A muzzle should not be dirty word

I am such an advocate of dogs wearing a muzzle out in their daily life. Because I tend to work with dogs that have dog on dog aggression and have had a bite history or clients who have never let their dogs around other dogs so they do not know the dogs history- I encourage owners to put their dogs on a muzzle for the safety and liability purposes. YOU can get a dog used to wear a muzzle quite easily and there are some great muzzles out there that are comfortable for the dog and the dog can take treats and pant and drink water. I do NOT recommend using a groomers type muzzle or a nylon muzzle because these types of muzzles can only be on for 15 minutes maximum. Dogs can not pant properly in these types of muzzles. The muzzles I recommend are the basket type muzzles-and you can actually cut out the piece in the front to feed treats through. This is a good website to buy muzzles from www.morrco.com
The Italian basket dog muzzles is the ones I prefer for any type and size of dog.

There is such a stigma for dogs that wear muzzles  and I think that is why owners are reluctant to have their dog wear one out in public. I encourage owners to remember it it NOT a reflection on them as a person AND it does not mean they have an evil dog. It is the responsible owner who understands the type of dog  they have and knows that the dog needs to go out and about and is not good with other dogs so they do the right thing and muzzle their dog so their dog can have a good quality of life.

Dog Collars for Training

Here are the collars that I generally recommend clients use to help with pulling on leash and to also help with those dogs that bark and lunge at other dogs when they are on leash. If you are using a prong collar or choke collar, I would encourage you to invest in a Gentle Leader or a Halti. These are head collars that
are gentle human collars that "gently leash your dog around"! Where the head goes, the body follows! Most dogs are not used to walking with something on their face, so some time is need to help the dog adjust to the head collar. A simple plan for head collar desensitization can be found online at www.gentleleader.com. It's a little extra work, but well worth it.
Sense-ible harnesses are similar to traditional body harnesses with one small important twist: their design discourages pulling instead of encouraging it! These anti-pull harnesses go on like traditional ones, but the leash clips to the chest to help you direct your dog. The trade-off with this choice of equipment is that you get less power steering that with the head collars, but most dogs acclimate to these immediately, so no need for desensitization. More information on this great harness can be found on line at www.softouchconcepts.com

This is an excerpt taken from my book called Reactive Rover : An Owner's Guide to On Leash Dog Aggression

The Power of Positive

I am currently reading a wonderful and inspirational book on animal training called ZOOmility by Grey Stafford. I like that he states  "training should be about helping animals succeed, not boosting our egos. Zoomility -a combination of humility and positive reinforcement-never punishment. Each day for our dogs is a struggle to gain reinforcement and avoid punishment, whether it comes from the handler or the environment." I like that he says PUNISHMENT does nothing to communicate what behaviors the trainer really wants to see- but it somehow makes us feel better right? This is where the ego comes in...
Reinforcement trainers should try to think in terms of requesting behaviors NOT commanding it!
Reinforce more, request less, and punish NOT at all!
We must learn how to communicate effectively to dogs and if we do request less but reinforce more we will get the behaviors we want.  I remember when I went to Spain to lecture to a room full of Spanish speaking trainers  I had an interpreter because I could not speak Spanish and it was easy for me to get my points across. The hard part came when I would sit down with my colleagues for dinner and then try to communicate on my own without an interpreter- and I found I could get some points across by using my body much like charades or draw pictures- or the tendency is to speak louder or shout-thinking if I talk louder they can then understand my English- and this often reminds me of how our tendency is to SHOUT the command at the dog if they do not hear it the first time- like somehow they will understand it better if we shout it? Dog's do not speak English  so we must learn how to communicate effectively to them through visual cues and reinforce the little things we like. So let go of the ego and learn how to communicate effectively to your dog through positive reinforcement. Punishment trainers REACT to mistakes whereas Reinforcement trainers RESPOND to successes.
Build a relationship with your animal based on mutual trust not fear and you will get the behaviors you want- no lets go train!

Reactive Rover Class with Kim Moeller

Here's a glimpse into one of my Reactive Rover Classes!
You can find out more about the classes at moellerdog.com

Reinforce the Owner

I was out with my own dogs at an off leash dog park the other day and I am constantly watching and observing how other owners and trainers train. I always believe in positively rewarding the dogs for good behavior and good interactions with other dogs since my specialty is dog dog aggression issues and I am constantly encouraging my client to reward with treats and praise for good dog interactions instead of using more traditional methods of screaming and correcting the dog. I cringe when I see these punishing types methods being used especially when dealing with dogs that have issues off leash with other dogs. If we use corrective methods which means using force it tends to make the aggression worse because if the dogs feels pain around other dogs then they then start associating dogs as bad.

Then they tend to get more reactive when they see another dog because barking and lunging works because it makes the other dog go away before they feel pain!

Well on this day I observed an owner who had his dog on a gentle leader and he had a doggie back pack (which sometimes help dog associate the doggie back pack with working mode and if they are in working mode they are more focused on the job they are doing with their owner instead of reacting to dogs)! This owner allowed his who was on leash to meet my dog-BUT when his dog went to greet my dog- he kept his leash nice and loose and happy talked a nice greeting and after a second or two he said “leave it” without pulling his dogs leash and when his dog came away from my dog and back to him he rewarded his dog with a treat!

I was so impressed with his training methods because this is exactly what I teach owners to do- keep the leash loose, use a happy voice when greeting then get your dog back to you and when they come back give them a goodie and then move on!

I praised and reinforced the owner by commenting to him that he was using a great training strategy! And he smiled and told me it has taken a lot of work to get to this point but he has made huge progress and he now feels confident to bring his dog around other dogs! He said it will always be work but he is happy to come out to the park with his dog and now has a better relationship!

AHHH a good day at the park! 

"My dog is Friendly"

So many of my clients that have dogs that bark and lunge at other dogs on leash tell me that they do not know what to do or say when an approaching owner and dog say “My dog’s Friendly” or assume that their dog is friendly and allow their dog to come up to their reactive dog.  One piece of advice I have found to give them is to buy a doggie backpack for their dog, put some water bottles, soup cans, etc.  in it and explain to the other owner that their dog cannot meet other dogs or people because it is a service dog and is in training right now! This makes it about their own dog and not the other person’s dog and people are more understanding and respectful!

I want to make t-shirts for people with reactive dogs that say something like "Great that your dog is Friendly, But you don’t have to brag about it!!"  :)

High value food rewards DO work for leash reactivity!

I am proud to be a positive reward based trainer. Every time I go see a client for a private consultation and I tell them they no longer have to use a shock collar or a pinch collar or a choke collar to change their dogs behavior I see a huge sigh of relief from the client. From my experience most people do not want to hurt their dogs but sometimes they just do not know another way to train. Traditional type training methods –those methods that use pain to stop a behavior is really just a band aid that covers up the dogs issues. In other words it only suppresses the dogs behavior.  And stresses the dog out and deteriorates the bond between dog and owner.

When dealing with leash reactivity, you want to get the dog to offer you an alternate behavior to barking and lunging- and for dogs the more you reward the dog with something really yummy the more they will offer you a different behavior.

Teaching your dog to look at you in the presence of another dog is a great alternate behavior to barking and lunging! So many times when I see a client for the first time and I bring super high value food rewards like cheese, chicken, meatballs, hotdogs the dog is much more willing to take my yummy food reward than bark at the other dog. Sometimes all it takes is for owners to understand what a high value treat is and to ONLY use it in the presence of dogs!

Stay tuned for more tips on leash aggression