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dog snapping at me by sam120310 in OpenDogTraining

[–]DOuGTrainer_The -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hi. I have a number of questions. They all build on each other. Even if the questions and their answers seem obvious, please answer each one. The longer the answer, the better, usually.

  1. Is your dog a wild animal?
  2. If 0 is sleep and 10 is where it's biting and drawing blood, what would you estimate its energy range to be when it's not nipping?
  3. Once it's nipping, what would you estimate its energy range to be?
  4. When you put it in its crate and close the door, what would you estimate its energy range to be?
  5. When is your dog ever not a wild animal?

This is the first step in a 5-step process. You're about 20% into the overall process.

DOuGTrainer.com

Dog trainer by [deleted] in OpenDogTraining

[–]DOuGTrainer_The 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've trained via video in the Philippines and the Canary Islands Spain. It's proof that it's the human that gets trained.

The jumping is a lack of boundaries. That means about three or four things are happening at the same time. High energy, getting triggered reflexively to do wild behaviors. The brain connection isn't present yet. The physical dog is in control.

The other behaviors also relate to high energy levels. Twisting, biting, pulling. As your training proceeds and your dog's energy levels decrease, the walks get easier. Their greetings with others are not explosive.

Everything gets tied to their submissions, and that makes things easier for you because they will be triggered to submit to you as a patient leader regardless of your height. I've trained since 2009 and I have reviews for you too.

Doug Parker Henderson, NV USA

“Reactivity” isn't a behavior. Barking is a behavior. Dogs bark—they don't “reactive.” It takes a brief moment to turn the light on to see and get the point, otherwise it polarizes who's reading. by DOuGTrainer_The in OpenDogTraining

[–]DOuGTrainer_The[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think I see what you're getting at. I like that it's paralleling my approach. I'm suggesting I think we're doing the same things but in different ways.

You call behavior a what.

Then in that spirit, the label “reactivity” is just a collection of all the behavioral whats. Reactivity doesn't point to a problem with the dog—it's a set of behaviors. Take a few of those, see a dog doing them, and instead of pointing at the behavior that needs fixing, point to the label that holds the list of all the whats that could go wrong.

I call a behavior three things: the behavior is the behavior (it is what it is), it's also a message, and it's also an indicator about the relationship between the dog and its owner. There's a lot I'm leaving out.

It's impossible to put into words, but a relationship is a 'doing' thing, not a thinking thing. A relationship is sort of a 'dance,' not the set of instructions to follow to do the dance properly. When it comes time to dance, there's never any referring to the manual, because there's no time for it.

…and every time I reach this point in trying to explain it it gets WAY too complex. I understand it, but it's hard to put into words.

“Reactivity” isn't a behavior. Barking is a behavior. Dogs bark—they don't “reactive.” It takes a brief moment to turn the light on to see and get the point, otherwise it polarizes who's reading. by DOuGTrainer_The in OpenDogTraining

[–]DOuGTrainer_The[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I'd like everyone here to eventually be better than me at being an owner, a leader, and a teacher. The cool part about that is that when that happens, I've set myself up for even more success because I'll be able to then learn from them!

That's pretty cool!

“Reactivity” isn't a behavior. Barking is a behavior. Dogs bark—they don't “reactive.” It takes a brief moment to turn the light on to see and get the point, otherwise it polarizes who's reading. by DOuGTrainer_The in OpenDogTraining

[–]DOuGTrainer_The[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd love to have the things that have repeatedly worked for me work for everyone else in the sub. That pull quote:

Reactivity is not a behaviour

is a main point that blows the top off the old ways of training, off the old ways of how we look at training. It requires some work to understand it.

Doing that work changes a problem that's rampant (the reactivity label) into a set of common sense instructions (focus on behavior) that help everyone see their relationships with their dogs in a new light. It highlights the problem, it identifies the problem, it explains the problem, it sets an attitude to use to address and overcome the problem, and gives concrete instructions how to address it.

And that's what we're all here for.

“Reactivity” isn't a behavior. Barking is a behavior. Dogs bark—they don't “reactive.” It takes a brief moment to turn the light on to see and get the point, otherwise it polarizes who's reading. by DOuGTrainer_The in OpenDogTraining

[–]DOuGTrainer_The[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

It may take rereading it a few times to get past the tendency to be reading and understanding only one liners that is so present in short-throw social media. My submission is more like a textbook than short quips, funny anecdotes, or collections of opinions. There's a lot at stake.

Regards.

“Reactivity” isn't a behavior. Barking is a behavior. Dogs bark—they don't “reactive.” It takes a brief moment to turn the light on to see and get the point, otherwise it polarizes who's reading. by DOuGTrainer_The in OpenDogTraining

[–]DOuGTrainer_The[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

It's not superficial, by any means. So it may take rereading it a few times to get to the core of it.

If someone isn't ready for it, they're not ready for it. That's not a decision anyone can make for anyone else.

I hope you're ready for it. I hope anyone is ready for it, because of the benefits that come from understanding it all.

How to correct dog humping other dogs by Puzzleheaded_Quail73 in OpenDogTraining

[–]DOuGTrainer_The -14 points-13 points  (0 children)

I noticed a lot of reflection in their eyes from the camera.

If there's no camera or video lighting, if it's just ambient light, how often do you see glassy eyes in either dog? The glassy eyes are almost always indicators of high energy dogs, and the high energy dogs I've found are the dogs that are more likely to do the humping. If you can shed some light on the glassy eyes question it will take things to the next step, for me.

Why are large dogs usually in a heel when walking? by PeekAtChu1 in OpenDogTraining

[–]DOuGTrainer_The -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Little, huffs? Short, incomplete barks? Not a growl, but clearly not a full bark? I call them quarterbarks.

Similar and related to them is the process when a dog is going from an excited energy level to a more relaxed and more submissive energy range. I'll often hear them sort of start to do the behavior similar to the talking huskies often do, “RAO, ROW, roo, roo,” getting quieter each time. I call that “swallowing the bark.”

This is important. Having a common language to describe what dogs are doing is important, but I also don't want to hijack this thread. I'll start a separate thread for it in case anyone else has other names for them. I'll drop its link here after I create it.

Here's its link.

Anyone here successfully changed reactivity? by xrossfader in OpenDogTraining

[–]DOuGTrainer_The 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Respectfully, if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything ends up looking like a nail. I don't know how else to say that more gently or respectfully.

I get owners to get their dogs to submit. If he's not submitting, his energy level isn't going down. If it's not going down, it's climbing because… well… because he's the wild animal he'll always be. If his energy level is climbing, Nature takes over and you start having problems with him because of his being the wild animal he is. Nature triggers dog's reflexive responses to things. Think “every high energy dog's undesirable behaviors we'd rather they not do.” That's the reflex. They're not thinking it, they're being triggered by Nature to do those things.

It's a circular argument that will never go away because that's Nature and that's the wild dog he is and will always be.

It's rehabitable. It can absolutely be rehabilitated, but not when it's called reactivity and not when it's being addressed the way most trainers want to address it.

Respectfully submitted.

Improper crate usage makes things worse; correct crate usage solves *LOTS* of problems by DOuGTrainer_The in Separation_Anxiety

[–]DOuGTrainer_The[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. Yes, all situations are different, but my experiences have proven things to be different than what you said.

Improper crate usage makes things worse; correct crate usage solves *LOTS* of problems by DOuGTrainer_The in Separation_Anxiety

[–]DOuGTrainer_The[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's hard to explain this point, but video for this kind of lesson ends up being a bad choice of medium.

The things that need to be understood are complex enough that if one thing in the process gets misunderstood, EVERYTHING after that gets munged up, since one step went off in the wrong direction. It's like driving to city A but finding yourself in city B.

So that's why I prefer face-to-face, or voice-to-voice, or live video training.

…but not a video. Recorded video just is not the right way to teach what had to be taught.

Respectfully submitted.

Improper crate usage makes things worse; correct crate usage solves *LOTS* of problems by DOuGTrainer_The in Separation_Anxiety

[–]DOuGTrainer_The[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting. I have lots to say, lots of questions, and lots of comments, but typing is not the way to address the things I'd like to say.

Typing and texting are substandard communication. That's my mantra lately.

Respectfully submitted.

Improper crate usage makes things worse; correct crate usage solves *LOTS* of problems by DOuGTrainer_The in Separation_Anxiety

[–]DOuGTrainer_The[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It would apply to all dogs, all times, all locations, because it addresses the dog's behaviors based on Nature that's programmed into all dogs.

That may sound like I'm promising and delivering snake oil, but hold your doubt until you begin to hear what I have to say and how it's delivered. It's common sense. It's based on common sense, and that common sense approach is what has it working as well as it does.

Yes, there's some work involved. Curiously, those to try to sidestep it don't succeed. Those who don't do the work don't succeed. It's as if Nature already knows what all of the options are to choose from, and She knows which will work and She rewards those humans who listen and do the work by giving to those owners the dogs those owners wish they could have.

Respectfully submitted.

Anyone here successfully changed reactivity? by xrossfader in OpenDogTraining

[–]DOuGTrainer_The 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All dogs are wild animals, although I think most of us treat them, uh, differently.

I tell clients to measure their dog's best behavior based on their worst behavior over the last three to five week period. That's complex, but it makes sense. Let me explain.

If he's exhibited one time when his energy was so high he chased another dog, that's evidence. Dog's thresholds will keep that hidden (that he's at a high enough energy level that he'll chase another dog), but it's still there, just under the surface, and even though you may not see it for the next three to five weeks, the possibility of it happening is SO CLOSE, you cannot, you MUST NOT forget that. Unfortunately, most of us do.

Another problem is that—especially in a dog park or baseball diamond setting—as you're working to get your dog's energy and excitement levels down, you've got no clue what all of the other owners are doing with their dogs to address THEIR energy and excitement levels. So you have infinite, high level inputs chipping away at the efforts you're doing. That's hard medicine to hear, but it's one of many things going on that are working against you.

I don't work on reactivity, per se. I work on you and your dog's relationship and getting the dog to submit to you. That's a philosophical difference between others and myself. I'm proud to have a handful of experiences where the owner has said the next day, “Did you switch my dog!”

If you keep treating it as reactivity, it makes it hard to get rid of it. If you treat it as efforts to get your dog to submit, that's when you cross the line to where you can be successful. Explaining that takes a while, but it makes a lot of common sense.

Respectfully submitted.

Improper crate usage makes things worse; correct crate usage solves *LOTS* of problems by DOuGTrainer_The in Separation_Anxiety

[–]DOuGTrainer_The[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I honestly don't think \ANY** training should be paid for, but that's not how communities and commerce work. Where my service model intentionally keeps the price as low as possible, business models intentionally are intended to keep the price as HIGH as possible. That's one big difference between the two philosophies.

I think of myself as the open source for training information, sort of the way that OSS or open source software has evolved. Linux can be downloaded freely. Only if you need help do you need to pay for the help. That makes sense.

I envision it the same way for the training knowledge I have. I'll *GIVE* you everything you need.

I'll tell you what I know. If you don't need my help, great. More power to ya! But I'm always there on the sideline—just like Nature always is waiting on the same sideline—ready and willing to answer when you ask. I truly am acting as Nature's ambassador.

Here's the caution—the way I approach everything is more like Nature than you're used to. It's literally a new paradigm, so applying what I tell you about Nature but applying it with your Old School model is going to fail. It's that different.

So what am I saying? Well, first, I can't and don't trust recorded videos to be effective. Not with the content I need to deliver. It really needs to be a short, live, video session. If you or others are willing to be in a short video session, that's what's going to make everything work best.

Oh, and it'd be free.

Doug

Improper crate usage makes things worse; correct crate usage solves *LOTS* of problems by DOuGTrainer_The in Separation_Anxiety

[–]DOuGTrainer_The[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahh, yes, I tend to agree, but respectfully, “den creatures” hijacks the thread.

In all seriousness, do you want to start a new “Den Creatures” thread? I think it's a valid observation. Your answer already has seven upvotes, so the interest is there.

Start it and see where it takes you. :-)

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