What is management?
“My dog gets in the trash when we leave.” “My dog grabs my dirty socks from the floor and takes off with them.” “My dog counter surfs.” Well, MY dog eats crayons if he can get to them.
I'm so ashamed. My dirty little secret is out....
Today we’ll discuss managing your dogs environment. Not so fun – but important!
As much as I love dogs and as much as I’m interested in learning new things about them, I honestly can’t summon an iota of interest in WHY my dog likes to chew crayons. He doesn’t eat them, he just…chews them up. And leaves them in colorful little piles all over the house.
That dog gives her so much grief! Good thing I'm perfect in every way!
Now, there are a couple things I could do about this. I could set him up – put crayons on the floor and then create an aversive when he heads toward them. Yell, use the shake can, etc.
The ‘leave it’ command might help if he ever chewed them in front of anyone. But he doesn’t. He’s a sneaky dog.
Sneaky dog? Not me! I do all my naughty behavior right in front of you!
I could get all the crayons and spray them with a nasty spray made just for that. And repeat as needed when it wears off.
OR I could tell my youngest child to pick up the stupid crayons and keep them off the floor. And that mostly just works. Management.
Yeah, spoiling all the fun is what mom's DO.
Your dog gets in the trash? Put a lid on the trash or put it behind a closet door for a while.
The kids’ toys – harder, but still – keep puppy out of the play room for a while and redirect often to puppy’s own toys. Work on the ‘leave it ‘ command every day.
Dirty socks? Oh come on….how hard can that one be? Put them In the basket – and put the basket on the dresser for a while.
After puppy class, we're just too tired to shred socks! For a couple hours anyway.
Give them – say it with me now! – MORE exercise and more things to do. Stifling boredom and giving them an energy outlet will help with these behaviors also.
I know we aren’t perfect creatures. I KNOW I’m not anyway – but a little bit of management will go a long way in creating a happier home environment for a while, while your puppy grows or your older dog loses their fascination with the socks.
Old? What is this 'too old' thing? My nose will work great forever!
What is your issue that could be handled with management? We can brainstorm an idea or six!
Distractions and generalizations and judgement calls, oh my!
One of the ‘games’ I play in class is ’sit from a distance’. After we have done ’sit’ for weeks and weeks and weeks and dog knows it VERY well, we play. I take dog to the middle of the training ring, and have parent sit on a stool across the room, and tell their dog to ’sit Almost all of them lunge. They think they heard ‘come!’
Because come is what we ask them to do from across the room. Silly humans!
- I’m heading your way, right now!
Dogs don’t generalize well, so we have to add in lots of distractions and lots of places. Really. Just because they know ’sit’ in the training area doesn’t mean they know it two foot outside the training area, or in the parking lot, or in your kitchen or back yard. Or when you are not directly in from of them. Really! New place, new command. Honest!
Once they ‘get’ that sit means sit no matter where or what, they will ‘have’ that command and then they will realize, most generally, that they are to sit on command no matter where they or you are. But you throw that distance thing in there…and well. There you go.
Hang on, I'm heading your way! Really!
Before I add in much distance, I add distractions. Distractions can be from very mild – breaking eye contact or moving my head is the first one I add, to the very exciting – another dog trotting past. If I’m across the room when this happens, there just isn’t much I can do. But if I’m right There to offer a gentle ‘whoops!’ then we can redirect to what we do want.
Puppy class is GREAT for distractions!
Dogs are not robots. They will make judgment calls in the course of their life. One of my dogs went with me everywhere, mostly leash free. He was under ‘voice control’ he would do what I asked when I asked. I didn’t worry about him – other dogs, sure, but I was okay knowing mine would come, or sit, or do what I asked when. One day when he was about ten years old, we were out in the unfenced front yard like we had been hundreds of times – and that dog took off. He left the yard and was across the road and down the street before my astonished mind could comprehend. I yelled and he DID NOT come back. I have no idea what he saw or what possessed him to do that, and he never did it again, but he sure did that time. Something was more important and more exciting than me at that moment.
Something more exciting than my mom? You're kidding, right?!
Can you stop something like that? Hopefully!! By proofing your dog in as many situations, spots, areas, places and times as you can. But just remember, even the best trained dogs ‘think’ and will sometimes make their own judgment calls. We just hope its a good one.
Why did I get this dog?
“Let me be the sort of person my dog thinks I am.” Wow – now, that’s deep stuff. Our dogs think we are wonderful for the most part. They see us as the source of all things good. It is very soothing for the ego to come home from being battered by the world all day long and have your dog greet you like you are the most important thing ever in the history of ever!
Its okay, sometimes I forget why I picked you too.
Unconditional love. They love us despite our screw ups. Yeah, we all give our kids enough stuff to spew on the therapist couch for as long as they desire. They have to, at some point, just get over what horrible parents we were and move on despite us. Our puppies have forgotten how we jumped up and down and screamed like fools just…minutes before.
They not only love us always but forgive us our sins, almost immediately. And they Never bring it up Again. Nice.
You did what to me? When? I don't remember that! I just remember the love!
Laughter. Having a dog is FUN. They like to play, which is good for us – and they make us laugh. This is something I remind people all the time in class – you got this dog for fun. Enjoy! This stage, phase, issue will pass, really, and the dog will be enjoyable again. Laugh. Its NOT a matter of life and death, really.
I get away with everything because mom just smiles everytime she sees me. Life is good!
Exercise. Sometimes after working all day, all I want to do is come home and collapse in an exhausted heap. When I walk, I feel better. Its almost spring – dog is ready for longer walks and so am I.
Learning. People get very frustrated with me sometimes in class. “How come she does it for you and not for me??” Because number one, I do this forty hours a week. I research. I learn. This is not only my full time job but my passion. I practice. But even if its NOT your full time job, just learning new things to teach your dog, or new ways to outsmart him, will teach you things too. You aren’t too old to learn Either.
Think you're smart as I am? Just keep thinking that...
Pride. Sometimes, often, our kids and dogs let us down. “Show grandma how you count to ten!” Ummm…no. Not so much. “See how good you go to your mat!” Kidding, right? But occasionally there is that flash of genius and greatness from our dogs or puppies. I LOVE it when people look at me beaming delightedly “he DID IT!” And I have to beam back, “I KNOW! SO cool, yes??”
Cuddles and kisses. Awww, come on, none of us every get enough of that. Its what makes life worth living and our dogs do it better than most.
Wanna kiss? Come here, just a little bit closer!
Life itself. You have really no clue how many couples, women, people, have told me “this dog has just given me so much life, brought so much life back to our house, me” and sometimes, they mean that quite literally. I recently graduated a dog whose dad had been in bed for weeks ‘recovering’ from an illness when she showed up on the doorstep. His wife told me, “I thought I was going to lose him, he was so depressed he wouldn’t even move.” Dog got him out of bed, out of the house, out of his depression, back into the world.
Think I'll be that important when I grow up?
Enjoyment. THAT is why you got the dog – to make your life richer. Really. Remember now?
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