Posted on

“My Dog Is Friendly…”

Have you ever encounter an off leash dog running toward you while its owner calls out “My dog is friendly”? I have and too many times. If I get a dollar for each time I hear that sentence, I would have been rich already!

As an owner of a social-selective dog (he only likes a small group of dogs) and a dog behavior consultant working with dogs who have reactivity issues, “My dog is friendly” is the last sentence I want to hear especially if an off-leash dog is present.

Oftentimes, in my experiences, when a dog owner needs to tell me their dog is friendly is usually their dog doesn’t have a good reliable recall. Let me give you two examples that really resonate with me thus the reason for this article.

One time, I was walking my fearful dog on a hilly winding street without side walk. We saw an off-leash Labrador looking dog coming towards us. For my dog’s sanity and safety, I picked him up and I looked for an owner to that dog. No person was in sight. I called out “Can you call your dog?” and was hoping the owner would hear me and call the dog back. Then, I heard the owner called out “My dog is friendly!!!” as the dog gave us a low and deep warning growl while we stood at some distance away. How would that be a friendly dog? Can you imagine what that dog would do if he got closer to us? The owner was NOT apologetic at all when I told him my dog wasn’t friendly toward big dogs.

Recently, I was just finishing up a training session with a client and her dog near a busy strip of a street in a small town. We saw a big Cane Corso standing in the middle of the street, no owner, no leash, nothing. People nearby saw the dog and they tried to get the dog’s attention so he would come back to the side of the street for safety but he didn’t respond to any of those nice people’s calling. Then, the owner showed up, trying to call her dog. No luck. By this time, the dog moved to the local park with grassy area and peed, still not going back to his owner. At the time, where were a few people enjoying their afternoon in the park. One of them was a petite woman who acted very afraid of the dog and wanted to move away from the dog. As she moved away, she kept saying “I am really afraid of dogs! Don’t come over!” The owner of the dog still didn’t call her dog back but replied “my dog is friendly”. The dog was happily running around on the grassy area with the freedom he gained. I worried the dog would go back to the traffic or approaching that petite lady so I called for the dog and showed him some treats. Luckily, he was actually friendly and liked my treats so he came to me. He had a prong collar on so I didn’t want to just grab on that collar. As I gave the dog treats, one after another, the owner stood at some distance away from us beaming with smile and said “He is friendly”. I had to remind her to come to us so she would leash up the dog. Because I was able to keep the dog by my side, that petite lady was able to move further away without getting more stressed out.

Now you see why I would think “My dog is friendly” means “My dog doesn’t have a reliable recall”. It’s great that your dog is friendly. However, the truth is (1) the dog should not be off-leash in a leash law enforced area (city street in both cases) (2) there are people and other dogs who are afraid of the dog no matter how friendly this dog is. When you allow your friendly dog approach someone without invitation or consent, your dog is invading that individual space and adding on stress that is unnecessary. We don’t teach our children to run up to any strangers to interact with them. We don’t allow strangers run up to us and touch us. We always keep a polite distance so we don’t intrude each other’s space. We should do the same with dogs.

One thing I really enjoyed during the pandemic was the social distancing. It made walking my dog so much more enjoyable and stress-free because we kept social distancing from each other. With effective COVID vaccinations, we no longer need to keep the social distancing. However, I would still strongly encourage my readers to keep your distance especially if you and your dog see other people and their dogs. This is a way to show our consideration and care to others when using a public space.

If you don’t own a sensitive dog, you never know how many of us have to join the “midnight walking club” just so we wouldn’t run into other dogs while walking our sensitive dogs. You also wouldn’t realize how stressful and disappointing we may feel when we couldn’t provide safety to our sensitive dogs.

I, as one of the many owners with sensitive dogs, would really appreciate your support if you can help keeping your dog away from my or my clients’ sensitive dogs.

If you are the owner of a truly friendly dog, please consider to do the following:

(1) Keep your dog on-leash when walking in a leash law enforced area.

(2) Keep your dog close to you, away from the other dog as you pass each other.

(3) Don’t let your dog stare at the other dog for a prolonged time. Eye-staring is threatening in dog’s body language. If the sensitive dog is already stressed, the prolonged eye stare can really set the fearful dog off.

(4) Don’t let your dog run up to anyone or any dog. Have a structured greeting after you get the other owner’s permission and their dog’s consent.

If you are the owner of a not-always-friendly dog, please consider doing the following:

(1) Keep your dog on-leash and away from other dogs when walking in a leash law enforced area.

(2) Figure out the safe distance so you can keep your dog feeling safe and happy without needing to get unfriendly. Utilize treats or toys if your dog likes such.

(3) Keep your dog close to you, away from the other dog as you pass each other.

(4) Don’t let your dog stare at the other dog for a prolonged time. Eye-staring is threatening in dog’s body language. If the sensitive dog is already stressed, the prolonged eye stare can really set the fearful dog off.

If you are the owner of a sensitive dog, please consider doing the following to help your dog feel safer:

(1) Check out “Sniff Spot” (https://www.sniffspot.com/) so you can enjoy a location that’s free of distractions and threats.

(2) Consider enrolling your dog in a group class if he/she can handle the environment. Otherwise, consider hiring a dog training professional such as myself to learn more techniques to help your dog cope with the situations.

(3) If your dog likes treats or toys, bring them with you on the walk so that you can engage your dog with something fun while keeping distance away from other dogs.

(4) Learn to read your dog’s body language so that you can help de-escalate their stress before they get too scared or too stressed.

Let’s be considerate to all others while using the same space. No one should feel unsafe when they are out and about.

Posted on

The Power of Mat Work

Recently, I have met several dogs who are constantly jumping for attention and don’t understand how to modulate their energy. These dogs are like Energizer Bunnies that are always on the go. Their body is constantly experiencing cortisol overflow and this makes the dogs have a hard time to settle down and relax. These dogs would benefit from learning how to relax using mat settle exercise to teach them the on/off switch.

Mat settle, mat work, stationing, place, etc. call it whatever you want. This is a very useful training exercise and tool to help a dog to learn to relax and dial back on the energy powerhouse. I also think this is one of the most under-utilized and practiced behaviors when talking about obedience training by the owners. There are several benefits to teach dogs this exercise:

  • When you have multiple dogs in the household, teaching the dogs to got to their mats help ensure safe space from each other so you can manage resource guarding or a young jumpy puppy annoying a slow/senior dog.
  • With a designated location (mat or platform), it serves as a visual cue to the dog so they can stay within the boundaries. This would help when working with dogs who lack of impulse control and always want to chase moving objects.
  • For a shy/fearful dog, this serves as a safety blanket/safe zone. When the dog is in the zone, he learns he can be relaxed and feel safe. The owners is responsible to ensure the safety of the dog in the zone. It also serves as a visual boundary so people walking by can be aware of the space without getting too close to the dog.
  • When you have a busy-buddy dog who is always ON, this teaches the dog to relax on the mat thus he can get into a relaxed state faster. It is also a good default behavior for a dog to learn so that he doesn’t always need to participate in action or seek attention from others.
  • You can certainly use the location of the mat to teach your dog positioning in other more advanced training.
  • For a Service Dog team, this is an important default behavior while in the public so they can be calmly staying by their handler’s side without interrupting others.

There are many ways to teach the mat settle exercise. The detailed version is explained in Dr. Overall’s Relaxation Protocol (you can do a simple Google search to find the info). I usually start with a simple treat tossing onto the mat/bed to introduce the mat settle exercise. There are two key concepts: (1) reward the dog when he’s on the mat. This makes staying on the mat valuable. (2) place the reward treats on the mat without using a clicker/marker. This is to encourage the dog to relax. The licking behavior is also a self-soothing behavior. This helps to get the dog into a relaxation state quicker than just rewarding the staying on the mat itself.

Fenix is a dog who always seeks attention and he doesn’t know how to relax. His mom told me that he would never relax and didn’t know how to stay on his bed. We worked on the mat settle exercise in our first session. Within 15 minutes, Fenix started to offer a down behavior on his mat. By the end of the session, he preferred to stay on his mat rather than jumping on me for attention or to earn his treats. His mom worked diligently with him after our session. His mom shared these photos and was impressed on how Fenix has mastered the relaxation; not only would Fenix choose to go onto to his bed without being told, he is also showing more relaxed body posture while he is on his bed. This gives his mom more free time to focus her attention at work rather than constantly trying to find ways to manage Fenix or find outlets to entertain Fenix.

From top left/top right/bottom left/bottom right, it shows how Fenix gets more relaxed as the days go by. Photo credit: Kelly

Kalani is another dog who benefits from mat settle exercise. Kalani is food motivated. But sometimes her eagerness for food leads to competing for free food when there are other dogs nearby. In the video, we worked on ignoring the food tossed on the ground. She worked on staying on her mat and ignore free food. Her reward comes from mom hand-delivers yummy treats to her!

Kalani worked on advanced mat settle with leave it. Video credit: Kat
Posted on

A Dog Is Not Your Teddy Bear

Not long ago, Bailey was at his peak cuteness with his fur just long enough to have a bit of curl but not too long to get matted. He looked like a little lamb that many people want to run their fingers through his woolly coat.

Due to his look, Bailey often gets comments such as “Ohhhh, cute dog!”, “He looks like a little lamb.” or “He looks like a teddy bear!”. Bailey’s appearance draws people’s attention but this is also his Kryptonite. He hates being stared at or touched by strangers.

Mr. Lamb & Bailey

That day, as we were sniffing the good scents in the neighborhood, a person was walking pass us and made a comment “Oh, he looks like a teddy bear!”. Just to be polite, I replied with “Thank you” and was in a hurry to get Bailey moving while he stopped and sniffed the flower. Just as I expected but failed to prevent, the person stopped and reached her hand out to stroke Bailey’s back. Bailey ignored her for the most part but the hand was on his back for longer than he would tolerate so he growled at her. The person was surprised by his response and said “Oh, I guess he just realized he was harassed by a very nice person.” I gave no comment at that moment, however, I was upset with the common expectation that many people think a cute fluffy dog should accept stranger’s “friendly touch” without giving his consent.

As much as we want to be cuddly with a cute fluffy dog, it is not the polite way to interact with a dog you don’t know. Any dog, cute or not, fluffy or not, does NOT need to accept a forced interaction from a stranger. A dog is not a teddy bear and definitely not YOUR teddy bear. When you extend your “friendly” hand into a dog’s space, you are actually invading his personal space. For a dog who has no relationship with you, doesn’t know you, that is simply a harassment that he can’t refuse. When he uses his voice or his teeth to show his discomfort, he’s then labeled as “aggressive” or “mean”.

When you see a cute little girl running around with her parent, will you go up and touch the little girl without her consent? Will you ask the parent’s permission before you interact with the little girl? I am sure you’d get the permission before you have physical contact with the little girl. It is the same with dogs.

What should you do when you see a cute dog that you really want to cuddle and put your hands on?

First, keep your hands in your pockets. Keep your distance and admire that cuteness from distance with your eyes. Remember, don’t stare directly into the dog’s eyes.

Second, ask the owner if it’s OK to interact with the dog. Once you get the permission, you should follow the owner’s instruction on how to interact. If the owner didn’t give you instruction, you should use these non-threatening poses to invite the dog to you:

  • Get to dog’s nose level. Kneel to the dog’s level if it is a small size dog so you don’t encourage the jumping.
  • Let the dog come to you. When dog approaches you, keep your body relaxed and neutral. Don’t reach your hand out just yet. Let the dog sniff you first while you are remaining neutral with your position.
  • Don’t extend your hand out for the dog to sniff. That extended hand can be seen as intrusive. Instead, put your hands on the sides of your body, or put them on your legs. Let the dog sniff them first.
  • When the dog shows interest and wants more interaction from you, then you may do a gentle scratch under the chin or chest for 3 seconds. Then stop. This gives the dog a chance to decide if he wants more from you. If he wants more, he’ll lean his body into you to solicit more interaction. If he doesn’t want more, you give him a chance to move away without barking or snapping at you. No one gets hurt physically or emotionally.
  • Never lean over a dog, crowd a dog or put your hand over a dog’s head. All these postures are threatening to a dog. If you see a dog shying away from your extended hand, don’t continue your approach. Simply stop and give him space.
  • If the dog likes treats, with owner’s permission in case of food allergy, and toss a few yummy treats BEHIND the dog. This gives the dog no pressure to come to a scary stranger for food. Once the dog finds you giving no pressure but bringing yummy treats, he’ll be more relaxed and willing to come near you.

The very last thing you want to do is to hug tightly or squeeze the dog you don’t know. Remember, all dogs have teeth and they will use them when necessary.

Now, show your friendliness via your body language in a way a dog understands. Then you can make friendly interaction with each other.