Your Clever Cavalier Column #8
Could Your Clever Cavalier be a Therapy Dog? Ask Peanut!
Sharing your dog with those in need can be tremendously rewarding. Just ask Cavalier Rescue foster mom Louise Gerhart, who is certified as a therapy dog team with her Cavalier Peanut (and who also has adopted two Cavaliers from rescue, Buddy and Sophia). Louise takes Peanut to be a “reading partner” at a local public library, where reluctant readers find an unconditional audience, as well as some warmth and affection. Peanut also starred at a recent exam stress-relief break at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Surrounded by dozens and dozens of students, Peanut sought out each one to greet in turn with his soft smiling face.
“So many of the MIT Students thanked me for bringing Peanut to the stress relief program,” said Louise. “For Peanut, the event was like a Cavalier’s dream come true - so many people to love and cuddle with!” Peanut and his pals were so successful, they are being featured in MIT's alumni magazine and filled a full-page spread in the student newspaper.
The arrival of therapy dogs on campus marks a newly broadened acceptance that dogs reduce our stress and increase our feelings of well-being. Research has shown that the warm, happy, calm feeling we have when we are with our dogs is a result of the release of the bonding hormone or “cuddle chemical,” oxytocin, that occurs in both dogs and people when we snuggle with our pups. Wider recognition of these benefits has created strong demand from nursing homes, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, schools, hospice care, libraries, and many other settings, all seeking therapy dogs for the populations they serve.
So would your Cavalier enjoy being a therapy dog? That depends. Therapy dogs need to like meeting new people and being touched by them—they need to be friendly, not aloof, fearful, or aggressive.They shouldn't be easily frightened or overwhelmed, and shouldn't be jumpers or mouthers. “I think many Cavaliers would make great therapy dogs,” says Louise. “Buddy, however, is so friendly he can overwhelm people by jumping and licking. I hope someday to train him as a therapy dog. Sweet little Sophia, however, is just too shy to be comfortable in a strange environment with new people so she will continue to warm my lap at home. Peanut is a natural therapy dog, and both Peanut and I really enjoy our therapy outings.”
If your Cavalier is friendly, can walk on a leash without pulling, and respond to some basic cues like sit, down, and stay, then your clever cavalier has the foundation to make a good therapy dog, just like Peanut.
To find out for sure, you can connect with one of the organizations that certify therapy dogs, including Delta Society; Therapy Dogs International; Therapy Dogs Inc.; and more local organizations such as Dog BONES: Therapy Dogs of Massachusetts* (through which Peanut and Louise were certified). Requirements, certification tests, and member services differ slightly, though all focus on evaluating temperament and response to strangers.
You can make a big difference with the small, simple, but magical act of sharing your sweet Cavalier with the world. You and your Cavalier will have fun and will benefit from all the good feeelings that come from therapy dog visits. Just ask Peanut!
*Full disclosure: I teach therapy dog certification classes for Dog BONES: Therapy Dogs of Massachusetts and have volunteered with that organization for almost 10 years.
Your Clever Cavalier Column #7
“Being a Tree” to Reduce Leash Pulling
One of the most common complaints of dog owners—including some readers of this column-- is that their dogs pull on the leash when they are out walking together. We can mitigate this annoying behavior by making pulling unrewarding.
Typically when your dog pulls, she gets to go where she's pulling (e.g. to a bush, forward more quickly, or over to a dog). Thus she finds that pulling “works” – she gets to what she wants more quickly. The next time she's out on the leash she will remember that pulling led to a fun walk where she enjoyed herself mightily, so she will pull again. Each walk trains this sweet Cavalier to pull some more!
What we need to do to break this cycle that reinforces pulling is to make sure our Cavaliers don't get what they want when they pull. One method of doing this is to stop as soon as the leash becomes taut, and “be a tree.” You stand, unmoving. As soon as your dog lets the leash slack even the littlest bit, you click your clicker (or use the verbal equivalent, such as “bingo!”) and allow your dog to move forward again. If your dog doesn't slack the leash when you stop, you can make some chirping sounds to direct attention towards you. Normally this will cause the leash to slack, and you can click and move forward.
If your Cavalier is pulling intensely, and repeatedly stopping doesn't seem to help, you can try reversing direction (rather than just stopping) whenever your dog pulls.
Don't forget to reward your Cavalier when he's doing the right thing. You want to reward walking with a loose leash. So if you notice that you are walking along with a slack leash, give your dog a small but highly desirable food reward. (During intensive training periods, you may need to reduce the amount of food you are giving at mealtimes to compensate for these added treats.)
While training your Cavalier not to pull, there are other things to consider to support the process:
It is better not to use a retractable leash at any time, because these leashes provide continuous pulling pressure on the dog's collar, reinforcing pulling behavior. Standard harnesses can also encourage a pulling action.
For situations where you need to move along swiftly with your dog without “being a tree” every 20 feet, consider purchasing a pull management device such as the Easy Walk harness. The Easy Walk harness makes pulling unrewarding for dogs by directing their body movement to the side when they pull. You can have your dog wear both the no-pull harness and a collar when you go out. Use the collar for training, and then, when you need to move along, switch the leash to the harness. Over time you should find you need to use the harness less.
Avoid 'choke' collars, which are difficult to use properly and may damage a dog's neck, or 'prong' collars, which cause pain and can lead to aggression or other behavioral problems.
If you have an active dog, be sure your Cavalier gets some off-leash time (in a safe place) so that he can run to his heart's content. This kind of outlet for an active dog can also help reduce leash pulling.
Training your clever Cavalier not to pull will take patience and practice, but these strategies –if consistently applied – should, over time, make your walks together much less frustrating.
Ellen Duranceau
Cavalier Rescue Volunteer & Certified Dog Trainer
Please send ideas for future columns to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Your Clever Cavalier #6
Leash Reactivity – When Your Cavalier Goes Way Too Wild About Other Dogs
If you've walked a dog, you've probably been on one end or the other of this problem: the dog who goes wild on the leash when she sees another dog. Some of our rescued Cavaliers have demonstrated this snarly, barky,“reactive” leash behavior, which is unpleasant for the human and for the dog alike.
Dogs act out on the end of the leash primarily for two reasons -- they can be frustrated because they want to interact with other dogs and aren't allowed to; or they may be afraid of or conflicted about other dogs. If your dog is drawn to and plays well with other dogs off-leash, the wild on-leash behavior may be frustration. Try requiring your dog to sit calmly before approaching another dog, rewarding calm behavior with permission to approach the other dog. Attempt this with caution, however, because if your dog is reactive to other dogs when on leash, it is more likely your dog is fearful or conflicted about the other dog's presence, rather than frustrated.
This is the situation we'll focus on in this column. The goal will be to change your dog's behavior, but also to change the way your dog feels about another dog's aproach when on leash.
This is done through “counter-conditioning,” a process described briefly (though not named) in my column about barking. The idea of counter-conditioning is to replace negative associations with positive associations, by pairing something really good – usually a highly desirable and rare treat – with the scary thing (in this case, other dogs when on leash).
To begin changing your dog's response, train the “watch me” or “watch” cue (explained in my prior column on barking) to get your dog to look away from the other dog and towards you. This has two advantages: it keeps your dog from focusing on the other dog, and it causes your dog to engage in a behavior that in dog language means “I'm not a threat and I want to remain calm.” Dogs naturally 'look away' from another dog as a calming signal. Training your dog to use this behavior can provide an alternative to the snarling and barking they've learned to rely on, and they will also be signalling to the other dog and themselves that they don't want any trouble.
Some trainers recommend teaching two steps: first a look at the other dog,and then a look towards you. The thinking is that it could be anxiety-producing to keep your dog from looking at the other dog-- your dog is fearful and wants to see what's up with the other dog. To use this method, you can toss an object and use a training clicker to mark the exact moment your dog looks at the object, and then offer a highly desirable food reward. When you dog is looking at the tossed object reliably, then start rewarding when your dog looks at the object and then back to you. Once your dog is doing that reliably, as was described with “watch,” you can attach a word to the behavior, such as “look.” Toss the object, say “look,” and reward when your dog looks at the object and then back to you. Then proceed to practice with other objects and in other situations (different rooms, outside) slowly increasing the distractions when working.
I have found “watch,” which is very simple to teach, works beautifully with my Cavalier, who is normally friendly but is set off by one or two dogs. If I anticipate the approach of the other dog, and ask Isabel to “watch” she stays focused on me, enjoys her treat, and doesn't react to the other dog at all.
Whether you decide to train “watch” or “look,” it's essential to work on the cue without any other dogs present, without distractions, before beginning to use it in the setting with other dogs. Once you have the foundation of “watch” or “look” in place, you begin to use it when on walks with other dogs, working closer and closer to the other dog, until you can pass the other dog without a problem. It's essential to be very patient and work in very small increments, always just inside the boundary of your dog's comfort zone – or threshold – for reacting. So for example, if your dog shows early warning signs of going ballistic (perhaps stiffening, pulling, barking, growling) when she sees another dog at 20 yards, you would start working at a distance comfortably further than 20 yards.
Ideally you would start by working with a friend who has a calm dog that can be walked at the proper distance from your dog, with no other dogs around, so that you can control how close the other dog gets and work consistently and incrementally. Once your dog begins to associate other dogs with his most favorite food, you'll be on your way to pleasant outings with your dog—without having to wait until the streets are empty!
References for this article and for further reading:
Marisa Scully, “Using Control Unleashed for Dog-Dog Aggression: Look at That,” The APDT Chronicle of the Dog, July/August 2011 p54-58.
4-paws University: “On Leash Agreession”: http://www.4pawsu.com/onleashaggression.htm
Ellen Duranceau, Certified Dog Trainer and Cavalier Rescue volunteer
Please send ideas for future columns to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Your Clever Cavalier Column #5
Bricks or Grass? Encouraging Proper Elimination
A reader asks how she can get her Cavalier to relieve herself on the grass, rather than the patio bricks. This question gets to the heart of housetraining. Whether inside or out, dogs eliminate in predictable ways according to their feeding schedule, their preference to keep their sleeping area clean, and in places they've learned – through experience or training--to prefer.
When you adopt or foster a new dog, the dog's prior experience will have established an elimination pattern. If you want to alter this pattern, it is going to take patience and time. To change your Cavalier's habits, you need to make it very rewarding for your dog to eliminate in the appropriate spot, and prevent your dog from eliminating in nonpreferred spots so they avoid “practicing” the unwanted behavior.
For the brick or sidewalk or patio-loving Cavalier, this would mean staying close while taking her out to do her business, preventing her from being on the non-grass surfaces, and rewarding her heavily with a highly valued treat when she eliminates on the grass instead. Preventing access to undesired areas (such as using temporary garden fencing to prevent access to the bricks) would make it much easier to train the new behavior, as would having the dog on a leash on the grass to eliminate.
With any housetraining, consistency and preventing accidents is key. So rather than only occasionally rewarding for going on the grass or other preferred area, to see ongoing behavior change, Cavalier parents, at least for the first several weeks, need to be there for each episode, rewarding consistently for eliminating in the desired location, and preventing any return to old habits.
If found in the act of going on the “wrong” surface, you can calmly interrupt your Cavalier with a sound like “eh eh” and move her to the preferred location, rewarding her for finishing up there. Be very composed – otherwise it is quite possible that what your clever Cavalier will learn is not to go at all when you are around! Avoid the temptation to try to correct mistakes unless you witness them. Your dog will not connect your current response to something he or she did in the past, and may become anxious or confused by your correction, which will undermine the training.
The tough news about re-training elimination patterns is that you need ongoing vigilance and consistency. It may help to remember that you are asking your Cavalier to unlearn something very habitual. Still, with time and consistent effort, you can often “eliminate” these problems.
Ellen Duranceau
Cavalier Rescue Volunteer & Certified Dog Trainer
Please send suggestions for column topics to me at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Your Clever Cavalier Column #4
Resource Guarding: A Matter of Trust
A reader in Missouri asks how to work with her newly adopted Cavalier who is guarding food from their other Cavalier, and guarding the owner as well, trying to keep the other dog away. Her new Cavalier is displaying a natural behavior: protecting her stuff. Dogs who freeze, gobbble, growl, or snap to guard an object (typically something yummy) can display this “resource guarding” behavior in relation to their food, a bone, a toy, or any object, location, or person. While our gentle and mild Cavaliers might seem an unlikely breed to develop this problem, any dog can, and according to President Carolyn Stigler, resource guarding is the most common behavior problem seen in our rescued Cavaliers.
The most important antidote for resource guarding is “counterconditioning” – teaching a dog that when someone comes near their stuff, they're not going to take it away, and they're going to offer something wonderful. This can be done through an “object exchange” exercise that teaches “drop it.”
Assuming your dog has not shown a tendency to guard aggressively, begin by giving your dog something that is of interest to them to chew on and pay attention to , but which they cannot consume quickly, such as a nylabone soaked in bouillon or any other safe chewy.
Once your Cavalier is mouthing the object , place your fist with something delectable in it (such as cooked chicken, something that will be more enticing than the object being mouthed) in front of your dog's nose.
When your clever Cavalier notices, draw your hand slightly away to the side. Your dog will tend to follow your hand with their nose, and will tend to drop the object they were chewing on to do so. At that moment, open your palm and give the treat, and mark the dropping of the object with your clicker or verbal version of clicker (like “Bingo”). As you are rewarding the dog, pick up the object the dog was chewing on, and just as the dog is turning back from the treat to find their chewy, give the object back. Practice this many times.
After your dog is reliably following your fist and letting go of the chewie, start presenting an empty fist, and reward even more heavily. Once your dog follows the empty hand reliably, introduce the words “Drop it,” pause, and then use the same moving fist signal. Always go back to a prior step if your dog isn't progressing.
The idea of this sequence is to teach your dog that you are a trusted source of good things, not a threat to their stuff, and that if you ask him to “drop it,” something wonderful is coming.
It's critical for success that you practice this around the house with a wide range of objects, such as when your dog has a toy, and that you always give a very desired treat and return the original object as well. Practice “drop it” over and over in these controlled cases where you can give the item back. This repetition will build up trust, so that on the rare occasion when you can't give the item back, your dog will already have come to expect goodies for dropping attractive items, and will drop the dead bird or chicken bone readily when you say “drop it.”
Counter-conditioning can also be used for dogs that are guarding their food bowls. Through a structured series of incremental steps, you teach your dog that when you approach the food bowl, it's because you are going to add good stuff, not take stuff away. Two of our most well-established and well-known trainers describe this process in their books: Jean Donaldson in the very thorough “Mine!: A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs,” and Pat Miller in “Positive Perspectives: Love Your Dog / Train Your Dog.”
The same principle of counterconditioning and trust building can be used to encourage a new dog not to guard objects or people from another dog. This has to be done very carefully, so setting up the program is probably best done with the input of an experienced trainer.
While working with a resource guarder, managing the environment can make all the difference. Keep items that trigger guarding away; feed away from other dogs and people; be sure to provide sufficient exercise; and ask your dog 'work' for any treat (a walk, a toy, meeting another dog) by responding to a cue before being given access to that good thing.
If you have a serious resource guarder, it is important to consult a behaviorist or an experienced positive trainer. Force-based trainers who recommend dominance and choke-collar elevations for resource-guarding dogs—the counter-productive suggestions I unfortunately received in the 80's – are now in the minority. Find someone who can help you establish and maintain a positive program with patience and consistency, work on building trust, and you will be on your way to working through a resource guarding problem.
Ellen Duranceau
Cavalier Rescue Volunteer & Certified Dog Trainer
Please send suggestions for column topics to me at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Your Clever Cavalier #3
Barking: The “Why” Matters Most
Cavaliers are not known as barkers, which is a trait I deeply appreciate, since I also share my life with a very talkative Pomeranian. But Cavaliers do bark, and one reader of this column wrote in to ask “how do I get my Cavalier to stop barking?”
In order to deal effectively with barking, it's essential to understand why a dog is barking. Once the reason is addressed, the barking will tend to diminish or disappear.
One of our fosters had an odd habit of barking as we left on a walk. Since she was new to us, I wasn't sure at first why she was barking. Was she was excited, fearful, demanding, or feeling territorial? Our approach to the barking would depend on the answer, and the best way to gauge this was by observing her body language. This sweet little tri-colored Cavalier's plumey white tail was level and swaying, her ears were relaxed, her head up. She was eagerly pulling forward in the direction of the park. If she'd been afraid, her tail would have been down or tucked, her ears down, her body low or crouched, or leaning backward. Her pupils might have been dilated. It would not be uncommon to see this kind of fear response in a new foster when confronted by something new – cowering from unfamiliar stairs, large dogs, or any unfamiliar object or person. But our foster was not showing signs of fear. If she had been, we could help reduce the barking by carefully and incrementally rewarding her with high value treats for calm behavior as we worked with a staged and controlled approach to the feared object.
So if the barking were associated with seeing other dogs, for example, we'd offer a very delectable treat when a dog came into view. We'd advance a little at a time, getting closer to another dog in small stages, over a period of days and weeks, so our fearful Cavalier would not be pressed beyond her level of tolerance. We'd reward her for not barking at each stage. If fear was the problem, we'd also be careful not to push the dog to get too close to the feared object too soon, or add to the fear by a raised voice or pulling on the leash.
In addition to reading body language, circumstances can also help narrow down a cause for barking. In this case, our foster did not bark when people came up to the house, so territorial barking seemed unlikely. And she did not seem to have learned to bark to get what she wanted – as can happen when owners give treats or play a game to appease a barking dog, and end up rewarding and reinforcing the barking.
If learned barking had been the problem, ignoring the barking and removing all attention when she barked would 'untrain' the barking. One Cavalier I worked with barked incessantly when eagerly attempting to get a ball game going. Turning away and refusing to play ball until the dog was calm and quiet helped set a new pattern. Our clever Cavaliers do notice what works to get them what they want! Consistency is the key to making ongoing change in such situations, being sure you are never rewarding your dog for barking by playing, petting, or providing treats in association with barking.
Other common reasons for barking – boredom (best treated by more stimulation and exercise) and dominance (very unlikely in this mild Cavalier) did not fit the picture for our foster. We were left with the conclusion that she was barking out of excitement. This kind of barking is more common in puppies and tends to diminish with age, though our foster was not a youngster.
Teaching a cue like “watch me” to redirect attention during this kind of barking can be effective. To teach this, you lure with a treat in your hand from the dog's nose to your forehead. When your dog looks into your eyes for a second or two, use your clicker or reward word like “Bingo” and give a high value treat. Once your dog is responding well to the lure, move the treat to your other hand and then use just an empty hand, with the same nose to forehead gesture. Ask for progressively longer gazes before you treat. Then, once your dog is solid with the empty hand, try introducing the words “watch me,” then pause, then follow with the gesture. Over time your dog will learn that the gesture or the verbal cue mean to turn their attention to you and look at your face. This breaks any reactivity cycle, whether it is excitement barking or responding to another dog, bike,or car.
In our case, our foster has come back to visit, and she still has that funny habit of barking at the start of walks. It's not a big problem for her loving forever family – they treat this as one of her cute quirks. But if your dog's barking goes beyond cute, looking for the cause is the essential first step.
Ellen Duranceau
Cavalier Rescue Volunteer & Certified Dog Trainer
Please send suggestions for column topics to me at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Your Clever Cavalier--#2
Chewing: Managing the Problem
I'll admit, my Cavalier Isabel likes to chew “pre-laundered” socks. I deal with this by putting socks in a special tied canvas bag in a closet, rather than leave it in the laundry hamper. Problem solved. Before I became a dog trainer I thought this was a wimpy response to the situation. Had I taught her not to chew my socks? No. I was embarrassed to admit I had a closet with a bag full of dirty socks. Even though it worked, my method seemed like cheating.
That kind of cheating, it turns out, is called “managing the problem,” and it's a key part of positive dog training. Dogs need to chew throughout life. Instead of trying to train them not to, the idea is to provide them with appropriate items to chew and prevent them from obtaining items they should not chew.
So when a friend asked me how she could train her Cavalier not to chew the pencils her daughter left on the floor, I told her that it would make more sense to train her teenager not to leave pencils on the floor, rather than to try to train an unsupervised dog to ignore tasty little sticks left right under her nose.
For items that can't be removed, like furniture, chew deterrent sprays like bitter apple can be used, but such products must be frequently reapplied, unless you buy the paste-like form. More practical approaches are to make sure your dog is supervised when in areas of the house that have off-limits but tempting objects; to use a crate when your heavy chewer cannot be supervised; and to provide appropriate outlets for chewing by offering toys like Kongs stuffed with cheese or peanut butter, or a Nylabone soaked in bouillion to make it tastier. Increasing exercise, games, and other stimulation (like training) can also help, since some dogs chew out of boredom and restlessness. Playing with your Cavalier regularly with a chew toy can help encourage him to focus on that toy rather than other chewable items in the house. Making sure your dog has some kibble along with wet food can also help redirect the chewing drive appropriately.
And none of this is cheating. It's managing the problem in a way that works for you and your Cavalier.
As for Isabel, she hasn't chewed socks in years. I do frequently come home to find her in her favorite chair with one of my t-shirts, though. How my clever Cavalier gets the t-shirt I'm still not sure. She leaves the tall wicker hamper entirely unmolested – not even a half inch out of place. But somehow she's opened it, dug around for a shirt, and extracted one, all without leaving a trace. She's never harmed a t-shirt, so this is not a chewing problem. I guess it gives her a warm feeling to have a scented shirt near her when I'm gone – just as it gives me a warm feeling when I come home to see her curled up with my t-shirt. I missed you, too, Isabel.
Ellen Duranceau, Cavalier Rescue foster mom and certified dog trainer
Please send suggestions for column topics to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
