ) By the end of our 15-minute CC&D practice session Pablo had noticeably relaxed. We were able to reduce the distance to 40 feet, and he was starting to offer CERs – glancing back at his human after taking a look at Sunny – the conditioned emotional response looks that let us know that his brain is starting to make the connection – “Hey, Sunny makes chicken happen, how cool is that?!” I shared with my client that based on my observations of Pablo’s behavior, this definitely looks more like fear-related reactivity than frustration. A dog with frustration reactivity looks like, “Please, please, please I really want to go see that other dog!!!” Pablo was more like, “I don’t like you. I don’t trust you. Don’t you dare come any closer…” His human was pleased with his progress. So was I. I did caution her that this would take time to generalize to the real world –  that we have a saying in behavior modification: “If you think you’re going too slow… slow down.” Or… “Think crockpot, not microwave!” But it was a good start. I look forward to Pablo's progress report in two weeks.  COGNITION TESTS Meanwhile, I promised to share the results of our student’s mini-cognition studies from our last academy: 1.     Presented with two food bowls. When shaken, one makes noise (kibble rattling), the other doesn’t. Hypothesis: Dogs will more frequently move to the bowl that made noise. This hypothesis was not supported by the data.   2.     Two humans are seated – one blindfolded, one not. Hypothesis: Dogs will be more attracted to the seated human with whom they can make eye contact (social acknowledgement) than the human who is blindfolded. This hypothesis was not supported by the data. All of which serves to demonstrate to our students that conducting behavior studies is much more complicated than it might appear to be! TOMORROW Tomorrow starts our last academy for 2024 – this one is Behavior Modification – and for the first time in the history of Peaceable Paws we have more men than women attending the class! Details to come, next blog… LAST BUT NOT LEAST: SLOW WEEK ON THE FARM If you’ve ever lived on a farm, you know that there’s always plenty going on. If it’s not actual work (like mowing grass and moving hay) there’s always horses to feed and – even after 20 years here – fascinating wildlife to see. This week past week – after two weeks of solid rain, we had a variety of mushrooms, a handsome tiger slug, a sharp-shinned hawk trapped in the hay barn (we left the door open and he found his way out) several flocks of geese flying over (with some landing in the horse pastures) some lovely foggy mornings, and finally, the last two days, SUN!!!!! 20241004_083947.mp4 20241004_083901.mp4 Here's one of our many lovely sunsets... Until next time… Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com

We just finished 6 days of Cognition, probably my favorite academy! It is fascinating to realize what our dog's brains are capable of - far more than we were once allowed to believe... Cognition is the set of all mental abilities and processes related to knowledge: attention, memory and working memory, judgment and evaluation, grasping and applying concepts, reasoning and computation, problem solving and decision making, comprehension, theory of mind and much more. Only in recent years has our arrogant human species granted that other animals, including canines, are capable of cognition. It is truly super-great fun working with our dogs’ brains in this academy. Today science tells us that even insects are cognitive. Woo hoo!!! The 6 days are crammed with learning as we teach our dogs the concepts of: ·        Choice ·        Object, Color and Shape Discrimination ·        Imitation ·        Match to Sample, and yes ·        Reading! Students work in teams, and also develop a rudimentary Cognition Test (study) and develop a Cognition Statement that they present and defend with personal anecdotes and resources that they have researched. Here’s how each of these works. 1.     Choice: The wonderful Dr. Susan Friedman says, “The power to control one’s own outcomes is essential to behavioral health.” Our dogs today have very little choice in their lives – we tell them when to eat, when to sleep, when to play, when to eliminate… Imagine how crazy it would make you if your life was that tightly controlled by someone else! Teaching them a “You Choose” cue and looking for opportunities to give them choices can significantly help their behavioral health. Here's am article of mine: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/cognitive-skills/training-a-dog-to-make-choices/. And here are some academy dogs learning Choice: 20240927_102123.mp4 2.     Discrimination: This involves teaching our dogs the names of things – objects, colors (since they are red-green color blind we focus on blue and yellow) and shapes, and then asking them to indicate the one we ask for. Useful real-life applications down the road… “Bring me my blue socks…”!! Here's an article: 20240926_152758.mp4 3.     Imitation: Claudia Fugazza, studying under Adam Miklosi in Budapest, Hungary, developed this amazing protocol she calls “Do As I Do,” that teaches dogs to imitate human behavior – a skill we were once told was impossible for dogs. Ha! Here is my Imitation article: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/cognitive-skills/train-your-dog-using-imitation/ and Claudia Fugazza's book: https://www.dogwise.com/do-as-i-do-2nd-edition-using-social-learning-to-train-dogs/ . And by the way, NEWSFLASH - Claudia has now taught dogs to imitate human behavior that they watch on a video screen! 4.     Match to Sample: With this, you hold up one object and ask your dog to indicate the similar object from an array of choices in front of her. It is amazing who quickly dogs can figure this one out!!! Some people have even had dogs successfully match to the photograph of an object (we’ll be trying that one in our Advanced Cognition Academy in 2025!). 5.     Reading: Yes – dogs can read!!! We teach them the word on the card and have them respond by performing the behavior indicated. Next year in Advanced Cognition we’re going to try sentences… WANT TO PLAY??? Want to play some brain games with your dog? You can find the Discrimination and Reading protocols here: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/cognitive-skills/are-canines-cognitive/ COGNITION STATEMENTS 1.     Dogs Use Tools: This one was well-defended with personal anecdotal evidence and some cute YouTube videos (Beagle pushing chair to counter to facilitate counter surfing…), but the team couldn’t find anything in the way of actual studies documenting canine tool use. (Hint to Researchers!) Feel free to share your experience with dogs using tools! 2.     Dogs Can Empathize: In addition to anecdotal, a lot more actual hard data on this question, including studies that evaluated canine brain chemistry of dogs appearing to be empathetic and compared it to human brain chemistry. The answer appears to be… yes, they can! (Probably no surprise to you…) COGNITION TESTS For the cognition tests, each team develops a hypothesis and then tests it with all the academy dogs, and ay other available dogs we can bring in. This week’s hypotheses were: 1.     Presented with two food bowls. When shaken, one makes noise (kibble rattling), the other doesn’t. Hypothesis: Dogs will more frequently move to the bowl that made noise.  2.     Two humans are seated – one blindfolded, one not. Hypothesis: Dogs will be more attracted to the seated human with whom they can make eye contact (social acknowledgement) than the human who is blindfolded. Results of our mini-studies were interesting… what do you think the outcomes were? Keeping you in suspense – tune in to next week’s blog for our findings! By the way - if I am piquing your interest in perhaps attending our academies, our 2025 academies are up on our website now - you can find them here: https://peaceablepaws.com/peaceable-paws-intern-academies/ Come play with us!!! Next – a relatively slow week coming up, and then our last academy of 2024 – BMod!!! Until then - sending good thoughts to all our friends recovering from Helene's impact... Warm Woofs, Pat

ACADEMY REPORT COMING, BUT FIRST – WOW, WHAT A WEEK!!! Academy weeks are always interesting. On top of the fun of meeting and working with terrific trainers and would-be trainers, we’ve had cicada academies, stink bug academies, a solar eclipse academy and lots more fun stuff – but this past week wins the prize for variety. Monday – as I duck over to the post office to pick up a package (2 miles away!) I manage to get in a wreck at Spielman Rd. and Sharpsburg Pike. Yikes! No injuries, thank goodness, and the couple in the other car were very nice. Tuesday - right after our students have left for the evening we get a phone call from one of them (Brenda). She has just corralled a stray dog dragging a leash in the middle of the busy Sharpsburg Pike (she saw him almost get hit 3 times!). What should she do. Of course she should bring him back to PPaws. Our local Facebook Lost Pet page already had him listed with several previous sightings (and near misses) and information on his caretaker, so Max was quickly reunited. Wednesday – My husband is out feeding horses while I’m preparing for the day's Academy, and my phone rings. Paul says, “There’s an owl on the ground in one of the pastures!” I hustle out and together we corner and grab a Great Horned Owl who is unable to fly. By the time DNR (Department of Natural Resources) gets here (in a record 20 minutes!) it’s clear that the owl is sick – sadly probably not going to make it. Saturday – and then, after a couple of days of normal academy craziness, as students are leaving late Saturday afternoon, six stray cows turn up in our driveway. Paul coaxes them into one of our pastures with a bucket of grain (yes, luring works with cows too!), and despite calling everyone we know in the small community of Fairplay, no one seems to know where the cows belong. Finally, 24 hours later the owner shows up looking for them, and this morning he lured them back home with a bucket of grain while Paul provided some negative reinforcement encouragement from behind. AND NOW - THE ACADEMY: 8 GREAT DOGS, 8 GREAT HUMANS Call me old-fashioned… I still much prefer working hands-on with dogs and humans rather than doing remote work (with all due respect to the great webinars Puppyworks offers and the conferences and other learning opportunities that our other professional dog trainer organizations make available to much larger audiences via remote access!) So, while I could probably make a lot more money doing on-line academies, mine are still in-person courses – small class size, six days of very intensive learning, lots of individual attention. Saturday wrapped up our last Level 1 Academy for the year (we still have Cognition and Behavior Modification to finish up in the next few weeks). This week we saw several students from local areas (Maryland, Virginia) as well as two from New York, one from Connecticut, and one from North Carolina. The week is tough, I admit, and I always admire our students for hanging in there with great attitudes even when things seem overwhelming. First day we do introductions, a dive into operant and classical conditioning, and then students get to choose their dogs and take them for their first hike on our 80-acre farm. We usually get all our dogs from shelters or rescue groups that we work with – this week we made an exception and had one four-month-old Lab puppy from a client whose senior parents were in a bit over their heads with puppy energy. The rest were: 4 from Frederick County Animal Control (3 Pit mixes and a wonderful Chihuahua mix) and 3 from Lab Rescue (Labs and Lab mixes). Here are all the dogs walking their human students on Day One: CLASS CURRICULUM The Academy days are packed as we try to cram tons of behavior science into student brains (understanding the principles of operant and classical conditioning, and lots more!) while we also work to teach the academy dogs our entire list of behaviors from our 7-week Good Manners class. It never ceases to amaze me how many of our academy dogs are doing at least as well at the end of 6 days as some of our regular clients are doing at the end of 7 weeks working with their dogs. Of course, most of our regular clients don’t do three, hour-long practice sessions per day, so there is that… Our Good Manners behaviors include: ·        Name Response ·        Sit ·        Down ·        Puppy Push-Ups ·        Polite Greeting ·        Leash Walking ·        Come ·        Touch ·        Wait ·        Trade ·        Leave It ·        Stand And for Academy we add Walk Away and a little Shaping. Phew! Level 1 Students get three open-book take-home study guides (we used to call them quizzes <G>) to narrow their focus of study in order to help them prepare for their written final exam (*not* open book) on Saturday. They also do a practical final on Saturday, where they demonstrate what they have taught their dogs during the week. So yes, we are all pretty exhausted by the end of the week… But it’s always great to see what our dog and human students are able to accomplish in just six days, and I am already looking forward to next week’s Cognition Academy!!! It’s also gratifying to see the accomplishments of the trainers who have taken my academies over the past two-plus decades and then gone out all over the world and shared the benefits of our force-free training methods and philosophy. Thank you, students!! Next up - Cognition Academy starts Monday... my favorite! Pointing Test; Object, Color and Shape Discrimination; Match to Sample; Imitation; Team Cognition Projects and lots more. You don't want to miss it!!! And hey - if you want to sign up for an academy, you can go to our website here: https://peaceablepaws.com/programs-services/ Thanks for reading my blog – Please feel free to share comments here, and share my blog with all your friends and clients!!!! Warm Woofs, Pat

BACK TO WORK!!! I'm back... ! I very much enjoyed my week off, but it was back to work playing with dogs last week. By the way - I would love to get reader comments on my blogs - feedback is always welcome! I had two new clients last week: Norman, an adorable 1 ½ -year-old Terrier mix who has started to get snippy at other dogs at his daycare, and who growls at children, and Banksi, a 3-year-old Havanese with a looooong list of behavior challenges.. CLIENT #1 - NORMAN - TERRIER MIX DAYCARE  Kudos to the daycare provider, for informing Norman’s person about his inappropriate behavior with other dogs. I find care providers aren't always forthcoming with negative news, for fear of losing a client. Norman's human totally realizes that he can’t keep going to daycare if they can’t resolve this. She did note that there are several dogs that he gets along with really well, and that the ones that he snarks at are always dogs who are larger than he is. I told her that it is not uncommon for dogs to decide as they mature that they would prefer a small circle of intimate friends and no longer wish to be a social butterfly. (Lots of humans feel the same way!) Also, his target choice of larger dogs tells us that they are making him uncomfortable, and he is asking them to back off. When they do, his snippy behavior is reinforced (negative reinforcement - dog's behavior makes a bad thing go away), and so the behavior increases. POSSIBLE SOLUTION(S): 1.      Ask if the daycare facility can accommodate Norman’s needs by putting him in a different room, only with those dogs he gets along well with, and if adding new dogs to his group, only dogs that are his size or smaller. 2.      A behavior modification program using Counter Conditioning and Desensitization (CC&D). With CC&D you pair the aversive stimulus (larger dogs) with something wonderful (i.e. chicken!) to change Norman’s association with those dogs from negative to positive.  https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/counter-conditioning-and-desensitization-ccd/ 3.      A behavior modification program using Kellie Snider’s Construction Aggression Treatment (CAT) which uses Negative Reinforcement to modify behavior. Norman has learned that snarking makes other dogs go away. With CAT we teach him that relaxing makes other dogs go away. Eventually he starts relaxing on purpose until he becomes so relaxed that he no longer feels the need to make other dogs go away. https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/constructional-aggression-treatment-cat-can-improve-behavior/ 4.      Remove him from daycare if accommodations aren’t possible and/or if modification isn’t feasible/successful. CHILDREN Norman’s person has no children of her own and no intention of having them which makes this challenge easier than it might otherwise be. His person had hoped when she adopted him that Norman might be a therapy/comfort dog for kids - and realizes (to her credit) that this is now out of the question. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS: 1.      Management. I am a huge fan of management – in fact management is a critically important piece of any behavior modification plan. In a case like this we could go for total management – Norman simply never needs to be around children. 2.      Modification. We could also do a behavior modification program – either CC&D or CAT – to change Norman’s association with and response to children. OTHER STRESSORS Since aggression is caused by stress, there is value in decreasing other stressors even if they don’t seem directly related to the behavior in question. We listed 14 stressors for Norman and agreed to manage as many as possible and specifically address husbandry tasks and changes to the apartment (moving furniture, setting down a box, etc.) NORMAN’S MODIFICATION PLAN 1.      We also noted that Norman was itchy – a stressor that can make a dog grumpy and put him closer to his bite threshold. His human agreed to talk to their vet about medication for this. 2.      Talk to daycare immediately about accommodating Norman’s needs. If that’s not possible she will remove him from daycare and look at arranging playdates for Norman with compatible dogs. 3.      Do CC&D with children on the other side of a playground fence (protected contact!) at least once a week. 4.      Make minor changes to the apartment with treats scattered generously in the vicinity of the change. 5.      Do CC&D with husbandry tasks at least 3 times a week, 20 minutes or more per session. We decided to start with nail-trimming. https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/care/nail-clipping/a-counter-conditioning-protocol-for-trimming-your-dogs-nails/ My prognosis for Norman is GOOD to EXCELLENT. CLIENT #2 – BANKSI - HAVANESE I’m just giving you a Reader’s Digest version of this case, as it is a pretty complicated one. Try: ·         Generalized Anxiety ·         Social Conflict Aggression ·         Noise Anxiety ·         Interdog Aggression ·         Resource Guarding ·         Storm Anxiety ·         Fireworks Anxiety Phew! His person is already working with a Veterinary Behaviorist and another Behavior Professional (yes, she came along to our consult). The list of protocols they already have Banksi working on includes: 1.      Management 2.      Touch - https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/on-target-training/ 3.      1-2-3 Pattern Game 4.      Trade - https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/protocol-for-teaching-a-safe-trade-with-your-dog/ 5.      Relax on a Mat 6.      Crate Training 7.      Other Pattern Games 8.      CC&D to House Noises To these I added: 1.      CC&D to Sleep Startle 2.      Walk Away - https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/how-to-teach-your-dog-to-just-walk-away/ 3.      CC&D to Movement (foot, arm, etc.) 4.      Nose Games (for enrichment) - https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/how-to-teach-your-dog-to-play-nose-games/ My prognosis for Banksi is FAIR to GOOD – lots of challenges to work with – and thankfully a very dedicated, capable human caretaker. Oops! I neglected to mention when I first posted this that Banksi is on Reconcile (doggie Prozac) per her vet's prescription, and her human has seen a behavior in improvement since the Reconcile has come on board. Management!!!!! EMMA THE ROTTIE PUP And last but by no means least, an update on Emma the Rottie pup. Her human sent me a report… I love getting e-mails like this!! << Hi Pat, It was so nice meeting you, I loved our session, and thanks for this great report!  Sorry I'm so late with my reply, but I've been jotting down notes to share with you. Happy Vet Visits - going well.  We did one "happy vet visit" before our 8/26 appt, and Emma was showered with love and treats from at least 10 employees, sat politely on the scale, and knocked over a metal cat statue. 😂   Her appt went fine yesterday, they gave her a peanut butter licky mat and she didn't flinch while getting 3 injections (and they didn't put her on the table, which I appreciated). She was thrilled to be there and was calm and tail-waggy around all the dogs (and cats) in the waiting room.  She even laid down and just watched the activity. We're planning to go back for regular hellos and weigh-ins.  🙂 Resource guarding - this has been going well.  I practice the "I Come in Peace" (I call it "more chicken?") almost every time she eats.  My 4-year old grandson did it too. No tension.  She was with another dog (a large good dog) at the park, met loose leash, went into the dog park because no one else was around, and I was practicing recalls (off leash).  I gave Emma a treat well away from the other dog but she came over and hawked it up right in front of the other dog.  They both had noses at the treat, almost touching...no tension at all.  There have been times recently in puppy kindergarten when food was on the floor and puppies/dogs all around...no tension. We practiced trade with cow hoofs lined with cheese...I was a little nervous doing that around the other dogs but Emma was fine, no tension.  The tambourine toy was out on the floor at the last puppy-K class...no tension this time. Other toys too, and a blanket that Emma and another puppy were playing tug with...no tension.  Last weekend we met another dog at the park (loose leashes), chatted with owner for a while, gave each other's dogs treats...dogs very close together, no tension.  Working on "trade" and "drop it" every day...working well. Her food ball gets jammed frequently and she has no problem with my picking it up, resetting it, and giving it back.  Nail trimming - the Peanut Butter on the cabinet door is genius!!!  I'm still just doing a few nails each time and massaging feet and toes...at least 3x/week.  she fidgets a little but lets me do it. We will keep working on that. Counter-conditioning for scary things:  - geese flying overhead really low--spooked her.  So we went to the park and hung out (and had some treats) while watching a flock of geese walking around, then they took off, more treats... Emma was unfazed that time.  - scary Virgin Mary statue (about waist high) in a bush...that freaked her out the first time she saw it.  Now she looks for the statue, walks up and sits in front of it and looks at me for a treat (the deluxe kind). 😂  - pair of life-size lion statues...those were easy...not nearly as scary as Virgin Mary for some reason.  - skate park - first time we were both startled by a skateboarder coming at us suddenly.  She was spooked and pulled away with tail between legs. We backed off to a safer distance and worked our way back, spent at least a half hour there getting skateboarder love and treats, including from a 4 yr old boy who kept trying to pick Emma up...she loved him.  We've been back a couple times since...now she's eager to go there in spite of all the ruckus and loud rap music.   🙂 "Walk Away" - we practice this a lot passing other dogs (good dogs and lunging/snarling dogs) using the deluxe treats...that is going well.  When we're walking she'll hear a dog bark, even a big aggressive sounding barker, and she'll look up at me for a treat.I think that's it for now, let me know if you have any questions, and again, thank you so much for everything!!>> So there you go – a big YAY for Emma and her dedicated human!! NEXT WEEK: Our last Level 1 Academy for 2024 (We still have another BMod this month, and Cognition (my FAVORITE!) next month. And just to leave you with one last photo until next week… Fall at Peaceable Paws means MORE WILDLIFE!!! 35 Canada Geese in one of our horse pastures this morning. (SMILE)

Yes, my family was visiting last week and I actually took a rare week off. Okay, I did try to keep up with e-mails, but nothing else work-related. We had a GRAND time!!! I did an escape room for the first time ever at Escape This! in Frederick, Maryland https://escapethisfrederick.com/ . GREAT FUN!! My sister Meg and niece Cori were experienced escapers – good thing or we would never have gotten out of the Carousel Room in the allotted 60 minutes. As it was we found the Golden Ticket with 8 minutes to spare. Phew! We attended a very interesting lecture one night at the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia on animals coming back from the edge of extinction by Christopher Preston, author of "Tenacious Beasts; Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We think About Animals." ( https://christopherjpreston.com/hope-in-a-wildlife-apocalypse-book/ ) A great resource by the way - past lectures are available for viewing at the NCTC Broadcast Library: https://www.fws.gov/nctc-archived-broadcast And we went on multiple hikes with the dogs, of course; KC on a long line, Sunny and Kai running free. Kai, our 10-year-old Kelpie, has a very reliable recall.  7-year-old Pomeranian Sunny (short for Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows) not so much, but he has a little bit of separation distress, so he runs off into the woods but before too long starts to worry about where I am and comes flying back. (One of the many reasons I love that our house sits in the middle of our 80-acre farm, almost a half-mile from the road.) Our 4-year-old Kelpie, KC (for Kelpie Chaos), will stay close unless she hears gun shots or thunder, in which case she will take off for parts unknown at top speed (which for Kelpies is ***very*** fast!) – hence the long line. Family is all gone home now, so it’s back to work time. Tomorrow I have a follow-up session with Remy, a very handsome Bullmastiff mix. I first saw Remy in January of 2023 for occasional random aggression/reactivity toward other dogs and sometimes people, usually men. We introduced the following protocols at Remy's first visit. I like to call them "commitments" and have the human client tell me what they are willing to commit to rather than me telling them what they have to do. Behavior Modification Protocols/Minimum Commitments (more is fine/better): 1.     Coming in the House (car door, knocking, entering): Do CC&D at least 3 times (or more) per week, 15-20 minutes or more per session. You can do this yourselves at first, and also ask family and friends to help. Remember that it is simply “Look-feed, look-feed, look-feed” without asking for his attention or for a particular behavior. You are creating an association, not rewarding behavior. 2.     Dogs and People on Walks: Do CC&D set-ups at least 2 times (or more) per week, 15-20 minutes per session, and when opportunity presents on regular walks. Do management feeding as needed on walks. This will work best if you can walk dogs separately. 3.     Walk Away: At least one time (or more) per day, 5 days per week, 5 minutes or more per session. Practice at home until fluent, then can also practice on walks. 4.     Find It/Search: At least one time (or more) per day, 5 days per week, 5 minutes or more per session. Practice at home until fluent, then can also practice on walks.   Remy had been doing very well for over a year until early this month, when he got into a scuffle with his brother Roger, a Dalmation Terrier mix. These two were previously described as "Best friends, with a brotherly relationship and extremely close bond." And then to make matters worse, Remy nipped my client’s just-arrived visiting mom. I am seeing them tomorrow to help address these new challenges.   Thursday is a first-time client dealing with a long list of behavior challenges with her Havanese: anxiety, resource guarding, separation related behavior (SRB), confinement distress (common in dogs with SRBs) and sound reactivity. Phew!! I’ll let you now how it goes.   Friday is a Wirehaired Fox Terrier who is reactive/aggressive to dogs at his daycare (yes, I’m biting my tongue) and growling at children. And after that - oh my, it's September already!!!!!   As a side note – we use the term “reactive” a lot in the dog behavior world. We see a lot of dogs with behaviors that are labelled “reactive” – and it can mean a lot of different things – it’s not necessarily about aggression. I want to share my favorite definition for that non-scientific term… from Dr. Karen Overall: “Reactivity is an abnormal level of arousal in response to a normal stimulus.” Feel free to use that… <G>   Until next time – love your dog(s)!!!  Pat Miller, CBCC-KA. CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com

ACADEMY BREAK We are on an academy break – next one starts September 9 – a Basic Dog Training and Behavior Academy. Meanwhile, I get a bit of a breather, see some private clients, and get to host our annual family get together starting tomorrow, which means I’ve been doing a lot of housecleaning this week. Right now I’m waiting for the sealer to dry on the kitchen floor so I can apply the polish. I admit – I’m not the world’s best housecleaner. My mom always said, “There are more important things in life than having a clean house.” I may not have always followed all my parents’ advice, but I latched onto that one!   EMMA THE ROTTIE PUP I had one private client this week: an absolutely adorable Rottweiler puppy from a very responsible breeder. This pup is super-well socialized, parents are tested for all the bad Rottie stuff (hips, eyes, etc.) – and I LOVE that Emma has her tail!!! So if she’s so wonderful, why did she come to see me? Because she has one of the best humans ever! Mary (not her real name) and Lucy (our lead trainer and Practice Manager) noticed in Puppy Class that Emma was doing a little guarding from other pups, and she had also done a wee bit of guarding from her human. Mary wisely wanted to address the behavior before it became a big deal. Gotta love humans like that! We know that resource guarding is a natural, normal behavior. We all want to keep our good stuff, right? I love pumpkin pie, and if you tried to take away my piece of pie while I was eating it, I might just stab you with my fork! And hey, do you lock your house when you leave for work in the morning? Do you lock your car when you park it on a city street? You are resource guarding!! Rather than freaking out when our dog tells us she doesn’t want to share, we need to convince her that we are not a threat to her valuable possessions. Mary had already started doing Kelly Fahey’s “I Come In Peace” protocol, which helps the dog understand that a human approaching you when you have good stuff just makes more good stuff happen. (Thank you Kelly!!!) She has also begun teaching Emma our “Trade” exercise, which teaches the dog that if she gives up her valuable possession, she gets something wonderful in exchange, and then she gets her valuable thing back again – it’s a Win-Win! (These two protocols are described at the end of this blog.) So – since Mary was already doing all the right things, what did I have to offer her? 1. Major kudos for doing all the right things, and moral support. 2. Additional information on how to interpret Emma’s behavior with the other puppies. It really is okay for Emma to let another puppy know she doesn’t want to share, as long as Emma’s behavior doesn’t escalate. The other puppies should learn to back away when Emma asks them to. 3. We added the Chin Rest protocol. Mary was already kicking herself – at Emma’s last vet visit the tech took her pup into “the back” and forcibly restrained her for nail-trimming. Emma naturally resisted, and is now touchy about having her paws handled (she wasn’t before this experience). Mary realized right away that she had made a big mistake letting the tech take Emma, and has already started doing counter conditioning with her pup. Adding a husbandry consent procedure will also help repair the damage that was done. Mary has switched to a new Fear-Free certified vet clinic and will also be taking Emma there for Happy Vet Visits. 4. I suggested that if Emma’s guarding behavior escalated despite our efforts we might try Kelly Snider’s CAT procedure (Constructional Aggression Treatment): https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/constructional-aggression-treatment-cat-can-improve-behavior/ That – and, my clients are mine for life, so I asked Mary to report back to me in a couple of weeks, and to feel free to contact me at any time with questions, comments, concerns or brags. And we’ll be seeing her and Emma weekly in puppy class! A large percentage of my private clients have dogs with very significant behavior challenges, and it was so sweet to have one whose behaviors were relatively mild and whose human was so on top of things. We have an excellent prognosis for this case. Thanks Mary and Emma! I COME IN PEACE 1.       Tether your dog to an eye bolt affixed to the wall for that purpose, or to a solid, heavy object. Give him a valuable chew object (not a Kong – it will roll out of his reach!), or a small bowl of food. 2.       Have a good supply of toss-able high-value treats. (Chicken does not work well for this – it’s too messy and hard to accurately toss). Small bits of cheese or meat work well. 3.       Walk past your dog at a safe distance. Depending on the dog, this may be six to eight feet beyond the end of the tether, or it may be closer. Or farther. As you pass him, toss several high-value treats near the bowl or chewy, where he can easily reach them. Keep walking – do not pause to toss. If your dog growls, lunges or shows other obvious guarding behavior you are too close. 4.       Repeat Step 3 until, as you approach you see your dog starting to look up in happy anticipation of the treats you are going to toss. When he does this consistently, decrease the distance by a few inches. 5.       Continue passing by and dropping treats, gradually decreasing distance when he is consistently happy at each new distance. 6.       When he is happy with you walking past at a distance close enough to touch him, pause as you pass and feed him a treat from your hand. Then walk on. 7.       When he stays happy with your pause-and-feed, gradually increase the length of time you pause and feed. The increase should be no more than 1-2 seconds. As you increase the length of your pause, start talking to him in a happy voice as you feed. 8.       When you can pause for 10 seconds and he stays happy, occasionally bend slightly and drop a treat into his bowl or next to his chewy, then feed some more from your hand and walk on. 9.       Repeat, gradually increasing the number of times you bend and drop. 10.     Now gradually increase how much you bend over until you can touch the bowl or chewy. Remember, if you see any sign of tension you have moved too quickly. Back up a few steps and continue more slowly from there. 11.     Finally, as you are pausing, bending and feeding, occasionally play the Trade game, always returning the bowl or object to him after he has happily allowed you to take it. 12.     Now start the protocol over again at Step 1 with the next most reliable family member. Continue until your dog is comfortable with all family members approaching him, then repeat with trustworthy visitors, again starting with Step 1. TRADE 1. Say “Take it!” and give your dog a low-value object. Offer your dog something he will easily and willingly give up in exchange for the high-value treat you will offer him next. (If his first instinct is to take the item and run, you may need to put a leash on him and step on the leash or tether him to something solid, so he can’t run off with the item before he realizes there are more potential benefits to this negotiation!) 2. Offer your dog some high-value treats. You may need to hold the treats close enough to his nose that he can smell them, but don’t try to push them into his mouth; anything that resembles coercion will likely increase his resistance. Make sure you have a large enough supply of the high-value treats that it will take him a few moments to eat them. If he doesn’t drop the object he has in his mouth in favor of your treats, you need a higher-value treat (think meat, not dry biscuits) and/or a lower-value item to trade for. Notice you didn’t use a cue yet. We don’t add the cue until we know the dog will drop the item. 3. When your dog drops the item: Click your clicker (or use a mouth click or verbal marker, such as the word “Click”), and while you keep him occupied nibbling at the high-value treats in one hand, with your other hand, pick up the object and hide it behind your back. This part is really important. You must use two hands! If you let him eat the high-value treat and them try to race him back to the object, you’re likely to lose the race – and you may elicit resource-guarding. If you feel at all uncomfortable reaching for the item as your dog munches on the treats, you can sprinkle the treats in a short “Hansel and Gretel” trail, starting under his nose and leading to a spot a foot or two away from the dropped item. Engage his mouth with the treats in your hand after he follows the trail, while you pick up the item with your other hand. 4. As soon as your dog finishes eating the treats in your hand: Bring out the object from behind your back, say, “Take it!” and give it back to him. This teaches him that he doesn’t always lose the item; he can trade with you and then get the item right back. This will make him more willing to trade again in the future. He gives you his good stuff, he gets more good stuff, and then he gets good stuff back again. It’s a win/win for him! 5. When you can reliably predict that your dog will drop the item when you offer your treats, add the cue. Give your cue first (“Trade!”) and pause for a second or two. Then offer the treats, click (or say “Yes!”) when he drops the item, and pick up the item with your free hand while you keep his mouth busy nibbling treats from your hand. 6. After several repetitions, sometimes pause a few seconds longer before offering your dog treats. Your goal is to get him to drop the object when you say, “Trade!” before you offer the treats. When he will do this reliably, it means you have the behavior “on cue” – that is, he is dropping the object because he heard and understood the cue, not just because you stuck high-value treats under his nose. BYE FOR NOW Okay – that’s probably more than enough information for one blog – sorry! I will just leave you with this… It’s been a great wildlife week at Peaceable Paws – cool mushrooms with the much-needed recent rains, 20 turkeys and several deer on the front lawn (including a 4-point buck!) bunnies everywhere, a flock of 100-plus starlings setting off our driveway beeper, and a ***white*** skunk with a black stripe in our driveway. Peaceable Kingdom! VID_20240818_101139.mp4 Have a GREAT week!!!!! Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com

I know that this Academy – with the prospect of analyzing and discussing scientific behavior articles and studies – can be intimidating. I so appreciate this week’s class – they jumped wholeheartedly into the discussions as well as the more advanced training with their dogs. They all passed their written and practical finals with flying colors (all with final scores in the 90's!). For the practical, they each presented an analysis of their selected behavior study, and then did a demonstration with their dog of three of the behaviors they worked on this week. Here's the graduating class – and we now have four new PMCTs (Pat Miller Certified Trainers) and 2 new PMCT2s! Congrats to all, and extra kudos to High-Scoring Graduate Kimberly Agzigian, PMCT2 with her Rough Collie, Liam! Left to Right, Front: Julie Wintrob, PMCT and Cannoli, Kimberly Agzigan, PMCT2 and Liam, Kimana Merrill, PMCT and Josie. Back: Nedra Woodard, PMCT and Keenan, Patrick Bryant, PMCT and Indie, me, and Jess Kelley-Madera, PMCT2 and Bear. Here are the behaviors we added to the list since Tuesday’s blog: Bucket Game and Chin Rest: We can’t emphasize enough the critical importance of giving our dogs agency in their lives. Only in recent years has the dog training world come to understand the importance role that choice plays in emotional health and behavior. These are just two protocols of many we are now using two enhance quality of life for our dogs. Here’s a link to an article of mine with links to additional resources on these two protocols: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/cooperative-care-giving-your-dog-choice-and-control/ Reading: Yes, we can teach dogs to read!! We barely scratch the surface of this complex cognitive behavior in the T&BS Academy – we take a much deeper dive in the Cognition Academy week. But it is still great fun and always mindboggling to see dogs learning to read! Here’s a quick version of how to do it: 1. Make two white signs that are identical in size and shape, with the word “SIT” in large black letters on one sign, and the word “DOWN” on the other. 2. With your dog standing in front of you, hold up the “SIT” sign, pause, and verbally cue your dog to sit. Repeat until you can hold up the sign and he sits without you having to say “Sit.” He now thinks holding up a white square with black squiggles on it is a cue for “Sit.” 3. Now hold up the “DOWN” sign in the exact same position you previously held up the “SIT” sign, and verbally cue your dog to down. Repeat until you can hold up the sign and he lies down without you having to say “Down.” He now thinks holding up a white square with black squiggles is the cue for “Down.” 4. Now vary which sign you hold up in the exact same position, pause and cue the appropriate behavior, until you see that your dog is beginning to offer the correct behavior in response to whichever sign you hold up. Your dog is reading – if recognizing that one set of squiggles means he should sit, and the other means he should lay down. 5. If you want to take it further, make additional cue cards for behaviors your dog knows, and use the same procedure to teach him new words. Operant Cue Transfer: This one is pretty simple. While dogs can really only know one behavior for a particular cue (i.e. “Down” should mean lie down or “Get off the sofa” but shouldn’t be used for both), they can learn multiple cues for the same behavior. This exercise teaches them a new cue for a behavior they already have one cue. To do this simply give your new cue, then pause, then give the known cue, and before long your dog will realize and respond to the first (new) cue before you give the second (known) one. Classical Conditioning: Creating an association or changing an existing association (counter conditioning) to a husbandry procedure: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/care/a-counter-conditioning-protocol-for-nail-trimming/ Match to Sample: Another fun Cognition game, in which you show your dog an object and she has to pick out the matching object from two or more items on the floor or platform. Fun! (And much easier for most dogs than you might think!) Want to try Advanced Match to Sample? Show your dog a photo and they have to pick out the matching object! So there you go. We are all happily exhausted. And no more academies for a month! (Next one starts September 9th – a Level 1 Basic Dog Training and Behavior.) But there will be plenty going on here at Peaceable Paws, so don’t go away! (Photos not from this academy - just to give you the idea) And now, time to feed the dogs, feed myself, and then REST!!!

Just 2 days into our Advanced Training and Behavior Study Academy and I am already happily exhausted (as are my students, no doubt). Here’s what we have done so far: TRAINING Yesterday... Nose Games: This is one of my favorite activities – I often share it with clients as an enrichment activity that is fun for canines and humans alike. It is less formal than the Nose Work competition training  and utilizes the “Smell this smell, find this smell” (STSFTS) approach rather than “specific scent” (SS) training. STSFTS is used in training search and rescue dogs, while SS is used for narcotics detection, etc. Here is my Nose Games protocol:  Step 1: 1.     Have your dog sit and stay. (If he doesn’t know sit/stay, have someone hold his leash). 2.     Walk six feet away, show him a treat, remind him to stay, and place the treat on the ground. 3.     Return to his side (don’t let him get up yet!), turn and face the treat, then tell him “Search!” (If he won’t get up until you release him from the say “Search!” and then give your release cue.) He should run right out and eat the treat. 4.     Repeat a half-dozen times. Step 2: 1.     Have your dog sit and stay. 2.     Let him watch you “hide” a treat in plain view (next to a chair leg, by a waste basket, etc.). 3.     Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treat, then tell him “Search!” He should run right out and eat the treat. 4.     Repeat a half-dozen times. Step 3: 1.     Have your dog sit and stay. 2.     Let him watch you hide several treats in plain view. 3.     Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treats, rub one of the treats you’re using on a paper towel, hold the towel in front of his nose (don’t let him eat it!) and tell him “Sniff!” (Don’t worry if he doesn’t appear to sniff it.) 4.     Then tell him “Search!” He should run right out and eat the treats. 5.     Repeat a half-dozen times, having him “Sniff” before each set. Step 4: 1.     Have your dog sit and stay 2.     Let him watch you hide a treat in a harder place (behind a chair leg, etc.) 3.     Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treat, do “Sniff!”, then tell him “Search!” He may have more difficulty finding this treat. Don’t help him! This is where he starts learning to use his nose. If you help him, he won’t use his nose. If he truly can’t find it, reset, and hide it in an easier spot. Make sure he watches you! 4.     Repeat a half-dozen times. 5.     Gradually hide the treat in harder places, having “Sniff” before each set. Step 5: 1.     Have your dog sit and stay 2.     Let him watch you hide 2-3 treats in somewhat easy places (behind a chair leg, etc.) 3.     Return to his side (don’t let him get up!), turn and face the treats, then tell him “Search!” He may have more difficulty finding multiple treats. If necessary, indicate an area by spreading your arms and saying “Search here!” Don’t point to the treat! This is where he starts learning to use his nose. If you help him, he won’t use his nose. If he truly can’t find it, reset, and hide it in a slightly easier spot. Make sure he is watching you! 4.     Repeat a half-dozen times. 5.     Gradually hide treats in harder spots, having “Sniff” each time before you send him. Step 6: 1.     Put your dog in another room. 2.     Hide 2-3 treats in somewhat easy places. 3.     Bring him back to the room, have him “Sniff!” then tell him “Search!” He may have more difficulty finding multiple treats. If necessary, indicate an area by spreading your arms and saying “Search here!” Don’t point to the treat! This is where he starts learning to use his nose. If you help him, he won’t use his nose. If he truly can’t find it, reset, and hide it in a slightly easier spot. Make sure he is watching you! 4.     Repeat a half-dozen times, doing “Sniff” each time. 5.     Gradually hide treats in harder spots. Step 7: 1.     Generalize his “Search” behavior to other objects as you desire, starting with a favorite toy. Rub the toy on the paper towel, and proceed as your dog needs. Start back at Step 1, placing the toy in plain view and move quickly through to Step 6. 2.     Then use less favorite or neutral objects. For humans, rub the human’s scent on the by having them rub it on their neck, and then have them hide – easy at first (let the dog find them in plain view, then watch them hide behind a barrier, or around a corner, then through Step 6.) HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!! I have taught this as a 6-week class – and we had a woman who took the class twice with her 8-year-old son and their little Terrier mix dog. At the end of the second set of classes their dog could find the boy when he went and hid in the woods. Shaping: We started with Karen Pryor’s well-known “101 Things to Do With a Box” game yesterday (great for building a large and varied repertoire of offered behaviors) – and today some students progressed to shaping deliberate behaviors – i.e. pushing a ball. Today we added Premack: Using a more desirable behavior (from the dog’s perspective) to reinforce a less desirable behavior – also known as “Grandma’s Law” (you have to eat your vegetables before you can eat your dessert). I like to teach this concept by having the dog stay at one side of the room (with someone holding the leash if the dog doesn’t have a solid stay) while his human walks to the other side of the room. Halfway across the room another person stands holding high value treats. Human calls her dog, and when the dog comes to her together they run to the person in the middle to get the treats. Dog learns that the quickest way to get the treats is to bypass the tempting person in the middle, run to his human who is calling them so that together they run back to get the treats. Behavior Chains: Linking several behaviors together (for this class it’s 3 behaviors) such that each behavior becomes the cue for the next, and each subsequent behavior reinforces the previous one, until the end of the chain when the dog receives a primary reinforcer (yummy treat) or very high-value secondary reinforcer (i.e. opportunity to catch a ball or Frisbee) BOOKS AND ARTICLES We have reviewed two books so far: Straw Man by Linda Case (LOVE Linda Case) and Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are by Frans de Waal. And… here are links to some of the 13 articles we have already discussed in our first 2 days – with many more to come. https://awesomedogs.blog/2015/12/01/reading-research-does-size-matter/ https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/discover-interview-jaak-panksepp-pinned-down-humanitys-7-primal-emotions https://ppg-staging.pet-pro.linkswebhosting.com/barks/barks-magazine-blog/are-free-shaped-dogs-better-problem-solvers/ https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2018/05/clicker-plus-food-and-food-only-are.html https://www.clickertraining.com/behavior-chains-untangling-the-confusion https://blog.companionanimalsolutions.com/modern-animal-behavior-a-lot-has-changed-in-the-last-few-decades/ No wonder we are all exhausted! I’m aiming to get a good night’s sleep tonight (after we get home from our local volunteer fire department monthly meeting) and start tomorrow all refreshed. On the training agenda for tomorrow: Bucket Game/Chin Rest and Reading, discussion of several more articles, and 2 more books: "Inside of a Dog" by Alexandra Horowitz, and "Dog is Love" by Clive Wynne. Fun!

I can't believe it's Friday already!! As they say, time flies, whether you're having fun or not... This has been "Recover from BMod Academy and get ready for Advanced T&BS Academy week." Not much time for R&R - but busy is good! So - what exactly is the Advanced T&BS Academy? It's for our very dedicated and science-minded trainers to challenge their brains and sharpen their training skills: We spend about 50% of the time practicing advanced training protocols including Scent Work, Shaping, Premack, Cooperative Care (Bucket Game and Chin Rest), Behavior Chains, Reading, Match to Sample and Classical Conditioning. The other half of the time we review and discuss scientific dog behavior studies and articles. The studies we're reviewing as a group this week are: 1. Aversives/Gender: https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2022.2062869 2. Shelter Relinquishment: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2021.11.007 3. Dogs/Vets/Owners: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S109002332200003X?dgcid=author  and 4. Cue Modality: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2023.01.001Get rights and content Feel free to take a look at them and tell us what you think! I'll share some of the articles with you next week... For each of these studies, we do the following: a.      Identify research design Research Designs  Surveys gather information from relatively large numbers of individuals. Polls, for example, collect people’s opinions on an issue or their reactions to an event. As long as the group of people surveyed is scientifically selected, surveys are good for explaining what people in general think or do and for identifying subgroup differences.   Qualitative Research can provide rich detail and insights into the complexity of behavior. Unlike surveys, though, qualitative designs do not produce findings meant to apply to the population as a whole. They provide very rich data and can offer powerful, illustrative stories—valuable for journalists trying to convey a situation to readers. However, their very depth and specificity mean that the results cannot be easily generalized to other situations.   Trials test the effect of an intervention, such as a vaccine or a training program. In an uncontrolled trial, the researcher examines a subject group before and after applying the intervention and measures the difference. In a controlled trial, the researcher adds a “control group,” which is comparable in every important way to the subject group but does not receive the intervention. If the groups are truly similar at the beginning of the study and carefully monitored to limit influences (other than the intervention) that might affect outcomes, then changes that occur in the subject group, but not in the control group, can be said to result from the intervention. b.     Answer key questions from the Key Questions to Ask About Research Studies article  • What makes the study important? • Do the findings make sense? • Who conducted the research and wrote the report? • Who published the report? • Did the researcher select an appropriate group for study? • If comparison groups are used, how similar are they? • What has changed since the information was collected? • Are the methods appropriate to the research purpose? • Does the study establish causation? • Is the time frame long enough to identify an impact? • Could the data be biased as a result of poor research design? • Are the results statistically significant? c.      If you are unable to do (a) or (b) for any particular study, briefly explain why d.     Indicate whether you feel any of the points from “False Research Findings” and ”Can I Trust This Study” apply to each study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1182327/ (False Research Findings) and https://route1evaluation.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/can-i-trust-the-research-findings.pdf (Can I Trust This Study)   Then we answer these questions and share the answers in class discussions: 1.     Is this study important to the dog training/behavior profession? Why, or why not? 2.     Is it useful to you as a dog trainer? Why, or why not? 3.     What information is new to you? 4.     Is it philosophically congruent with positive-reinforcement training? Why or why not? For Graduation, in addition to a written test, each students presents their analysis on a dog behavior study they have selected, and they demonstrate three of the training skills they have worked on with their dog for the week, explaining the principles of behavior and learning relevant to each skill. Yes - it's a HEAVY DUTY week! And one of my favorite academies... Watch my blog for more details on the students and the work they are doing next week! 'Til then... stay cool - and thanks for reading my blog! Warm Woofs, Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA P.S. We offer 7 different Academies, and you need to take at least 3 of them to become a Pat Miller Certified Trainer-1 (PMCT1) - then with additional Academies you can earn your PMCT2, 3 and 4. To find out more about our Academies you can go here: https://peaceablepaws.com/peaceable-paws-intern-academies/ - And feel free to contact us if you have questions: info@peaceablepaws.com or 301-582-9420.

Okay, I promised you a follow-up blog with our remaining four dog/human student teams, but first this visitor to our farm this morning as I walked down to feed our barn cats: In case you never heard me say it... I LOVE our farm!!! So - our second half of student teams are the little Pittie, Miss Honey Biscuit and her human, Emmy; the mostly Labrador Retriever, Julian and her human, Heidi; the what-looks-to-me-like a Retriever mix, Josie and her human, Kimani; and the Sheltie, Hamish with his human Kimberly. Here they are: Miss Honey Biscuit is not comfortable with handling and has had some ear issues - off-and-on ear infections, and lately a hematoma in her right ear - perhaps from scratching at her ear and shaking her head due to the recurring infections? (By the way, Dr. Karen Overall informed me years ago that recurring ear infections are almost always due to food sensitivities, so Biscuits humans will be exploring this further with her. Here's our girl, with Emmy working on counter conditioning and desensitization to touch. She's using a handi-wipe on the shoulder here, with the intent to work up to the ears when Biscuit is ready for that. (https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/touch-restraint-desensitization-protocol/ ): Julian's human is actually Patrick, but Heidi is the one doing great work with him this week. He is a lovely dog - and has some impulse control challenges, including a very strong desire to sniff, even pulling his human over to whatever the object of his attention might be and then stalling out there for long periods of time. Heidi is working with him on a lovely call-away "Touch" behavior, with the very clear understanding that sometimes he does get to sniff. So she is also using Premack (doing the less fun thing allows you to do the more fun thing) to sometime allow him to return and sniff after she has called him away. (https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/beyond-basic-dog-training/): Next we have Josie, whose real-life human is a client of Kimana, her Academy human. Josie is a sweetheart of a girl whose primary focus for this week is polite greetings (and counter conditioning and desensitization with new stimuli - kie horses) - she likes to jump up on people. Josie's situation is compounded by the fact that one of her humans encourages this behavior while the other would prefer she not do it. When I have clients like this I tell them to put the jumping up behavior on cue, and only reinforce it if you ask for it. My cue for my wonderful dog Josie was to get down on my knees and pat my shoulders. Not a cue that's likely to happen accidentally! Jumping up is often an impulse control behavior, and often resolved by highly reinforcing an incompatible behavior (like "Sit"). We have, by the way, recently come to realize in the dog world that not all jumping up is poor manners attention-seeking. It is often comfort-seeking for a stressed dog and if that is the case we need to meet her needs by providing comfort, rather than turning away from her as has long been suggested: (https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/dog-impulse-control-training/) Last, but by no means least, is Hamish - a beautiful blue merle Sheltie with considerable neophobic challenges (fear of new things). Kimberly does Collie rescue (and apparently Sheltie rescue too) and Hamish was one of an unsocialized litter of rescued pups - and the most challenging of the litter, so he ended up being a foster success. No - I do not call them foster fails - I look at it from the dog's perspective. Hamish is a happy playful guy at home - he takes comfort from his other canine family members and runs sound with his tail wagging. Here he is pretty fearful of pretty much everything. Kimberly is taking it very slowly, working with him outside where he is more comfortable and some distance away where the other students are working. She is doing some counter conditioning with him, as well as Leslie McDevitt's Bucket Games - as patterns and routine are very helpful for fearful dogs. ( https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/behavior/reducing-your-dogs-anxieties/ ) Graduation is tomorrow - feel free to comment!!! Then on to new projects... and another Academy the following week - Advanced Training and Behavior!!! Warm Woofs, Pat (and Sunny)

I do love academy weeks! As much as they are physically and mentally draining (read "exhausting") they are also rejuvenating and exhilarating for me. I love the Level 1 (Basic Dog Training and Behavior) weeks because I get to meet new trainers and make new connections. I love the upper-level academies too; it's great to see familiar faces and continue our work with the training and behavior professionals and volunteers (and the occasional very dedicated dog guardians) who keep coming back to us for their ongoing learning. This week is a Behavior Modification Academy. We encourage students to bring their own dogs so they can continue on with the work we've started after they go back home. (No, sports fans, behavior modification doesn't generally happen in 6 days...<G>). And because several staff members of Frederick County Animal Control have attended one or more of our academies, we are confident that they can continue the work that their dogs have started here. Win-win!! So this week we have quite a variety of dogs - a Pittie (Drako), and a Terrier mix (Scampi) from FCAC, and a Lab (Julian), a Golden (Gody), a Retriever mix (Josie), another Pittie (Miss Honey Biscuit - GREAT name!), an Aussie mix (Indie) and a Sheltie (Hamish) who came with their own humans. Wonderful variety!!! It usually takes the first day for everyone to decide on the protocols they think they will be implementing with their dogs for the week. Then we have a day or two of trial-and-error as they experiment with the protocols they selected, abandoned the ones that don't seem to be working, pursue the ones that are, and add new ones as they go along. It's a week of fluidity and shifting sands. So far, Drako and Scampi are working on resistance to handling - they were both not-fond of having their feet and mouths handled during their assessment at the shelter. Drako's trainer, Natalie, is focusing on counter conditioning and desensitization (CC&D) to touch, and some Bucket Game, while Scampi is learning to do the chin rest, and also doing some CC&D with Emily. (https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/counter-conditioning-and-desensitization-ccd/ and https://k9infocus.com/chin-up-teaching-a-strong-solid-chin-rest-behavior/ ) Indie has some Stranger Danger issues - she's not bad as long as Patrick is holding her leash, but gets quite concerned if he hands her leash to someone else, especially if the try to lead her away from him. He is doing some CC&D, as well as using Leslie McDevitt's Super Bowl Pattern Game. (https://www.dogcrazylady.com/post/pattern-games ) Gody has barking challenges. Originally perceived as demand barking, we also have decided that there may be a strong element of stress involved (Gody was allegedly a street dog in Turkey). Nedra is teaching him Dr. Karen Overall's "Breathe" protocol and then will work on helping him relax on a mat. Just as we have realized that behaviors like jumping up and crate vocalization are often about stress and we need to address the stress rather than just removing our attention and ignoring the dog, so is the case with a lot of what has been labelled "demand barking." The dog is most often not just being a "pushy brat" - but more likely has needs that aren't being met. (https://www.dogsmith.com/ds/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Dr-Karen-O-Protocol-for-Teaching-Your-Dog-To-Take-Deep-Breaths-and-use-Bio-Feedback-as-part-of-Relaxation.pdf ) Okay - that's half our academy canine and human students - time to skedaddle over to the training center and get to work. I will share the other 4 dogs with you tomorrow. As my good friend Lisa Waggoner would say... "Make it a GREAT DAY!!!"

Thank goodness it has finally cooled off - at least a little - 80s, with feels-like in the 80s, instead of the recent 90s with feels-like in the 100s. Phew!!! Good thing, because we have an academy next week, and those can be brutal if it's too hot. Next week's academy is Behavior Modification. Each academy has a maximum of 8 students (small classes-lots of individual attention), and they are here for 6 days. For our Level 1 - Basic Training and Behavior - students work with shelter or rescue dogs, learning and applying basic principles of behavior and learning. For BMod, ideally they bring their own dogs (so they can continue the work after Academy ends) - but if they don't have one to work with we will supply a shelter dog. We have 2 shelter dogs coming next week from Frederick County Animal Control (our main supplier) - Drako and Scampi. Both pretty darn cute, don't-cha think? Both have fear-related behaviors and will be working on confidence-building with their human students. No clients this week - nice to have a bit of a breather between last week's Level 1 Academy and next week's BMod. When I do have clients I will share some of those experiences with you (fully honoring client confidentiality, of course!). If you are interested in exploring more information about our academies you can find them here: https://peaceablepaws.com/peaceable-paws-intern-academies/ In the meantime, Lucy (our Lead Trainer and Practice Manager) and I were just talking about some of the less common dog breeds we seem to be seeing lately. She has a Mudi puppy in one of her classes: We just had a Boerbel sign for puppy class starting next week: And I recently had a Berger Picard and Italian Greyhound private clients: So - your turn to share - I would love to hear what uncommon dog breeds you have encountered in your work recently! And in next week's blog(s) I will write about the work we are doing with our 8 Academy dogs - in addition to Drako and Scampi we will have an Aussie, an Aussie/Belgian, a Pit Bull, a Golden Retriever, a Sheltie, and a Border Collie/Lab. Fun!!! Meanwhile, here was last evening's peaceful scene over Peaceable Paws and Pastures: Have a GREAT weekend!!!!! Warm Woofs, Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA

Some of you may already know me - and some of you may not. As I look forward to writing many more posts for this Puppyworks Blog, I want to start by sharing my background so you all know where I'm coming from. (I promise that future blogs will be more directly related to dog training and behavior!!) I have always known, from the time I was a small child, that my life would be about working with animals. I grew up thinking I was going to be a veterinarian. (I suspect many of you were in the same boat!) I did very well in high school (Honor Roll, National Honor Society, etc.) but I ran headlong into a brick wall in college with Organic Chemistry. I was failing that class. I wanted out. And in my family you were ***supposed*** to go to college and succeed - my Dad was a college professor, my Mom was a college graduate... As I expected, my Dad wasn't happy when I told him I was quitting school. "Now that you're a failure," he said, "what do you want to do with your life?" I said I wanted to work professionally with horses, so my parents sent me to the Potomac Horse Center (Gaithersburg, MD), after which I went to work at Burgundy Ridge Farm in Mequon, Wisconsin, riding hunters and jumpers and teaching riding lessons. Yes - this is me: MY BIG CLAIM TO FAME IN THE HORSE WORLD: I taught Beezie Madden (as a small child) to post to the trot and jump over cross rails!! (For those who don't know her - Beezie Madden has won two Olympic medals gold medals, one silver and one bronze in Grand Prix jumping - jumps that are 5+ feet high and 6+ feet wide.) I was having a great time with my dream equestrian career, when I met a guy - and as guy's can do, he turned my life upside down. Again. We decided to buy a used school bus, turn it into a mobile home, go to California and be hippies. So we did. We landed in Marin County, just north of San Francisco (the other end of the Golden Gate Bridge) and I started volunteering at the Marin Humane Society, fell in love, got hired, and was there for 20 years. I got to arrest people who were mean to animals, do dog and cockfighting busts, met Paul, my now-husband of 37 years (also an animal protection professional) and for my last 10 years there was Director of Operations, second in command after the Executive Director. LOVED IT!!! In the meantime, Paul had taken a position as Director of Operations at the Monterey SPCA - a couple of hours south of San Francisco. Too far away. I made the very hard decision to leave Marin, move down to Monterrey/Santa Cruz to be with Paul, and lunch my training business, Peaceable Paws. One of the many things I loved about my career at Marin was that we often went outside our own jurisdiction to help agencies all over California with disasters (fires, floods, earthquakes) and major cruelty and animal fighting cases. Ironically, as I was getting ready to leave Marin to become a dog training professional I turned to Paul and told him that one of my biggest regrets that my circle of influence on the welfare of animals would be smaller - only reaching clients in close proximity to me in Monterey and Santa Cruz. Little did I know... I started writing for Whole Dog Journal, wrote some books, travelled around the country giving seminars, then around the world (Australia! New Zealand!), moved to Fairplay, Maryland by way of Chattanooga, Tennessee, started my dog trainer academies... and lo and behold, it turned out that my reach is far larger than it ever would have been if I stayed at Marin. Many of you know that I am a crossover trainer. I used to use what I now call "old-fashioned" methods - choke chains, verbal and physical "corrections." (No, I never used prong or shock collars.) And I was good at it - earned obedience titles with my dogs, with scores in the upper 190's. Then one day my wonderful Terrier mix Josie hid under our back deck rather than submit to another round of "ear-pinch" as I struggled to get her to pick up a metal dumbbell for the Utility degree competition with the Mixed Breed Dog Club of California.. I stopped training. I started learning about the science of behavior and learning, and all the possibilities of positive/force-free training. And I have never looked back. You could not pay me enough, today, to go back to those old ways. And while it pains me today to see far too many "balanced" trainers still using tools and methods that rely on the use of pain, coercion and fear, I am thrilled by the large number of trainers today who are are truly science-based and force-free - and how many clients come to us either specifically seeking positive-reinforcement training, or relieved to discover they don't have to do the bad things to their dogs that the last trainer told them to do. So - welcome to my blog. Welcome to my world!! And, as promised, my future blogs here will address more specific challenges and successes from my dog training and behavior practice. Please feel free to comment and ask questions - I would love for this to be a participatory forum!!!