The Dish by Darcie

Dear Darcie, All of a sudden today my dog wouldn’t let me get close to her. We were going to do a training session which has always been fun for both of us. This morning it was different, I reached to give her a treat, she kind of did this “Eeeeewww” thing with her nose and backed away, twice. I quit trying because it was obvious she was trying to tell me something. But after lunch everything was fine again. I didn’t feel very good when I woke up this morning, bathroom kind of not feeling good. But would she have been reacting to that? Anna

Dear Anna,

Yes, you may have hit the nail right on the head. Especially if your dog is one of those dogs, like mine, who will avoid poop and pee with everything they’ve got. If I walk my dogs past a pile of poop somewhere, they will side step it  with several ballet steps and look like they’re holding their nose. But if you were sick and she could tell that, even more reason not to eat from your hands. You more than likely washed your hands before and after you ate so after lunch she was good with you again.

When we go to the bathroom, we use our hand with paper, of course, to wipe. When we flush, the fecal bacteria and germs (read that smell to your dog) can spray several feet if you don’t close the lid first. That scent (germs and bacteria) can get on your clothes and on your hands. Ever wonder why if someone farted clear across the room, you could still smell it? Those scent particles have come to your nose. “Eeeeewww.”

Because it was a one time thing and it was after you came out of the bathroom, chances are that you smelled kinda bad to your dog and she avoided your hands. Especially if you were sick to your stomach or had some intestinal upset. Although you go to the bathroom every day, it just smells like you so that would be acceptable to her. Some dogs don’t like that sick smell and will avoid it. People probably wouldn’t have noticed.

What to do? Wash your hands for the length of the birthday song with mild soap and warm water. This is a good practice no matter whether you’re sick or not. Antibiotic soap isn’t necessary; let’s not make the bacteria stronger by giving it something to learn to fight against. Close the lid before you flush, that really helps contain the spray.

Some would say flush and run so you less get on you. That’s not really practical unless your toilet has it’s own little closet so don’t worry too much, we’ve been using the toilet for years and we haven’t died yet. It’s not the top of the toilet seat that is so affected by the spray, that actually has been proven to have less bacteria on it, it’s what’s within eight feet of the toilet and under the seat. Clean your bathroom often.

You might want to put your toilet paper out of harms way (inside metal or plastic cabinet). And hey, put your toothbrush in a safer out of the way place. A little further from the toilet. “Eeeeewww.”

Dear Darcie, I have a senior dog who is getting more and more cantankerous in her old age, especially towards small dogs. My dog is 9 1/2 years old, she is part Lab and part Australian Shepherd, and she weighs a little under 80 pounds. Just to answer the obvious questions, she does have some health problems (hip dysplasia, arthritis, incontinence and allergies), for which she takes various medications and supplements. I consider her to be well socialized with other dogs as she has attended doggie day care for over 8 years with absolutely no problems (and still has none). I have noticed her becoming less predictable towards other dogs when we are in our neighborhood. Sometimes it would be fine, but sometimes she would act like she was going to be friendly and then get all growly up close. I admit that now, I seldom allow meet and greets with same sized dogs because of her increasingly unpredictable behavior and when it comes to small dogs, she will sometimes go ballistic and it is everything I can do to restrain her. If I can redirect her to a sit and get her to give me her attention (like, we aren’t moving or going anywhere until she focuses on me or trying to block her view of the distractor), it is okay. But, in the event the dog is unattended by its human, and it tries to come over to investigate us, she becomes unhinged. Those situations seem to be more and more dangerous. I’ve spoken with our vet about it who says this sometimes happens with older dogs, that it will probably worsen as time goes on, and that I will just have to manage her more to prevent any disasters….Anyway, sorry for the long story, but I thought that it might help to give a little background. How do I keep my dog, as well as other dogs, safe? Cynthia

Dear Cynthia,

Let me get this out quick and then ask you some questions about the problem you’ve asked me about. I hate flexi leads. They can not only take off a person’s thumb and they have, make a huge burn and cut across the back of someone’s leg and they have, they teach dogs that they can pull or go off on their own away from their person when they are on leash. The flexi gives a dog mental permission to do as they pleases when they are on leash. A flexi gives a dog “permission” to step away from their person. And your spoken permission or not, mentally she knows it’s possible. I think the flexi gives the dog the wrong message and they can be dangerous to people and other dogs.

That said, the flexi may or may not be part of this problem. I’ll ask you some questions and when you get back to me I’ll do my best to help and then I’ll update this post.

I have a great big question for you. What is her normal diet? Kibble dog food?  What brand? When this started had you just opened a new bag of dog food? Also any new treats? Any food at all different since before the first incident?

What supplements is she taking? And why?

Allergic to what? Dogs who eat some kibbles can have allergies to the mold in the food. Mold can cause behavior changes, sometimes drastic ones, and even die from it.

Did a new dog either start at the day care or move into the neighborhood? Has she had eye contact or any contact with it? New person at the day care? Any new treats or food at the day care?

Any divorces, new boyfriend or girlfriend, change of house, friends coming over or stopped coming over, new cat, other pets die? Did you move her bed or wash it? What brand of soap? Stop sleeping in bed with you, or start? Baths? What soap?  New bed? Any life changes like those things?

New toys? What are they made of? Brand names would be good here.

What did you do the first time that she treated another dog different than usual? Hold leash tighter? Get nervous? Tense? Yell? Move across the street? Relax and act normal? Drop the leash and let her handle it? Laugh and run the other way?

Has her medication changed recently? Name of meds, please. Has your vet double checked to make sure she is  not taking too large or too small of a dose? Doc checked to make sure that her meds aren’t interfering with each other? Has she been shedding more? Why the incontinence? That alone would make anyone feel pissy, no pun intended. Did the incontinence come before or after the behavior change? Have you checked out the drug’s side effects? Drugs can change behavior. Do you have a holistic vet?

Do you know her parents? Was her mom like this in her later years? The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree sometimes.

It’s possible that it’s just because she’s old and feeling it, hurting, and may need to start swimming more and walking less but in my opinion with what you’ve told me, I’d say she wouldn’t be singling out small dogs if that were the case.

Nine and a half shouldn’t be senior years for your mix. If she was in good health and eating a nutritious diet, I’d say she was just past midlife, like we would be in our late fifties or so. Still going great guns. That all can depend on her heritage but generally speaking, your dog is still young, in my opinion. I feed raw food to my dogs and they live a long time so our time clock may be a little different than some.

It sounds like this started fairly quickly, is that right? That’s why I’m wondering if it was a single incident, meds or food that may have caused her change of mind.

Let me know and I’ll do my best to help. I don’t know everything.

Dear Darcie, I am frustrated with my dog. I haven’t written to you before, I placed an order at SitStay.com today for the getting started clicker training kit. I hope that helps me. My problem. I get so frustrated because no matter how I try to train my dog to do anything, he won’t. He’s a nice dog and as long as I don’t ask him to do anything, we get along fine. I’ve been reading your blog so I know you’re against Cesar Millan but I did try some of the holds and choking that he showed me on his show to get my dog to pay attention to me and make me the pack leader but it didn’t work. Do you have any words of wisdom for me? Jeff

Dear Jeff,

First of all, I’m not against Cesar Millan and he didn’t tell you to hold down or choke your dog. He told you not to do it, over and over and over and over on his show. Didn’t you see the pop up warnings all through the show?

For the record, I’ve recently seen Cesar working with positive trainers who use treats and clicker training. I like that he’s learning a more positive way to deal with normal dog behaviors (non aggressive) and it pleases me very, very much. Please read my posts about Cesar again. I am against the actions of choking, stressing, jerking, over exercising, and hanging of dogs. People who watch the show are using those methods they see on the show on their perfectly normal dogs, just like you did. The warnings and disclaimers are in bold print all through the show pleading with you not to do it at home. If Cesar thought a regular normal person without years of training experience could do what he does, he would tell you to use his methods daily. He doesn’t. He warns you against it.

Your sweet dog will be so happy when you start clicker training with him. You will open the channels of communication between the two of you and if you use gentle positive training, he will do anything you want simply because he understands what you want. If you are fair with him and patient so he knows what you’re teaching him, you are in for a wonderful surprise with clicker training.

The first thing a good dog trainer does is to find a way to communicate with that particular dog. Think about it like this, if you traveled to another planet and there was life on it, how would you communicate with the beings there? If you are lucky, the first being you meet will be a peace loving being. That being will find a way to communicate with you. Let’s name this being who is alien to you so it’s easier for me to talk about. Actually, you would be the alien but let’s do this way anyway. Let’s call him…Alien (pronounced Allen on his planet).

Alien eats food for sustenance (doesn’t matter what kind of food, you’re going to like it). Alien finds that you have been left behind when your space ship buddies couldn’t reach you on your cell phone (can you hear me now?) before they flew away so you’re sort of a rescue, left behind by somebody, and you’re in a whole new world. Alien says to you, “Isd astro, wehaer terh maers? Dsfdi serhaby sflear sryo aaerne dae? Ime noear srera to ere havr yse. Comerre.” What the heck does that mean? Exactly! You don’t know what that means. Is he asking you to do something? What?

Alien hasn’t shot you with his laser ray yet and he hasn’t taken you by the head or the scruff of your neck and pinned you to the ground for not complying with his wishes so maybe he’s a peaceful sort and means you no harm. That’s good news. You were a little nervous about that at first. I mean, he’s much bigger than you and he looks a lot different.

Alien decides quickly that you do not speak his language because you have not replied to his questions. He said, “Hey boy, what’s the matter? Did somebody leave you here all alone? I’m not going to hurt you. Are you hungry? Come home with me, I have more food there.” He’s sees that you are tired and hungry. How does he get you to go home with him so he can feed you, talk to you, give you a quiet place to rest, and maybe make a friend of you so you can go do things together?

Alien shows you some of his food. You sniff it. Oh, that smells good. You eat it. Alien makes a “click” sound the instant you put it into your mouth. He shows you another bit of food. You take it, he makes a click sound the instant you put it into your mouth. You’re not sure where this is going yet but it seems pretty safe. The food is good. So far, it’s working out in your favor. It must be that when he “clicks”, you’ve done what he wants because he rewards you for it. You’re ready to try the same thing again.

Alien shows you another bit of food, when you sniff it, he steps back a step. You follow the food, he clicks and gives you the food, you eat it. He does it again and you follow. He does it again and maybe says, “Comerre”, which means “come” in his language. After a few more tries of this and you’re going to him for the food, you realize something. Hey! I go to him and he gives me food. I know that “Comerre” must mean come to him. Now Alien knows that you know what “Comerre” means, too, so he stops clicking you for every time you come to him. You still come to him when he says “Comerre” because you have learned that is what he is asking of you. Communication is open between you. Now you know a new word in another language.

When you follow him home and you work together to learn his language, you’ll learn words like “sit”, “down”, “roll over”, “pick that up”, “give”, “take”, “eat”, “don’t eat my shoes, they aren’t food”, “do you need a tummy rub, roll over”, “dinner time”, “I love you, Jeff”. You’ll have learned his name too, and the names of all the beings who live in his house. They are very nice, too. And he will learn your words or body language, too. “I have to go pee”, “I am hungry”, “someone is coming”, “I’m scared”, “thank you”, “thanks for saving my life”, “let’s play ball”, “I love you, Alien”. You will both be well on your way to understanding the basics of life with each other. You may never learn the complete language or he yours but that doesn’t matter. When Alien says, “Hey, Jeff, let’s go play ball!” you’re going to be right behind him.

My words of wisdom are:

Stop trying to act like a tough “dominate”, “alpha” dog. You are not a dog. Your dog knows that you are not a dog. Forcing your dog down because he won’t listen to you causes fear of you and your hands. And it’s disrespectful. I can just hear your dog yelling at you, “What did you do that for? What do you want me to do? I don’t know what you want of me!” Think of the fear you would have felt if Alien had said words to you then taken you down by your neck and pinned you to the ground. Cesar wasn’t teaching you to gain your dog’s respect, he was showing you how he controls over the top aggressive dogs. That is not your dog by a long shot.

Eat some protein before you work with your dog: a hard boiled egg, a piece of meat, a peanut butter sandwich, a bowl of beans, a bowl of oatmeal. Being hungry is the fastest way to being frustrated. Protein keeps your brain working evenly on all cylinders, it lasts longer than candy or cereal and will help you stay focused during your training session.

Your dog should not be over tired or hungry, either. Dogs learn fastest and best when they have good energy.

Be patient with your dog and with yourself. If you make a mistake, keep right on going. Laugh. Have fun. Training can be so much fun when you know that it doesn’t all have to be done in a day.

Listen to your dog. Watch what he is saying to you.

Keep your training sessions short, maybe five minutes several times a day at the start. Then fifteen minutes. Once your dog knows something, leave that and try it again another day. Do something else.

Feed your dog every meal by hand to get his trust back. Never hurt him again.

Read every dog book on behavior of dogs and body language that you can, we have some great DVDs on the subjects. It’s okay to watch the TV, there’s a lot of good stuff there. Use your common sense, put yourself back on that planet as your dog. Weed out the rough stuff, there’s no need for it. There’s a lot of bad information online and in some books. Check out our library at SitStay.com , you’ll learn more about communicating with your dog.

When you get your SitStay’s Getting Started Clicker Training Kit, read and watch everything before you start. It works so fast and so well that you can create bad bahavior as quickly as good behavior. Know how to play the game before you start the game. And don’t be afraid. It’s as easy as working with Allen…I mean Alien.

I wonder if he’s going to let you get up on the couch.