Genuine Dog Gear Training Toys Resources » puppy behavior

Dog Training with Time Out

Linda Martuch — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:23:54 +0000

Using ‘Timeout’ to change dog behavior is easy and effective. To change your dog’s behavior, put him in “timeout” for 5 minutes when you catch him doing something wrong. Seems too simple to work, doesn’t it? It may be counter intuitive, but it’s extremely effective. Putting a dog in timeout allows him the time and opportunity to figure out what landed him in ‘jail’.

And it’s a good deterrent because dogs hate being separated from their people or their pack. As I explain the finer points of this technique, I think you’ll understand why timeout for dogs works so well.

Dogs Live In The Moment

You must catch your dog in the act for ‘time out’ to work. Dogs live completely in the moment and after their minds have moved on to something else, they’re unable to make a connection to what they were doing just moments earlier. This literally takes only seconds, after which they have no hope of connecting their trip to doggie time out with what they did wrong. With puppies, you have maybe 5 seconds before they’re focused on something new. So in order for your puppy to understand that he’s going to time out because he piddled on the floor, you have to actually catch him doing it. With all dogs, action and consequence must happen simultaneously for them to get it.

Drama Doesn’t Correct Your Dogs Behavior

Don’t yell at your dog, it’s best if you absolutely nothing. If you yell, your dogs attention will shift to you, and away from what he just did. When your dog gets excited, his emotional state prevents him from being able to think clearly.

Just like us when our boss is yelling at us and suddenly we can’t think, when your dog is afraid or anxious his mental abilities plummet. Because he’s in survival mode, he can’t think and you want him to be thinking clearly. So yelling, threatening, hitting or any other distracting behavior may help you to vent, but it won’t help your dog realize what is happening and why.

Gently Take Your Dog By The Collar

Escort your puppy to time out as gently as you can. Don’t say anything. Take him by the collar, or pick him up to take him to the timeout spot. Put him into your puppy timeout spot and leave. It might be tempting, but please, don’t scowl, or physical intimidate your dog. Don’t distract him from what’s happening.

Dog Discipline

Now you can breathe and clean up the mess or retrieve what’s left of your shoes. Meanwhile, your puppy is cooling his heals in a quite spot. The best time out spots don’t have toys or chews and no view. Don’t give your dog anything to do besides figure out what got him into this predicament. I use a small powder room; it’s quiet, and windowless. If you use a bathroom, you can put the trash can on the counter if necessary, and put the toilet paper roll in a safe place if your puppy has discovered how much fun that can be. You can use whatever room is close by that will fit the bill and the fewer the distractions the better, especially for puppies.

Dogs Love Attention

Puppies and dogs don’t like isolation. In the natural world, wolves and wild dogs that are separated from their packs are open to attack and will be killed by competitors. Dogs have a very strong family attachment and strong drives to stay with the pack. Your dog won’t like being in doggie time out. It may seem like a light sentence to you while you’re cleaning up his mess, but don’t underestimate the ability of this technique. The psychological statement is much stronger than you might imagine. Ignore all cries for leniency, make sure your dog serves his entire sentence.

Dogs Have A Short Attention Span

While your puppy is in timeout, he’s trying to figure out how he got into this predicament. It’ll take a few moments for him to settle down and get over hoping that the door will open right up again. Then he’ll start thinking, but he can’t think for very long. We already know that dogs have a very short attention span, so 5 minutes in solitary will do. He won’t be able to keep up the thought processes for longer than that. After his memory of the event that got him here is lost, there is no reason to keep him there any longer. He won’t learn any better with more time. Dogs are excellent problem solvers but their memories are short, after 5 minutes they’ve exhausted both.

Release Your Dog

When you release your dog, don’t say anything, just open the door and walk away. Go back to what you were doing. The show is over and your dog doesn’t have the ability to connect his previous actions with any scolding now. A reprimand now doesn’t make any sense, he would think that he’s being scolded for being in timeout, which will sponsor fear when going there next time, and decrease the effectiveness of this technique.

Sherlock Hound I Presume?

Dogs are expert detectives. It will only take a few trips for him to realize timeout is a consequence of his behavior, and he’ll change that behavior if you’re consistent with this technique. Once your dog makes the connection his behavior changes. The quicker he makes the correct assumptions about his actions the quicker your problems are solved. If he doesn’t get it immediately don’t worry, a few more trips to timeout and he will get it.

The Perfect Dog

The more you use this method, the better it works. Your dog will figure out that timeout means he’s done something that isn’t acceptable. He’ll start thinking about what he was doing as soon as he realizes he’s on his way to the lockup. You never have to say a word, he’ll already be thinking about it and that’s the best part. You have a dog that is thinking about what you want and adjusting his behavior to please you. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Links to Puppy Class 101 articles:

Links to Helpful General Knowledge Articles:

How Dogs Learn

Linda Martuch — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:51:46 +0000

It’s difficult for us humans to understand what dogs think. We can’t actually get inside their heads to see what they comprehend. However our knowledge of brain structure and observations of how dogs learn leads us to believe there are things dogs can’t understand and other things they appear to be very good at.

One of the things they don’t understand is ‘concepts’. They can’t conceptualize because they have very small frontal lobes. The frontal lobes are the part of the brain that processes higher reasoning and concepts. Since they lack this part of the brain, we’re pretty sure they think in very specific terms and their abilities to draw some types of conclusions are limited. This assumption is supported by observations about how dogs learn.

What Dogs Know

Humans understand the ‘concept’ of ‘sit’. If someone asks us to sit, we can sit inside or outside, on a chair, a step, at a table or on a log, it’s all the same to us. They can ask us to sit, take a seat, rest a moment, take a load off or put our feet up and we understand all of that in the larger concept of ‘sit’.

Dogs don’t have the ability to take a concept like ‘sit’, and apply it to differing circumstances. We call this global thinking, humans can globalize, dogs are specific.

How To Train A Dog

If you trained your dog to ‘sit’ and only practiced in the house, you might be surprised to find that he didn’t seem to understand that command outside on the lawn. With the change in surroundings and/or circumstances, it’s a different situation to them. Most dogs won’t recognize the signals because those signals only apply to the situation in which they were taught. I say most because some dogs, like guide dogs, which are specifically bred for this ability, have some limited abilities to globalize.

Once your dog understands ‘sit’, you would need to teach another command to get him to jump up and sit in a chair. For dogs, sitting in a chair is different than sitting on the floor. And chairs are different too. An upholstered chair is different from a kitchen chair, to a dog it’s not the same thing. Dogs think in very specific terms.

Training Dogs With Consistency

Many highly trained dogs that compete in agility, or do police work, will only work for one trainer. They won’t work with any other person. Even with the same words, commands and requirements, it just doesn’t add up when someone else is giving the signals. It’s too different because dogs are so specific in their thinking, and perceptions. In their minds, commands come from their trainer, they don’t come from other people. They don’t understand those commands because they didn’t come from the correct source. The good news is that we can easily show dogs that their commands work in all situations simply by practicing in different locations.

How Dogs Think

The thinking that dogs do well, I call ‘connect the dots’. They’re experts at ‘what comes next’. Here’s some examples that I’m sure you’ll recognize. You pick up the car keys and the dog knows you’re leaving. The rattle of the car keys, predicts that you’ll be going out the door. If your dog likes the car and wants to go with you, he’ll run to the door because he’s hoping that ‘what comes next’, is he gets to tag along. You never taught the dogs that the keys mean you’re leaving, he observed it and put one and one together.

What Dogs Remember

Some more examples, the can opener predicts dinnertime. The leash predicts a walk, the doggie shampoo predicts a bath. In each of these cases, your dog has done simple addition 1 + 1 = 1.

One thing, plus one thing, equals one thing. The car keys alone don’t predict that you are leaving. It must be YOUR car keys. If a guest picks up her keys, your dog knows the difference. If someone who never takes the dog with them picks up the keys, your dog won’t respond. So it’s not the keys alone which triggers a response. It’s you and your keys together. Here’s some more equations:

Mommy + doggie shampoo = I’m getting a bath
Daddy + car keys = daddy is leaving the house
My dinner bowl + on the kitchen counter = I’m eating soon

Dogs are experts at this kind of addition, which is very specific thinking.

Doggie Math

Dogs pay attention to food and fun. They’re happy to perform to get the goodies. So we’ll use food and play to get them doing the math we want. Here’s our basic equation that we’ll be adapting to meet our needs:

Mommy (or Daddy) + “What” = Good things for me

All you have to do is show them the ‘what’. With training (experience) the equation can become anything you want, for example:

Mommy says ‘sit’ + my rear meets the floor = treats for me.
Daddy says ‘come’ + I go to Daddy = playtime for me.

All their thinking runs along these lines, their thought processes are that simple. They can add two things together to predict a result and they can do that extremely well. Dogs are expert problem solvers and solving this kind of math is what they do extremely well.

Dogs Need Specifics

The reason I told you about how specific dogs are is because you need to know that to a dog, ‘come’ and ‘come here’ are not the same. ‘Sit’ and ‘Sit Down’ and ‘Good Sit’ are not the same thing either. Dogs do very simple math, the following equation is too difficult for them to process:

Mommy says ‘sit’ and/or Mommy says ‘sit down’ and/or Mommy says ‘please sit down’ and/or Mommy says ‘Sau IT!’ + I sit down = treats.

Dogs can’t do that math. Eventually they might learn all the permutations of the ‘sit’ word separately without your realizing it. But this kind of training will take much longer than being specific and consistent. Using one word, every time, in exactly the same way will allow your puppy to be a star!

Links to Puppy Class 101 articles:

Links to Helpful General Knowledge Articles:

Dogs The Great Observers

Linda Martuch — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:19:39 +0000

I’ve read training articles and general interest stories about dogs, which imply there isn’t much going on in our dog’s brains. I beg to differ. I think that they’re thinking and feeling quite a lot, and learning all the time, especially when they’re young.

Dogs Learn From Experience

Dogs learn from observation, and experience. In the natural world there aren’t any doggie schools, wolves and street dogs learn by watching each other, testing situations and gauging responses. To learn something useful, they experiment, and process the results, positive or negative.

Incidentally this why Time out works so well as a training tool, it gives your dog the opportunity process what just happened.

Dog Families

Dogs live with us instead of their natural canine families, So they watch and learning from us! In the natural world, dogs interact with and have learning experiences all day long, in our world our dogs are sequestered in a house, and only get input when we’re around. You’re the whole world to your dog. You’re the mommy, daddy, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles. What ever they’re going to learn, they’ll get from you, because you’re their primary, and sometimes only, being with which they’re allowed to interact and observe.

Accidental DogTraining

Our dogs are glued to us like we’re the new HD TV. We don’t realize but they are monitoring our reactions and responses, they’re keeping one eye or ear trained on us constantly. And they’re making connections and assumptions all the time. They take in an amazing amount of information and process it the doggy way. Yes folks, Big Brother is watching YOU, except in this case he’s a little fluff ball with a big grin and a wagging tail.

Dog Training, Torture or Treat?

It’s not uncommon, for a student to ask me if training will ruin their dog’s spirit. No, it won’t ruin their spirit, it will ruin their bad behavior and strengthen your relationship, because training is the interaction that dogs CRAVE. Their lives are about interaction, they’re social and pack animals with strong family ties. Training isn’t torture and your puppy won’t be emotionally stunted because training gives them attention and feedback they desperately want.

Dog Connections

Your puppy is observing you all the time whether you’re aware of it or not, and your puppy is learning every moment that his eyes are open. How do you suppose that he quickly learns the sound of the car keys means your leaving the house? It’s because he’s been connecting the dots and learning what things mean without your realizing it. He learned that the sound of the keys predicts your leaving the house by observing what happens and making connections.

Because they’re always drawing connections, you shouldn’t limit your training opportunities to certain places or certain times. Your puppy is always watching and learning from everything you do, take advantage of every opportunity.

Aid Your Dogs Learning Process

Your puppy is constantly looking to you for direction, so you can very quickly have a responsive and obedient dog. Ask for a sit, or down, or handshake with every treat. Insist the puppy waits while you go out the door first. Every time the puppy nips you, bump his nose. Every time he potty’s outdoors you give him praise and/or a treat.

Training is happening every minute that your dog is awake. Choose to take part, interact with him and show him how the people world works. You’ll both be glad that you did.

Links to Puppy Class 101 Articles:

Links to Helpful General Knowledge Articles:

Doggie Sheriff

Linda Martuch — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:08:22 +0000

You’re the doggie sheriff; so let’s make some rules. Remember these are always rules, and they’ll always apply so think about them carefully, because you’ll have to enforce them. Here are some suggested rules that you can choose from to get started.

No jumping up on people
No getting on the furniture
No soiling in the house
No chewing on people objects, furniture, clothing, shoes, etc.
No barking after I say “quiet”
Come when called
No biting people
Lay down when I say so
Sit when I say so
Leave things alone when I say so
Stay where I’ve put you when I say so

All these rules have to be taught, but are easily learned. They’re all useful and some of them could save your dog’s life. We’ll cover most of them in our class. But teaching them is your responsibility.

Dog Rules

1. The big dog makes the rules (that’s you). As ‘sheriff’ you control:

Where your dog goes and when (control of movements)
What objects your dog gets or not (control of possessions)
When and if your dog gets to eat (control of groceries)

2. If a dog breaks a rule, the reaction from the ‘big dog’ is immediate and appropriate
3. Once it’s over, it’s over (dogs don’t hold grudges)

Do I Get A Six Shooter?

We know that dogs need and expect us to set the rules and enforce them, but how are we going to do that? Dogs have their own ways of expressing displeasure, giving warnings and enforcing rules. They can grow, snarl, bare teeth, bite, or knock someone over and pin them to the ground. I don’t know about you, but none of these work for me.

Correction Tool Kit

I need a different set of tools and for puppies we need some gentle tools because they’re young and small. So here’s your correction tool kit:

Verbal noise or noise maker like a shake can
Removing the puppy from wherever he shouldn’t be, or take away what he shouldn’t have
Timeout

This short but very effective list includes one sound warning, and two physical ‘corrections’. The sound warning can be any sudden sound noise, even the clap of your hands. If used with an unpleasant facial expression and verbal disapproval, it’s a good enough correction for some sensitive puppies.

To remove your puppy from someplace he shouldn’t be, just pick him up and move him. To take something he has, if he won’t willingly give it up, gently squeeze his lips against his back teeth, and generally they’ll open their mouths to relieve the pressure on their lips and you can get whatever the puppy has when he opens up. For information on Timeout click here(Link Timeout article).

Happy Trails

Ideally, you’ll use training and restrictions to keep your puppy out of trouble in the first place. But puppies are puppies, so you can use these techniques when your puppy does something he shouldn’t. By acting as your puppy’s sheriff, you’ll be giving him a lifetime of security.

Links to Helpful General Knowledge Articles:

Links to Puppy Class 101 articles:

Puppy Brain

Linda Martuch — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:13:50 +0000

I’d like to you keep in mind for the duration of our puppy class that your puppy has ‘puppy brain’. This may seem obvious, but let’s talk about it for a moment. How many weeks has your puppy been on the planet? On average it’ll be 20 weeks or less.

Holy COW! When we were babies, we couldn’t even crawl at this age and they’re already left their homes and families. They’re living with an alien species and learning that there are places you’re not supposed to pee.

That’s Amazing!

Talk about amazing! They’re adapting to life in a human household and they’re doing it without the benefit of frontal lobes. That’s the part of our brain that allows us understand concepts like ‘fast food’ and generalize similar things into categories like ‘chair’. We’ll get to more info on how puppies DO think in the Puppy Math article. For now, take my word for it, they’re amazing little creatures, and they deserve a lot of respect.

What Was That Middle Part Again?

As amazing as they are, they’re still just little tiny puppies and just barely out of their mother’s womb. Keep in mind that they’re doing the best they can, and they’ve got an awful lot to learn in a very short time. Don’t be surprised if all of a sudden they appear to have forgotten something you thought they knew.

I Forgot

It happens, they forget stuff because they’ve got a lot to learn and remember. He isn’t ‘blowing you off’ or being disobedient. If your puppy forgets something you taught him, it’s your job to remind him by going over his lessons again. Even when dogs are grown, they’ll occasionally appear to forget some things they’d previously learned. Don’t be concerned, it just happens.

Patience Is The Key

You’re going to be amazed at how quickly your puppy learns in puppy class, and he’ll learn even faster still if you keep in mind that “Puppy Brain” means:

Your Puppy is a baby
He’s adapting to an alien environment
He doesn’t have frontal lobes and can’t generalize
He is trying to please you, but he’s not very smart yet
Making him smart is your job

Keeping these points in mind will ease your process by helping you to:

Understand your puppy’s actions
Stay calm in the face of occasional frustrations
Give you the perspective to appreciate what amazing creatures they are.

Remember, we’ve been on the planet for more years than they’ve been here weeks or days, so the thinking and the understanding is up to us. We’ve got mental and size advantages over them (not to mention opposable thumbs) and we’re going to use those to our advantage, while we teach your puppy everything he needs to know.

Links to Puppy Class 101 articles

Links to Helpful General Knowledge Articles:

Welcome To Your Puppy Class

Linda Martuch — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:54:25 +0000

An open letter to my Puppy Class students at the Dog Training Club of Tampa..

Thank you for bringing your puppy to my puppy training class. I know that you’re here because you want a happy and successful relationship with your puppy. My goal is to give you everything you need to build a solid foundation for a wonderful life together. I’m going to tell you all kinds of things about dogs that you probably didn’t know. We’ll cover everything from canine brain structure to dog behavior issues to feeding and nutritional information. You’re going to have a great time learning about your dog and you’re going to have a ton of fun with your puppy. So lets get started.

Communication Is The Key

Our first lesson is about communicating effectively with your puppy. Communication with your dog is easy once you understand how dogs perceive information and how to get your message through in a manner that your pupster can understand. Here are a few things I’d like you to keep in mind while you’re learning about how your dog learns:

Your puppy has ‘Puppy Brain’, be patient
If you use Dog Language your dog will learn faster
Your dog is constantly learning whether you’re teaching or not
There is only one equation dogs can do, 1 + 1 = 1
You have the right and the responsibility to make and enforce rules

The Short List

This short list of basics, applied on a daily basis, will provide a foundation big enough and strong enough that you can build on it for the life of your dog. It’s this simple. When you get stymied or stuck for an answer to your dog training issues, you can always come back to these basics to solve your training problems. Please follow the links below for more info on each of these concepts and the links at the bottom of the page for more general knowledge.