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Question:

First, thanks to all who have responded to my prior questions. It’s been a week and my wife and I are getting used to having Midge around and Midge is getting comfortable with us and our home. Midge is a 1yr, 9mo. German Shepard mix. Lately I’ve noticed her getting more ‘bold’ around us. She does not seem to be as intimidated by me as she used to, although she does still listen to me. When we leave for work, she whine’s once or twice at the door and scratches, something she didn’t do a few days ago. Any suggestions on keeping this behavior from getting worse? We don’t make a fuss when we leave or come home. She doesn’t get excited when we close her in the kitchen at night or when we eat, but I guess she knows we are still around. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Dave

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> First, thanks to all who have responded to my prior questions. It’s been a > week and my wife and I are getting used to having Midge around and Midge is > getting comfortable with us and our home. Midge is a 1yr, 9mo. German > Shepard mix. > Lately I’ve noticed her getting more ‘bold’ around us. She does not seem to > be as intimidated by me as she used to, although she does still listen to > me. When we leave for work, she whine’s once or twice at the door and > scratches, something she didn’t do a few days ago. > Any suggestions on keeping this behavior from getting worse? We don’t make a > fuss when we leave or come home. She doesn’t get excited when we close her > in the kitchen at night or when we eat, but I guess she knows we are still > around. > Any suggestions will be appreciated. > Dave

 Hello Dave, Here’s some separation anxiety advice that will nip the impending problem in the bud… I’m including some housebreaking info for good measure… Using this technique is the easiest and fastest way to break any behavior. There are a number of things that have to be considered when beginning this approach. A few preliminary exercises in the Wits’ End Dog Training Method manual available at: http://www.doggydoright.com will explain the basic handling techniques you should learn. Using them will insure that the method will work to a high degree of proficiency. The problem is that not many people understand how to use the sound distraction and praise techniques correctly. When you are told that it has been tried and didn’t work, rest assured that whomever "tried" it and for whom it  did not work, did not "try" doing it correctly. I often hear the "experts" here saying they’ve tried it, and it didn’t work for them, or it made their dog nervous. There are people that do not follow directions and get lousy results, and there are people that do not allow the technique adequate repetition to be successful. Those problems will occur if the technique is not done precisely. There is no excuse that these techniques will not work if done correctly, they are a scientific fact. Any sound will suffice. Ideally, the sound would be the same each time, but that is not often possible. A single clap of the hands or snap of the fingers would do, if it were followed by praise, and as long as it does not happen twice in succession from the same point of origin. That’s why several cans are required. You cannot use the same can for more than two occasions in succession. The sound must always be accompanied with praise. The sound must never occur from the same point of origin twice in succession. The sound must be brief. The praise must continue constantly for several seconds following the sound to allow the thought process to be completed. The behavior must be allowed or made to be repeated and interrupted using sound and praise until the behavior is broken. And most importantly,  the moment the dog thinks of resuming the behavior, you must praise him. That’s right. When the dog thinks about resuming the behavior, if you praise him at that exact moment, the previous corrections will be restimulated in the dogs mind, and the behavior will be extinguished. That seems to be the real hard part for the trainers here to understand. They want to make it happen, and they interfere with the dogs thought process. The dog will learn through the process of elimination of alternative actions or behaviors. It takes a few minutes, and the behavior is eliminated, rather than repressed and seething to resume. The trainer will confound his efforts when they insist on telling the dog NO!, instead of relying on the conditioning that has been established. Shouting at the dog will often trigger the opposite of the desired effect. What further complicates the process for the trainer, is that they break the conditioning when they respond with a different corrective technique out of a reflexive reaction of their own, such as screaming No!, or reaching out to grab the dog and physically correcting the dog for a further instance of malbehavior, rather than taking the moment to think about the best way to address the problem, and if necessary search for a can and follow through with the appropriate sound and praise. The process must be carried out using an alternate source of sound for the next interruption. An associate could be enlisted and instructed to clap their hands on signal to accomplish the desired sound interruption. We want the dog to exhaust all of the alternative malbehaviors he can pull out of his bag of tricks, in order for us to extinguish them each in turn. Any time we interact in a behavior by telling the dog no, or physically restrain or correct him, we are becoming part of the behavior, either as a player or competitor in the dogs mischief. Using sound as a distraction must always be followed by immediate, prolonged, non physical praise. Interrupting a behavior with sound should never be associated with us, as in voicing no, or telling the dog to stop it. The behavior should not be distracted with any intervention. We want the behavior to begin again, so that we may have another opportunity to properly address the behavior with another sound and praise. That way, we can completely end a problem while the dog is thinking about it, and we are prepared to address the issue before it becomes out of control. The sound must never occur twice in a row from the same direction. In other words, if you snapped your fingers in front of the dog to stop him from chewing on your shoelace, you’d praise him for five to fifteen seconds immediately upon snapping your fingers. The behavior will hopefully resume, and the next sound of the snap of your fingers must come from behind the dog, or even from a friend assisting from across the room, from a soda can with a few pennies in it, or any source of sound (except our voice!), followed by prolonged non physical praise, until the dog is no longer thinking about the behavior or resumes it. The third interruption of the behavior usually gets the message across, and the dog will think about the behavior for just a moment before engaging in it once again for the fourth and last time… That split second thinking about engaging in the behavior requires praise. Do not react to it with a challenge of shouting no, or physically removing the temptation. That moment of thinking about resuming the behavior and the praise it earns him will validate the prior interruptions of that behavior. The dog then needs to test it out, to be sure that the same behavior will be dealt with in exactly the same manner. They will usually make a fourth attempt at the behavior, and if you follow through appropriately, he will learn not to do that behavior anymore. But only on the one shoelace! He must take that behavior to other instances to fully cease the desire for the behavior. The behavior will not be completely broken until he has taken the process of elimination to the second, third, and fourth opportunity to explore that behavior. And, even at that, you may need to repeat the process in four completely different places. That means that the worst behavior may need up to sixty-four properly timed interruptions and praise. Usually it happens much quicker than that. Breaking a behavior in this manner reduces stress, takes us out of the position of negative enforcer or competitor or playmate, and allows the dog to extinguish a behavior because he simply doesn’t get any satisfaction from it. The other secret is giving the dog a payoff for every time they look at you. Each time you notice eye contact from your dog, you must praise him verbally, to prevent his idle mind from doing the devils work. DRAINING THE SWAMP, AND RELOCATING THE GATORS… J>>> "CUSTOM WILL RECONCILE PEOPLE TO ANY ATROCITY." G.B. Shaw. "I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives."                                              Leo Tolstoy Is it any wonder that the following sig file has generated more complaints to my personal email than any other controversial post I have made to date, bar none?:                                             caveat If you have to do things to your dog to train him, that you would rather not have to do, then you shouldn’t be doing them. If you have a dog trainer that tells you to jerk your dog around, choke him, pinch his ears, or twist his toes, shock, shake, slap, scold, hit, or punish him in any manner, that corrections are appropriate, that the dog won’t think of you as the punisher, or that corrections are not harmful, or if they can’t train your dog to do what you want, look for a trainer that knows Howe. Sincerely, Jerry Howe, Wits’ End Dog Training http://www.doggydoright.com Nature, to be mastered, must be obeyed.                       -Francis Bacon- There are terrible people who, instead of solving a problem, bungle it and make it more difficult for all who come after.  Who ever can’t hit the nail on the head should, please, not hit at all.                      -Nietzsche- The abilities to think, rationalize and solve problems are learned qualities. The Wits’ End Dog Training Method challenges the learning centers in the dogs brain. These centers, once challenged, develop and continue to grow exponentially, to make him smarter. The Wits’ End Dog Training method capitalizes on praising split seconds of canine thought, strategy, and timing, not mindless hours of forced repetition, constant corrections, and scolding.                   -Jerry Howe-

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