I bet you have presents, complete with wrapping paper and ribbon sitting somewhere around your house right this minute! And if you have a dog, your dog probably thinks those presents are pretty fun toys!
There’s a trick to keeping a dog from going after presents (or food or counters or trash or anything else, really). First off, don’t go showing things to your dog. That makes them interesting! Don’t wander around cooing over those fancy packages, if you can avoid it. Don’t point them out to your pup and then firmly tell him to leave them alone; all your dog knows is that you drew his attention to them, so they must be important!
But most importantly, when you see your dog LOOKING at those things, make a noise that will startle them (clapping, a hissst noise, slapping a newspaper against your thigh, etc) and when they jump away, call them away and praise them for leaving.
Note that I said to do it when your dog looks at the packages. If your dog gets used to ignoring them completely, then when you leave they might visually check it out, but they won’t tear into things. If you let them look, then when you leave they’ll still take it one step farther: tearing into things! You always want to correct for better behavior than you really care about, so that when push comes to shove and the line gets blurred, it doesn’t get blurred very far, and your dog walks away still well behaved!
Meantime, have fun opening presents!
J
I don’t know a single dog that hasn’t, at one point or another, gotten into ribbon, presents, the tree, or dinner.
Holidays are a very difficult time for dog training, but not because there are so many temptations around. Imagine, for a moment, our family and our typical holiday season. We have friends and family over multiple times, we’re all distracted buying, wrapping, and gloating about gifts (there’s a lot of gloating in my family — “I got you the best present! Hee hee hee!”), and no one is paying attention to the dogs. To top it off, we’ve brought all this new, exciting stuff into the house, and put it on the floor. Where do the dogs toys go? On the floor. Where do our “toys” typical go? Not on the floor. It’s no wonder our dogs get confused!
As the holiday season nears, there is one all-important thing you can do: wrap things you don’t care about, decorate them with ribbon, toss them on the floor, and tell your dogs to leave them alone! They need supervised practice so that when you’re distracted, they’ll leave the real presents alone. I’d recommend a squirt bottle, or whatever else you typical use to let your dog know something isn’t appropriate.
When you put the tree up and your dog, wondering why you’re playing with this pointy green thing, goes to sniff, do the same thing. Sniffing is a precursor to close examination, and close examination is a precursor to grabbing ornaments or knocking the tree over. It’s better to let them know right off the bat they shouldn’t go near it.
Finally, decide among your family what to do with the dogs while there are guests around. Leave them out, and keep half an eye on them? Great! Put them in a room where they don’t have to worry about people? Great! Whatever you do, make sure everyone agrees and is on board. Also think about how your dogs might react: a fearful dog will probably be happier in a room away from the chaos, or on a leash tied to one person’s beltloop (my own personal preference for teaching puppies good behavior at a party!). It’s also a good idea to get them a special treat for when everyone is focused on gifts or food; bones, Nylabones, bully sticks or toys with hidden food are all good ideas.
Finally: don’t give into the temptation to play with the dog with ribbons or wrapping paper! Yes, it’s cute when they take the discarded paper and play, or when we put ribbon on their head (I’m that kind of mean owner!), but it’ll confuse them; if not for this year, next year. Dogs have much longer memories than we think!
If you have particular problems you’d like to see addressed, feel free to leave a comment or contact me via my website. In the meantime — happy holidays!
Jenna
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: fireworks, holiday training, sirens, training, training in unusual conditions
Occasionally, I get someone asking me what to do about fireworks or sirens. Here’s the problem: it’s hard to train for fireworks or sirens, because they don’t happen very often! Around this time of year, clients often ask me for some advice to get them through the Fourth of July fireworks display. Here is some of the advice I often give, and the way I personally help my dogs:
1. Wear them out! Taking your dogs for a long — and I mean long — walk beforehand, or let them play at the dog park,or take them to a dog-friendly beach all will help them to be nice and tired, and therefore care a lot less when the fireworks start.
2. Essential oils. I’ve found that, occasionally, for minor anxiety essential oils (or benedryl, which makes them drowsy!) can help. I recommend a tiny dab on the bottoms of their paws or the insides of their ears. “Peace and Calming” or lavender oils work best. But I do mean a tiny dab, and if you have a small dog put it on their fur rather than on the skin. Oils can be very strong stuff!
3. Positive reinforcement. This is one area where I really like treat training! When you start hearing fireworks, ask your dog to sit, lay down, shake paws — whatever will distract him, and then give him treats and love for ignoring the fireworks to do as you ask. When the fireworks have been going off for fifteen minutes and your dog is used to them being no big deal, you can relax and enjoy the show. If your dog starts getting worked up, distract him again.
4. Correction. Neither of my dogs are worried about fireworks in the slightest. As puppies I first distracted them as above, did some work on laying and sitting and staying, gave them treats and told them they were good. Then, if we relaxed and they started to worry, I’d tell them, “Oh, stop. Lay down and don’t be goofy.” This kind of attitude — the, “there’s nothing wrong, stop being silly” attitude — will often tell a dog that you aren’t worried, and they shouldn’t be, either.
5. Firm Correction. For dogs with more severe mania around fireworks, I put them on their training collars and when they start to bark or get distressed, I give them a pop to tell them to knock off the bad behavior (continuing firmly until they take a quick break and I can see they’re thinking — momentarily — again), then I’ll ask them to lay down so that I can praise them for doing something well. This combination of correcting for mania and praising for focus often works.
6. Denning them. For dogs who are very anxious about fireworks, make sure they have a safe place to go, preferably deep in your house where the noise and lights will be muffled. If your dog is crate trained, this is a good time to put them in their nice, safe crate where the scary fireworks can’t get them!
All of these also work for sirens. Added to that, however, if the sirens are nearby — like going down the street while I’m standing on the sidewalk! — I often cover my dog’s ear closest to the sirens. It probably doesn’t help at all, but it makes me feel better!
For very severe fear of fireworks, contact a dog trainer you trust. Getting your dog to a point where they’ll listen when in the throes of great stress takes some time and work, but can be done. The basics are often what I’ve outlined, but small changes for each dog can make a big difference in whether or not it works!
Happy Fourth of July!
Jenna
