Hot Dogs Training
Wendy & Ellie
Wendy with Harry,
a well loved boxer
Wendy's current
dog Ellie, sitting on
the patio
Libby, Wendy's daughter's boxer
having a lay in
the sun on the patio
Wendy's Doggie Question & Answers page
Welcome to Wendy's Doggie Q&A's page. Here we will cover general questions that people ask about their doggie problems. We hope that that the advice given below will reassure you or alternatively do contact her by either sending an email to wendy@hotdogstraining.co.uk or call her on (01353) 723258.
IMPORTANT things to remember when house training your puppy are:
NEVER SCOLD your puppy for soiling in the house.
ALWAYS PRAISE lavishly when your puppy toilets outside.
Take your puppy out at regular intervals to give him the opportunity to toilet outside.
Upon waking and after feeding are also good times to take your puppy into the garden to toilet. BE PATIENT THIS MAY NOT HAPPEN WITHIN 5 MINUTES.
Do not expect a young puppy to go all night without toileting. If necessary get up in the night to take him to the garden. A daunting thought but this will speed up the house training learning process.
Be vigilant and restrict your puppy’s access around the house to aid training and avoid accidents in those places where you least want them to happen. If you see your puppy start to toilet, interrupt by clapping hands, take your puppy outside and then praise for toileting in the garden.
Clean up accidents with a recommended proprietary cleaner. REMEMBER that a puppy will go back to the place where it has soiled, if the area has not been cleaned properly. A puppy’s sense of smell is much greater than ours.
You may have noticed that your puppy regularly bites you with his needle sharp teeth. Please don’t be alarmed by this it is a very natural and important behaviour. The puppy teeth are specially designed to cause maximum pain for minimum pressure and injury. The biting allows us to teach our puppies to soften their bite so that when they have their full adult teeth they will be a safer dog as they will not cause any injury.
Whenever we watch a group of puppies, and indeed older dogs playing together, you will notice that whilst there is a lot of mouthing and growling, there is very little actual biting. This is because the dogs have learnt to inhibit their bites so they can play without hurting each other.
In the dog pack the puppies will play together and practice their fighting, biting and hunting skills. From time to time one puppy will bite a little too hard and the other puppy will yelp. Sometimes the game continues with the biting puppy ensuring that he is gentler next time. If he bites too hard again the second puppy will yelp again and usually end the game by walking away.
It is not normal for puppies not to bite. If your puppy doesn’t mouth or bite you when he’s playing then please speak to your instructor. Puppies who do not bite miss out on this very important lesson and if they should bite when they are older they are more likely to cause injury than dogs that have been taught to bite gently.
Next time your puppy becomes over-excited and bites you, say quietly ‘Ouch, that hurt me!’ - don’t pull your hand away as he may think that this is a game, just move it away slowly and examine it as you would if you really had been hurt. After a few seconds restart the game. If he bites again as hard or harder say ‘ouch’ again then immediately stop all contact with him for about thirty seconds. Then calm him down by asking him to sit, down and stand before continuing the game.
You are aiming at this stage to have a puppy that may hold your hand in his mouth during play, without applying any pressure.
Refer to your take it / leave it homework sheet and replace the words ‘leave it’ with the word ‘off’. Once your dog has learned to mouth you rather than bite you can interrupt your games by telling him ‘OFF’ and getting him to sit if he plays too rough.
There are times when we will need to handle and touch the insides of our puppy’s mouth, e.g. when giving a tablet or cleaning his teeth, so it is important that he doesn’t avoid us touching his mouth. During your daily handling sessions ensure that you touch his mouth and teeth.
Why are toys important for dogs?
Toys can be used as a reward for your dog as well as or instead of food. Toys are a good stimulus for your dog.
Your dog may respond to treats but as your training progresses and your dog learns what is required of him we can substitute the food rewards with a game with a special toy. In order to make a toy “important” to your dog you should take the following steps:
Select a toy to use as a ‘special’ toy. The dog will only ever play with this toy while he is playing with you. At the end of the game the special toy should be put away and never and left for the dog to play with alone or with other pets in the household.
Use the same toy to begin with. Extra toys can be made important in the same manner, if desired, in the future.
The toy should be one which you and the dog can play with together, can be seen by the dog at a distance, and if necessary can be filled with tasty treats or part of his daily diet. A ‘Kong on a rope’ or ball on rope fit this criteria perfectly.
Stuff the toy with something tasty, then have an exciting game by throwing the toy between yourself and a friend. When your dog starts to show an interest in your game, put the toy away and end the game. A while later repeat this again. Each time the toy comes out your dog should become more interested in it.
When you have your dog’s full attention on the toy, have a game with your dog and the toy.
Games need to be short and exciting for your dog.
Ensure that your dog is still enjoying the game when you put the toy away.
Finishing the game while your dog is enjoying it will make the dog keener to play next time the toy is brought out. This will make him more responsive and happy to comply with what you require from him.
Now you have an ‘important’ toy that can be used for a variety of situations. Use it when you recall your dog by rewarding him with an exciting game. Remember to keep hold of the rope to prevent him from taking the toy and running off with it. Encourage calm, quiet behaviour by sitting with your foot on the rope and allowing him to try to get the food out of the toy. Hide the toy while walking on the lead and produce it for a quick game when he’s in a nice position by your side.
Children and dogs can derive immense pleasure from each other, but neither party is totally predictable in their behaviour. It is up to us as responsible owners to prevent a potentially explosive situation.
IMPORTANT: ALWAYS SUPERVISE CHILDREN AND DOGS WHEN TOGETHER. For example, at playtime and feeding time. Dogs get tired very quickly so they must have somewhere to go away from the children. A good idea is a dog crate, this will be his den, a place to rest and will save you endless worry and stress.
Teach the children to teach the dog to sit before any fuss or treats are given. Try not to let children and dog ‘roll around’ on the floor play fighting.
The dog will get excited and play biting can get out of hand if the children have not been taught how to stop the play. It also means that the dog will see the children as litter mates because the children do not know how to read the canine body language. Better to let the child play ball with the dog and focus attention on the ball, the child then stops the game by putting the ball away. A well-known phrase by APBC member John Rogerson is ‘Control the games and control the dog’.
Let your child add tasty food to the dog’s food bowl. Anyone then approaching the food will not be seen as a threat.
Stress to children that the dog is not a toy and will be with the family for the rest of its life.
The first 6–18 weeks are the most important. Teach children how to handle the dog calmly. Dog school is the best place to teach both children and dogs.
If you know someone who has a baby, introduce the dog and baby under supervision. This may prove beneficial if you or friends are thinking of adding to your family whilst you have a dog.
DO NOT ALLOW CHILDREN TO ABUSE YOUR DOG. He/she is a living, breathing animal that can feel pain, annoyance and who can be driven by his instincts to do the unexpected in certain circumstances. If we are lucky, he’ll be fairly tolerant, but what right do we have to take advantage of that?
FINALLY AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, NEVER, NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, LEAVE YOUR DOG ALONE WITH A CHILD – not even to pop out for a few minutes. Take one or the other with you.
Don’t take a risk, which you may regret later.
Clicker Training Vs Reward Training
Clicker Training
A clicker is a conditioned (secondary) reinforcer, a learned signal that is associated with an unconditioned reinforcer (unconditioned reinforcer = food play etc). Initially it is fairly meaningless signal to the dog, but something that it learns to associate with the arrival of a reward.
Conditioned (secondary) reinforces are paired with primary reinforcers. After a few pairings the secondary reinforcer takes on a pleasant association. The secondary reinforcer is a signal that the primary reinforcer is on the way.
Why use the Clicker as a Secondary Reinforcer ?
The sound is unique and stands out from all other sounds in the environment. It is a new sound, so it doesn’t have any previous bad associations. The click is rapid and faster than verbal praise. It marks the behaviour at the spilt second it happens. The clicker itself is small, easy to carry and inexpensive.
The clicker rewards the behaviour at the spilt second it happens, praise maybe to slow and the dog may have moved on to something else by the time you have said “good boy”.
The clicker tells the dog the reward is coming, and that it has made a good attempt at that behaviour. The dog will try to make you click, and will try hard to please you. In an experienced dog the click means the game is on. The clicker gives an ego boost, and animals are reinforced by their own success in manipulating their environment. They enjoy making you click and will work hard to train you to do so.
Reward Training
A reward is something, which happens after an act has occurred, a form of payment for a job well done. You need to have good timing to be able to get the most out of this method. If your timing is out you could well be rewarding something you do not want. In some cases the subject does not always link the receiving of the reward with the act that earned it, because a delayed reward becomes an unconnected reward.
Both of the methods above are kind and fair and I have used both. The clicker allows attention to detail to a greater degree than the reward only based method. I found teaching tricks such as the spin relatively easy to do using just reward. However to teach something like the bow I used a clicker, and it helped to get the precise movement I wanted more effectively.
Not all trainees have been completely at ease with the clicker, holding the lead and a clicker is just too awkward for some people and difficult to coordinate. My aim is that trainees enjoy what they are doing so I would not insist on anyone using a clicker.
I have found that it can become noisy if everyone uses his or her clicker at once.
From my point of view I like both methods and would encourage the use of the two, but is very much up to the individual.
If you would like to use a Clicker then click here to find out how to get started or if you are interested in attending one of our Clicker Training Workshops then do contact me to register your interest.
Please do call Wendy on 01353 723258 should you have any further queries/problems that you need to discuss.
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