Learn Key Techniques to Deal with your Dog’s Behavior Challenges
hello hello everyone welcome back to
sama Saturday where sama dog is bringing
you wellness and goodness and
inspiration for you and your canine
companions we’re really excited about
today’s show we are here with Zoe Sandor
who is just a really beautiful ray of
light in this world it’s your friend
someone who has an intuition and
connection to dogs like I’ve never seen
before
and I have learned so much from her in
our time and sharing together and I’m
sure we all will do that today so I’m
always excited when she says yes to my
invitations to come on which is always
because she’s very generous with her
time and her ability to help us and I
don’t think there’s a dog lover out
there dog parent out there that doesn’t
need this conversation you know some of
these conversations with the sama dog is
on the Saturdays are rather narrowed
into certain circumstances but when it
comes to our behavior and our connection
the behavior of our animals and
ourselves ultimately and the connection
with them and how we can help them to be
the best they can be every day this is
where it starts and it’s critically
important so we’re very grateful to all
of you that are jumping on the line I
see you comin on do let us know that
you’re here where you’re coming from and
where you’re at and we’ll definitely
have time for sharing for some questions
and the answers along the way with Zoe
and if you’re willing we’d love for you
to share this out there you know again
there’s no one that really has a dog
that this doesn’t apply to so I know
that this will help so many of our
friends so as Zoe
is as I mentioned not only a beautiful
friend and trainer she is quite a
pioneer in this work as well so she
started off with and I’ll just do a
little little bio of her and then she
can share more about herself but it
started off as Zoe’s dog training in San
Diego and became very well known and and
has amazing roots here and very
well-respected and then she last year
got the opportunity to an invitation
from Animal Planet to be on a show
called cat versus dogs maybe you guys
saw that show she
with Jackson galaxy that was her
companion there with he you know the cat
daddy and he like was the cat man and
she was the dog woman and they would
come into these houses that had key
lines and canines and helped them to
live a better life together and it was
so much fun to watch her and that and
just cheer for her and see her grow and
shine and then at the end of last year
she decided to take the leap and start
her a physical establishment so this is
called the pact method prep that’s the
name of her Academy for dogs and so it’s
a very unique formula that she’ll share
more about it’s here in San Diego in
Pacific Beach and so if you’re nearby
this is the place to check out it’s a
combination of daycare for your dogs
while they’re being trained and again
Zoe is like no other and her team is is
just that the same so without further
ado I’d love to turn it over to you Zoe
tell us a little bit more about your new
facility in the business how it’s going
before we get into some details sure hi
everybody I see you all popping on there
so so yeah the new facility is called
Pak method prep and it’s a preparatory
school for dogs and I actually modeled
it after my son’s preschool so it is
formed just like a school so owners will
drop their dogs off in the morning and
then we have sort of a preschool recess
where dogs are able to socialize and
we’re able to Train and kind of work on
their social manners as well as their
recall and their attention and we do the
touch command we also teach them how to
disengage from playing with each other
at before they kind of reach these high
arousal States and we work on that
really hard in that first social hour
then we have to unleash our long
training periods then a two hour nap
right in the middle of the day everybody
sleeps we everyone gets created
everybody sleeps it’s never been an
issue where someone doesn’t sleep maybe
on their first day but after that
they’re like oh my get it this is this
is where we get to read you know
recharge and then we come back for
another midday recess two more on these
training sessions and then at the end of
the day the dogs get to sort of free
socialize more still supervising but
we’re not as active with the training
from 5:00 to 6:30 when they’re getting
picked up so it is a full day long
program people purchase months-long
tuition sort of packages so it’s very
much like a school or kind of like a gym
membership in that way that you know
that it you’re you kind of get your spot
save and then you know it’s a long-term
program so a lot of people ask us you
know if the comparison between our
program and a boot camp like a board and
train and it’s really not it’s not that
you know it’s not a send your dog for a
month and then you know pop them back up
trained it’s really we’re trying to
focus on the fact that we think dogs
really need this continued education
through their formative years and that’s
from you know four months all the way
past three years so ideally people are
sending their dog for long term to
stimulate them and get them the sort of
Education and the just mental
stimulation that they would meet on a
regular basis it’s a long explanation
because it doesn’t really exist right
now so I can’t just say well it’s a
training school it’s a training daycare
you know and there’s not really a quick
synopsis but but that’s the that’s the
quickest synopsis I can I can give you
yeah no that’s great and it doesn’t need
to be quick you know why is it that we
live in this Western world especially
that everything needs to be fast and you
know one pill and pitched and send my
dog away and they come back change it’s
time for us to recognize how important
this relationship is and you know that’s
what’s AMA dog is all about is the human
and the dog wellness for both and
wellness for all and balance for all and
learning for all and they
so much that is available there for
these beings in our life that we think
that we have like this power over and
where the leader of and certainly we
were the guardian of but their teachers
and their respected in that role and the
more we do that the more they can help
us improve our lives as well
yeah yeah absolutely absolutely so I’d
love to talk a little bit about what we
shared last night so Zoe and I were on
the line late later last night after the
kiddos went to bed her kiddos she’s got
two beautiful little ones a brand-new
baby girl that couldn’t be more gorgeous
and your little boy in the two I hope
they do come in so we could just say
hello to them so last night after they
went to bed we were talking about Jake
Jake is for those that haven’t been
following closely and don’t know and
Jake’s mama is actually on the line
right now also so thank you for being
here with us and for caring about your
dog so much to take to go to these
extents because that really is you know
what she’s done she has been willing to
bring her dog she lives in New York
she brought her dog all the way out to
San Diego brought him all the way to the
Samba dog house to have Jake stay here
for a while with us to work on his
balance and what does he what does he
need what is he doing he’s been you know
ever since he met her he has his mama
that is he has been super overly
reactive to her to everything about her
so we’re doing a lot of conversation as
well on the human side of things let’s
say human only where we’re talking about
you know what is it that Jake’s trying
to say and why are these little teachers
brought into our life at a certain time
in a certain way where sometimes they
push us to a certain place that we may
not have been otherwise until we meet
them and that’s definitely what’s going
on with the two of them so we’ve had a
lot of conversations about the human
side of it of this and now we’re going
to be talking about the the dog side of
this Jake side of this and how can we
help his behaviors that are so triggered
so what is he doing you know he’ll do
different things like I was sharing with
Zoey last night that he’ll be just
sitting on the couch and he’ll one
attention you’ll tell him like he can
come up on the couch but instead he’ll
just sit there and bark at you with this
there
shrill high-pitched very intense bark
and you can’t really get him to stop the
more you engage with him the more he
barks at you and so Joey was already
teaching me just the in the initial
engagement what to do there so she
taught me some great pointers and I’ll
just let you share Zoey what those were
because already in in less than 24 hours
they’ve been very helpful so yeah just
assume that maybe you want to make a
little summary of what you shared with
me yeah so you know when you first kind
of came to me with Jake’s issue you kind
of defined it as an excessive barking
issue and so we talked a little bit and
I was able to you know get an idea of
the exact circumstance in which the
barking was happening so that we could
determine the motivation behind the
barking so I can’t fix an issue if I
don’t have some sort of an idea of what
the underlying cause is so we talked
about it and when you described that
particular scenario it became clear to
me that this was attention barking which
is a certain kind of just a certain form
of of excessive barking so when it comes
to access or attention barking the
motivation is pretty good it’s right in
the name it’s to get your attention and
so when you know what the motivation is
behind a behavior for a dog it’s so much
easier to manipulate the behavior by
increasing or decreasing the thing
that’s motivating them so in this case
it was what he wants the most in in this
particular situation is your attention
and he was using his voice to get the
attention and ignoring the dog when
their barking is very difficult um
because it’s in our nature that when a
sudden kind of loud noise happens that
we look at that thing it’s almost an
instinct but even that small amount of
attention given for that behavior can
exacerbate the behavior or in another
way of saying it reinforce that behavior
because it worked we essentially gave
the dog
just exactly what they want it it would
be the same if a dog was very food
motivated and they would bark for food
that they bark at me and mmediately toss
sheet on the ground that’s definitely
how you’re gonna increase the barking so
for a dog like Jake you would want to
decrease the attention for the behavior
that you’re trying to eliminate so every
time what I suggested to you is that
every time
Jake bark that he get a timeout which is
a separation from you and there are
multiple ways we didn’t have to talk
about this but there’s multiple ways of
giving the timeout
there’s the dog going into a timeout and
then there’s you leaving the room and
both of them tend to be quite effective
when we decided to work on with Jake was
him going into a timeout and kinda see
how that works so he possibly Shawn Jake
and the second that he barked it was a
nope I don’t like that walking straight
into I suggested a bathroom shut the
door and the timeout should be a pretty
small amount of time so just like with
toddlers the timeout doesn’t need to be
a long period of time because actually
it gets confusing for them if it’s not a
quick response and if they aren’t given
an opportunity to try again in a short
period of time so he gets a 30-second 15
to 30 second timeout then he’s allowed
to come back out you sit back down on
the couch and we try it again meanwhile
another thing that we kind of talked
about was trying to find the moment when
we could reward him for behavior we do
want and in Jake’s situation that takes
a minute to think about what behavior do
we want what would we prefer that he do
instead and we’re trying to decrease the
neediness right
so therefore what’s the opposite of a
needy dog an independent confident dog
so we’re trying to then reward
independent confident behavior obviously
it’s a lot easier if you’re rewarding
that consistently throughout the dog’s
life and you’re reinforcing it and
teaching him how to be a confident
independent dog but you can still work
on it in that exact moment to buy
waiting for him to either sit there
quietly that would be the bottom kind of
absolute minimum that we need or even
better waiting for him to kind of give
up staring at you and just go alright
fine
and either lay down or turn and walk
away
go engage something else like a toy or
you know you just relax and that would
be the moment that I would immediately
go get my dog attention so that’s sort
of the synopsis of what we tried with
with Jake and I know we talked about
some other things you want me to dive
right in yeah I did swimming for one
question so far is that I guess well
first of all I didn’t realize as many
maybe some of our viewers – didn’t
realize that the timeout should be so
short that’s very important to know I’m
understanding through you better and
better of how short the the wind the
timing with dogs is key and that quotes
of the reaction of our not reaction but
our response I should say yeah and the
quickness of just showing them the
proper way is all very relatively small
so you know being on your toes with this
training is really good so then my other
question is when he turns in them so
he’s staring at me barking ah nice to
know soft he’s being good he turns away
my thought our confusion I guess is if I
reward him when he turns away
immediately I’ve got his attention back
that doesn’t teach him to just keep his
attention on me longer so it can it does
depend it so that’s a great question it
does depend on the dog and and and how
insanely needy they are sometimes it is
best to to actually allow the behavior
to be self rewarding you know is that if
you are practicing independence you are
going to feel better in your body and
that might be good enough you could even
like toss up food on the ground so it’s
not necessarily you going over giving
affection but it’s it there’s still a
reward kind of happening for that mm-hm
with me the log-dog is it depends on the
level of neediness with a lot of dogs
they will if it’s repeated
consistently enough they will start to
go oh the sooner I get my butt over
there and laid out the sooner I’m gonna
get what I want and they’ll get to that
faster so that you’re creating that more
space and you don’t necessarily have to
give them once they start doing that
more automatically you don’t necessarily
have to give them a reward immediately
you can start moving off and and
elongating the amount of time that
you’re requiring them to practice that
independence before they get that reward
mm-hmm but that’s a good question yeah
yeah it makes total sense and that also
what really I took note of what you said
is independence and confidence that
there were two things that we can tell
that Jake doesn’t have I mean he acts
like he’s mr. tough guy you don’t
bossing everybody around
but he’s so clean like you can’t even go
from here to there and not follow you
and so I’m going to continue also to
reward the behavior of any time he’s
kind of like doing his own thing and
he’s being his old man and disconnected
from that cord that’s so closely tied
all the time
that’s HIPPA great – yeah and so that
that then kind of leads me into that
there are some preventative things that
you can do as well you know I don’t
think that it helps fully like you’re
not you’re not doing the best service to
the dog and setting them up enough for
success if you’re only dealing with the
problem with the problem in the moment
that the problem is occurring because in
that moment Jake is feeling anxious but
you know obviously he’s got some
insecurities and he’s feeling needy and
that’s a harder time to do the training
that’s more like damage control what do
I do when the behavior is actually
happening but to answer the question of
how do I fix this behavior there has to
be a conversation about how to prevent
in the first place and how to teach the
dog how to be a better confident
independent dog in general so that
brings up how to teach to two different
things number one we want to teach the
dog how to be more independent and
number two we want to teach him how to
have control of his impulses your that’s
what barking is this is a symptom of an
impulse control issue he is
having a feeling and he’s responding to
it immediately instead of taking a
second to take a breath and think before
reacting
that’s what barking is this with jumping
is those are all impulse control kind of
reactions in dogs so if I first want to
increase his ability to control his
impulses stay is the number one way to
do that teaching a sit-stay a Down
staying a weight is a version of stay
but anything that creates hesitation
before before reward anything at all and
I like staying the most starting with
something really really small like can I
just put you in a stay and take a step
back and increasing to being being able
to do these long-term stays where your
dogs in a down state while you’re eating
lunch or your dogs in a down state while
you’re watching TV not only does it
create some impulse control in the dog
but it also gives them a job to do which
you know directly can’t you know sort of
contradicts the job that they were
attempting to have in order to get their
award of attention so that one’s a big
one the creating impulse control and
giving the dog an alternate job and to
do and then the other one is creating
independence and something that I think
is undervalued when it comes to training
a new dog especially new rescues because
they tend to be I don’t know what Jake’s
history is but yeah
rescues tend to be a lot more needy
because they’ve had some popping around
in their lives and a little bit too much
change that’s our fan of change they
like routine and schedule it is
tethering it’s so simple but tethering
in the house not to you but to a piece
of furniture so teaching the dog that
sometimes you’re gonna be stuck here and
I’m gonna move away from you and you can
start really really small with this and
you know eventually yeah it would be
great if you could tether the dog and be
able to leave and make lunch in the
other room and come back but that’s not
where you start where
in that situation you know if Jake barks
what are you gonna do about it you know
so instead you start with something
really small where you tether him and
then you just stand up give a treat
stand up give a treat
stand up and take like turn your
shoulder give a treat and kind of see
where the dog is and start teaching it
off slowly that it is been a beneficial
to you when I move away we do want to
get to the point where there’s some
really cool tools out there that can
separate you from the one that has to
give their reward and there’s one mote
there’s actual remote treat dispensers
that are super awesome that you can just
stick right next to the dog and every
time you move away boom huh
yeah and that’s super helpful and then
eventually you can get to the point
where you tether them and just give them
like a stuffed Kong or something while
you you know and eventually you don’t
need treats at all but so there’s a
process to it but the bottom line is
teaching the dog how to be by themselves
is going to help with that with that
scenario definitely – and then of course
there’s exercise but I want to pause and
see if anybody have any questions or
anything or not yeah no it’s great so a
thank you and it makes so much sense
like every time I speak of cutest is at
almost maybe some of our viewers are
feeling this too like it’s like oh yeah
well that’s kind of obvious but Yemen
let me just be the the person that that
then is is feeling you know first of all
I probably like everybody else that we
just don’t see it with when it’s in
front of us sometimes I know that for me
I will get like too logical about it and
think more like a human probably than
like a dog and you help us to see it
from the dog’s perspective right well
for all of our viewers that are jumping
on now if you are just joining us this
is Zoey Sandor she is the owner of the
pack method prep school for dogs down in
San Diego and Pacific Beach she’s an
amazing dog trainer she is the one to
really help us in some of these
sometimes more complex situations I know
she’s had lots of very difficult dogs
that sometimes just the day-to-day to
these
the tips that we’re talking about today
that I think all of us struggle at some
level with our dog being over reactive
or to needy sometimes or lacking
independence so we are open for your
questions as well we’ll keep sharing and
we have more that we kind of want to get
into but let’s hear from you and hear
any questions that you might have please
type them in below I want to say hello
to Christine who’s with us and Yvette
and Rachel Deborah I said your mom
always done good job long supporting the
daughter my mother should be out here
any time down to week eight such a great
supporter and she’s so good when she’s
in our facebook lives because she really
helps us to kind of recap in her
comments it’s great so nice to see you
kay so she said great tips to redirect
then reward it takes consistency and
Zoey has great tips to offer yes she
sure does so again if any of you have
questions or just you know let us know
that you’re here where you’re watching
from but if you’re challenged with your
dog likes of course sometimes it’s a
bigger conversation as you heard in the
beginning if we were just to say my dog
barks too much there’s a lot of
questions for that so be as specific as
you can but get some tips now from this
doggie genius you might as well so in
while we’re waiting for some questions
to come in or kind of seen if there’s
anything well here’s here’s one already
so we might as well take it but we do
have another I have another question for
you
so Nicole is saying what methods should
I do well let me put it up actually and
don’t maybe where it says what message
should I do with my puppy who if I’m
having a conversation he’ll start a
high-pitched incessant bark until I stop
barking and I think you men until you
stop talking um but maybe your dog does
think that’s barking um that’s actually
really can I it is okay that’s really
common it’s really common for dogs to
start the reactivity when their owner
gets on the phone um too and so I don’t
know if you meant on the phone or just
starting to talk to a person um but my
feeling
is that there are different motivations
behind that and knowing more about the
dog as a whole would help me kind of
determine exactly what that dog’s
particular motivation is but somewhat
sometimes and I know this is true for
myself when I’m talking to when I’m when
I’m just having kind of a normal
conversation with someone in my family
that’s one thing but when I’m talking on
the phone or if I’m talking to a friend
that’s over my voice changes and the
thing that I know for sure that happens
and this just happened when I was on the
phone with Amanda last night but my baby
wakes up in the other room only when I’m
talking on the phone or talking so if
I’m talking about husband no problem if
I’m talking to my son no problem but if
I’m talking on the phone or if I’m
talking to a guest my voice changes and
I believe that the arousal level is
affected you know you’re more animated
you’re a little more excited even at an
impress or ton perceptible imperceptible
amount of increase in arousal so your
dog however would be especially
sensitive to those slight increases in
arousal and depending on the breed of
your dog
some dogs are even more susceptible to
those changes so that could be part of
what’s causing this to be the moment
that they decide to start barking
another thing that tends to be part of
it is that that is the moment that their
owners not paying attention to them
anymore
like they know Oh suddenly I’m not you
know suddenly my orders not watching and
so now I’m gonna go be reactive at the
window where when my owner is paying
attention I know that they’re gonna come
correct me so I don’t bark as much so
that’s another reason sometimes when
they start we start it up right when
right when there’s a conversation so not
sure what Nicole’s dog’s motivation is
but those are some possibilities how to
fix the problem is to set that up set up
that scenario so you said
as Susan having a conversation so I
don’t again I don’t know if that’s with
someone in person or
or with the phone but regardless set up
the scenario as a training session so
call if you think it’s on the phone call
someone they you know text them and say
like I’m gonna call you this is not a
real conversation also by the way I
don’t know if the dog is reacting if
it’s a phone call sometimes they can
react to the sound that’s coming out of
the phone if they’re especially sound
sensitive so it could be the other
person’s voice
but regardless set them up and have
little tiny conversations so hi treat
how’s it going treat you wouldn’t
believe what happened to me today
treat and I would go back to the same
thing of using the timeout for
Corrections now this is assuming that
the dog is barking at her it says he’ll
start a high-pitched and it bark but I’m
I wasn’t sure if it was barking at
Nicole or barking at something in the
environment but assuming he’s barking at
you the timeout is still the best sort
of correction to give to stop the
barking but the most important thing is
really setting setting up those
scenarios instead of expecting to be
able to do the training in real time
when you’re having to be and trying to
have a conversation with someone because
that’s really difficult and you can set
up those scenarios multiple times a day
to the by the time you are having a
conversation a real conversation that
you have set your dog up for success and
I would not forget the power of
management when it comes to dog training
and dog trainers when we talk about
management we’re talking about
preventing the problem from ever
happening and instead of modifying the
behavior we’re talking about preventing
the behavior so if you haven’t gotten to
a point where your dog can handle a
conversation look for ways to prevent
them from having that so putting them in
the other room with the delicious frozen
stuffed Kong when you know you’re about
to have a conversation can can be
helpful in the meantime while you’re
still you know trying to modify that
behavior yeah so they don’t it reminds
me of with Jake too so that they don’t
have that constantly elevated
we talked about that last night when
dogs are just in such a reactive place
where before Jake came here I think he
was barking pretty much all day every
day you could tell at first he that’s
exhausting
yeah opposite his doing he’s creating
that for himself it’s also obvious to
see that the guy’s pooped out like he
just can’t take it anymore his stress
hormones were on peak and so I think
just getting them away from it as you
said managing the situation so they
don’t even have that heightened
experience you can then just bring them
into that calm state which was another
recommendation you gave to me but with
him the experience of calm whether it’s
massage or meditation or just time
together in ease but like real deep rest
give them that opportunity on the flip
side don’t give them that constant
trigger that’s going to take them out of
that rest so it makes sense yeah yeah
great well we have a few more questions
here let me bring a couple more up and
oh I was just going to mention that
Nicole is from our training our course
that we have right now going we have our
six-week online course total wellbeing
for dogs happening this week the theme
was trick is training so that’s why it’s
so perfectly timed and a few of the
other students are on here as well so
let’s see let me just go back down here
a little bit Gail says let me pull up
Gail’s here pulling that up can i I just
noticed that Nicole asks if he barks at
dogs and wants to play do I do I give a
correction for that and I just want to
say I allow a little bit of barking
during play
excessive constant barking like if you
have a hound dog or some of the Terriers
that that is something that you know it
all comes down to the arousal level but
I think there I do have a different
different than my expectations of the
way the dog interacts with dogs and the
way the dog interacts with me and
there’s barking during play and then
there’s barking at dogs that are playing
and that is two different things
different things barking at dogs when
they’re playing is the same as alert
attention barking and yeah
that should be corrected by barking
during play like we’re playing under a
stop and I bow yeah and then I play and
then I stop that I attend to laughs yeah
it’s part of their natural behavior
because you don’t want to squelch them
you know train is not about squelching I
think that’s a misunderstanding it’s not
about getting them to be submissive and
do what we say it’s about elevating them
to be like you said confident
independent dogs that get it they get
how to play they get how to be with
people they get how to greet strangers
they get how to be calm when you’re on
the phone and therefore they’re live in
their best life they’re not suppressed
because also that can result in
imbalances in the body just like human
beings that suppress themselves
emotionally so I think it’s a beautiful
technique that you have to allow them to
be who they are
so Gail says couldn’t you just say what
a good boy with a pet when he is being
good as a reward or a favorite toy
instead of constantly using food as a
reward yeah such a great question Thank
You Gail
it depends yes absolutely but it depends
on the dog so my method of training is
to try to get us get the dog successful
as quickly as possible because I think
that that’s the least stressful for the
dog so I’m not going to withhold food as
a reward if the food is what’s gonna get
the dog to the response faster without
ink you know terribly increasing the
dog’s arousal level there are some dogs
that are so food motivated that putting
food into the mix and especially putting
it in as often as we do for for training
increases their arousal level which is
the opposite of what I’m trying to do
and in that case yes I would definitely
use something else probably I just go to
affection um but and then of course on
the other side of that there are dogs
that are not free motivated at all and
if they’re not food motivated at all we
have to find something else and in those
instances absolutely a tug toy is a
really common the word that is used for
working dogs more more driven by games
and by
activity than they are by food and then
also affection for the companion dogs
that are more driven by affection and
attention than by by food so yeah I use
food to accent what I want if if that
works for the dogs but it’s not
necessary in it’s not
it wouldn’t be my chosen route and with
every single box he’s a little different
mm-hmm yes I’ve experienced that with my
big dog violet who I’ve been training
just in general to you know she’s new in
our life but also we’re hoping that she
becomes a therapy dog and what we found
quickly especially when she got nervous
in the training facility cuz we go there
she didn’t eat anything but my voice Lee
appraised at first but then I realize my
voice I would do all these fluctuations
and she would just suddenly the tails
back up again and she’s excited and
we’ve also used the positive
reinforcement at the end of every
training session we bring in a friend
now this one guy that she really likes
and they she’s big and he’s bigger so
they can like wrestle around ya end of
the experience when she had after you
know her 45 minutes of training then we
bring him in and that has changed things
a lot because that whole facility now
has a better energy for her because it’s
associated with play versus here and I
think that’s a really good point too
about ending on a positive note is that
training session should be very short
and should leave your dog wanting more
and with you bringing the you know
friends over at the end of the training
session that’s really what the dog
remembers the most is what happened in
the last five minutes of your training
session so if in the last five minutes
of your training session they’re having
a fantastic time and then you stop the
next time that you start your training
session they’re going to be even more
motivated to participate in that so it’s
really important not to push your dog
like oh they’re doing great let me go to
the next step yeah until they’ve already
had multiple successes at that at that
current level great insight I really did
not realize that before and now see it
so strongly and violet okay I also want
to add that if you are using foods as a
reward you can
paid them off so a lot of people think
that they don’t want to use foods as a
ward because then they’ll be stuck on
food forever and that’s just not true
not if you’re doing it correctly dogs
are you use the food every single time
to teach the behavior and once the
behavior is known in every environment
around every distraction so let’s say
we’re talking about fit and now your dog
can you sit on slippery surfaces on
carpet on grass on dry grass and wet
grass inside outside and now your dog
can you sit everywhere then you should
start fading down the food reward you
still use your verbal rewards that you
start feeding off the food rewards
intermittently bittermann rewarding has
been proven to actually increase the
dog’s motivation for the activity itself
dogs like to gamble
so if we won every single time gambling
that’s not what makes Campbell you fun
right what makes gambling fun is the are
we gonna win is this the time is this
the chance that you know this the one
where I’m gonna get the treat that’s
what gives people that sort of addiction
to gambling and dogs love to gamble so
once you teach them to behavior with the
reward every time switch to intermittent
rewards so vary their rewards
not not regular so not like every other
time they’ll figure that pattern out no
patterns just kind of irregular and that
will get you to the point we then you
can start slowly fading off he treats
all together
brilliant brilliant so insightful so
helpful so let’s hear from Christine she
has a question here my 18 month old
neutered Swiss Mountain Dog has had
excessive extensive training since he
was a pup he was very scared of every
object and was the little guy of his
litter we’ve taught him the basics he
earned his good citizen different and
extra commands for fun always loves
those big dog puzzles and we play a lot
of games he oh we didn’t have more hey
cut off there maybe it comes back oh
yeah here we go
let’s put this one up the rest of it he
said training herding sheep and scent
training but even with all the trust
we’ve built he has separation anxiety
when I’m
in the same room with him we’ve tried
many things over several months that
it’s gotten worse now that I’ve started
working from home what do you suggest
so I found with those dogs I I think
they can’t ignore sometimes the the
aspect of genetics you know and I you
know there’s there’s a lot of things
that are kind of coming in into this
equation and one of those of courses
that you said that he’s kind he’s a
little guy of the group and that he’s
always been very needy and um dogs do
have specific temperaments so with all
the training in the world not all the
dogs are gonna suddenly be the same you
know if all dogs are trained perfectly
they don’t they don’t end up with the
same personality they are still gonna
have just like people there’s some
people that are more codependent and
there’s some people that are more
independent um and and so what we can do
is try to get him just increase the
confidence as much as possible and when
you work from home that does make it
difficult because then you have to
listen what’s funny is that this is the
same with people um with parents that
work from home right I mean if you know
any moms that are stay-at-home moms the
kid that connection with their kids is
something that they is extreme and that
they have to work towards you know
pushing the kid out of the nest a lot of
times because you know the kid is so
used to them being around all the time
you know and which is the opposite for
you know me I work outside of the home
and every time I come home I’m gonna I’m
working on kind of creating more of that
codependence
you know and the same is with the dog so
it’s difficult when you have a
codependent dog and you work from home
to you there all the time so there’s
there are some things that you can do
and it’s just really looking for ways to
have someone else for your dog to depend
on so I don’t know um I think was
Christine presentation Christine but if
you have someone else that lives in the
home having them take over a lot of the
dogs care is extremely helpful so the
two most helpful would be having
the ones that walk it off having them be
them well I’m not talking about the most
helpful and I’ll get to that because
it’s really hard but the the second or
third thing would be having them walk
the dog and having them keep it off when
the dog like that that’s very
codependent though having the primary
person freeze them out a little bit of
affection and having someone else be
giving more of that affection can be
extremely helpful in dividing that that
dependence from one person to that you
know my people my family it’s so hard to
do so I hate giving that assignment
sometimes that is the assignment that’s
needed so creating some separation
between the main caretaker and the dog
can help them create some more
independent and it could also be me
meaning if the dog sleeps in bed with
you having them start to speak either at
on the floor in a crate or if they sleep
in the bedroom with you having them
sleep outside the bedroom in a crate
we’re not trying to shun the dog we’re
not trying to take them away from their
pack but we are trying to find moments
where we can teach them that they’re
going to survive not being with me all
the time I I would probably recommend
the tethering to if she hasn’t tried
that though she may have already and
then I would also recommend outside
social activities so there’s all kinds
of ways you can do that it depends on
the dog social ability but it could be
simple as a dog walker or it could be
even more like a daycare or an excursion
that’s coming and taking the dog out so
they have experiences outside the home
so that if you’re not being because
you’re working from home at least the
dog I think I’m getting some experiences
outside the home as well
mm-hmm it’s very good and and so you
know logical to again things know I keep
saying that but it really helps us to
define or to understand the patterning
in the way in which the canine brain
works and again sometimes we humans
don’t think of it or just start I think
distracted with our lives very often
times and and our
you know preoccupied and now these kind
of conversations can bring us back into
some of those tangible things that we
can do today because training is
everyday like you said you’re not just
sending the dog off somewhere and comes
back done and now we’re good the rest of
our lives just like a child or any of us
we didn’t stop learning look at us we’re
still learning right here so that I have
to continue a few little more little
tidbits just about that last comment
would be first of all sporting sports
are very confidence building so kudos
we’re doing the scent training and the
sheep herding and kind of accessing your
dog’s instincts in that way it can be
very supportive for confidence you can
use the scent training if he was really
into it
I would use that and start playing find
it games at home always in the room that
you are not so hiding all the treat put
your dog in a stay hiding all the stuff
and going okay find it and you walk out
and then while your dog finds all the
treats so that could be something if
your dog is really into that where you
can bring that into the home and and use
it to create that space and to create
some positive association with being
separated for Mom
so that is one thing I wanted to mention
and I have a second one but it I lost it
when they had to come back to it I think
that would help a lot with Jake as well
with the independence we do have let’s
see let’s try this question it takes us
kind of to a different part of training
rescue two male dachshund and fixed him
but still urinates and marks after
walking him outside I do have a seven
year old female PAP peppy on also you
know what to do with the way urinates
and marks after working outside and I’m
assuming um out of line what you mean is
he’s he’s being inside I’m the house so
so first of all I think this is this
this kind of rings of a topic that means
a lot to me um in that I do not advocate
using neutering as a way to modify
behavior because it is rare that it is
the actual
cause of the behavior and will actually
fix the behavior in and of itself so um
could that Zoey because a lot of people
are confused about that and I hear it
all the time
and they pointed when nothing changes
yeah yeah you know and yes absolutely so
we really hope you know I think I think
there you know you can it’s so hard
because just like as a human parent
we’re getting advice from so many
different places and it’s hard to know
you know what’s the right advice and and
that’s that is still some advice that is
being given out there is you know as
asked like that the first step in the
solution because because neutering is
it’s kind of thought of as this like no
big deal like your dog humping neuter
them fix it up you know like that’s your
problem
but in my experience as a trainer I have
not seen enough of a correlation between
in the intact nature of it of a male dog
and this and these behaviors it does I
mean in in that in that um in that not
enough of a correlation for it to be the
first go to a head of training so
however because this foundation is in it
has been neutered we know that that is
not the cause for the urinating and the
marketing inside so at least we can
eliminate that as a as a possibility so
that’s great
and I didn’t see and it in if a lion I
don’t know if she can pop in real quick
but I didn’t see how old this dog is and
that is something that might affect my
recommendation however marking inside is
a and because by the way guys is because
the age indicates where they are in
their maturity and depending on where
they are on the maturity there can be
more of this like testosterone burst
thing happening and you know it making
them watch a mark on everything some
dogs kind of keep that forever but you
know some dogs it’s it’s more of a phase
and so
I would be curious to know how old this
foxy is um however marking outside of
those reasons is another impulse control
issue
it’s I smell it I have the the feeling
that made a whop he on it and I do say
miss barking same as jumping it’s it’s
the same and so the first thing that I
would do is start teaching your dog even
when they’re on their loss to start
conserving their urine and just peeing
once or twice on the walk instead of
allowing them to just be pppp pppp all
over especially dogs that mark a lot it
means that they are consciously saving
their yearn for the next place for them
to pee and um that’s not so helpful if
they’re saving it and then pee inside
the other side of that is what do I do
when they do pee inside and there’s
there’s a few different what we’re
dealing with in that situation if it’s
all marking it’s not necessarily a
housebreaking issue because it’s not
that the dog doesn’t know where to go
it’s that they’re not really respecting
the house as a as a place that they live
in oh my gosh as I’m talking right now
guys I have like a million questions
like I know this is what I’m hesitating
to answer this because I want to know um
what does the P look like like is he
lifting his leg is it going up the wall
or is it actually happening on the floor
um what room is it happening in is it
happening in the room that he sleeps is
it happening and his crate is it
happening is it happening in the room
where he eats and then I’d also want to
know is it happening at certain times
like when he goes over friend’s house or
when a dog comes over to his house is
the seven year old female Papillon I’m
assuming that’s what you meant by that
it is that dog incontinent and having
any issues peeing inside it or is it
just that dog exists because just the
existence of that dog should not be
causing should not be causing pee from
this dachshund so there’s a lot that
goes into a potty issue and so it’s not
really a quick and do necessarily a
quick fix you
if I were to give you the quick answer
it would be constant supervision the dog
does not does not is not sort of given
the opportunity to have any freedom
whatsoever until the pain stops so there
should be no freedom inside the house at
all either the dog is in a crate or
leash to you the entire day and so that
you can catch all the accidents and give
a correction maybe just like a hay with
a Handclap and immediately take them
outside and go potty every time they go
potty outside they should be getting a
reward we should be limiting the potty
outside so that they’re only paying like
twice so that we’re saying get it all
out now buddy because you’re not gonna
have the opportunity inside and those
would be and then and then if you are
having a really hard time catching it
sometimes the use of a belly band or
like a male diaper can be helpful to at
least decrease the urinating in the
house
so that you can make redo your carpets
or something if they’re starting to get
a real rank and then and and start
creating that some some dogs will not
pee when that’s on them cuz they’re like
I have something on me and then you can
create the space between your nations by
just keeping that on some dogs do pee in
the diaper and in that case it’s just
saving your furniture it’s not
necessarily helping with the training
itself so sort of a convoluted answer to
that one um but hopefully you can see
there’s kind of a lot that goes into it
yeah well like we mentioned last night
it’s like when I talk with one of my
clients and they they’ll say my dog’s
foot is itching like all she’s doing is
itching his foot what’s wrong and so
there’s this whole list of questions
that I would need to ask to try to
figure out you know is this behavior is
it physical is there something in the
ball you know all the other things so we
certainly understand the need for more
backup kind of larger picture
information but you your answers like
you’re sharing has been great and
showing us the differences and why we
need to ask those questions and it
matters so before we finish up Zoey I
would love you know one thing that we’ve
talked about and I talked
very often with clients is the need for
more exercise for our dogs I think most
dogs I don’t know the statistic maybe
you have one but I would say most dogs
at least half are not exercised enough
and therefore are exhibiting some sort
of unfavorable behavior because of that
yeah well before we close up will you
just share with us one or two ways that
you suggest people get some exercise
with their dogs and actually I’ll just
mention that yesterday when I said that
I’ve been walking Jake you shared that
although walking is great they’re still
like all this resistance being built so
walking sometimes is not serving the
purpose that we think so share with us
your thoughts on exercise yeah so the
first thing that you need to take into
consideration when you’re when you’re
figuring out what how you should
exercise your dog is their breed and
then also their age so if they are under
18 months they should not be going on
long runs with you so a lot of people
are like they get these really
high-energy dogs and this is such a
struggle and I know it is but a lot of
people get these really high-energy dogs
and then they’re like no problem I’ll
just take them on a bike ride or I’ll
take them on the skateboard or I’ll take
them on my my you know I I’m trained for
a marathon I’m gonna take them with me
on these runs and like not until they’re
a year and a half my friends because
they are still developing their bones
and that’s a super high it is an impact
sport um the running part of it so I
think that taking them on jogs and runs
and stuff it is awesome um but make sure
that they’re the appropriate age to so
that you’re not gonna hurt you some
longevity in their physical stuff um and
then their breed take that into
consideration absolutely um so if I had
a border collie for example and I was
like I don’t know why my dog is never
tiring out I take my dog on a jog
everyday cuz my dogs over a year and
half um I would say yeah that is the
most boring activity you could possibly
choose and um they are not that is that
there is not nearly enough mental
stimulation and not to actually tire
your dog out there has to be a
combination of thought process in it
when it comes to the
hire intelligent higher intelligence
breeds so a long walk for a for a
Frenchy or a bulldog it’s gonna be
perfect but for a you know a working dog
it’s probably not gonna really do the
trick even if you’re doing it multiple
times a day so sports like some of our
people were getting into our huge
specifically the sports that are that
your dog was bred to do are going to be
significantly more mentally exhausting
we do something called a 6-pack wags or
like suspect egg abs or pack Pilates at
um pack method crap which is a class
like which is intricate sort of core
workouts for dogs that is way more
exhausting than going on a walk so I and
then swimming god I love swimming
swimming is so great if your dog is a
water dog like that is one of the best
exercises for them super exhausting you
know you have to be careful of the water
quality and all that stuff that goes
into it but but I think that the first
thing if you’re the first thing you do
is is think about your dog and what they
need the most and then go from there
that that’s the best jumping-off point I
would also say that a combination of
different things is also the best way to
go so I like again if I have a border
collie my dogs probably gonna get walked
twice a day my dogs also gonna probably
go hurting one or two times a week and
then my dogs also gonna get trained at
home mental games as many as I can do
every single day and then my dogs also
going to socialize and play the dogs
because that’s a big that’s a really
good exercise too so but keeping that
combination varied helps keep your dog
balanced
so with leash walking and jogging that’s
a very controlled behavior and your
reinforcing some impulse control while
your dog is getting exercise with dog
wrestling your dog is getting their
Yaya’s out crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy
but they’re not really practicing any
impulse control because they don’t have
to because you know they’re they’re in
their element um if you only do one or
the other you may not be servicing your
dog to the extent that they need so if I
think we’re talking about Jack is only
getting walks for a terrier that’s
probably not enough he probably needs a
flirt Pole to play tug you know
something where he can go a little bit
nuts to get some of that high high
anxiety that working dogs have out of
their system and then the opposite is
also true but especially if you have a
dog like a pitbull if their primary
activity is wrestling and playing with
other dogs you are probably dealing with
a pretty rowdy dog that needs balance on
the other side of that with some
exercise that incorporates control
well you’re amazing at summarizing and
really giving us so much in such a short
amount of time Zoey because like you
said I know that there’s layers upon
layers you know these aren’t simple
questions and yet these ideas I mean
many of what you just mentioned I’ve
never even thought of and the
combination of them all so it’s just
about that one walk or the one run or
the one time at the park but really you
know involving the mind and combining so
many great tools so thank you very much
for all of that if you would like to
learn more from Zoey which I would
highly recommend I couldn’t recommend
more here’s her website pac—- method
prep comm you can go there learn more
about the facilities even Joey do you
consult with anybody like that or not in
the San Diego area how can they learn
from you uh yeah you you mean um if they
call it I mean yeah yeah yeah yeah
absolutely we do phone consultations
meaning you know so you know every every
client that calls in um gets gets a full
courser of let me hear about your whole
issue let me figure out what’s best for
you um with with me or one of my
trainers and then
and and then we kind of decide so could
we have quite a few different services
we have the preparatory school like I
talked to you about in the beginning we
also have private in-home lessons and
classes and depending on your your dog’s
issue and also how you want to go about
fixing that issue will kind of help us
determine which of those services is
right for you so yeah the phone
consultation is key great yeah because
obviously you’re able to share a lot
with us this way too without even seeing
our dogs and that’s that’s amazing so
thank you so much again for taking your
time today for your willingness to share
with our community and to just help so
many dogs around the world and be so
devoted to that we love you and we
appreciate you Zoe these guys and thank
you all for being on today thanks Tina
for being here and Katie and Deborah add
Elaine and all of our wonderful friends
thank you for your feedback and comments
I’ll keep my eyes in here and if there’s
anything that we want to be able to
address or need to be able to address I
can always get in touch with Zoe as well
but who feel free to reach right out to
her she’s an amazing resource as you
know so thank you all for being with us
we’ll be back again with you next week
as always 10:00 a.m. Pacific time
Saturday morning and have a wonderful
rest of your weekend
bye for now everyone someone just
commented Zoe as a rock star I agree bye
everyone thank you again
