Train N Treat: Dog Stress Alert #2: Yawn

In our dog-friendly training secrets for enlightened dog lovers - Chief Cheery Officer (CCO) Kiyo recommends that we pay lots of attention to understanding if a dog is stressed. There's 'good' and 'bad' stress. 'Good' stress prompts a dog to continue learning, 'bad' stress causes a dog to shut down. Just because a dog is still and seems obedient, it doesn't mean that it's comfortable. So read the signs carefully.

Dog Stress Signal Alert #2

An important part of being a good dog owner is being able to read how our dog is responding to us or to being in a certain situation. That means that we need to be able to identify our dog’s stress signals – they tell us if our dog is still enjoying itself, it’s merely tolerating what’s happening, or it has had enough.

We love to hug our dogs, but do they really enjoy being hugged? Often they don’t, at least not right from the start. With positive, rewards-based, force-free training methods, we can gradually help our canine buddies be more comfortable about being hugged. In this photo, the dog is displaying at least 2 stress signals – its head is turned away, and it’s stress yawning. Again, the dog is just tolerating being hugged – it’s not enjoying itself at this moment.

Photo from Dreamstime

When your dog starts displaying stress signals, do something to improve the situation, or end the interaction and get your dog out of the situation.  If you’re not sure of what to do, please consult a qualified trainer or behaviourist to help you and your dog.

Train N Treat: Doggy Life Skill #4 - Teaching "Down"

Today, in our dog-friendly training tip for enlightened dog lovers - Chief Cheery Officer (CCO) Kiyo takes his next trick lying down!

Kiyo (L) and Rose (R) are comfortable enough 
to lie down in close proximity

We may not think or know it, but a dog will lie down only when it's comfortable in a particular situation. If there are many distractions that the dog hasn't learnt to cope with yet, you may see your dog lie down for a brief moment, then it bobs up again, and it's unable to settle for some time.

In this video, Kiyo, CCO (Chief Cheery Officer) of cheerfuldogs.com shows how you can teach "Down" to your dog in tiny steps until you get the full behaviour. Note that the verbal cue, "Down" is only said once each time and not repeatedly.

From: Nee Kang (2013). "Survival Among Humans. A How To Guide To A Sociable Dog". In Apple iBookstore (select countries, e.g. USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland).

Train N Treat: What Is Positive Reinforcement Training? Why Does it Matter to Your Dog?

Today, in our dog-friendly training tip for enlightened dog lovers - Chief Cheerful Officer (CCO) Kiyo shares the secret of why training positively is more fun than being commanded to obey.

What is Positive Reinforcement Training:

Motivating a dog to make good choices, and rewarding it when it does. The reward provides feedback to your dog that you like what it just did. It thus reinforces the good behaviour that we want, and the dog is more likely to repeat that same desired behaviour in another similar situation. With consistent practice, the dog becomes more reliable and fluent in making the desired choice.

Through careful counter-conditioning and desensitization (CCD),
using force-free, rewards-based training,
Sugar (right), was able to safely meet Kiyo (left)

Take for example the case of a dog that's reactive to another dog. We train the reactive dog to look at its owner when it sees another dog, instead of barking and lunging at the other dog. Whenever it does so voluntarily, it gets rewarded with a treat. Eventually, the dog learns and makes the conscious choice to check back with the owner whenever another dog is around. With positive reinforcement, the dog learns the skill of coping with a  potentially stressful situation and is able to make a safe choice instead of reacting negatively.

What it is not:

In the same situation of a dog that's reactive to another dog, it is NOT positive reinforcement when we force the reactive dog into a sit or down position whenever another dog is coming near. It is also NOT positive reinforcement when we use a head collar to turn the dog's head away from the other dog, or jerk its leash and run away in the opposite direction.

One should not repeatedly expose the dog to such a situation, and then deliver a treat when the dog becomes too exhausted to be reactive towards the other dog. This form of training is an aversive method, using punishment and flooding, with treats thrown in as a 'disguise' for positive reinforcement. Aversive training is often an inappropriate method for dogs that are fearful and/or aggressive, and may even escalate the reactivity further. I have seen too many cases of this happening, not to sound an early warning as much as I can.

Why does it matter?

Just as it’s important to choose the appropriate school for a special needs child, it matters to your dog how you educate it to fit in with your family and lifestyle. By reading your dog's communication signals accurately and learning together to establish an effective way to work as a team, both you and your dog will be much happier in the long term.

Find out what your dog likes as rewards, and use them
to provide feedback to your dog as to which behaviours you like.
Kiyo loves to swim - that's as good a reward as food!