Bad Dogma - How Harsh Training Methods Can Cause Aggression

The dictionary defines the word dogma as: The established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization, thought to be authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted or diverged from.

There is an old saying among dog trainers that goes: "The only thing two dog trainers can agree on is what the third one is doing wrong."

There are basically two schools of dog trainers. On one side you have the old school dog trainers that believe training is done by using a choke chain or prong collar to train, that you should never use food to train the dog.

On the other hand you have the food reward trainers that believe you should never use any kind of force or harsh methods to train.

Both sides will strongly argue for their way of training. I have been on both sides of the issue. I got my start training dogs with an old time trainer that had been training dogs since the 1950's. If you used a treat in front of this guy, you had to be prepared for a verbal eruption that would make a sailor blush.

I have also been with trainers that think anything short of filet mignon not being used for treats is cruel. All kidding aside it can get confusing for someone trying to train their dog. Who do you listen to? Should you just use treats to train? Do you ever give your dog a correction?

The truth of the matter is that positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement can be extremely effective. There is no denying that there are thousands of dogs that are safely confined to their yards with the help of underground electronic fences.

There is also no denying that dogs learn much better when you use a reward based system of training. The important point is this: You want to make sure that you spend more time rewarding your dog's behavior than punishing or getting physical with your dog.

The fact is that all good relationships are based on positive interaction. I once watched a group obedience class where all the dogs were on choke chains. Food was not allowed. In the course of one hour, I watched one guy give his dog over 150 corrections with the leash. They weren't all hard corrections but he did yank on the leash that many times.

Over time, that dog will become tolerant to the choke chain and the owner will have to yank harder and harder and will probably damage his dog's neck and trachea which will lead to one very grouchy dog. There's no denying the fact that a dog being trained that way can easily develop an aggression problem, and here's the rub. The dog is always blamed, never the training method Doesn't it make sense to use a reward based training system?

Unfortunately this way of training has become the established belief or doctrine held by many dog trainers, and not to be disputed, doubted or diverged from.

Too bad for the dogs.

Best,

Eric

P.S. Have you checked out the new Dog Training Inner Circle yet? Drop what you're doing and go there now. You'll be glad you did: Dog Training Inner Circle

Avoid Dog Training Disasters

I could hear my Mom's voice: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Easy for her, she was on her way to becoming a Catholic nun before she met my Pop on a beach in Connecticut. She is hard wired to always be nice.

Anyhow...

I was sitting at a round table discussion with some other pet professionals discussing dog behavior and care. There was a vet, a couple of groomers, a shelter manager, another dog trainer, and me.

The round table was an informational event open to the public. Dog owners were encouraged to attend and ask questions. There were a lot of training and behavior questions that the vet and the other trainer answered.

I was keeping my mouth shut and I could feel my face becoming red and knew that my blood pressure was rising. As I was sitting there, I was listening to advice that I completely, 100% disagreed with. The other round table attendees all agreed with each other and I was keeping my mouth shut.

I guess everyone noticed because I was asked if I had anything to share.

I sat there and thought about my choices. I could:

1. Get up and leave.
2. Agree with the bad advice and keep things friendly.
3. Voice my thoughts.

I work hard at not being confrontational, but this was too much. With my Mom's voice echoing in my head I opted for choice number three and spoke up:

"I disagree with a most of what's been said here today."

"Would you like to tell us what you disagree with."

"Sure," I said and then went on to contradict just about everyone at the table.

The other "experts" were advising that training a dog should not be done until the dog is six months old. The other dog trainer and the vet completely agreed on this point. They were also telling the attendees that they should use a choke chain for training and that treats should avoided at all costs.

They also said that a puppy should be kept in the house and have limited exposure to the outside world until after the vaccinations are complete.

I almost literally had to put my hand over my mouth when I heard that one. I went on to explain that puppies should start training as young as eight weeks old. That a puppy can start to learn basic commands such as sit, down, stay, come, and walking on leash.

I also added that keeping a puppy in the house and not socializing him can turn into a nightmare situation for the puppy's owners. A puppy has a socialization period that has to be taken advantage of. The more the puppy is exposed to, up to between eight weeks and four months, the more stable she will be as an adult dog.

The veterinarian was none to pleased with my comments and made it clear.

"You are putting the puppy at risk by exposing him without proper inoculations."

I knew that was coming and was ready with my reply:

"Do you know what the number one reason for dogs dying in the United States is
?" Before he could answer I followed up with, "Do you know the number reason for euthanasia?"

I was hot now and still did not let him answer.

"Behavior problems."

More dogs are put to sleep for behavior problems than for any other reason. We don't properly socialize our puppies, we wait until the pup is six months old before we start training, then to top it off, we use negative, outdated, harsh and sometimes cruel training methods.

When the dog becomes aggressive, fearful, or unruly to the point where we can't control the dog, the dog ends up in a shelter, abandoned, or put to sleep.

I added that the chances of a puppy dying from rabies, parvo, distemper etc. couldn't compare to the numbers of dogs that were being put to sleep for behavior problems.

The round table ended shortly after and I was never invited back. When I think back on the whole situation I guess I may have been a little out of line.

BUT...

I don't apologize for what I said or did. I stand by what I said then and still do today. I not going to sit there and listen to advice that can potentially be harmful to a dog.

Anyway, as I was thinking about all of this I wrote down what I think are the four biggest dog training disasters:

1. Waiting
2. Harsh methods
3. Giving up
4. Follow through

With the advice given at the round table a lot of dog owners wait to start training. By that time their dog has developed some behavior problems. The dog training "experts" recommend harsh methods which often backfire. Because using harsh methods is not fun most people don't follow through with the training. In the end they give up. They give up on the training and sometimes on the dog.

Conclusion: Start training early, use lots of positive reinforcement, don't give up and keep on learning about dog training so you can follow through and have a dog that is well behaved and fun to be around.

Your friend,

Eric

Learn more about effective, positive training methods at www.AmazingDogTrainingMan.com

Russian Special Forces And Dog Training

I wondered if this guy had ever killed someone?

I mean I was only about four feet away from him and couldn't help but think that as I sat there. After all, he did call himself "The Evil Russian."

Pavel Tsatsouline was an instructor for the Russian Special Forces Spetsnaz, that fought in Afghanistan and I was in the front row listening to him discuss strenght and flexibility training.

I heard that he was going to be speaking in Providence, RI. I had been told that he was a great speaker and did not want to miss the chance to see him. As a guy that makes a big part of his living by standing in front of people and speaking, I always jump at any chance to see a pro.

Anyway, he turned out to be everything that I had heard. Mr. Tsatsouline is an excellent speaker and has a great sense of humor. If you ever get the chance to attend one of his seminars, I highly recommend going to see him.

Anyway, he sprinkled his seminar with a lot of great stories and Russian sayings. Two of his sayings really hit home with me and I have never forgotten them. His first statement was:

"If your only tool is a hammer treat everything like a nail."

I loved that statement because I am a complete moron when it comes to using tools. My beautiful girlfriend Rachael knows that asking me to fix something is not a good idea. In fact when we need something fixed around the house she usually gets the job done.

But...

If you need something demolished I am great with a hammer. It is the one tool that that I can use.

I also loved that comment because when it comes to dog training, a really good dog trainer has a whole bunch of tools in his or her tool box.

I don't talk about this too much but there are trainers out there that only have a hammer in their toolbox. They treat every problem, every training situation, like it is a nail.

Hack trainers think that every behavior problem needs to be dealt with a correction. Dog trainers that have limited tools put a choke chain on the dog and yank the leash and collar for every problem that they are confronted with.

Dog growls around his bone - apply correction with choke chain.
Dog jumps - apply correction with choke chain.
Dog won't sit - apply correction with choke chain.
Dog won't lie down - apply correction with choke chain.
Dog moves during stay - apply correction with choke chain.

A good trainer understands that there is more to training than yanking on the leash. In my book "The Amazing Dog Training Man," I discuss the M.U.T.T. Method for dealing with behavior problems.

You see, when your dog is displaying a behavior problem, there is an underlying reason for it. That is what the U stands for in the M.U.T.T. Method. Here is the complete acronym:

M - Manage
U - Underlying
T - Train
T - Time

When you are dealing with a behavior problem, you need to Manage the behavior, figure out what the Underlying reason for the behavior is, Train or teach your dog appropriate behaviors, and lastly give your dog some Time to learn the new behavior.

Training a dog by using just force will create problems. Sometimes you can temporarily suppress the behavior, but it will resurface.

A few years ago I was attacked by a dog because of another trainer. I was called in to take a look at this dog in Dartmouth, MA. When I showed up I saw an extremely nervous German Shepherd mix and believe it or not, this dog's name was Scar.

As I was talking to the owner I could see that my presence made this dog very excitable. The owner did not tell me that there was a trainer working with his dog the day before.

I did a quick evaluation and noted that the dog did not give me any warning signals. He did not growl, his hackles were not raised, he did not show me any teeth.

I decided that I would take the leash and go for a little walk, try to bond with him a little.

As soon as I had the leash I noticed a change in Scar. He panicked and before I could hand the leash back to the owner he attacked me. The dog bit me on the arm three times before I could get him into his kennel.

As I was bandaging my arm, the owner of the dog told me that the trainer that was there the day before had been very rough with Scar.

Trainer? Day before? I asked.

"Yeah, we had this other guy come in yesterday to help with some training but we didn't like him. He hung Scar with the choke collar. Every time Scar would growl, he would lift up on the leash and hold Scar there until he almost passed out."

"Every time he growled" I asked.

"Yep."

It all made sense to me now. The reason I was attacked was because Scar had been "corrected" every time he gave a warning signal. I knew the other trainer well. He only knew of one way to train dogs.

You guessed it. He treated every dog like a nail and hammered every one of them. I knew this because a big part of my business at the time was following this guy around. I would get calls from dog owners that had hired him and now had bigger problems than before they had him "train" their dogs.

You see, when a dog growls, you at least know the dog is giving you a warning. Now you can try to figure out why the dog is growling and take steps to fix the aggression problem.

A hack trainer that only has a hammer in his toolbox will try to deal with the aggression by overpowering the behavior. The problem is this: When you use aggression to deal with aggression, you escalate aggression.

In the case with the dog Scar, he had been choked every time he gave a warning signal. He growled and was choked and probably thought the trainer was going to kill him.

When I took the leash the poor dog was only thinking about survival. He did not growl at me because the behavior had been suppressed by the other trainer - but...the behavior was still there.

Even though I got pretty chewed up by Scar, I really felt sorry for him. Most aggression is fear based and Scar probably had had a tough life and became aggressive because of how he was treated.

Then, when a so called "expert" was called in, the training methods used pushed him over the edge.

Training is more than leash corrections and physical force. Training is all about understanding dogs and the reasons why they are displaying the behaviors that that they are.

Compassion, patience and an understanding of behavior is what makes a great dog trainer.

My advice to you is to be very weary of any trainer that only has a hammer in his toolbox. If you observe ANY dog trainer that deals with behavior problems by only using a choke chain and inflicting pain on the dog, you can be rest assured that you are observing someone that really does not know what they are doing and it would be wise of you to find another trainer to work with.

As always I look forward to your comments.

Peace,

Eric

P.S. If you'd like more tools than just a hammer to train your dog and change behavior check out: Good K9 Manners

P.P.S. In tomorrow's post I'll share the other great comment that was made during the seminar.

When Good Pets Go Bad

Last night my beautiful girlfriend and I went to our good friends' house for dinner. Before we sat down for some chow, my friend Bob asked me to go to the Congamong lake with him to check the ice.

Bob loves to ice fish and wanted to see how thick the ice was. We loaded up his pups and off we went. When we got back, his wife Sue had cooked up an awesome dinner and we all had a very enjoyable evening until...

The show "When Good Pets Go Bad" came on.

Shows like "When Good Pets Go Bad" are like a car accident that you pass as you drive down the highway, you try to look away but you need to see what happened.

"When Good Pets Go Bad" comes on you start to watch it and before you know it an hour has gone by, you're sitting there in disbelief, with a bad taste in your mouth because you have just observed some truly horrific stuff.

It does not surprise me when I see the national statistics for dog bites. Shows like When Good Pets Go Bad do not shock me the way they used to. As someone who makes his living working with pets I have seen first hand how dogs are treated and I am NOT talking about the pet owners.

I talking about the trainers. I have seen first hand how some dogs are trained. I have seen dogs choked, hung, beaten, shocked, slammed, and I could share some horror stories with you that you would make you ill.

In a lot of ways, dog trainers cause more problems than help. Look at some of the books on dog training, I won't mention any names here but one of the most popular dog training books was written by a guy that says you should carry a wooden stick in your back pocket. If the dog "acts up" use the stick to whack the dog across the nose.

This guy was the trainer for Walt Disney studios back in the 1960's - scary.

On the show "When Good Pet Go Bad," they show actual footage of elephants being beaten with slicks and whipped with chains, not to mention the awful conditions that they live in.

Why is it so hard to convince some people that dog training does not have to be harsh? What is the big deal about rewarding behavior, especially with a treat?

Behavior is reward driven. Relationships that are strong and lasting are developed though love and patience not anger, pain and dominance.

I know, I'm starting to sound like an animal activist. I'm not. I also believe that punishment, used correctly, can be an effective form of behavior modification - notice I said used correctly.

Punishment is often doled out when we are angry or upset with our dogs. Punishment is often associated with the owner and not the behavior and the timing is almost always wrong.

In my book "The Amazing Dog Training Man," I discuss the chalk board theory which basically goes like this:

On the top left side you write the word negative. On the right side you write the word positive.

Now every time you do something negative to your dog ie., scruff shake, leash correction, yell, smack, etc, you write a - in that column. Every time you do something positive to your dog ie., give your dog a treat, play ball, play tug, etc you put a + in the positive column. It would look something like this:

Negative Positive
- - + +
- - - - + + +
- - + +

As you look at the board you should have way more + signs that - signs on the board. If you have more - signs than + signs you have a problem.

Add up enough - signs and guess what...there is a good chance you will start to see aggressive behavior.

It's not rocket science. Raise a kid by beating him and yeling and screaming, there's a very good chance that he'll grow up to be an aggressive person.

Take a kid and rasie him with love and patience and there's a good chance that he'll grow up to be the same way.

Dogs that have been trained with hitting, "Alpha roll overs," choke chains, and electronic collars run a very good chance that they will become aggressive.

Most of the pets in "When Good Pets Go Bad" have had a lot of negative experiences and look what happens. Every person and every animal has a breaking point. Your tolerance level for certain activities may be higher than mine.

My girlfriend never, ever gets mad at other drivers. She can get cut off, stuck behind slow drivers, traffic, whatever, she never gets upset or angry.

Me on the other hand, I don't have her tolerance for driving. Some days are better than others but I can be frustrated much more easily than she is.

Training has to be done by spending the majority of time rewarding behavior. The only way we are going to see the number of dog bites go down in the United States is by changing the way we train dogs.

We can change the way we train or we can continue to hear about and watch shows where dogs are attacking and in some cases killing people.

Wouldn't it be great if we could turn on the TV and see a show "When Bad Pets Go Good"?

As always I look forward to your comments.

Peace,

Eric

Who’s Fault When A Dog Bites

Maybe you’ve noticed that I do not write or talk that much about aggression. I’m sure some of you out there think that I don’t deal with aggressive dogs. I do, in fact it is a big part of my business. The reason I don’t write about it or talk about it in my video newsletters is because aggressive behavior is serious business.

Aggressive behavior can be dangerous. When your dog pees on the carpet or destroys the TV remote, it can be aggravating, but nobody will be left with a scar. I have dealt with aggressive dogs for well over a decade now and I have seen firsthand the physical and emotional scars inflicted on people. I also know from firsthand experience that the emotional scars left from an aggressive dog last much longer than the physical scar.

So I don’t treat this subject lightly – I’ll also share a little known secret with you. There are many things that can contribute to aggressive behavior – genetics, environment, physical problems etc. But the biggest reason for aggressive behavior (drum roll please) DOG TRAINERS!

I hate to say it but dog trainers and dog training methods are one of the biggest contributors to aggressive behavior in our dogs. Not all trainers, but a large portion of them use and teach methods that promote aggressive behavior in dogs. Let me share a quick story with you to make my point:

A few years back I went to the home of a single father who was trying to train a dog that he had just adopted a few weeks before. They had hired a trainer before me but asked him to leave because of his harsh methods. I was informed that the other trainer had used a choke chain and every time the dog growled the trainer would hang the dog off the ground.

I asked to see the dog. The father went over to the kennels and put the dog on leash. As he approached me I could tell that the dog was stressed. He handed the leash to me and the dog attacked me.

The father and daughter watched in horror as I fought the dog off me. Luckily I was holding onto the leash and was able to quickly bring the dog under control, but not before sustaining a few serious bites to my right arm.

The father was shocked and could not understand why his dog attacked me for NO REASON!

That’s when I informed him that dogs always attack for a reason. It was very clear to me why his dog attacked. Let me explain.

The day before the other trainer used a choke chain, every time the dog growled the trainer would lift the dog off the ground and cut off the dog’s air supply. What the trainer was doing was punishing the dog for growling. When a dog growls he is giving you a warning.

This dog was being punished for growling, what did the punishment accomplish?

HE STOPPED GROWLING!

A growl is a warning, and now this dog would no longer give a warning because he was choked every time he did.

So when the owner handed the leash over to me and there was no growling I thought I would be able to work with the dog – but the dog went straight to defending himself. In the dog’s mind he was probably thinking, “Here’s another guy that is going to choke me,” and immediately went to defend himself. You really can’t blame the dog; recent history had proved that strange men over the house holding the leash meant serious business.

My point to all of this is that aggression is not something to be dealt with lightly. An important point to remember is that aggression is always triggered by something – when dealing with aggressive behavior the trainer needs to figure out what the trigger is and then how to condition the dog to behave differently.

Negative training methods will take a toll on your dog and can eventually lead to aggressive behavior. An important point that I always try to teach in my classes is that the relationship between you and your dog is like a checking account.

Every positive thing that you do with your dog is a deposit. Giving your dog a treat, playing ball, praising your dog, taking your dog for a hike, etc. are all positive activities that put deposits in your relationship checking account.

Every negative thing that you do to your dog is a withdrawal. Scruff shaking, smacking, hitting, yelling, leash correction, etc. are all negative activities that take a withdrawal from your relationship checking account.

Here’s the important point to all of this: You need to make sure that you are making more deposits than withdrawals.


Conclusion – I used to teach group dog obedience classes with choke and prong collars. At the beginning of the six week course I would see happy, friendly dogs walk in. At the end of the six week course I would see angry, aggressive, fearful dogs walk out. If they attended another session they would get worse.

I didn’t realize the full seriousness of the situation until I went to watch a friend teach a class. During the class I saw how many leash corrections the dogs would get. I counted one dog receive over 150 corrections in a sixty minute class. It all adds up and has an effect on the dog.

It’s time to start using a positive approach to train dogs. Aggression is a huge problem here in the United States. My final word of advice is to educate yourself. Learn about positive methods to train your dog. As dog owners, we need to all take steps to make sure that our dogs are friendly, happy, and well-behaved.

Happy Training!