L.A. (Success) Story

Anthea first saw Ayla on July 28 wandering around the park across the street from her house. When she saw Ayla eating dirt and grass she started taking food to her. Ayla would growl with her hackles up. It took three days for Anthea to get close to her, but after gaining some trust, she tried to take Ayla into her home

Anthea has two cats. One is 16 yrs old and moves very slowly, and because Anthea was unable to handle this wild dog, and fearing for her cat’s safety, after a couple of chaotic days she took Ayla to L.A. Animal Services to surrender her. She relates that the car ride was an adventure in itself!

Heartbroken, Anthea kept in contact with the shelter by phone and would visit Ayla at the shelter 2 times a week bringing her treats, which she also shared with Ayla's kennel neighbors. She also called The Pet Staff on the shelter’s recommendation, but initially balked at embarking on a training program.

Anthea loved this dog but even after investing $800 for a kennel while she had her, and after being given a quote of $4000.00 for “boarding and training” by another training company, she felt that she would not be able to handle her, but after several more visits she thought she’d give it another try and adopted her again. Without training, the situation remained the same, and after 10 days, Anthea had to return Ayla back to the shelter.

Ayla was there for 3 more weeks but again Anthea returned and adopted her again, only to return her ONCE MORE to the shelter. This trial only lasted 5 days this time. It seemed that Ayla was becoming quite anxious (probably due, in part, to the constant change in environment) and had become increasingly mouthy, occasionally gnawing on Anthea’s arm when they were playing.

Enter The Pet Staff.

Since working at the shelter in August, I had helped The Pet Staff work out a partnership program with L.A. Animal Services and with the help, and under the direction of, Captain Louis Dedeaux, a trainer would volunteer at the shelter for 4 hours per week, at a set time, to work with difficult dogs that might not otherwise find a home. These dogs would be identified as dogs who had received some professional training, and if one of these dogs were adopted, the new family would be welcome to return to the shelter for handling lessons whenever a Pet Staff trainer was there volunteering.

The trainers, especially Susan Mullings, worked with Ayla, and when Anthea learned of this, she called The Pet Staff again, but she also wanted information on rescue groups, saying that she would pay for Ayla's training but only at a rescue facility. The Pet Staff had Susan call Anthea and after a long discussion about Ayla’s issues, and Anthea’s recommendations, they agreed to meet and work with Ayla at the shelter. Susan assured Anthea that if she felt that there was a mismatch between her and Ayla, she would let her know immediately.

Susan met Anthea at the shelter in early November and showed her how well Ayla could work on the leash with a skilled handler. Anthea was encouraged so she agreed to take her home again. Susan gave Anthea her number and the next day, frustrated, Anthea called Susan for some advice. (A vast improvement, considering that previously this might mean another trip back to the shelter.) Susan spent a great deal of time on the phone with Anthea, giving her a “pep talk” and the next day, they began a training program together.

Since starting training, Ayla has continued to improve and there’s no longer a chance that she’ll be returned to the shelter. Thanks to Susan, The Pet Staff, and LA Animal Services, and a solid training program, one more previously difficult dog has a home for life!

The Bucky Stops (and Stays) Here!

Bucky is a 3 year old Standard Poodle. Bucky's people called me a few months ago because he had begun to growl at their young grandson and despite having raised (and trained) Standard Poodles their whole lives, they were at a loss how to correct this behavior. Their daughter had become uncomfortable around Bucky and didn't want him in the house when her son was over, and they were seriously considering, at the least, finding another home for him.

I met Bucky the way most visitors to the home did. He would spring up and charge at the door barking, and though he knew all of his commands, Ted would have to hold him back while he answered the door, because he would not listen to commands to sit or stay when he was in such an excited state. After the initial chaos of a new person wore off, he seemed to be a generally nice dog, however, he liked to lie under the table and I was told that this would be a "problem area" and that he shouldn't be bothered when he was there for fear he would growl, or worse, if he was disturbed.

I mentioned that Bucky's family had several generations of Standard Poodles before they got him, and all were nicely trained but he was the first one that ever exhibited problem behavior, which began when he was a young puppy. I explained that all dogs are different, and that the only way to help Bucky would be to set up an environment for him based on complete consistency. Because his behavior was often unpredictable, we wanted to make his environment as predictable as possible, which helped lower his anxiety level. This would also allow us to teach Bucky new, acceptable behaviors, allowing him to make his own decisions when situations would occur that used to be problematic, such as a visitor at the door, or their grandson running around. Essentially, we were setting Bucky up for success, rather than giving him the opportunity for continued and self-reinforced failure.

When I arrived at the house for Bucky's second session, you would not have known that he was home, because when I rang the doorbell the chaos was gone. We were even able to have Bucky lie down at the door while the gardeners worked outside. This was a situation that used to send him into a barking frenzy.

Most importantly, there have been no more incidents with Ted and Betty's grandson, and their daughter is much more comfortable with Bucky. Looks like Bucky will be able to stay right where he is!

Riley – Dog Management versus Dog Training

I met Riley who is a 5 year old Coton De Tulear last June. His people called me because Riley had been exhibiting some rather strange and severe anxiety behaviors which, besides the common behaviors of complete pandemonium when someone would knock on the door, and hysterical barking and carrying on when he would see another dog, included a few other interesting behaviors. One of these was a 360deg spin followed by charging down the hallway at full-speed while loudly and frantically barking then EXCITEDLY running back and forth in the hallway whenever someone would go into the bathroom. Another would be barking and charging out the rear sliding glass door whenever it would open, then tearing around the yard barking until someone could finally catch him. This behavior had been going on for a while, but since getting Riley, his family had grown to include two small, often napping or sleeping, children, so these frustrating problems had become more of an issue. Last, Riley had been growing increasing less tolerant and aggressive towards the children, especially when he would have a bone.

As with a large number of my clients, Riley had been through "dog training" several times, with several different trainers, and his people had received a whole range of often conflicting recommendations of what to do to help him. One trainer started him on a clicker training program. This was an effective method for teaching Riley some of his commands, but didn't solve any of his developing behavior problems. The next trainer recommended a citronella collar that would punish him (with a blast of citronella in the face) when he would bark. This didn't work because the desire to do the behavior that would cause the barking far outweighed the uncomfortable sensation of being sprayed in the face with citronella. Another trainer, undoubtedly uncomfortable with the use of a training collar, recommended that Riley be punished by (improperly) using a "gentle" leader collar, jerking on the collar when he would try to bark and dart down the hallway. There were suggestions of shaking a can of pennies, squirting him in the face with water, and various other punishments to react to his behavior.

The last trainer they called was a woman here in the Bay Area who is the director of animal behavior and training at a local humane society, and who, in addition to authoring a book, travels around the country giving seminars on "training" management and assessment of difficult dogs. This last professional, after some phone conversations, finally interviewed Riley and his people in person, and dictated to her assistant a management program for Riley's family to take home and follow. Having worked with many dogs that have had similar management programs recommended by this person before (which included tying aggressive dogs to furniture so they can't bite guests that come in… problem solved, right?) I was familiar with what the "solutions" were as soon as I heard they had visited her.

Finally, a few months prior to calling me, they consulted with their veterinarian who simply recommend more of the same "management" techniques along with a perscription for Prozac.

Despite all of this professional advise, Riley still exhibited this bad behavior, and after snapping at the children several times, he was in real danger of being surrendered to an animal shelter when I was called to help.

Most of Riley's problems boiled down to the fact that he would make bad decisions when presented with the opportunity to do so. In other words, when he would receive the stimuli of someone knocking at the door, his anxiety level would rise and he would decide to charge the door like a maniac. Punishing the symptoms like the barking or charging would not change the fact that his anxiety level would rise drastically when this event occurred, and simply managing him, like keeping him away from the door or tying him up, certainly wouldn't solve the problem, though the UPS guy might be happy not to have a wildly barking dog charging at him.

I helped Riley by teaching his people how to teach and maintain a new set of acceptable behaviors, away from the stimuli that would trigger the bad, unwanted behaviors. Once Riley learned the acceptable behaviors, we reintroduced the stimuli and Riley's family learned how to appropriately reinforce Riley's decision, whether it was the proper or improper decision. In a VERY short period of time, Riley learned to replace the bad behaviors with new behaviors, which to me is dog training, versus dog management. We treated the problem and the big picture, rather than correcting the symptoms.

Riley is doing great. He is no longer in danger of being surrendered to a shelter, and just a few days ago, I received an email saying that he was "an Angel" for the babysitter when kids came to the door on Halloween. He walks nicely on a loose leash, and is not only non-reactive towards other dogs, but is now able to "say hi" to them when he meets them on his walks. Managing these formerly bad behaviors would have meant putting him in another room when kids would come to the door, and either crossing the street when a dog comes, or joining the "midnight dog walking club" (I once worked with a family who, after paying a trainer for help with their dog's aggression towards other dogs, was told after nothing seemed to work, to join the "midnight dog walking club" so they could take their dog out without encountering other dogs.) This, again, is the result of good dog training, and is a testament to the work his people put into the suggestions and recommendations I made for them.