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Downtown Cincinnati Getting A Dog Park...And You Can Help

Hey Cincinnati dog owners. Did you know our downtown will soon be home to a new dog park?

A $50,000 grant from Procter & Gamble's Pet Care division, the Downtown Residents' Council got the Downtown Residents' Council well on their way of meeting their $75,000 budget for the planned half-acre fenced-in dog park on Eggleston Avenue. Additional money was raised through donations and fund raisers; however, they still need to raise $16,200.

If you'd like to help, donations can be made to the Downtown Dog Recreation Area Fund through the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. Here is a link.

Dog Training Help - Using Positive Strategies To Overcome Object Guarding

Thank you so much to trainer Therese McClain for letting me publish this article she wrote in 2000 about working on object aggression in dogs. You'll see that she does not use any type of force, but rather worked from the perspective of...How can I set my dog up for success?



I have a now 5 year old golden, who I adopted as a almost 2 year old. She had a serious guarding problem which we have overcome.

This is what I did.

When she would be laying on the floor chewing a bone, I would walk up to her, stop, smile and speak cheerfully and then drop a treat and move on. I tried to do this several times a day.

It didn't take too long, before she stopped growling when I came near. She began to actually look forward to me coming near her and even got to the point of letting go of the bone to look up and smile in return..( she is a golden)

I then started stooping, speaking cheerfully and placing the treat on the floor, getting up and moving on.

After that, I would stoop, touch her rear (I wasn't stupid), smile, speak cheerfully and place a treat on the floor.

It wasn't long before I could stop, stoop, smile, pet her head, and place the treat on the floor.

I knew I was home free then. I then proceed to touch the bone, place the treat etc.

And finally, take the bone, give her a treat and then give back the bone.

She is a sweetheart and I can trust her with my grandchild now.

Now my question would be, how did you proof and escalate that to include someone swooping down and grabbing an item away from the dog? (setting up ability for people to reach down -- including child or acquaintance -- and take item away from dog safely?)

I think the last step I mentioned in my post was...taking the bone, giving a treat and giving back the bone.

After that I did a lot of trading, bone for treat, bone for another bone, bone for a a highly valued toy. etc.. ( always something of the same or better value in the dogs eyes) I always spoke to her first, smiled and petted her head before any trade.

This speaking, smiling and petting actually became a signal (in a way) that I would be trading.

At first, she was very reliable with me, but not trustworthy with others. I gradually added other people she knew and liked. They had to follow the rules of course. They had to trade and they had to speak, smile and pet her head first.

She, of course was highly reinforced for this....lots and lots of praise and sometimes a jackpot of treats instead of just one.

This just took time...that's all. She was better with some people than others at first. For instance, she was wonderful with my 9 year old grandson right off the bat, but gave his father (my son) a warning growl at first. When this happened, I took the bone, gave her a treat and praise, (for giving up the bone to me), gave the bone to my son to return to her and then he petted her.

One thing, I did not move from one step to another until she was comfortable relaxed and happy at that step. My criteria was not just that she was accepting of the step, but that she would look up at me in anticipation and smile. (Oh here comes mom and she's got something good.)

I do not have to trade or treat now (it's been three years), but did so for at least a year. She does not guard her bones now from anyone and anyone can take an object from her.

I never corrected her or used an NRM. I set her up to be successful and broke the whole thing down into very small steps...reinforcing the good stuff.

What precautions did you take when introducing additional people (did you talk to them in advance, give them direction on approaching dog, etc.)? How did you manage the environment so that dog was not faced with inappropriate grabs of objects too soon?

Yes, yes, yes. I decided who I would introduce and yes I did talk to them in advance and gave them specific instructions. I would even set it up by doing a trade first and then having the other person do a trade.

I did not do this when my home was busy and full of people etc. I did it when the house was calm and everyone was relaxed and in a good mood...dog included..

When my house was busy and full of visiting relatives, I simply warned everyone to "Don't bother Kayla when she's chewing a bone, she might bite!" and believe me the moms and dads and I made sure the kids didn't bother her.

I have always supervised my dogs and set rules for my visiting nieces and nephews as to what they can and cannot do with the dogs. Even the best of dogs need a break from the chaos.

It probably would have been a good idea to put bones up when I had company but I never did. We have a whole basketful of them, and she would immediately run and get a bone when company came.... and just lay there smiling and chewing..

I also want to add that I (and eventually others) would sometimes just pet her when she had a bone and then move on. We didn't always trade..sometimes just a kind word and a pet. I didn't want her to become tense or anxious every time I approached her and she had an object. (bones were the major source of contention...rawhide was not allowed)

And so a lot of times, I would just have people pet her with me right there and then I would give her a treat for being such a good dog.

I should also mention that Kayla is very people friendly and simply loves people and children. She just had this serious guarding problem LOL.

The home she came from, she was loved, but handled very roughly. She was used to being yelled at and hit and having things thrown at her. She did not know how to play with people or retrieve.

I also took the time to teach her a food induced retrieve. I believe that this helped too. It helped with the concept of giving up an object and getting a treat in return. (of course, the dumb bell did not have the value of her chewing bones)

I used absolutely no correction with Kayla. I helped her get things right and then I reinforced those things.

If someone made a comment about her guarding problem, I simply told them "We were working on it".

I believe the major turn around though was in the beginning steps. The rest just took time.

But it is getting to be a problem, so much so that I sometimes cannot even remove the empty bowl from her crate after she is finished to wash it or wipe down the crate floor.

I helped a friend with a dog that guarded her food bowl.

The first thing I would do is walk over to her bowl while she was eating and dropped a really yummy treat into it (or as near as possible if her head was in the bowl.) Remember to be pleasant and smile and talk sweetly.

You want to continue to do this at feeding times until you see her back up from her bowl to let you drop the yummy treat in.

We want her to realize that you don't take, that you add and only good things happen when you approach her eating.

When she is backing up for you to add the yummy treat and seems happy at your approach, you can then stoop down and add the yummy treat....or.... better yet... add more of her food. In fact, you can give her only 1/3 and then add the other two thirds a third at a time.

I bet she will love for you to come over to her bowl then.

When all is going well, you can touch the bowl and add the food and eventually pick up the bowl, add the food and put it back down.

As for digging up her buried bones in the yard, I would do a little managing with that for awhile and make sure she is not around. We don't want do undo all the work you will be doing with her bowl.

(Left: Therese McClain with Annie and Kayla, Therese's companions who have since passed on to the rainbow bridge.)

Westminster Dog Show Begins February 15

Last year, Stump - the Sussex Spaniel, took home the top honors. Who do you think will win this year? For videos and images during the show, check out their website Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Tips For Dog Training Success

Below are some tips for setting your dog (and you) up for success by Melissa Alexandar of Clicker Solutions.Don't think of behaviors as good and bad - those words carry too many moral implications that have no place in the dog's existence. Try desirable and undesirable.

Set your dog up for success! Manage the dog's environment so he can't make mistakes. When training, keep your criteria low enough that the dog can be successful frequently.

Don't be afraid to have a high rate of reinforcement. Your dog won't be spoiled - he'll be eager to work because it's fun!

Divide your dog's food into tiny portions and have him work for it throughout the day. Some dogs, such as herding breeds, actually prefer to work for their food.

Train off-leash whenever possible. Remember, the leash is a tether for safety - it's not a training tool.

Don't have treats in your hand or on your person when you train, if possible. It's okay to delay delivery of the treat for a few seconds while you walk to a bowl.

Keep treats stashed in bowls out of the dog's reach all over the house, and carry a clicker all the time. That way you can reinforce desirable behaviors anytime.

Change the picture a little bit every time you ask for a behavior. Change your position. Change locations. The only thing that should be consistent is the cue.

Ignore undesirable behavior as much as possible. Every time you reinforce a desired behavior, it's like adding money to a bank account. The more money in that account, the stronger the relationship with your dog. Positive punishment - even if effective - removes money from that bank account, and it weakens the relationship.

If you do use a physical correction, look at the effect. Did the behavior not only stop temporarily, but happen less frequently? If not, it wasn't a correction - it was abuse.

(These copyrighted tips were reprinted with permission from Melissa)

Articles On A Positive Way To Teach

I stumbled upon this site that offers a lot of good information on positive reinforcement and operant conditioning in dog training or 'teaching' as I like to say.

https://www.msu.edu/~silvar/train.htm

Pet Parrots On Shoulders - Is It Okay?

I was asked that very question not too long ago by someone whose beautiful companion loves shoulder-eye views of the world. She was warned, as I’ve heard so often, that she shouldn’t be allowing her bird on her shoulder because her pet will think he’s dominant and may likely bite her. I’m not sure where this originated but I thought I’d shed some insight I learned from respected behaviorists and trainers.

So, what is this height dominance theory, really?

Well, Steve Martin, renowned trainer and president of Orlando-based Natural Encounters, wrote about it in a paper actually. “To put it bluntly,” he said, “height dominance does not exist in parrots.”

Yep, if you talk to those in the know – ornithologists, field biologists, and wild bird behaviorists -
there is no such thing as an alpha parrot. Aggression between wild parrots is brief, and a parrot that loses in one confrontation may very well win in the next.

A frustrated bird owner may question that. “Well, of course my bird gets dominant when he’s up high. He bites me every time I try to pick him up from somewhere high,” that person may ask.

My response to that? Let’s do a little behavior analysis and look at a scenario that bird owners frequently use as an example of their pet showing ‘dominance’. Barney – a macaw – is on top of his cage playing with a toy when his owner, Suzy, needs to put him into his cage. She reaches for him and when he steps up, ‘without any warning’ (as is often described) he nails her.

Let’s look at some potential things that could be coming into play here.

• Birds are more comfortable stepping up. However since Barney is up high, unless Suzy gets on a chair, more than likely he is needing to step down to her and may even catch his long tail on the cage. Not very fun for Barney.

• Barney was perfectly happy playing with his toys. His past experience of stepping up for Suzy when he’s playing with his toys is that the consequence of his stepping up means he goes into his cage more often than not. And being inside that cage is just not as fun as being on top of it. (He’s at least taken away from doing something that he was enjoying doing.)

• Before Barney actually bit Suzy, he tried to show her he didn’t want to step up by pinning his eyes or other body language but she ignored or didn’t pay attention to it. Therefore biting her is the only behavior he can do to get the message across that he really does not want to step up at this time.

So, now, is this really a case of height dominance or is the bird simply behaving to escape something negative from the bird’s point of view?

Now back to the original question. Is it okay to wear your bird on your shoulder?

Well, there are a number of factors to take into consideration with regard to that decision. None of them have to do with height dominance.

• What is your relationship with your bird? Does your bird reliably ‘step up’ onto your hand?

• One problem with having your bird on your shoulder is that you can’t see his body language. Therefore you can’t effectively allow your bird to communicate a fear or aggressive response, thus you may be setting both of you up for a possible bite.

• Another consideration is that, while it’s fun companionship to wear shoulder birds it’s healthy to offer a variety of enriching activities for your pet that encourage independent play, foraging, and more. Encouraging your bird to stay perched in one place for long periods of time limits the time he could be learning and playing in different ways.

Right now I only allow Barnaby on my shoulder. Dreyfuss is my hand bird. While both of my birds are fairly fluent in ‘step up’ (Barnaby much more so than Dreyfuss, although she’s getting better), Barnaby has a much more predictable calm behavior than Dreyfuss. It’s not so important for me to keep an eye on Barnaby’s body language. However, Dreyfuss can be a little on the unpredictable side. It’s very important for me to watch her body language as I have her ‘step up’, therefore it is not a good idea for her to perch on my shoulder.

When I had Chester, he and Barnaby were always my ‘shoulder’ birds and Dreyfuss’ place was on my hand. (When you carry three birds around the house, you have to be creative.) So, my hand is where she got used to being and I think I’ll keep it that way.

I do want to just mention that if it is a goal of yours to wear your parrot on your shoulder, a good first goal would be to teach a reliable ‘step up’ behavior.