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When things are scary

Sometimes a puppy has an unexpected reaction to something, or something I didn’t expect occurs and the puppy reacts. How I handle this matters a LOT! I am the puppy’s anchor and their safety net. The puppy might look at me for MY reaction or if my reaction shows fear or uncertainty, the puppy will pick up on that immediately.

So I look at every instance like this as a gift I can use to help the puppy be more confident. “Yea! That car backfired just for you! and that’s worth cash and prizes!” (treats). Or “Wow! Look at that cool thing. Isn’t that weird? You love weird!” And how I move (or not) also says a lot. If I tense up, or step back, or suddenly freeze, the pup could read that as fear on my part regardless of what my voice is saying.

Dogs read and trust body language much more naturally than words or tone of voice. So I have to keep my body relaxed and movements natural. I learned this years ago when I was working with horses from a young age, particularly my 16.3 hand thoroughbred who was especially sensitive to my body tension. Tense up on or near him and he was more likely to freak out! So I learned to keep my body relaxed no matter how I was really feeling. It has helped me in a number of different situations working with various animals, especially some ‘animals’ I encountered while working as a police officer.

So if the pup is spooked by or hesitant to approach something, first, I never force it! That is a sure fire way to make things worse! I want to help the pup conquer this situation so he can feel successful and empowered. So I will let him choose which direction he wants to go and how far. Once we are at a distance where he feels like he can look/watch without the need to back up, I’ll take ONE step closer to it and then give him time to do that too. I’ll encourage him closer with my voice and possibly a hand target to get him to move ONE puppy step closer. Mostly my focal point is between the pup and the thing. I don’t want to stare at either one.

If we are within my reaching distance of the scary thing, I’ll touch it and talk to it, then I might give the pup a chance to smell my hand, especially if it is something with a scent transfer.

We work at the pup’s pace and if he wants to move closer, I support that with my own movement and happy, encouraging voice. If he wants to move away I allow that too but I don’t move as far, if at all.

I also use treats, but I toss or deliver them a puppy length or two AWAY from the thing. This gives the pup the treat but also relief of pressure. He can turn away and then turn back. And often when he turns back, he moves a bit closer. Don’t use treats to lure the puppy closer! They will focus on the treat until they eat it, then suddenly find themselves “too close” to the scary thing! And if it’s a person, have them remain neutral, and even turn away, but NOT move any part of them toward the puppy.

With the right upbringing, the puppy has a literal lifetime history of novel things NOT being dangerous, so it shouldn’t take long for him to work up the courage to check it out. But if he couldn’t, and I felt it was close to being more stressful than helpful, I would use a treat to lure him away and give him a break. Then I might have him try again, or it might be something we come back to on a different day, especially if the encounter is when he is tired or has already had a long day. Voodoo only reacted to 2 things that he overcame quickly, but I have worked on this with other client puppies and it works well. And I haven’t had to stop and come back to anything.

Sorry for 3 posts at once, I was posting these daily to facebook and forgot to put them on the blog. So this post gets you caught up :-)

Other Dogs

Many people are under the mistaken impression that socialization is letting the puppy play with as many other dogs as possible. This is a great way to get a reactive dog!  Because these same people also don’t help the puppy if those other dogs are rude, overwhelming, pushy, or sometimes even mildly aggressive! The puppy learns that other dogs can be overwhelming, rude, pushy, aggressive, and even terrifying! And this applies to other puppies they meet too! Puppies don’t usually fight back against those behaviors, but when the dog matures, he is much more likely to do so!

And even if the puppy only meets very appropriate dogs or other puppies, if they learn that the sight of other dogs means they get to play every time, good luck keeping that dog’s attention around other dogs! This makes dog sports very challenging!

Instead, I want my puppy to see and watch lots of other dogs, but only occasionally get to interact with them (ones I KNOW will be appropriate). Females that have had at least 1 litter that they did well with are a good start.

So we will go to places where there are other dogs, sit in a comfortable spot at a distance, and the puppy will get treats any time he chooses to look at me or do easy behaviors for me. Dogs being visible is just another cue that the ‘treat bar’ is open.

When my pup can interact with another safe dog, there are lots of call aways from play to come get treats from me and then get sent right back to play. And if the pup ignores me, I go get him, and then give a treat, before sending him back. This does many things-

• Works on recall (though I just use enticing sounds, not my recall cue until I know it is well established and will work!)
• Teaches the pup that he can always check in with me for a treat and it doesn’t end the fun
• Provides breaks from play I can use to assess whether or not the pup wants to continue playing or not
• Gives me a way to interrupt unwanted behavior by either dog during play (mounting, getting too amped up, being rude, etc.)
• Prevents frustration aggression (when the dog is prevented from getting what they want)

Most adult dogs are not interested in play with other dogs (though some do maintain that for a while).  They might want to sniff/greet, they might want a brief bit of play, but most aren’t playing like puppies do. So I’m really just interested in having the pup learn appropriate play/interactions as a youngster so they are safe around other dogs and don’t freak out or react badly if a loose dog approaches. But play sessions are not something I do a lot of with my puppies. Mostly I focus on, “Can you engage with me with other dogs around?” and “Can you ignore other dogs while we move past or around them?”

As you can see in the retriever party, he was totally focused on the toys!

Voodoo at a Labrador Fun Day:

And at a Retriever party:

Meeting People

Prior to 16 weeks, the puppy can choose to go ‘Say hi’ to other people. And he SHOULD, to learn about lots of other people and that they are all safe and non-threatening no matter how they look or how they smell (cigarettes, alcohol, perfume, other critter scents, body odors, etc.). Rule is that the person has to let the puppy come to them. This ensures that the pup actually wants to greet them! And if the puppy says “no” I say “sorry, not today” (didn’t have to say that with my Labrador). :-)  

But those people don’t have food or toys and I do! At first the novelty of the people is more attractive to the puppy and that is fine. I’m not going to try to interrupt unless I feel the pup needs it or he’s getting too excited.  But I’m available as a treat dispenser or toy operator at any point and each interaction with another person will include & end with the pup getting good stuff from me. I also will call the pup, or lure him a step or two away, give a treat, and let him go back to the other person if he wants, or if they can entice him back with sweet talk.

By 16 weeks of age the puppy has met a lot of people, the novelty wears off a little and what I have is more enticing (his favorite treats/toy)!   The puppy has learned that yeah, other people can be interesting, but mom has the good stuff! I can do a quick greet, then get treats!

After 16 weeks, if someone is approaching us to say hi to the puppy (you know the look!) I get a handful of treats and let the pup work on getting them out of my hand while we talk. I tell them they have to keep their feet planted (not move toward the pup) and then try to entice him to come to them (no food/toys at first). If he chooses to leave my treat hand and go to them, that is fine! But my hand is always available and will allow some easy treats as soon as he chooses to come back to it. And I’m right near him, not at the end of the leash. So I can also work on reinforcing an acceptable position (like 4 on the floor) during the greeting or his choosing to stay focused on getting the food in my hand while the person pets him.

This was REALLY hard for Voodoo, who loves attention from people just as much as he loves food! But he caught on. And now, even if I don’t have treats, he will do a quick greeting of a stranger (just long enough to assess whether they have treats, LOL) and then come right back to me. I’ve gotten more lax on this as he has gotten older, so now he knows which of my friends have good treats and will ‘pay out’ if he’s persistent. But I know I could change that quickly with some refresher training if I wanted to.

This training teaches the puppy that if people are talking to me (or him) or trying to call him and entice him, that makes great rewards come from me. And once the puppy is hard to call away from me, I’ll select helpers that can follow directions to hold treats or a toy and even entice the puppy with them, but the treats/toy are never available to the pup from them and choosing to return to or stay with me results in a big reward from me.

THEN I can work on having the pup hold a position (sit or stand) while people pet him (or play conformation or obedience Judge). And I turn attention from others into a cue to look at me! So no matter how hard someone tries to distract my dog, they are just repeating the ‘cue’ to look at me! But I can also use a cue to tell the pup to look where I point (like at a conformation Judge) or give him permission to go say hi.

Zoo visit at 5 mo old shows how he handled crowds by that age.