Pippy is young and confident enough to be a truly amazing companion for somebody. She bonds easily, loves people and other dogs, and contains within her that true terrier tenacity and ability to overcome obstacles that makes terriers what they are.

Now that I have had some time to think about the past week, it is finally time to look towards the future. I think the best way to discuss this is to talk about Pippy’s challenges, how they could be managed, and how she could improve. Keep in mind throughout this blog that Pippy is NOT a bad dog. She just lacks adequate education and direction!

Pippy's Challenges and Putting Them in Perspective

I would first say, that while Pippy’s responses can be more excessive than we would like, the basis of all of these behaviors is natural. Think for a moment about each of the items below in a human context.

1)   Reactivity to sudden movement and new sights and sounds
How many times do we humans startle, yell, or flinch when something suddenly comes too close for comfort? A spider dropping suddenly from the ceiling, a bat swooping overhead, or a snake slithering in the grass might be good examples. Also, novelty can be very concerning to us such as a new or sudden noise. I know I have awakened at night with a jump wondering if what I just heard might be a stranger outside trying to get in. 

2)   Reactivity to frustration
We have all experienced frustration and have felt the anger that can arise when we are unable to get what we want when we want it. I know we laugh about it when we see it on videos, but the person kicking, shaking, and hitting the vending machine that just “ate” their money is very unhappy at that moment in time.

3)   Resource guarding of high value items
Honestly, humans have to be the most serious resource guarders on the planet. We often react with great distress and sometimes violence to very small and seemingly inconsequential items being removed from our possession. In our society we just use differing terms such as theft, stealing, violation of privacy, and invasion. We take our resources very seriously – everything from somebody taking some loose change out of a desk drawer without permission to grand theft auto and even wars over differing ideologies can be included in this category.

4)   Demand barking (barking for attention)
I would equate this to those people who desire to be the center of the attention most of the time. They find it highly rewarding to have people listen to them. If they are removed from the spotlight they might change the topic or interrupt to make a point – even if that point is off topic. It could also be the small child who says “hey” over and over when they want to speak to adults who are busy and not paying attention.

5)   Lack of manners
As in people, this is just a basic education issue. With some kind explanation about expectations, most people will at least try to make an effort to fit into their chosen or mandated social circles.

There is a reason to I ask people to think through these with me. If humans, purportedly the most intelligent species on the planet, respond the way they do to these items, how can we expect more from our pets (the ones without thumbs and big brains) than we do from ourselves?

Managing the Problems

There are many ways each of these items can be managed that avoid major expenditure of energy and/or resources. These are not complete listings, but general ideas that might be useful for Pippy.

1)   Reactivity to sudden movement and new sights and sounds
    -  Provide Pippy with adequate and appropriate
       exercise, which could include chasing down squeaky toys (an
       outlet for her predatory nature) or holding the Pippy 500 in
       the living room
    - Do not leave Pippy outside unattended
    - Do any walking or outside playing when there is 
       less neighborhood activity in the area (early mornings / late
       evenings might be options)
    - Avoid playing near the edges of the yard to limit exposure to
       things likely to cause reactivity
    - Inside – run a fan or provide other “white noise” so that she is
       less likely to hear noises that might trigger her reactivity
2)   Reactivity to frustration
    - The use of the management items above should also
        work here
3)   Resource guarding of high value items
    - Limit Pippy’s access to high value items without direct
      supervision
    - Trade her for inappropriate high value items with an
       appropriate high value item or food instead of just trying to
       remove something from her possession 
    - Provide her with appropriate high value items when she is in a
       place nobody will disturb her (i.e. give her a pig’s ear in a
       crate, alone in the kitchen, on her bed, etc)
4)   Demand barking (barking for attention)
    - Do not reward Pippy’s barking with attention
    - Tether her or place her in a room or crate where she is unable          to be disruptive when this is not being actively worked with
5)   Lack of manners
    - I really suggest teaching basic manners instead of managing
       this particular item

Unlimited Potential for the Future

By just using some management and teaching Pippy a few good manners using positive training methods, she could be an amazing companion for somebody “as is” as a house dog. She really is a delightful little dog who loves being close to people!

Each of the items in the lists above can be remedied using gentle, dog friendly methods and without the use of harsh punishment. It would take some dedication and consistency on the part of Pippy’s new owner, but Pippy has the potential to also be an amazing athlete or working dog. No matter the choice – with management, behavior modification, or both, Pippy could thrive in her new home with some direction, consistency, and a lot of love.

While I am not in a position to adopt Pippy myself, I have committed to providing Pippy and whoever might adopt her with free, private, in-home training and behavior counseling.

I have pieced together a brief video clip from our behavior modification sessions and included it here. In addition to the other dog and handler team, at any one time there might be horses neighing or stomping their feet, a pig oinking and rooting around, other dogs whining and barking, seeds falling onto the metal roof, a tree brushing up against the side of the barn, pigeons flying around in the rafters, and/or other people coming and going. Just look at Pippy's ability focus and stay engaged! She really is truly amazing!

My apologies for not blogging on Pippy yesterday. I do want to let you know what happened yesterday and where we are now. I thought about including Pippy’s future in today’s blog as well. I have decided to mull some of that over tomorrow during our long drive home and focus on the most recent events in today's blog.

Friday was an interesting day for both of us. Throughout the week we have been using a protocol based on counter conditioning and desensitization (CC&D) in order to help Pippy be comfortable on a leash when around other animals. I made a mistake I would not make if I were advising a client. It was eye opening to be in the client’s shoes during the implementation of the protocol. It is so much easier to predict pitfalls and accept having to back track when you are the objective party advising somebody else. I now understand just how easy it is to become focused on the goals for the day and lose sight of the process. Like so much of life, it is the journey that is truly important not the destination.

The morning behavior modification session was very frustrating for me and I truly felt that we did nothing but move backwards during our 20 minute session. It was so easy to focus on the backsliding and not even notice the progress we were able to make. When I reviewed my notes last night, I realized that we had not even done that badly. It felt horribly discouraging at the time, though. A debrief with Pat Miller and the other interns helped me put everything back into perspective, recognize that I had made a very common error, and put my head back together for the afternoon session.

I took a really deep breath before our shorter afternoon session and backed up even more than described in Pippy's protocol. Actually following the protocol made all the difference in the world. During those short 16 minutes, Pippy and I were able to not only return where we stopped the prior day, we more than cut the prior day’s distance in half. This had us only a few feet from completing the entire phase 1 portion of the protocol! By not focusing on the end goal we were able to arrive there with ease. Needless to say, we had a HUGE Pippy Party (running, jumping, and more chicken) at the end of our session.

I had to complete, turn in, and prepare a significant amount of work last night, which meant I spent a lot of time at the computer and not focusing on Pippy. As it turns out, I had one of her favorite foods for dinner (chicken) and she still had some energy to burn. We turned my dinner into a training session where Pippy received tiny pieces of chicken for quiet, calm behavior. By the end of my dinner (it was a long dinner as I wrote while I ate), Pippy was consistently and contentedly laying at my feet.

In addition to the protocol we have implemented during the internship, Pippy has learned a few good manners. There is certainly more for her to learn, but she is well on her way to being a much more enjoyable dog in our human world. She has learned to sit to have her leash attached and removed from a harness before and after a walk. She has learned that barking and pushy behavior does not get attention and that quiet, gentle behavior does. She has gently learned that not everybody likes having little girls chew on their hands and arms in play. She has had a heavy dose of “Say Please” or “Nothing In Life is Free” and learned that sitting and asking for what she wants earns her "good stuff". That “good stuff” came in the forms of play, going outside for walks, her food bowl, treats, and even cuddle time on my lap.

With some effort and commitment, Pippy has the potential to make somebody a lovely little life-long companion.


Just think for a minute about what this week must have been like for Pippy. She gets a new name that she does not know; a veritable stranger picks her up, puts her in a strange car, and drives 534 miles away from everything she’s ever known; goes to a strange hotel; gets plopped in the middle of an 80 acre farm with animals and noises she has never seen or heard; and is then expected to be functional and learn new things. Oh yes, do not forget that all of this occurred without anyone being able to explain it all to her. I do not believe I know a human that would cope well under these circumstances. I know I wouldn’t. Pippy not only has survived this week, she has succeeded!

I will write one more blog on Monday about my impressions regarding Pippy’s future and post a video of one of our training sessions. Here are a few of the pictures from this week at Peaceable Paws.

What a terrific day for Pippy. We started the morning with a long walk at the hotel. At one point, I left an unattended scone on the desk and walked away. Pippy snagged the scone. This is a bad TRAINER moment – NOT a bad dog moment. I have not had the time to teach Pippy cues for wait, off, leave it, or down this week. That I failed to manage the situation was my fault. She just did what any normal dog would do – get the yummy stuff for herself.

I do not believe that Pippy barked at a single horse today. I could not be one hundred percent certain as she was in the kennel outside when not involved in behavior modification sessions. I was able to hear the dogs from where I was sitting and she was very quiet throughout the day - even when one of the horses was directly in front of her kennel. There was one point where I fully expected an outburst. I was unable to find a way to avoid passing very close to one of the horses just before one of our behavior modification sessions. She was a trooper and managed to pass by the horse with nothing more than making a few whining noises (and being fed a little bit of chicken).

She made HUGE progress in reducing the space between herself and another dog today. I even have hopes that we can begin a new protocol tomorrow afternoon where she parallel walks with another dog with a substantial distance between them. Like we have done with looking at a moving dog, we would plan on slowly reducing the distance between the dogs.

I believe Pippy managed to stay completely under threshold the entire day today. The vocalizations and behaviors I heard and saw today were those of a happy dog, who wanted to draw animals closer to her not chase them away. She even seemed to want to meet Pat’s pot bellied pig Sturgis today! I did not let them get very close, but I was ecstatic that she happily made the attempt.

In addition to our two behavior modification sessions, Pippy fully explored the tack room and barn. She found eggshells in the arena that must have fallen from a nest in the rafters and chased a few flies. She even climbed up onto a hay bale and checked out the food for the horses, mini-horse, burro, and pig.

She is now sleeping soundly on the bed while I do homework and type up this blog. This week has asked a lot of both of us, from stretching our creativity and flexibility to increasing our knowledge base and expanding our view of the world.

This is not the same Pippy I saw when we arrived a few short days ago. This is a much happier and confident girl with growing knowledge of basic manners, a sparkle in her eye, and a prance in her step as she continues to expand her horizons.

This is the post for 8/25/10. Due to our adventures and my homework, it was close to 1:00 am before I was able to put this up. Pippy had several new adventures and did a remarkable job today. We were able to sleep for seven hours straight through last night and went for our morning walk around the hotel. The now normal bug hunting ensued. 

Once at Peaceable Paws, Pippy spent the morning in the back of the classroom on a long line again. She entertained herself by chasing a fly and playing with her toys! She seemed content and happy all morning and allowed me to focus on education. This was the best she had ever behaved in the classroom environment.

We went on a hike and went further out into the “wilds” than I had taken her before. What this really means is that we went down through a rocky area between pastures behind the barn. She had a blast chasing bugs and exploring new smells. We then got ourselves into a place where she started barking at a horse in the distance. In an effort to keep her under threshold, I tried various paths back. By the time I noticed what we were actually doing, I realized we were smack dab in the middle of a huge area of poison ivy. I am very allergic to the stuff and definitely should have been paying more attention.  Now the leash, long-line, Pippy, and her toys had poison ivy on them. Yikes!

I was trying to locate a place for Pippy to stay when she could not be the center of my attention. It was going to be awfully difficult for me to manage and handle her all day now that she was a walking ball of poison ivy and it was too hot and sunny to crate her in the car - even with it opened up all the way. Pat asked what I thought about seeing how she would do with the other dogs out in the kennels, which are located just outside the classroom. These are individual kennels with one dog per kennel. Since there were only three dogs and six kennels, this seemed like a wonderful time to try it. Pat’s unbelievably helpful assistant Shirley set up some screens in the outdoor kennels just for Pippy. She did very well. I could easily hear her if she barked and she settled in and remained quiet as long as I was out of sight. I also think it gave her a chance to get used to being near one of the larger dogs that barks at her. When I took her out of her kennel and walked her past that dog, she did not return any of the barking.

Our training sessions went well today and we kept her fairly happy while decreasing the distance between the two dogs yet again. We had some distractions in the morning that caused her some concerns, but she bounced right back in the afternoon. The distractions included Sturgis the pig “talking” to us, some twigs and such falling onto the tin roof of the arena, and two other dogs barking and whining outside. In the afternoon session, she completely ignored most of those same sounds and rarely blinked at them! Of course we had a big, happy Pippy party at the end of our session.

She did well the rest of the afternoon. Then it was time for a whole new adventure – Pippy’s bath.

She was not at all happy with me when we arrived back at the hotel. I carried her, crate and all, into the hotel room and straight to the bathroom. I really couldn’t afford a major case of poison ivy and she hangs out on the bed! I joined her in the shower as I had obviously just handled her again. All of the contaminated items also went into the tub. What a good girl she was. I washed her, harness and all and actually she remained fairly calm and under control the entire time. I dried her off a bit and let her go while I cleaned myself up and then washed some towels, pants, leash, socks, toys, and the long-line. We could have picked a better day for our poison ivy escapade. I had a lot of writing to do last night, which included a take home quiz (I wrote ~four typed pages of narrative for this), a management write-up, and the writing for our daily journal. We went to bed at 1:00 am this morning. We are back up and at ‘em and have already been out for our morning walk. 

I am very much looking forward to another good day with Pippy! Sorry, no new pictures as we have to get our act in gear to get out to Peacable Paws in time to start class. I will try to get some of her out on the campus today instead of just in the hotel room, but no promises.

I am very happy to report that we had another good night last night with only one wake-up call to go potty (and pounce on a few more moths). Today, we started to get into a fairly consistent routine. While there is a slight variation in the daily schedule, each day begins at the hotel with taking Pippy out for a walk and practicing manners in the hotel room. Each Peaceable Paws day begins at 9:00 am with a mix of lessons for the humans mixed in with two or three behavior modification sessions with the dogs and a break for lunch. The day ends between 5:30 and 6:00 pm with us heading back to the hotel or observing a class or two at Peaceable Paws.

Today went better than I had dared hoped! It helped that I went into today’s session with a plan on managing Pippy’s behavior during the people training sessions and a written protocol for the behavior modification portions. Those plans made a world of difference for both of us. I need to say a huge thank you to Pat Miller for all of her support and flexibility and to the rest of the class for helping us deal with an unexpected issue!

We went for our morning walk where Pippy did very well working on leash manners. We then went to our class. I left her tethered in the car while I set up a designated space for our use during the human lessons. I set up visual barriers behind the classroom entrance so that Pippy could not see the other dogs enter and exit the building. I also set up a long-line hooked to the wall that gave Pippy some freedom and allowed her to have an all but bark free morning. She did get a little jumpy a few times when another dog would bark or somebody would enter the room suddenly, but she remained relaxed enough to explore the area, eat tiny bits of food and play with her squeaky toys a few times. During this time, we also played some crate games.

Then it was time for implementing more of our behavior modification protocol. We did have to punt on our set-up, but Pippy was a trooper today. Not only did we change the other dog, but the other dog’s handler and the location where we worked. We started out at the distance where we left off the day before with no noticeable stress! We achieved a positive conditioned emotional response (CER) in only a few looks at the other dog. We were able to decrease the distance between the two dogs significantly in only twenty minutes. It was a lovely, cool day so I then opened up the car and left Pippy crated there for the rest of the morning. She did beautifully as long as we kept at least a part of her crate covered.

We made an excursion around the barn during lunch, practiced some sits, and chased a few bugs. She remained under threshold the entire time and did not even return the barking of another, much larger dog. We also practiced trading high value items for treats when she managed to find some pieces of horse hoof behind the barn.

Our second twenty minute session had us moving locations again while keeping the same dog and handler. Even though there were dogs barking and other animal noises in the background, Pippy did a fabulous job. Again, we started at the distance we left off during the last session. She had one startle event when somebody entered the barn during our session and she regained her composure in only a few minutes. We were again able to decrease the distance between the two dogs during our session. The final distance change of the day made a noticeable alteration in Pippy’s behavior and she became more worried about the other dog. That is also when the startle event occurred. We were able to end on a high note when she was able to regain her CER at this new distance.

Pippy was a terrific teacher today. The lessons include that not all terriers chew shoes and get into things they should not, that one should never underestimate the resiliency of a terrier, that not all reactivity is created equal, and that very rude little girls can learn manners in a big hurry when somebody spends the time to teach desired behavior. Here are a few pictures from this evening.

First – a note about last night. Pippy is a real cuddle bug. I decided to leave her loose as she was sticking close to me. She was so quiet when she was ill, I did not want to take a chance of her becoming sick in her crate and being stuck in there miserable even part of the night. She snuggled right in on the bed and went to sleep (Okay, I did have to hide the squeaky toy she was gleefully eviscerating). At least she wasn’t eating any of the parts or stuffing, just happily pulling it apart like all good terriers do. About 1:30 am she became restless and we went outside for a quick potty break. She snuggled right back in and slept soundly until 7:00 am. She then played a bit while I got dressed and we made an uneventful trip out for her to go potty. 

Now, on to today. There is a reason today’s blog includes the word pioneer. As the accounts from our human pioneers make clear, a pioneering life of any kind can be horribly difficult. This trip is turning out to be truly pioneering for Pippy. I started seeing signs of problems on the trip out, but chalked those up to the stress of long-distance travel with a veritable stranger.

We really started our day around 8:30 am. There was another dog on a leash in the parking lot at the hotel and Pippy reacted in a way I had not seen previously. She began barking and lunging at the other dog long before the two of them even came close to each other. She and I did an evasive maneuver (having a party as we ran away) and I placed her in the car where she quickly quieted down. During the drive to Peaceable Paws, I kept trying to convince myself that I did not inadvertently bring a reactive dog to my internship (they try to avoid this situation in order to limit stressing the other five dogs and interns). This one event turned into several more as the day progressed and I quickly altered my plans and focused my efforts on working with a restraint frustration problem. All during the people portion of class, I used classical counter conditioning with Pippy in an effort to diffuse the behavior with some success. We use treats for the classical counter conditioning as it is the easiest of the primary reinforcers to manipulate. Of course, she is a little dog and fills up FAST! During our lunch/hike break, she did take a nap and we used the opportunity to move her to the tack room in preparation for serious work with modifying all of our dogs’ behavior while working in teams of two. Since Pippy was full up, my partner and I decided to work with her last.

During Pippy’s session, we did make some noticeable progress with her and were able to slowly bring her towards another dog while keeping her under threshold. She only let out a few short barks and was easily redirected. At this point, a new person made a sudden movement, and the behavior started anew – this time directed towards the human. She also reacted with a similar response to the sounds of horses neighing and a pig oinking. While we are still evaluating what we are seeing and making changes to the behavior modification protocol I had already started, it appears that Miss Pippy may have more issues than we suspected.

What would have been a dream world to so many dogs (and people, for that matter) has the potential to be a scary place for Pippy. Peaceable Paws is located on an 80-acre campus with woods, horses, wildlife, and a lot of things that Pippy would never have experienced on the urban streets of Indianapolis. All of these are now novel to her and every one of them a potential source of anxiety.

Now, before anyone thinks that Pippy is a “bad” dog, I want to remind everyone of a few things. We have no idea what she experienced as a stray on the streets of Indianapolis or how she was raised. She does appear to very much like other dogs, but have inappropriate manners. In addition, her successes in only two days have been huge. Pippy has learned her name, learned to sit to ask for food, has stopped actively begging for food while I eat, is one of the best cuddle bugs I have ever encountered, has quit mouthing my hands in play, has not had an accident, has not damaged anything other than her own toys, and has made measurable improvements in only few short minutes in response to the behavior modification protocol we started today.

While disappointed to discover the new behavior problem, I am exceedingly happy that the behaviors came to light at this time and place where there are experts available to help us help Pippy. Pippy is a lovely girl who only needs some time and dedication to help her succeed. I took these pictures of the now exhausted little girl earlier today and only a few minutes ago.

I picked Pippy up at the Humane Society of Indianapolis (HSI) this morning at 9:00 am to begin our adventures. At this point, Pippy and I had an entire history of a whole one and one half hours to get to know each other. This included our first meeting and a short photo session the following day. Of course, both these meetings included some quality training time, but mostly consisted of me watching Pippy be Pippy to see if she was a good fit for this trip or trying to get cute pictures. Eight and a half hours in the car with somebody you know well can be a challenge for people with close relationships. Put two strangers in the car and all bets are off. That the two of us had met only twice before created the potential for a horrible trip. Not only are we relative strangers, we did not even speak the same language - yet! (As far as we can tell, Pippy has never been taught anything except that she should pay attention when she hears a click and when she hears kissy noises. Oh, and she does seem to know that the horrible Ach Ach noise we humans make when annoyed means she should stop doing something.)

I wanted the trip to be pleasant for both of us and had come prepared with several small squeaky toys, treats, toilet paper tubes to fold over with treats inside, water from home, and two toys that could be stuffed with food and/or chewed on. Because Pippy and I were all but strangers, I was determined to make the trip and every interaction as positive a learning experience as possible.

I only have a short time with Pippy and my plan was to get training started the moment I picked her up. She had already demonstrated that she is one smart pooch and I knew she was going to be stuck in a kennel most of the day. I also knew that I was going to be tired and probably grouchy when we arrived at our destination. I was sure that dealing with a wild young terrier was not going to be high on my list of things to do after a long drive. Pippy might as well start thinking (and wearing herself out) early. I had already identified a list of several things I wanted Pippy to learn fairly quickly including her name, down, sit, relax, wait, the “look at that” game, and a start on a really good recall. I also wanted to at least start working on a go to place cue.

Of course, we all know what they say about the “best laid plans”. Pippy behaved beautifully in the crate in the car. After only a few minutes of whining, she settled right in and was quiet and alert when I regularly checked on her in the rear view mirror. She was lying on the towel just watching the world go by and seemed to doze off about an hour or so into the drive. Somewhere before we made our first stop in Ohio, she became sick. I did not hear a peep out of her. I had made a point to turn the radio down low so I could listen for signs of stress or in case she would notify me that she had to go potty. Either due to anxiety or carsickness (I am leaning towards anxiety at this point), Pippy threw up quite a lot of water. So I got her out, took her for a walk, cleaned up, put the now wet towel in the sun in the tail end of the car, put a clean towel in the crate, and proceeded on our trip.  

Now that she had been ill, I really wanted to avoid giving her much in the way of treats or other goodies until we arrived at the hotel and could get settled in. This is where most of my plans went out the window.

Even with an unhappy puppy tummy, the trip was much better than I ever expected. Not only did Pippy do exceedingly well in the crate, the weather was cool enough that we were able to get out and explore at each stop along the way. I learned that Pippy adores chasing locusts and crickets in the grass and we even went for a short jog at one stop where there was a mown grassy field. I also learned that Pippy LOVES to be held and carried.

We settled in at our hotel after I did a thorough check of the floors and under the flat surfaces in the room to make sure there were no dropped pills, chewing gum, or other items that Pippy might get into. In hopes of keeping her tummy happy, I placed on a few pieces of kibble at a time in a bowl for her to eat. She did very well and waited nicely while I put the food down each time. Once she seemed relatively calm, we went for a walk during which we met a lovely lady from Maine who was driving home from the races at Bristol. We then played a game with a squeaky toy where Pippy had to sit to get me to squeak and throw the toy. She then curled up quietly in my lap while i caught up on some computer work.

I brought my own food for the trip, so we worked on table manners while I ate. Pippy was surprisingly well behaved. Based on behavior I observed before the trip, I had made the assumption that she would need to be tethered while I ate and rewarded with little bits of food for calm behavior. She did try to beg once, but I only gave her tiny pieces of my tortilla when she would sit or lay down. I am now finishing my dinner while I type and she is sound asleep on the foot of the bed.

Goals achieved today: Name learned, practiced wait for food, and sits/downs during dinner. All in all, we did have a good day with bug chasing, some cuddle time, and a lot of the two of us learning about each other. I am going to go wake her up for another trip outside to potty and then we will have to work out our sleeping arrangements. Nighty, night everyone. The adventures resume less than twelve hours from now.

I have the delightful educational opportunity to attend a weeklong behavior modification internship with Pat Miller at her Peaceable Paws facility beginning on August 23rd. This will be my second internship. One of my goals while attending is to help a borderline shelter or rescue dog find a home. As with my last internship, I had opted to work with one of the shelter dogs from the Washington County Humane Society in Maryland (WCHS). Less than two weeks before class, I was made aware that WCHS had a lull in the relinquishment of dogs and that there may not be enough appropriate dogs to choose from. I truly wish every shelter in the country had such a problem. Of course, I already had in mind what type of dog I wanted to work with. This wasn’t looking good.  

Then I was informed that I could bring a dog that did not belong to me (my misunderstanding). I only needed permission from the owner (or organization) to bring one of their dogs. Thus began the search for the perfect training assistant.

I sent out a “Training Assistant Needed” ad to several well-connected friends in the shelter/rescue community on FaceBook (along with making a few phone calls). The “ad” indicated that ideal candidates for this position would have the following credentials: be four legged, furry, and of the canine persuasion, over 6 months old, friendly with other dogs and people, healthy, fully vaccinated, and weigh less than 20 pounds. Oh yes, they also had to come with some sort of behavior problem that needed addressed.

I might as well make a confession right now. I have never particularly liked small breed dogs.  Intellectually, I KNOW they can be wonderful family members or people would not adopt them, but I have met only a handful of small breed dogs that I truly liked. I had three reasons for choosing a small dog for this trip.

1)   Ease of handling – I have asthma and the heat wave has been very hard on me this summer. A small dog would be easier for me to exercise and adequately care for during our weeklong adventure together.

2)   Overcoming my own biases – Pat Miller, along with many of her assistants, loves small dogs. This would be the perfect place and time to learn about the delights and pitfalls of small breed ownership.

3)   Avoiding “Little Dog Syndrome” – I know that I am going to be the proud owner of a small (or smaller) dog some day and want to do my best to avoid raising a dog with all of those characteristics that tend to make me avoid small dogs. These characteristics include constant yapping, snapping at people, ankle biting, jumping all over people and objects, etc.

I knew there were several hurdles to cross if I wanted to borrow a rescue or shelter dog. Timing – I had given everyone less than two weeks notice to see if this was even possible, identify a dog, and make sure it was a good match. Lack of a foster history – I have training credentials, but have never registered with any agency or organization as a foster parent. Rules – I had no idea what rules I might be asking an organization to bend by taking one of their dogs out of state for a full week.

Much to my surprise, I need not have worried. The Humane Society of Indianapolis (HSI) and the Alliance for Responsible Pet Ownership (ARPO) viewed this as an opportunity to gain assistance with a dog that might otherwise have difficulty finding a home and quickly made arrangements that would allow me to borrow a dog in their care.

In a city of this size with record numbers of dogs being relinquished into shelters and rescues, one would think there would be plenty of dogs to choose from. Between the mandated class requirements and my own preferences, the field was quickly narrowed down to a handful of dogs. After meeting the candidate who appeared to be the most qualified on paper, the decision was made.

The chosen training assistant is……(insert drum roll here)……

Pippy Longstocking
from the Humane Society of Indianapolis

Pippy is a lovely rat terrier weighing in at 14.5 pounds who was taken of the street as a stray by a local animal care and control officer. She is believed to be about 8 months old. She was transferred into the care of HSI just about three weeks ago. She is almost overly gregarious with people and dogs and has a tendency to be a bit, okay, a lot on the rude side. She has obviously never been taught how to behave in polite company and might be on her way to developing a small resource guarding behavior with food. Both of these problems can be addressed during our internship together.

Our trek begins with an eight and a half hour car ride to Maryland on August 22, 2010. I will be updating the blog on a daily basis so others can follow our progress. So…let the quest for knowledge and new beginnings commence....

Man that stuffed chicken was good!

I'm not really sure why, but I get lots of treats
when I lay here just like this.

Sittin' pretty!

How 'bout this, does this get me treats?

One of the difficulties encountered when working with an abused dog is that they are often on high alert the majority of the time. In an effort to work some calm into Charlie's life, we have been working on shaping a "relax" behavior. There is some significant evidence that the emotional state associated with a learned behavior carries over into new environments. Right now, we practice the relax behavior only in calm, often boring environments. The goal is to put the behavior on cue then very slowly increase the level of distractions. This is what we should do with every behavior. In this case, in order to maintain a true level of relaxation, care needs to be taken so that the behavior does not become associated with anything that makes Charlie anxious. Today, we added a human sitting quietly, another trained dog in a down stay, and a trained cat in a sit stay to the practice session. Once we are able to place the behavior on cue with distractions inside the house, we’ll move to the back porch, then the back yard, then the driveway, etc. Once we move outside, careful attention will be paid to any potential environmental triggers. Below, find the video of Charlie working on his relax behavior with the added distractions.

In this day and age of electronic communication, it is evident that we miss so much without being able to hear tone of voice and observe body language. I recently had the experience of needing to truly understand an individual’s intention who had posted to an on-line forum. The ramifications of the post had significant impact as to how a large, international group of people viewed both a referenced individual and the poster (both highly respected, preeminent educators).

I found that writing a private letter requesting clarification of intention to a person I know fairly well exceedingly difficult. Theory of Mind came into play – I think this is what I could think in this context so they might be feeling the same way. While it may seem silly, it is an honest problem. Several questions came to mind as I started my letter. Was the topic under discussion offensive in some way? Did the poster have a negative view of the referenced person? Was the tone or content of the original post offensive in some way? What tone should be used in writing the letter? How does one go about asking difficult questions regarding intention without being offensive or potentially making matters worse? All of these unanswered questions made the letter exceedingly difficult to write.

It would have been very easy to pop off an email with the question “do you realize what you just said?” This is an accusatory and aggressive statement that does not allow for much discussion. In the end, I did my best to channel my inner Henry Kissinger, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and one of the most highly respected diplomats the US has ever known (I do realize that this does date me). Dr. Kissinger’s ability to use diplomacy and tact to achieve phenomenal communications between disinterested parties has been renowned and respected for years. While I am certain I did not even come close to doing him justice (probably more of an insult), the letter was effective in reaching the person who made the post. I use the classic format of: starting with positives, using only phrases referencing my own perception and understanding in regards to any negatives, asking open ended questions to encouraging answers other than yes and no, and closing with more positives. By doing so, I able to avoid putting the person in a defensive position or create an atmosphere of conflict and allowed the person an easy way to explain what had occurred if I had misinterpreted their intention.

One may ask what this has to do with effective dog training. Well, the answer appears pretty straight forward to me. As dog trainers, should we not go into each and every consultation (group or private) by trying to understand how our clients must be feeling and how we can empathize with them on a personal level?

While they are difficult questions, I believe that we all need to ask the following of ourselves. Do we behave in a judgmental manner (i.e. do we state that our clients are the reason their dog behaves the way they do)? Do we tell them that they need to convince their dog that they are more “important” than distractions around them instead of discussing motivation? Do we explain, but not truly teach our audience because we did not really listen and identify the “real” problem? Do we make sure we remember that describing pet behavior does not come easily to most pet owners? Do we misinterpret the perceived problem because the problem we see is not the problem they see? So often, for many of us, the answers to the above questions are yes.

Achieving negative answers to the above questions often require great tact, diplomacy, and restraint on the part of the trainer (i.e. The Kissinger Effect). As trainers, I believe we need to remember that we ARE viewed as the experts being hired to help someone who has overcome their fears and, often, embarrassment to pick up the phone and request help. So many times, our clients are already feeling frustrated and helpless in regards to their animal’s behavior – otherwise they would not seek us out. They do not need to feel more guilt or frustration because of our words or actions. We should be acting as their advocate and trusted advisor through a difficult period. I have come to the conclusion that discussing how somebody managed to get into the difficulty they are experiencing is often counterproductive to actually solving the problem. We need to recognize that “why” things have gotten where they are may truly not matter.

Should we not instead focus on shaping the desired behaviors in our clients and their animals and provide them with the tools they need to succeed? Can the discussion ultimately include the whys and hows of the source of the problem(s) so that they are not repeated? Of course it can, but only after the unwanted behaviors are on the mend and a comfortable relationship based on trust and understanding has been established.

It was pointed out to me recently that so many positive reinforcement-based trainers have a significant scientific background when it comes to understanding why we do what we do. Those with a scientific bent often focus on the science of the problem and not the human emotional needs that come into play and affect behavior. A large portion of of tact and diplomacy is empathy – trying to relate on a personal level and trying to understand what the other person is feeling. Without that portion of the equation, relationships between teacher and student often become strained and may ultimately fail. I believe that meeting the needs of our clients can only come when we use empathy, tact, diplomacy, and restraint in our teaching – The Kissinger Effect.