https://cooperativecarecertificate.com/rulebook/overview-level-1/
https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/dog-care/vet-clinics/desensitisation – Dogs Trust advice on Desensitisation and Countercounditioning at the vet clinic
https://www.academyfordogtrainers.com/husbandry-project/ The Husbandry Project – a resource for cooperative husbandry
The Circumplex model of affect conceptulalises emotions as varying along two dimensions, valence and arousal (Russell, 1980)
Valence is the level of pleasantness of an event and varies from negative to positive, while arousal (or intensity) is the level of autonomic activation that an event creates, and ranges from low to high.
From: https://psu.pb.unizin.org/psych425/chapter/circumplex-models/
In this example, the ‘deactivation’ end of the range is low arousal (calm), the ‘activation’ is high (excitement)
High arousal, Positive valence: Alert
Low arousal, Positive valence: Calm, content
Low arousal, Negative valence: Tired out, sad
High arousal, Negative valence: Stressed out
Irith Bloom Empowered Dogs Conference 2021 definition of arousal: “Increased activity in certain parts of the brain, paired with an increase in sympathetic nervous system activity which together tend to depress the brain’s executive functions and result in more instinctive (over) reactive/habitual behaviour.”
Or simply: increased sympathetic nervous system activity
In high arousal there will be a default to more habitual behaviour and away from goal-oriented behaviours.
So if your dog is in a state of high arousal, don’t ask for a difficult task, switch to something simple, that can be carried out automatically. Don’t expect your dog to be able to think!
References:
Instead of thinking ‘I want her to stop doing X’ think, ‘What do I want her to do instead?’ when she would normally do X.
So instead of jumping up – sit down
Instead of mouthing or barking – bring a toy to you
Instead of playing ‘catch me if you can’ when you call her for lead to go on – to come back to you and happily let you hold her collar to put the lead on.
There is no point training your dog when they are not in the right mood. That means not trying to teach your dog when they are upset, frightened, over-excited, furiously barking at another dog, or just not paying attention to you. You need your dogs focus to be on you when you train, and they need to be at the right level of interested attentiveness and willing to co-operate for the rewards you have, to learn anything. Above all, they need to feel safe. Your dog may need different sorts of rewards depending on how big the other distractions are, to be able to focus on you. And keeping the training short and ending on a high will set the scene for future training sessions to be looked forward to eagerly.
Be clear on what you are teaching – what you are really teaching – and what your dog is learning. Not necessarily what you think you are teaching. That means being accurate with your timing, consistent with your rewards, and making sure the dog is picking up exactly what you want her to.
I love pens as a management tool. They can be a safe haven, a way of managing dogs around other pets and people to prevent unwanted behaviour (jumping up at dinner, chasing the cat, running and barking at the door), and a way of limiting options for an over-excited or agitated dog to help steer them onto appropriate and self-calming behaviours.
But they are not foolproof!
If you have a new puppy:
Blue Cross: https://www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-advice/puppies-in-lockdown
Hannah Grice’s Puppy Socialisation Bingo: https://www.doglistener.tv/2020/04/puppy-socialisation-bingo-during-covid-19/
Ali Scott Clinical Animal Behaviourist: How to reduce the development of behavioural problems in dogs during Coronavirus https://www.apbc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/How-to-reduce-the-development-of-behavioural-problems-in-our-dogs-during-the-Coronavirus-Pandemic..pdf
If you have a new rescue dog:
RSPCA Getting to know your new rescue dog: https://www.rspca.org.uk/findapet/rehomeapet/process/rehomeadog (Under Step 5 you will find a downloadable booklet)
Blue Cross Games to play indoors: https://www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-advice/coronavirus-indoor-dog-games
If your dog training has been interrupted by lockdown, some ideas for you:
https://learn.domorewithyourdog.com/courses/TrickDogTitle – Dog Tricks from Do More with Your Dog
Over recent years there has been an increasing interest in the role that habits form in our behaviour and how we can change our bad habits to good.
Charles Duhigg’s book ‘The Power of Habit’ is one example but many more have been published, alongside books that tell us how to improve our willpower and self-control (e.g. Tierney and Baumeister ‘Willpower’)
Much of our day to day behavour is habitual. We simply wouldn’t have time to get through the day if we made decisions about everything, decision-making is tiring! So we rely on habit to make life easier for ourselves.
Habits are the result of many small decisions made over time. They are built, not created overnight. So the power to break them also lies in the ability to make different small, daily decisions – they are rarely the result of overnight transformation.
While unwanted behaviour in our dogs may often start because of their emotional response to something, quite often it may get practised over and over again so that in the end it becomes habitual.
That is not to say that the original emotion isn’t relevant anymore, but it becomes less so, as the habit ‘eases’ the dog into behaving that way without thinking ‘I’m doing this because I’m scared/frustrated/happy’ etc. They just do it because that is what they always do in that situation.
James Clear, in ‘Transform your habits’ says “The most common mistake that people make is setting their sights on an event, a transformation, an overnight success they want to achieve – rather than focusing on their habits and routines.”
Just so with our dogs – we need to focus on changing those daily habits and routines in order to change their behaviour.
Habits follows a pattern, well-known to dog trainers; that of:
Cue – Routine – Reward
When a response to a particular cue becomes routine – a habit has been formed.
Habits make life easier for you and your dog – as long as they are the right habits!
Adolescence is HARD!! As our puppies mature and start to look more like adults, we expect adult behaviour from them. But anyone who has been a teenager, or who has lived with one, knows that its a difficult time, you’re still developing physically and psychologically and these expectations can be unrealistic for humans and dogs.
Trainers and owners focus on those crucial weeks and months of puppyhood, instilling basic training, good manners and establishing a lifelong relationship with our pups. Less research has been done in adolescent dogs, but we know that dogs are most likely to be relinquished at this stage, often due to behavioural problems.
It’s often the time when owners report to us that their dog has started barking, attention seeking, running off and not listening to cues, over-reacting to other dogs and people and generally being very frustrating and annoying to live with!
These problems do need addressing – we can’t just assume they will ‘grow out of it’. This is the time when they need calm and patient guidance more than ever. Crucially, they are not trying to be dominant. They are just being teenagers!
So how can we help them? (and ourselves)
Some rules for training from ‘The Clicked Retrieve’ by Lana Mitchell
What motivates our dogs? Four core motives have been identified that guide decision making in social dilemmas (Fiske, 2009). These have been applied in environmental conservation but can equally apply to understanding motivations in dogs.
INFORMATION (Understanding)
Dogs (as do humans) have ‘a fundamental need to understand their environment to predict what will happen in case of uncertainties’ (Van Vugt, 2009). Understanding their environment and the actions of humans around them is important for dogs. Predictability and the availability of coping strategies when things are unpredictable, is important to reduce anxiety about what will happen next.
IDENTITY (Belonging)
Dogs are a social species and the native habitat of the domestic dog is alongside and with humans. Dogs form strong bonds and even attachment relationships with humans and with oher dogs and species with whom they live. In that sense, dogs identify with their family group, it gives them a sense of belonging, which affects their behaviour towards those within, and outside, the group.
INSTITUTION (Trusting)
Dogs need human guides and leaders that they can trust to look after their best interests. We owe it to them to be fair, respectful and clear. Any rules imposed must reflect the dog’s interest as well as our own and others. Trust must be given freely, it cannot be demanded.
INCENTIVES (Self-enhancing)
We all want to seek rewards and avoid punishment. Incentives can work to motivate dogs with the following considerations.
Background:Van Vugt (2009) applied the “4 I’s” framework in identifying the four key components of successful strategies for environmental resource management. The four components: Information, Identity, Institution and Incentives correspond to four core motives for decision making in social dilemmas. They can also be applied as a framework to understand what motivates our dogs.
References:
Fiske, S. T. (2009). Social beings: Core motives in social psychology. John Wiley & Sons.
Van Vugt, M. (2009). Averting the tragedy of the commons: Using social psychological science to protect the environment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(3), 169-173.
Cambridge Dogs 