January 21, 2025 • 53 mins
Bonus Episode From the Vault: The #2 Most Downloaded Episode of 2024!
While we’re on a break until Feb 4, we’re bringing back one of your all-time favorite episodes of 2024 from the vault!
This episode focuses on addressing the top five dog behaviors that frustrate pet owners and providing actionable strategies to manage them effectively. Through insightful discussions with dog training expert Ruth Hegarty, listeners gain tools to:
- Improve their dog’s leash manners using positive reinforcement
- Reduce nuisance barking with effective management strategies
- Train reliable recall skills to ensure safety
- Manage jumping behaviors to keep guests happy
- Curtail destructive chewing and protect your belongings
To Learn More
- Explore Ruth’s dog training programs on her website: https://www.creaturegooddogtraining.com/
- Access Ruth’s resource library with helpful handouts: https://mailchi.mp/a21acb0bb44f/dogtalk
- Discover your dogs breed and health traits with EMBARK DNA tests.
This re-airing of a fan-favorite episode delivers practical dog training advice that every pet parent needs to hear. Don’t miss this opportunity to tackle common dog behavior problems and strengthen the bond with your furry friend!
Love the show? Please share it with another pet parent who wants less chaos and more clarity. Please leave a 5-star review to help others find real-life, judgment-free advice.
🎧Get your free guide: 10 Tips for Bonding With Your Pet
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Big pet challenges we help pet parents solve include: puppy training, cat behavior, pet budgeting, stress-free vet visits, solutions for multi-pet households, and more.
Contact: Amy@muddypawsandhairballs.com
©Ⓟ 2025 by Amy Castro.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
As we take a short break before launching the new
season of Muddy Paws andHairballs, I'm rerunning one of
our most popular episodes thetop five annoying dog behaviors
and how you can fix them.
I can definitely relate to thestruggles you face when your pet
has some behavior issues.
You can fix them.
I can definitely relate to thestruggles you face when your pet
has some behavior issues.
I am currently dealing with anincontinent chihuahua, a yappy
terrier, who in hindsightprobably was not the best
(00:33):
addition to the household, atleast in my personal opinion.
And then there's always Sassy,my blind pit bull, who really
isn't even my dog, but we stillhave not been able to find her a
forever home.
I'm trying to be patient andunderstanding and I'm trying to
focus on solutions, and thisepisode really helped.
We dove into the top five mostfrustrating dog behaviors that
(00:54):
can really drive us all up thewalls.
So if you've got a dog withquirks of their own or you're
just trying to figure out how tomanage a variety of
personalities, this episode isfor you.
Stay tuned for some practicaltips from professional dog
trainer Ruth Hegarty and alittle bit of humor along the
way to help you get throughthose challenging moments with
your pack.
I don't know about you, butsometimes my dogs drive me crazy
(01:19):
and it's 100% my fault becauseI will admit that I have not
done the best of jobs in doingall the types of training that
they need.
I've kind of done some and thenignored some other issues.
Well, today we're going to betackling some of the top issues
that not only kind of drive petparents and the people around
them nuts sometimes but, on aserious note, can actually push
(01:41):
pet parents to the point ofconsidering giving up their pets
.
So my guest today, Ruth Hegarty, is the founder of Creature
Good Dog Training and she doeswork not only in person but
online.
She does training programs andeducation programs to help pet
owners who have fearful andreactive dogs and they're
struggling with that samefrustration and sometimes
(02:04):
embarrassment that we all mightbe struggling with a little bit
from their dog's behavior.
And she gets them to the pointwhere they're kind of back to
enjoying their walks andenjoying living with their pets,
which is the ultimate goal.
And what I like about Ruth isthat she not only has a ton of
dog certifications but she alsohas people certifications,
(02:24):
because it really is a peopleissue Sometimes, I think more
than a dog issue.
So she's got an MS in educationand she's got certifications in
dog training, life coaching forpeople, dog bite safety
education, dealing with canineseparation anxiety which we're
going to do on a whole notherepisode, because that's another
thing that comes up a lot andshe's even finishing up a
(02:45):
certification as a petbereavement specialist and I
wish I was living where she'sliving right now after this
hurricane just came throughHouston, but she lives in
Cambridge Massachusetts with herpit bull, Shadow Dawn.
So, Ruth, thank you so much forbeing here today with us.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Oh, my pleasure, Amy, I'm really happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, so I know, when we talked before the show it
was kind of a struggle.
We were trying to figure outwhat topics because there's so
many topics that we could talkabout that would be helpful for
pet parents, and both of us kindof did some research and put it
out to our followers to say,hey, where do you think we
should start?
And this idea of the top kindof most common and sometimes
(03:22):
relatively simple bad dogbehaviors.
I think if we could tackle someof these, or at least get pet
parents to pick their worst one,that we could be a long way
towards not only keeping pets inhomes but keeping homes
harmonious along the way.
So the first one on my list isthe pulling on a leash,
reactivity-based or not, becauseobviously there can be multiple
(03:44):
reasons why pets do this, butthat's something that can really
get to the point where you justdon't even want to leave the
house with your pet.
So what's your advice?
As far as you know, how do petparents kind of identify that
that's an issue and then work onresolving that?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Sure.
So I have sort of two rules Ifollow in dog training and one
thing I say this is dog training.
It's very important.
You have to do this thing likerecall.
It's a safety issue, your dogshould know it.
And then there's what I callparenting issues, because I call
dog owners dog parents.
So how much your dog pulls Alittle bit of parenting issue.
(04:20):
So long as they're not pullingyou down to the point of injury,
you can decide what's too much,what's too little.
But in general if you feel likethe walk is uncomfortable, the
walk is unsafe.
You're afraid to walk your dogbecause they might knock you
down or pull you down.
Dogs are very strong.
Your average dog has thepulling power of a human man,
three times their weight.
(04:41):
So they're much stronger thantheir size will sometimes give
you the idea.
Also part of pulling and thisdoesn't necessarily mean your
dog is reactive or aggressive.
It could be overexcitement.
Some dogs are also naughty onleash but not off leash, because
they are frustrated by beingcontained.
So if they're pulling to thepoint where their front paws are
(05:02):
coming up off the ground,that's pretty extreme.
If they're also barking whilethey're doing it, if it looks
scary to pass their by.
You know if it's hard, if youhave to have, you know, 20 feet
between you and the next personwalking their dog.
So you know there's certainlyextremes, yeah, but a tiny bit
of pulling could be problematicif you have a balance issue or
(05:24):
bag problem.
So you know a little bit.
You get to decide how muchpulling is too much pulling.
But it is a common problem and,as you were saying, problem
behaviors are the main reasonpeople surrender their dogs and
with a bit of training thatdoesn't have to be a problem.
You can keep your dog and enjoyyour walks at the same time.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, I know.
One of the things that alwaysscares me is when you see the
person that has a prettypowerful dog who's dug in and
I'm just waiting for them to letgo because they're just going
to not be able to hold it, andthen presume all heck is going
to break loose.
And then you start wonderingwell, why does that person bring
that dog out in public?
But eventually you got to getout there in public and expose
your dog to those scenarios,because walking around on a
(06:09):
leash, well-behaved, in yourbackyard, it's not doing us a
whole lot of good either.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And if people get frustrated.
I'm not a small person.
I'm a six foot tall woman.
My 60 pound dog can take medown if she really wanted to.
So they're very strong and youdon't want people to feel like
they have no choice but to put aprong collar on their dog.
I'm a positive trainer.
I don't want that for people, Idon't want that for their dogs,
and you can teach your dog.
(06:35):
Obviously, if you get a puppyor a small dog, it's going to be
easier because the first thingthey learn is to not pull.
But if you adopt an adult dog,you can still teach them.
Right?
I got Shadow.
She was two, almost three yearsold.
You can still teach them towalk politely on leash.
Dogs will pull by defaultbecause they walk faster than us
(06:58):
.
They are so interested ingetting to that next smell and
pulling doesn't bother them.
They don't mind how that feels.
So it's a human issue for ahuman society, so it's incumbent
upon us to teach them.
It's really better for me, asthe human, for you, not to do
this.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Right.
So you mentioned the prongcollars, which I am opposed to
those, mostly because I thinkpeople jump straight to that as
a way to control the dog.
They'll go from having a pitbull on a harness and then say,
well, this isn't working, andthen go to that opposite extreme
.
What do you think are some ofthe biggest equipment mistakes?
I think harnesses are a hugeequipment mistake for a dog
(07:40):
that's pulling, but I'm sure alldogs are different.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
All dogs are different, different shaped dogs
.
Sometimes the like the easywalk, which is a type of front
pulling is, can be easier forsome dogs to slip out of.
So equipment is meant to helpyou, right?
My mom used to say the righttools for the right job.
She was the tool guy in myhouse.
So equipment can be your friend.
Just like for anything you wantto use the right kind of
(08:05):
equipment to keep yourself safeor do the job the best.
So the main mistake that peoplemake with a harness is getting a
harness that hooks in the back.
That's just going to give yourdog more pulling power.
You know, if you picked your,you know a sled dog team and
where they're hooked it's justgoing to make it easier for them
(08:25):
to pull you.
So ones that hook in the frontare better because they use
that's where your dog's centerof gravity is and when the dog
pulls they're designed to sortof turn them to the side a
little.
And there are a few differentmodels.
There's the Easy Walk, whichsome people love it, some people
hate it.
Like I said, some dogs can rollout of it.
So you, if you like it and youwant to use it, you can get
(08:52):
another little piece or use acarabiner, if you have those
already, to hook it to thecollar so that if they do roll
out of it they're not going toget away.
And the harness I use for my dogand recommend to my clients is
the two hound freedom harness.
So it hooks in the front andthe back.
So you have a choice dependingon what you're doing.
I, for my dog, hook her on both, so she is double leash to the
(09:14):
front and the back, becauseshe's so strong and that gives
you more control.
Yeah, I love having that backuptoo.
Right, right, my dog has someaggression issues, so she's
quite hooked.
But the reason that theharnesses are good is they're
going to reduce the pulling.
Those front hooks will reducethe pulling almost by half, just
(09:36):
by nature of how they'redesigned, and that's going to
make it easier for you to teachyour dog not to pull on leash.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Okay, and what about when you are starting off with a
young dog or a puppy?
Is there a way to modify thebehavior other than equipment to
just control it?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
100%, 100%.
So you always want to teachthem.
You don't necessarily want toonly rely on equipment.
You can only rely on equipment.
It's up to you.
So there's a few different ways,right, the traditional ways is
there were two sort oftraditional ways to teach a dog
what we call loose leash walking.
One is every time they pull,you turn around and go the other
(10:20):
way.
And the other is every timethey pull, you stop and wait for
them to kind of readjust.
Some dogs get very frustratedat the stop and start.
I have found that the turningaround works much better.
The reason these methods work isbecause it teaches your dog
(10:41):
that you're whimsical.
At any point you're going toturn around and go in another
direction, and so they want tokeep their eye on you.
They want to make sure theyknow where you're at so that
they're not surprised by a turn,and that will help them to kind
of get more in sync with you.
So you cease to just be theperson that can open gates and
you become the partner on thewalk, and if they want to smell
(11:05):
something, you let them smell.
The smelling part of the walkis more important to the dog
than the walking part of thewalk.
They really want to get to allthose smells.
Another way that you can teachthem is to teach them that
approaching you and stayingnearby you is more desirable
than pulling or wandering offand this will also help with
(11:27):
recall, when we talk about that.
And you can do that by puttingyour dog on a long line, you
know 20, 30, 50 feet, and justkind of wander around the field
or your backyard and every timethey come up to you they get
rewarded and it's their choice.
Do they come and walk near youso that they can get multiple
treats or do they wander offbecause the smells are more
(11:49):
interesting to them in thatmoment.
But what you're doing is making, being with you, rewarding and
also their decision, theirchoice, and you want to teach
your dog to make choices thatyou approve of.
That will help them be lessfrustrated.
It will help them just defaultto better behaviors.
So there's a few different waysand it's I'm not going to lie
(12:13):
walking your dog when you'retrying to teach them not to pull
can be kind of a nuisance.
You're not going to get veryfar, but it doesn't take long.
You know it's not going to takeyou four weeks.
Maybe it's going to take youone week.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
So it's worth it.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, and I think the problem with most people,
myself included, is that,because it does take time and it
takes consistency, just liketraining anything else is that
people start off, you know, theygo to that puppy kindergarten
class or whatever they do.
They hire a trainer for Xnumber of weeks and they get
started and the dog is trained,you know, and then they're not
(12:51):
consistent in deploying whatevermethodology that they're using
and then the dog becomesuntrained.
You know, because I know mydogs.
There's lots of things thatthey used to know and used to do
and now don't do so well, butit's because I've been
inconsistent in how we managethat.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
It's just a question of practice, and if you're
loosey-goosey about it whichagain, is your choice, right.
But what it tells your dog isthat sometimes it's okay to pull
, sometimes it's not.
And so that translates intoit's up to me Do I feel like
pulling today?
I'm the dog, laid into it's upto me.
Do I feel like pulling today?
I'm the dog.
Do I feel like pulling today?
Because that's what beinginconsistent teaches them is
(13:30):
that it's not that important toyou.
So they'll just.
They're entitled to do whatthey want, and I mean, I would
think that too if I was them.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Sure, I mean, it's the same thing when you're
teaching kids certain things.
You know, if it's like you willhold my hand in the parking lot
or you will sit down on thegrocery cart or whatever it
might be If you're inconsistentin managing that behavior, then
it's eh, you don't really meanthat.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
So therefore, I'm going to run my own agenda.
But teaching them to walklightly on leash is easier than
teaching them consistent recall.
In the moment they're like oh,I can't spend the next 15 years
of my dog's life doing this.
It's horrible.
I'm like no, no, not 15.
You know they're going to learnit.
You're going to do it for, youknow, one week, two weeks, and
that's going to get easier andeasier and that's just going to
be natural.
You're not constantly going tohave this, isn't your life from
(14:16):
now on?
This is just you're going to dothis for a little bit and then
you're going to reap the rewardsof doing it for that little bit
.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Right.
So let's talk about my nextfavorite subject nuisance
barking.
So we had a dog and she would,anytime you put her outside and
you left her out there for morethan 30 seconds, she would start
barking.
But you know, opening the doorand hollering be quiet, stop
barking didn't really help thesituation too well.
And so we actually and I hateto admit this, but we actually
(14:46):
resorted to a bark collar,because in my limited experience
which was even more limited, 35years ago, you know we put that
bark collar on, it operatedonce or twice and then after
that it didn't even havebatteries in it.
We just put it on her when shewent outside and she didn't make
excessive noise while she wasout there.
But there's gotta be, there'sgotta be a better way to deal
(15:07):
with that.
And then I've got.
You know like I'm trying to dothis podcast and my daughter out
there by the time I get offthis podcast is going to be like
whew, because she's trying tomanage six dogs and keeping them
to shut the heck up whilethey're out there.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, you can see how smart dogs are, because when
you put the bark collar on them,whether it sprayed citronella
or had a high-pitched sound, anultrasound it only took one or
two times for the dog toexperience it before they're
like I'm not going to make thatthing hurt me again.
So no one suggests thataversive measures don't work.
(15:44):
We just don't like them becauseyeah, is there a better
alternative?
Yeah, so barking is fascinating.
It's truly a fascinatingsubject.
An excessively barky dogactually impairs their human's
ability to think properly.
Studies have shown that it'sconsidered a type of noise
pollution.
(16:04):
It's extremely annoying.
My dog, shadow, she, has thisproblem.
It's so much better.
I've had her about a year somuch better than it was in the
beginning.
But I got deep into barkingbecause of her and frightened
dogs.
Now I specialize in fear andanxiety.
Frightened dogs bark right,just like frightened people
(16:24):
scream.
So there are a multitude ofreasons that dogs bark.
Ideally, if you can figure outwhy your dog is barking, then
you can specifically address theunderlying cause.
If you can't figure it out,that's okay.
You can just do some trial andexperimentation to address the
underlying cause.
You know, throw a few things atit and see With barking you
(16:49):
want to first minimize thebarking, because if your dog is
at their peak of barking andthey're just yappy, yappy, yappy
, yappy, yappy, yappy, to thepoint where you're like I have
to stop this by any meansnecessary, your dog isn't in a
position where they can learn.
So the first step is always tolook at the environment.
What's triggering my dog'sbarking?
(17:11):
Is it what they see out thewindow, which is shadow's issue.
Before you even start training,you block their access to their
triggers.
To reduce the barking and givethem an opportunity to take a
breath and focus that, you addenrichment.
Some dogs bark because they'rebored.
Some dogs bark because they'restressed.
So you add in all kinds ofenrichment to help them relax,
(17:35):
help them be entertained.
Whatever needs to be covered iscovered right.
Puzzle toys, licky mats,chewing, licking, sniffing are
all naturally relaxing for dogs.
Then, once your dog is kind oflike huh, and they can focus,
you teach them.
Maybe you teach them a quietcue, right, because all dogs
bark.
They're going to bark from timeto time.
(17:56):
My last dog actually deterred aman trying to climb in my
window in the middle of thenight one time a robber, I'm
going to assume.
So that was good, you know hebarked.
You want them to do thatsometimes but you don't want
them to bark excessively.
So you can teach them.
They bark, bark and you sayokay, thank you quiet.
(18:17):
Or you redirect them If theybark at guests.
You know they get so excitedthey bark at your friends that
come over.
Maybe you teach them analternative like go get your
favorite toy and show it to yourguests so that they're still
using their energy, they'restill getting the attention that
they're craving through thatbarking, and you're not having
(18:37):
to sit and listen to all thatbarking.
So there's a lot of differentways that you can approach it,
depending on why they're barking.
If it's separation anxiety,that's a very unique scenario.
You can address it.
But you have to address theissue of separation anxiety as a
whole rather than the barking,because the barking is
(19:07):
territorial, it's warningbarking, it's attention barking,
it's excitement barking,boredom barking.
And those are all things thatyou can address with changing
the environment, permanently ortemporarily.
Now, if it's just as easy foryou to put a couch in front of a
window or something like atable so that your dog never
looks out at it, problem solved.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, so that your dog never looks out at it.
Problem solved.
Yeah Well, I think it'sinteresting.
You said that, though, becauseI think a lot of times people
think and I have thought thisbefore running an animal rescue,
we get a lot of deliveries.
I mean, the poor Amazon person,the chewy person, the EPS guy,
the mailman, whatever you know.
We get a lot of people comingand going, and not only does it
turn into a barking situation,but it's turned into fights
(19:48):
before, because somebody istrying to control somebody else
and it just you know.
So I guess I thought it waslike a personal failure that I
had to shut the blinds in orderto prevent that.
But if that's the easy, simplesolution, then yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You know, I always think of things like closing the
blinds as akin to I locked mydoor right Now.
Is it a failing on my part thatI don't trust society not to
come in?
Absolutely not.
But also, you know, one of thethings that you can do is you
can sort of change your dog'semotional response right.
(20:28):
You can sort of change yourdog's emotional response right.
Whether your dog thinks there'san intruder or just so excited
that someone's coming over, youcan actually use, you know,
desensitization and counterconditioning to change the
response to the doorbell.
And you know, in a 30 seconddemonstration it's ring the bell
, give a treat, ring the bell,give a treat, ring the bell,
give it until your dog starts toassociate the bell Not with oh
(20:53):
gosh, a big scary man's going tocome in, but oh treats.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Now see they need to invent.
Maybe we should do this.
We can go into businesstogether and invent a doorbell
that has a treat dispensingportal on the inside of the
house and every time thedoorbell rings it kicks out a
treat like those littleautomated ones that they have.
We could make millions.
Hopefully Ring is not listeningto this podcast episode.
Next thing we know we're goingto see it on the market, so I
(21:21):
like that.
So, starting off withidentifying the stimulus,
preventing what stimulus you can, and then redirecting the
behavior, is the way to go, andI would think, just like with
anything else, that's somethingthat would start in puppyhood
too, because I've noticed that,having had litters of puppies
here, some of them are just,even if, even though they're
(21:41):
from the same litter, they'rejust.
Some are talkers and some aresuper quiet, and so identifying
those talkers and redirectingthat early, yeah, yeah it's.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I mean, just like if you have six human children,
they're all going to bedifferent, you know, even though
they have the same parents.
That's just how genetics works.
It's fascinating.
But you know, we socializepuppies.
If you adopt an adult dog thatmaybe hasn't been socialized,
things can feel more triggeringto them.
But yeah, we do teach puppies.
You know, that's one of thebenefits of raising a dog from
puppyhood is being able toexpose them to a lot of
(22:17):
different things that they mightnot have been if you got them
as an adult.
There's special joys toadopting an adult dog as well,
so you know, it's just sort ofwhat works best for you.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Yeah, all right, so let's move on then to and we
talked about this a little bit,because you talked about using a
long lead and recall but anyother tips that you want to talk
about?
Because if you don't haverecall, you shouldn't have your
dog off leash in public, andit's amazing to me how many
people do.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Recall is important.
It's a safety issue and I thinkeveryone should focus on it.
And it isn't as hard to teachas people think.
And there are two main mistakesthat people make with recall.
The first I alluded to earlierwhen I said they let it go and
cause their dog to believe thatit's optional.
(23:06):
So if they call their dog,they've been working on it in
the house and then they take itto the yard.
They call their dog and theirdog doesn't come, they'll say,
well, he didn't come.
You can't do that because inyour dog's mind it's like well,
they call me, but it's up to me,so you cannot let it go.
And if they don't come, not letit go.
(23:33):
And if they don't come, youhave to make it easier for them
to come.
If you have to get within a footof them and still call them,
they take one step towards youand you're like good boy, yeah,
you did it, here's your treat.
You act like they ran a mile toget to you, through like razor
wire, because you want them toknow that it's not optional.
You want them to.
When they hear you call theirname, you want them to like if
(23:57):
it was a romantic movie and atthe end of the movie that people
are like running on the beachto each other.
You want that to be you andyour dog.
When you call their name, yeah,and so the other major mistake
people make is they fall intothis trap of only calling their
dog when they actually have tocall their name.
Yeah, and so the other majormistake people make is they fall
into this trap of only callingtheir dog when they actually
have to call their dog.
It's time to leave the park,it's time to come in the house,
(24:17):
it's time to go to the vet.
So you have to practice callingyour dog so that only 30% of
the time it's actually the funis over.
Otherwise, your dog can developa negative association with
being called.
Nobody wants to go to anybodyif the only time they ever call
(24:38):
you is to like disappoint you.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, that's such.
A huge point is how many timeswe use our dog's name.
You know, calling them whenwe're angry about something, or
calling them because you'regoing to give them a pill, or
calling them, you know, it'slike I've caught myself doing
that and it's like, even thoughthey're good natured and they're
coming over, it's like, oh,maybe I would have been better
off walking over to them andgiving them that pill, or
walking over to them and thenjust cutting their nails, than
(25:03):
to use the name.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Or if you call them, 10 times, only cut their nails
one time, the other nine timesthey got a treat and they got to
go back to play, or they got atreat a belly rub, and then they
got to go do what they want.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
So you're saying the dogs play on the odds right?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yes, Like, hmm, let me see Dogs are eternal
optimists, so that if evensometimes a bad thing happens,
right, they won't focus on that.
They'll focus on ah, sometimesI get cheese when she calls me.
Maybe this is the time, youknow.
(25:43):
Yeah, Even if every once in awhile you give cheese and the
rest of the time you give kibble, they'll be like oh, I wonder,
if this is cheese time, They'llrun over and it'll be kibble and
be like dang.
Maybe next time it'll be thecheese time.
They'll just do it becausethey're like oh, maybe next time
, maybe next time.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Well and think about it, though, because I think
about there are certain wordsthat I, if I say them in the
kitchen like oops, or I use abad word, everybody comes
running because they know for afact something has likely fallen
on the floor.
So it's like it's interestingthey all come running when you
say oh crap, or something likethat, but yet they don't come
when you call their names,because they've learned.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Trainers have this expression called poisoning the
cue, Whereas you've taught themsomething.
But you kind of messed it up.
Now it doesn't work anymore.
You can just change the word.
You could literally be in thepark and go oh crap, and all
your dogs will come running.
And if it works, it works.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Everybody's dogs are going to be coming home with me,
then if I do that though.
Now that's such a good point.
Yeah, maybe come up with abetter, a different recall word.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, because it doesn't matter to the dog.
You could use the worddollhouse for recall, and so
long as everyone in your dog'slife knows that they come.
When you say dollhouse, it'sfine, it doesn't matter.
They don't speak your languageper se.
They've learned a particularsound and they've related it to
(27:08):
a particular behavior, but itdoesn't matter to them what that
sound is.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, yeah.
Now I've got all kind of funthoughts running through my head
about the things you could bescreaming out in public to make
your dogs go yeah and havepeople wondering about your
sanity, but anyway, okay.
So that's definitely somethingand that's, I think, also
something that I have made themistake of not doing when I've
had puppies is it's so mucheasier to work on that when
(27:34):
they're little and you can catchthem, you know, and they can't
get that far away.
And making that a positivething to come back to you, right
.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
When I'm working with a client and we're teaching
recall to their dog, I alwayssay when you get to the point
where you 100% think you cantrust your dog to come away from
distractions at the park offleash, you put them on a long
line and practice it for anothermonth, right, and then you try
letting them off.
So you have to raise up thedistractions slowly and when you
(28:05):
think you can trust them, youstill need to work on it because
your dog knows the differencebetween being on leash and off
leash.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I had a golden retriever in high
school and that dog I will saythat other than the recall, I
mean he was so well trained, hewould do everything with hand
signals.
I would set up obstacle coursesand he would go over under
around.
You know, he would heel andspin around and sit at my side
and we worked and we worked onthat long and obviously I either
(28:32):
did something wrong or I didn'twork on it long enough.
But I felt like we did the longlead so many times and I swear
it was a thing like okay, he, he, he was reliably coming and
then I would take the leash offand he would come once, he would
come twice, he would comehalfway the third time and then
it was like a light bulb wentoff and off he went and it's
(28:56):
like, and then I finally gave upLike I couldn't get past that
point.
But yeah, I never did break himof that.
He was always a runner.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I do also tell people when you're practicing it wait
till your dog comes all the wayto you before you give them the
treat, and some of the timetouch their collar and then let
go and give them the treat,Because dogs will sort of come
close enough to get the treat,but not so close that you can
grab them, and that way you candesensitize them to the touching
(29:25):
them and the hooking them andthat sort of thing.
And there are a couple ofbreeds that are more difficult
to teach because of what they'vebeen bred for Huskies, beagles.
I mean, I'm not saying youcan't teach them, but it is more
challenging because it goesagainst their genetics.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I had somebody tell me and I can't remember if it
was a trainer or just a personwho had said something about
after a certain age that the dogcan kind of like let's say,
you've got a dog that's sitting10 feet away from you and you
call them that they have theability to think to themselves.
I'm here, what do you want?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
I think at any age some dogs will do that.
I think that's a personalitytrait more than an age or a
breed thing.
Some dogs my last dog he wouldthink, you know, I'd call him
and I'd wait it out and he wouldthink for a minute and then
he'd slowly kind of shuffle overmy dog now Shadow, I call her
(30:26):
and she flies at me like I'mgoing to give her a million
dollars.
So you know, your dogs havedifferent personalities.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Is it bad to keep saying because that's another
thing I see people do it's likeI say Gunny come, gunny, gunny,
gunny, come, come.
Should you really say it onceand then wait it out?
And when do you repeat it?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
This is something that other trainers do different
.
I know there are trainers whosay say it once and if they
don't come, they didn't come.
I don't agree with that.
I am a two strikes guy.
Call my dog.
If they don't come maybe theydon't hear me right I'm going to
give them a second chance, callthem again.
Also, give them a moment tofinish their sniff, right?
(31:09):
If I ask my friend to grab me acoffee while they're in the
kitchen and they're like, yeah,in a minute when I finish this
phone call, that's not a no,that's an.
I'm'm doing it right.
Give your dog that same benefitof the doubt, unless there's a
bear coming at them.
Give your dog that same benefitof the doubt.
And if they're running to youand you want to encourage that,
(31:34):
then you could say whatever youwant while they're coming, like
you're cheering on a race.
So the reason that we saytypically, don't repeat yourself
is we talked about how the dogsdon't really speak the language
they understand sounds.
So to a dog, come shadow is notthe same as come, come, come,
come, come, come, come.
There's two different sounds.
So you don't want to confuseyour dog.
(31:55):
So I usually tell clients countto 10 in your head before you
repeat yourself.
Give your dog a moment to kindof wrap their mind around.
Oh, they said come.
I don't really want to, but Ilove them and they have hot dogs
.
So I'm going to go.
Before you say it again, Ifocus how I do things on what
your average family with a dogis comfortable with, right?
(32:20):
So I'm going to.
If you're telling me you want totrain your dog for obedience
competition, you're going tohave to learn it a completely
different way.
But I don't do that work Right,and I work with families who
want a safe and healthy andhappy dog and dog owner
experience, and so that sort ofinforms how I do things and what
(32:42):
I think most people are goingto be comfortable with and
capable of.
So that's sort of what backs upmy philosophy, which makes me
differ a little bit from some ofthe other trainers Not all, I
mean.
Some others are like me, butyou know, there there is advice
that says you call them once.
Use a unique sound like orsomething instead of a word,
which is fine.
(33:02):
There's nothing wrong with that, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yeah, all right.
So another personal favorite ofmine we're down to our last,
last two items here is jumpingup on people.
So a pet peeve that I have, asI am trying to adopt out dogs
and I'm trying to work on thejumping up thing, is when you
have the guest or the potentialadopter who tells you no, no,
(33:27):
that's okay.
And it's like I have to gothrough this explanation of why
it's not okay, because atminimum it's because we're
trying to train the dog not tojump up on anybody, because not
everybody loves it is kind ofthe bottom line with that.
But I've tried differenttechniques for doing that and
have had various success.
So I'm curious what yourthoughts are as far as like, is
(33:47):
it OK for a dog to jump up onpeople or is it something that
everybody should be eliminatingfrom their dog's behavior?
Speaker 2 (33:53):
It's OK for your dog to jump up on you if you don't
mind, right?
Shadow jumps on me every time Icome home and I think it's
adorable, but would I allow herto jump on a passerby like she
wants to do?
No, because that's notappropriate.
You don't want people to getdirty frightened, you don't?
You never know who has amedical issue that that a dog
(34:16):
jumping on them could.
You never know who has amedical issue that a dog jumping
on them could set them back.
So you can't allow your dog tojump on other people who don't
want your dog to jump on them,right?
Or if you're not sure theydon't want to be jumped on, you
default to they don't want to bejumped on, it's perfectly fine,
if you don't mind your dogjumping on you.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
But how does the dog?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
know the difference.
So what I do with people?
Because this comes up that thedad loves the dog to jump on
them and the mom and the kidsare like, no, I hate it.
Default to teaching your dognever jump on people.
That's the rule.
Never jump on people unless apeople invites you to jump on
them.
So unless someone says come on,come on, then they don't jump.
(34:59):
Dogs are smart enough tounderstand that.
The way you teach your dog notto jump on people is you teach
your dog rather than try to tellthem no, don't do that thing.
That's hard, that's nebulous,right?
You teach them to do somethingelse.
That's incompatible with theoriginal behavior.
You teach them to do somethingelse.
That's incompatible with theoriginal behavior.
So, jumping up me putting mypaws on your body, the opposite
(35:22):
of that is me keeping my fourpaws on the floor.
So I teach the dog keep my fourpaws on the floor or do
something else.
When I hear the bell, I go tomy place.
When I hear the bell, I go geta toy, whatever it is.
You want to teach your dog.
There's always multiple ways togo about it, but you teach your
dog that the other behavior,the desired behavior, is
(35:43):
preferable, and you do that byusing treats or toys, some kind
of reward that feels good toyour dog, and by trying to make
jumping on people as boring aspossible.
One way to make it boring isfor the person not to respond,
which is hard, because even fora dog like if you're like no, no
(36:04):
off, that's exciting.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Yeah, you're playing.
It's like a game.
When you're put especially,I've seen people a lot.
They're talking a lot, they'reflapping their hands, they're
pushing the dog and it, you know, it becomes a, it becomes a
game.
One of the things that I'vealways done is just to put my
arms up, kind of cross themacross my chest and out of the
way and turn my back to the dog.
You know, if I've got a dog,that's that's jumping on me,
just because I'm certainly notgoing to make it fun for you and
(36:30):
I'm not going to engage youwhile you're demonstrating that
behavior.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Right.
If the dog isn't rewarded forthe behavior, the behavior will
fade away that behavior Right.
If the dog isn't rewarded forthe behavior, the behavior will
fade away.
So if that response is possible, it's a good solution.
And by possible I mean thehuman is physically capable of
it and the dog responds to it,because some dogs, when people
do that, get frustrated andthey'll start to nibble on your
bum.
(36:54):
I usually say and I addressthis the same way I address
things like demand barking.
If the behavior is new, if yourdog just figured out that they
could jump up, ignoring it is agood way to shut it down because
it's not a fully ingrainedbehavior.
If your dog has been doing itfor four years and you finally
got to the point where you'regoing to address it, you're
(37:14):
going to have a hard time justignoring it.
Because when in a situationlike that, the behavior is going
to get worse before it getsbetter, because it has always
worked and your dog has anexpectation that it will work
and so they're going to doubledown, like this always works,
why isn't it working?
Maybe.
Maybe they don't feel mejumping on them, so they're
going to, they're going todouble down at first before it
(37:36):
fades away.
It's just harder for you,physically and mentally probably
.
So if the behavior is ingrained, I usually go straight to
teaching an alternative behavior.
And so let's say it's jumpingon guests when they come in the
house.
You can create a block, you canput a baby gate or an X-pen or
(37:56):
something to help your dog stayaway from the guest, keep your
guest behind it or whatever.
But you can also leash your dogright, like have when the
people knock or, you know, haveyour friends.
You can practice it yourselvesor your friends text you when
they're outside, put your dog onthe leash.
The person comes in, ask theperson to come in and sort of be
(38:18):
boring.
Don't come in, like hey,everybody, how's it going?
Come in quietly, just standthere, throw treats on the floor
for your dog so that they startto associate someone coming in
with like little smorgasbord onthe floor, and you'll see after
some practice that your dog willhear the door start to open and
look down for their treats.
(38:39):
And then you can start topractice it off leash.
The reason for the leash in thebeginning is that if your dog
always jumps on people theminute someone comes in they're
going to default to jumping andeven if they see your treats,
it's going to be after theyjumped on the person Right.
So the leash will help you inthe beginning and you can slow
it down.
Where, if your dog starts toyank on the leash when the door
(39:02):
just starts to open an inch,okay, close the door.
No one comes in because you didthat you get.
You know you can different dogsyou can take.
You know some dogs you can comeright in Some dogs you really
have to go minuscule, step byminuscule step.
It just kind of depends.
Really have to go minuscule,step by minuscule step.
It just kind of depends.
Dogs are lovely in that theydon't mind giving up an old
(39:22):
behavior for a better behavior.
You know humans, sometimes wefeel like, well, I've always
done it this way, I'm not goingto try your newfangled way.
Like we can get in our headslike that sometimes.
But dogs don't.
If you show them a better way,they're happy to do the better
way.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Okay, great, those are definitely some good
suggestions, and I think that,again, that goes back to the,
especially when you're talkingabout having to, you know, open
the door an inch, open the dooran inch.
You know it's, it's, it'spatience on the part of people,
and it makes me wonder, like I'msure people say to you you know
, I'm, I've got three kids andI'm busy and I don't have time
to do this all the time.
(39:58):
And you know, my thinking isalways then you shouldn't have
gotten a dog.
But maybe I'm just being rude.
I don't usually.
Well, sometimes I do, sometimesI do say it, but I try to say
it as nicely as possible, butit's like this is what it's
going to take.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
So yes, I don't say that because I mean partly
because this is my business andpeople pay me to come to their
house and help them, not tellthem what they're doing wrong.
So I want them to succeed andso I think what will make them
succeed?
I mean I've had clients withyou know, multiple jobs and
(40:33):
multiple kids and they had anewborn and their grandma's sick
.
Or you know jobs and multiplekids and they had a newborn and
their grandma is sick, or you?
know, like, yeah, people's livesare complicated and whether or
not they have the emotional andtime resources for their dog,
they have their dog, they lovetheir dog.
You know, maybe their lifechanged after they got the dog.
You know what I mean.
Like I always try to givepeople the benefit of the doubt.
(40:55):
Sometimes it's the fact thatthey had a baby or that they
moved that creates the unwantedbehavior.
So dog was well behaved beforeand then you know, something
happens in their life thatchanges it.
But so you do not need vastamounts of time to train your
dog.
You can take five to 10 minutesa day.
(41:16):
You can take five, three minuteincrements and almost everybody
can find that amount of timeright.
Like, well, leash walking thatwe talked about earlier, you
walk your dog anyway.
It doesn't matter how far youget.
You might as well practice notpulling on leash while you're
(41:38):
walking your dog anyway, right?
So the easiest way to findthese five minute spots in your
schedule to teach your dog isaround the things you do with
your dog anyway.
So maybe five minutes beforeyou feed them, maybe even while
you're getting their dinnerready.
You're like sit, lie down, comeplace, run through some things,
(42:02):
practice so they don't forget.
Or while you're on a walk, ifyou usually walk your dog for 30
minutes, walk your dog for 20and take that 10 minutes to
practice recall or whatever itis you want to practice the not
jumping and the fact that yourdog is using their brain and
their body too.
If you're practicing recall,they're still getting that same
(42:25):
level of stimulation, enrichmentand exercise that they would
have if you spent that 10minutes doing a little bit
longer walk.
So you know, you, you look atpeople's schedules and you fit
it in where people are able tofit it in, cause I mean the way
I look at it, like I'm not asuccessful dog trainer if my
(42:46):
clients aren't successful withtheir dogs, so whatever it takes
for me to figure out for them,like here's, here's exactly what
you do.
This takes 30 seconds.
This takes 30 seconds.
This takes 30 seconds.
Here's four 30-second thingsthat you're going to do two
minutes four times a day, rightafter breakfast, right after
(43:10):
whatever it is, and that's allit takes.
You don't need more time thanthat, right?
You just need a little bit oftime and you need to do that
every single day.
I mean you're going to skip aday.
You're going to catch the flu,you're going to skip a week,
fine, go back to it, just like.
The same advice applies whenpeople are like well, I have to
start exercising, okay, well,where can I fit it in?
(43:32):
How much time realistically doI need?
Where can I fit it in?
You know what I mean.
Well, eventually it'll become ahabit, right, right, your 28
days or whatever it is they saythat creates a habit.
And also, you know, it'sself-rewarding, so it's not just
rewarding for the dog.
If you're working with your dogone, it's good for you, right.
Playing with your dog lowersyour blood pressure.
(43:53):
It reduces stress.
As you see, your dog's behaviorimprove, you feel good and
you're like this is working.
That's self-motivating to keepdoing it.
And then you're like what elsecan my dog do?
At first, when you're lookingat all these unwanted behaviors
and you're like this is aninsurmountable mountain of
trouble and I don't know what todo and I don't know who to turn
(44:17):
to and all of that kind ofstuff.
You know I've had problems likethat too, where you're like
where do I even begin?
But once you get started andyou have someone you trust to
help you, you're like oh, wow,look, I didn't know my dog could
do that.
You know, you feel so good.
You want to keep going.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Yeah, you definitely have to have the right
motivation and go for thosesmaller wins as they come along.
Yeah, all right.
Last but not least, I'm goingto protest my property taxes,
and one of the things I'm goingto show them is the work that I
would need to do on this houseto get it up to the value that
they believe it is.
But part of it is because I'vegot all kind of places on my
(44:55):
walls, on my baseboards, wherevarious creatures who have been
in this house have chewed.
So that's one we hear a lot,and it's not just puppies that
chew on things.
So obviously I can't take thebaseboards away.
They exist.
So what is your advice for thedestructive chewing?
Speaker 2 (45:14):
So dogs most dogs have a need to chew obstructive
chewing.
So dogs most dogs have a needto chew.
It is a way to self-soothe,it's a way to clean their teeth.
It's enjoyable, like how somepeople like to chew gum.
It's fun.
(45:35):
So you need to allow appropriateoutlets for your dogs chewing
so that they don't chew oninappropriate things and in
order for them not to chew oninappropriate things.
Every time you catch themchewing on something they
shouldn't, you redirect them tosomething that's okay to chew on
.
And anytime you see them maybesitting around thinking thoughts
like what can I do?
Offer them somethingappropriate to chew on so that
(45:57):
they're meeting their need tochew.
It's helping them relax.
And especially for you where youhave rescue dogs, you know
that's a stressful situation tobe in.
They're homeless, right.
They're living in a shelter.
They, you know they don't knowwho their real mom is going to
be someday.
And it's a stressful situationfor dogs to be in a new
(46:18):
environment with differentsmells and different sounds.
So different dogs have differentpreferences for chewing.
Some like harder, some likesofter, some like to tear
something up, some like to justchew on something that stays the
same.
So baseboards, if they'rewooden, they have that say.
You know, maybe yak cheesemight have a somewhat similar
(46:40):
mouthfeel.
You can try that.
Or you can just try a varietyof different things, edible and
non-edible, in order to satisfythat need on something that you
don't mind them chewing.
And then you just, you know, themain things to think about is
the size of the dog, because thesize of the mouth matters.
You know, the Kongs come indifferent sizes, different
(47:02):
hardnesses, so don't the yakcheese and lots of different
things.
They make teethers now forpuppies, but adult dogs can use
them too.
So you want to avoid chokinghazard.
You want to supervise a dog ifthey're chewing on something
that can break up like a bone.
You can get them real bones,just not cooked bones, that you
(47:23):
can either buy at a pet place oryou can get from a butcher if
you have a butcher.
My dog now.
She likes tracheas, she likesto chew on tracheas.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
They're disgusting but she loves them and I buy
them and some of them are goingto last longer, because I know
we used to do the.
My Doberman loved cow hooves,the little cow hoof, trimming
things, but, boy, you got towatch that like a hawk, because
we had a couple of scaryinstances where I didn't get
that last little you know halfdollar sized piece up off the
(47:54):
floor and the next thing youknow, he swallowed it and caused
an obstruction.
So, keeping an eye on thecondition, same thing even with
the stuffed toys.
It's like once they eviscerateit, pick up that stuffing, don't
let them swallow that stuff.
Speaker 2 (48:08):
Right, right, because you don't want to bowel
obstruction.
The other thing you want tothink about with hard shoes just
like people, different dogshave different strength teeth.
Whether it's just like people,different dogs have different
strength teeth, whether it'sgenetic or the nutrition they
had as a puppy.
So a lot of vets recommendagainst antlers because they've
(48:28):
met dogs who've broken theirteeth on antlers.
So you kind of have to knowyour dog.
If you're not sure, you can askyour vet.
You know, do you think this isappropriate for my dog, because
they're going to know your dog'smouth better?
And then also, what does yourdog like to chew on?
My dog?
Would?
My last dog would chew onanything I dipped in peanut
butter.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Yeah, yeah, and I've had dogs that have had no
interest in chewing things, LikeI had a dog named Bonnie that
she had her little stuffedfleece baby and she would carry
that thing around.
I mean she never, never rippedit, never really chewed on it
and she didn't really wantanything to do.
I mean she like an edible bone?
Yeah, she did that.
(49:07):
But something that was justsolely for the purpose of
chewing.
She wanted nothing to do withit.
But then you have other onesthat are you know, you give them
something stuffed and it's just, you know, in a million pieces,
in two seconds, yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Right, some dogs prefer licking my dog now Shadow
.
She'll destroy toys, except forparticular toys that she treats
like babies and she hides themin a big pile on the couch,
checks on them every once in awhile.
They're under a blanket and theonly difference is that they
make like there's a cow and itmoos and there's a chicken and
(49:39):
it squawks.
So to her those are completelydifferent from the regular
squeaky toys and she treats themdifferent.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
And I, you know.
The other thing I would say inmy experience cause I've learned
this the hard way issupervision goes a long way.
You know, it's like when Iclose dogs up in the hallway
with a baby gate and go to workor whatever it might be, I'm
kind of asking for it If I don'tknow that dog well enough to
know, yes, they're going to chewon the baseboards or puppies,
you know, if there's not enough,sometimes even if there is
(50:07):
enough stuff in there, it's likethey've been there, done that
with that toy and they'relooking for something else to do
.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
They're curious animals.
Some dogs will chew on electriccords.
Some Furious animals.
Some dogs will chew on electriccords.
Some dogs won't do anythingnaughty.
Some dogs are safer, cratedwhen you have to leave them
unsupervised.
One thing you can do is samething people do with human
children is take half their toysand put them in a closet and
every three to six months justrotate everything out so it
(50:34):
seems new again.
Or trade toys with a friend sothat they have completely
different smells every once in awhile, just like a do a toy
trade with the mother.
You know your dog mom friendsor dog dad friends and those
toys you know other people'stoys are always more interesting
than your own toys.
So there you go so that helpstoo.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
okay, that that's a good yeah good idea.
Just make sure you wash themgood and everybody's up to date
on all their disease preventionof course I wouldn't even wash
them.
Speaker 2 (51:04):
I would just give them because they're going to
smell like the other dog.
But I wouldn't pick it up offthe street give it to my dog.
Speaker 1 (51:11):
Yeah, Okay, Well, Ruth, thank you so much for all
of your wisdom and informationhere.
I'm hoping that those who arestruggling with some or maybe
even all hopefully not all, thatwould kind of suck, but some of
these issues at least have somestarting points and some food
for thought.
But I know that you obviouslyyou're in the Cambridge
(51:31):
Massachusetts area, so peoplethat are in that area can seek
you out for in-person.
But how would people get a holdof you if they wanted to pursue
you to help them virtually orthrough the courses that you
have to offer?
Speaker 2 (51:45):
So my website is creaturegooddogtrainingcom and
you can find everything there.
You can make an appointment fora free consult with me.
I have created a handout forthe stuff we talked about today
where I've written down myadvice.
People can download thatthrough my resource library,
social media, through my website, so that's the easiest way.
(52:06):
Yeah, and I'm happy to answerquestions and you know I could
talk about dogs like all day,every day, you do.
Speaker 1 (52:15):
You already do.
I think it's my job yeah.
All right, well, great, well, Iput those links and information
up on the show notes andhopefully people who are
struggling with this realizethat this podcast is just a
starting point.
You don't have to go it alone,and I'm quite sure that the
advice that we've given and Ithink we alluded to it
throughout is that all dogs aregoing to be a little bit
(52:37):
different, all situations aredifferent, so seeking out a
consultation to basically sayhere's my specific scenario, is
obviously going to be even morehelpful, because Ruth would be
able to give you, you know,specific advice tailored to your
needs.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
Right, that's going to fit your lifestyle, fit your
dog's personality, I mean,that's just like anything.
Getting help from an expert isthe easiest way to go, and you
know, DIYing it is harder, butif you're a diehard DIYer you
can do that too.
Speaker 1 (53:07):
That's right, you've got options.
You've definitely got options,all right.
Well, again, ruth, thank youfor being here and thank you to
everybody for listening toanother episode.
We will see and hear you nextweek.
Thanks for listening to MuddyPaws and Hairballs.
Be sure to visit our website atmuddypawsandhairballscom for
more resources and be sure tofollow this podcast on your
(53:29):
favorite podcast app so you'llnever miss a show.
And hey, if you like this show,text someone right now and say
I've got a podcastrecommendation.
You need to check the show outand tell them to listen and let
you know what they think.
Don't forget to tune in nextweek and every week for a brand
new episode.
And if you don't do anythingelse this week, give your pets a
big hug from us.
As we take a short break before launching the new
season of Muddy Paws andHairballs, I'm rerunning one of
our most popular episodes thetop five annoying dog behaviors
and how you can fix them.
I can definitely relate to thestruggles you face when your pet
has some behavior issues.
You can fix them.
I can definitely relate to thestruggles you face when your pet
has some behavior issues.
I am currently dealing with anincontinent chihuahua, a yappy
terrier, who in hindsightprobably was not the best
(00:33):
addition to the household, atleast in my personal opinion.
And then there's always Sassy,my blind pit bull, who really
isn't even my dog, but we stillhave not been able to find her a
forever home.
I'm trying to be patient andunderstanding and I'm trying to
focus on solutions, and thisepisode really helped.
We dove into the top five mostfrustrating dog behaviors that
(00:54):
can really drive us all up thewalls.
So if you've got a dog withquirks of their own or you're
just trying to figure out how tomanage a variety of
personalities, this episode isfor you.
Stay tuned for some practicaltips from professional dog
trainer Ruth Hegarty and alittle bit of humor along the
way to help you get throughthose challenging moments with
your pack.
I don't know about you, butsometimes my dogs drive me crazy
(01:19):
and it's 100% my fault becauseI will admit that I have not
done the best of jobs in doingall the types of training that
they need.
I've kind of done some and thenignored some other issues.
Well, today we're going to betackling some of the top issues
that not only kind of drive petparents and the people around
them nuts sometimes but, on aserious note, can actually push
(01:41):
pet parents to the point ofconsidering giving up their pets
.
So my guest today, Ruth Hegarty, is the founder of Creature
Good Dog Training and she doeswork not only in person but
online.
She does training programs andeducation programs to help pet
owners who have fearful andreactive dogs and they're
struggling with that samefrustration and sometimes
(02:04):
embarrassment that we all mightbe struggling with a little bit
from their dog's behavior.
And she gets them to the pointwhere they're kind of back to
enjoying their walks andenjoying living with their pets,
which is the ultimate goal.
And what I like about Ruth isthat she not only has a ton of
dog certifications but she alsohas people certifications,
(02:24):
because it really is a peopleissue Sometimes, I think more
than a dog issue.
So she's got an MS in educationand she's got certifications in
dog training, life coaching forpeople, dog bite safety
education, dealing with canineseparation anxiety which we're
going to do on a whole notherepisode, because that's another
thing that comes up a lot andshe's even finishing up a
(02:45):
certification as a petbereavement specialist and I
wish I was living where she'sliving right now after this
hurricane just came throughHouston, but she lives in
Cambridge Massachusetts with herpit bull, Shadow Dawn.
So, Ruth, thank you so much forbeing here today with us.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Oh, my pleasure, Amy, I'm really happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, so I know, when we talked before the show it
was kind of a struggle.
We were trying to figure outwhat topics because there's so
many topics that we could talkabout that would be helpful for
pet parents, and both of us kindof did some research and put it
out to our followers to say,hey, where do you think we
should start?
And this idea of the top kindof most common and sometimes
(03:22):
relatively simple bad dogbehaviors.
I think if we could tackle someof these, or at least get pet
parents to pick their worst one,that we could be a long way
towards not only keeping pets inhomes but keeping homes
harmonious along the way.
So the first one on my list isthe pulling on a leash,
reactivity-based or not, becauseobviously there can be multiple
(03:44):
reasons why pets do this, butthat's something that can really
get to the point where you justdon't even want to leave the
house with your pet.
So what's your advice?
As far as you know, how do petparents kind of identify that
that's an issue and then work onresolving that?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Sure.
So I have sort of two rules Ifollow in dog training and one
thing I say this is dog training.
It's very important.
You have to do this thing likerecall.
It's a safety issue, your dogshould know it.
And then there's what I callparenting issues, because I call
dog owners dog parents.
So how much your dog pulls Alittle bit of parenting issue.
(04:20):
So long as they're not pullingyou down to the point of injury,
you can decide what's too much,what's too little.
But in general if you feel likethe walk is uncomfortable, the
walk is unsafe.
You're afraid to walk your dogbecause they might knock you
down or pull you down.
Dogs are very strong.
Your average dog has thepulling power of a human man,
three times their weight.
(04:41):
So they're much stronger thantheir size will sometimes give
you the idea.
Also part of pulling and thisdoesn't necessarily mean your
dog is reactive or aggressive.
It could be overexcitement.
Some dogs are also naughty onleash but not off leash, because
they are frustrated by beingcontained.
So if they're pulling to thepoint where their front paws are
(05:02):
coming up off the ground,that's pretty extreme.
If they're also barking whilethey're doing it, if it looks
scary to pass their by.
You know if it's hard, if youhave to have, you know, 20 feet
between you and the next personwalking their dog.
So you know there's certainlyextremes, yeah, but a tiny bit
of pulling could be problematicif you have a balance issue or
(05:24):
bag problem.
So you know a little bit.
You get to decide how muchpulling is too much pulling.
But it is a common problem and,as you were saying, problem
behaviors are the main reasonpeople surrender their dogs and
with a bit of training thatdoesn't have to be a problem.
You can keep your dog and enjoyyour walks at the same time.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, I know.
One of the things that alwaysscares me is when you see the
person that has a prettypowerful dog who's dug in and
I'm just waiting for them to letgo because they're just going
to not be able to hold it, andthen presume all heck is going
to break loose.
And then you start wonderingwell, why does that person bring
that dog out in public?
But eventually you got to getout there in public and expose
your dog to those scenarios,because walking around on a
(06:09):
leash, well-behaved, in yourbackyard, it's not doing us a
whole lot of good either.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And if people get frustrated.
I'm not a small person.
I'm a six foot tall woman.
My 60 pound dog can take medown if she really wanted to.
So they're very strong and youdon't want people to feel like
they have no choice but to put aprong collar on their dog.
I'm a positive trainer.
I don't want that for people, Idon't want that for their dogs,
and you can teach your dog.
(06:35):
Obviously, if you get a puppyor a small dog, it's going to be
easier because the first thingthey learn is to not pull.
But if you adopt an adult dog,you can still teach them.
Right?
I got Shadow.
She was two, almost three yearsold.
You can still teach them towalk politely on leash.
Dogs will pull by defaultbecause they walk faster than us
(06:58):
.
They are so interested ingetting to that next smell and
pulling doesn't bother them.
They don't mind how that feels.
So it's a human issue for ahuman society, so it's incumbent
upon us to teach them.
It's really better for me, asthe human, for you, not to do
this.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Right.
So you mentioned the prongcollars, which I am opposed to
those, mostly because I thinkpeople jump straight to that as
a way to control the dog.
They'll go from having a pitbull on a harness and then say,
well, this isn't working, andthen go to that opposite extreme
.
What do you think are some ofthe biggest equipment mistakes?
I think harnesses are a hugeequipment mistake for a dog
(07:40):
that's pulling, but I'm sure alldogs are different.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
All dogs are different, different shaped dogs
.
Sometimes the like the easywalk, which is a type of front
pulling is, can be easier forsome dogs to slip out of.
So equipment is meant to helpyou, right?
My mom used to say the righttools for the right job.
She was the tool guy in myhouse.
So equipment can be your friend.
Just like for anything you wantto use the right kind of
(08:05):
equipment to keep yourself safeor do the job the best.
So the main mistake that peoplemake with a harness is getting a
harness that hooks in the back.
That's just going to give yourdog more pulling power.
You know, if you picked your,you know a sled dog team and
where they're hooked it's justgoing to make it easier for them
(08:25):
to pull you.
So ones that hook in the frontare better because they use
that's where your dog's centerof gravity is and when the dog
pulls they're designed to sortof turn them to the side a
little.
And there are a few differentmodels.
There's the Easy Walk, whichsome people love it, some people
hate it.
Like I said, some dogs can rollout of it.
So you, if you like it and youwant to use it, you can get
(08:52):
another little piece or use acarabiner, if you have those
already, to hook it to thecollar so that if they do roll
out of it they're not going toget away.
And the harness I use for my dogand recommend to my clients is
the two hound freedom harness.
So it hooks in the front andthe back.
So you have a choice dependingon what you're doing.
I, for my dog, hook her on both, so she is double leash to the
(09:14):
front and the back, becauseshe's so strong and that gives
you more control.
Yeah, I love having that backuptoo.
Right, right, my dog has someaggression issues, so she's
quite hooked.
But the reason that theharnesses are good is they're
going to reduce the pulling.
Those front hooks will reducethe pulling almost by half, just
(09:36):
by nature of how they'redesigned, and that's going to
make it easier for you to teachyour dog not to pull on leash.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Okay, and what about when you are starting off with a
young dog or a puppy?
Is there a way to modify thebehavior other than equipment to
just control it?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
100%, 100%.
So you always want to teachthem.
You don't necessarily want toonly rely on equipment.
You can only rely on equipment.
It's up to you.
So there's a few different ways,right, the traditional ways is
there were two sort oftraditional ways to teach a dog
what we call loose leash walking.
One is every time they pull,you turn around and go the other
(10:20):
way.
And the other is every timethey pull, you stop and wait for
them to kind of readjust.
Some dogs get very frustratedat the stop and start.
I have found that the turningaround works much better.
The reason these methods work isbecause it teaches your dog
(10:41):
that you're whimsical.
At any point you're going toturn around and go in another
direction, and so they want tokeep their eye on you.
They want to make sure theyknow where you're at so that
they're not surprised by a turn,and that will help them to kind
of get more in sync with you.
So you cease to just be theperson that can open gates and
you become the partner on thewalk, and if they want to smell
(11:05):
something, you let them smell.
The smelling part of the walkis more important to the dog
than the walking part of thewalk.
They really want to get to allthose smells.
Another way that you can teachthem is to teach them that
approaching you and stayingnearby you is more desirable
than pulling or wandering offand this will also help with
(11:27):
recall, when we talk about that.
And you can do that by puttingyour dog on a long line, you
know 20, 30, 50 feet, and justkind of wander around the field
or your backyard and every timethey come up to you they get
rewarded and it's their choice.
Do they come and walk near youso that they can get multiple
treats or do they wander offbecause the smells are more
(11:49):
interesting to them in thatmoment.
But what you're doing is making, being with you, rewarding and
also their decision, theirchoice, and you want to teach
your dog to make choices thatyou approve of.
That will help them be lessfrustrated.
It will help them just defaultto better behaviors.
So there's a few different waysand it's I'm not going to lie
(12:13):
walking your dog when you'retrying to teach them not to pull
can be kind of a nuisance.
You're not going to get veryfar, but it doesn't take long.
You know it's not going to takeyou four weeks.
Maybe it's going to take youone week.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
So it's worth it.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, and I think the problem with most people,
myself included, is that,because it does take time and it
takes consistency, just liketraining anything else is that
people start off, you know, theygo to that puppy kindergarten
class or whatever they do.
They hire a trainer for Xnumber of weeks and they get
started and the dog is trained,you know, and then they're not
(12:51):
consistent in deploying whatevermethodology that they're using
and then the dog becomesuntrained.
You know, because I know mydogs.
There's lots of things thatthey used to know and used to do
and now don't do so well, butit's because I've been
inconsistent in how we managethat.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
It's just a question of practice, and if you're
loosey-goosey about it whichagain, is your choice, right.
But what it tells your dog isthat sometimes it's okay to pull
, sometimes it's not.
And so that translates intoit's up to me Do I feel like
pulling today?
I'm the dog, laid into it's upto me.
Do I feel like pulling today?
I'm the dog.
Do I feel like pulling today?
Because that's what beinginconsistent teaches them is
(13:30):
that it's not that important toyou.
So they'll just.
They're entitled to do whatthey want, and I mean, I would
think that too if I was them.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Sure, I mean, it's the same thing when you're
teaching kids certain things.
You know, if it's like you willhold my hand in the parking lot
or you will sit down on thegrocery cart or whatever it
might be If you're inconsistentin managing that behavior, then
it's eh, you don't really meanthat.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
So therefore, I'm going to run my own agenda.
But teaching them to walklightly on leash is easier than
teaching them consistent recall.
In the moment they're like oh,I can't spend the next 15 years
of my dog's life doing this.
It's horrible.
I'm like no, no, not 15.
You know they're going to learnit.
You're going to do it for, youknow, one week, two weeks, and
that's going to get easier andeasier and that's just going to
be natural.
You're not constantly going tohave this, isn't your life from
(14:16):
now on?
This is just you're going to dothis for a little bit and then
you're going to reap the rewardsof doing it for that little bit
.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Right.
So let's talk about my nextfavorite subject nuisance
barking.
So we had a dog and she would,anytime you put her outside and
you left her out there for morethan 30 seconds, she would start
barking.
But you know, opening the doorand hollering be quiet, stop
barking didn't really help thesituation too well.
And so we actually and I hateto admit this, but we actually
(14:46):
resorted to a bark collar,because in my limited experience
which was even more limited, 35years ago, you know we put that
bark collar on, it operatedonce or twice and then after
that it didn't even havebatteries in it.
We just put it on her when shewent outside and she didn't make
excessive noise while she wasout there.
But there's gotta be, there'sgotta be a better way to deal
(15:07):
with that.
And then I've got.
You know like I'm trying to dothis podcast and my daughter out
there by the time I get offthis podcast is going to be like
whew, because she's trying tomanage six dogs and keeping them
to shut the heck up whilethey're out there.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, you can see how smart dogs are, because when
you put the bark collar on them,whether it sprayed citronella
or had a high-pitched sound, anultrasound it only took one or
two times for the dog toexperience it before they're
like I'm not going to make thatthing hurt me again.
So no one suggests thataversive measures don't work.
(15:44):
We just don't like them becauseyeah, is there a better
alternative?
Yeah, so barking is fascinating.
It's truly a fascinatingsubject.
An excessively barky dogactually impairs their human's
ability to think properly.
Studies have shown that it'sconsidered a type of noise
pollution.
(16:04):
It's extremely annoying.
My dog, shadow, she, has thisproblem.
It's so much better.
I've had her about a year somuch better than it was in the
beginning.
But I got deep into barkingbecause of her and frightened
dogs.
Now I specialize in fear andanxiety.
Frightened dogs bark right,just like frightened people
(16:24):
scream.
So there are a multitude ofreasons that dogs bark.
Ideally, if you can figure outwhy your dog is barking, then
you can specifically address theunderlying cause.
If you can't figure it out,that's okay.
You can just do some trial andexperimentation to address the
underlying cause.
You know, throw a few things atit and see With barking you
(16:49):
want to first minimize thebarking, because if your dog is
at their peak of barking andthey're just yappy, yappy, yappy
, yappy, yappy, yappy, to thepoint where you're like I have
to stop this by any meansnecessary, your dog isn't in a
position where they can learn.
So the first step is always tolook at the environment.
What's triggering my dog'sbarking?
(17:11):
Is it what they see out thewindow, which is shadow's issue.
Before you even start training,you block their access to their
triggers.
To reduce the barking and givethem an opportunity to take a
breath and focus that, you addenrichment.
Some dogs bark because they'rebored.
Some dogs bark because they'restressed.
So you add in all kinds ofenrichment to help them relax,
(17:35):
help them be entertained.
Whatever needs to be covered iscovered right.
Puzzle toys, licky mats,chewing, licking, sniffing are
all naturally relaxing for dogs.
Then, once your dog is kind oflike huh, and they can focus,
you teach them.
Maybe you teach them a quietcue, right, because all dogs
bark.
They're going to bark from timeto time.
(17:56):
My last dog actually deterred aman trying to climb in my
window in the middle of thenight one time a robber, I'm
going to assume.
So that was good, you know hebarked.
You want them to do thatsometimes but you don't want
them to bark excessively.
So you can teach them.
They bark, bark and you sayokay, thank you quiet.
(18:17):
Or you redirect them If theybark at guests.
You know they get so excitedthey bark at your friends that
come over.
Maybe you teach them analternative like go get your
favorite toy and show it to yourguests so that they're still
using their energy, they'restill getting the attention that
they're craving through thatbarking, and you're not having
(18:37):
to sit and listen to all thatbarking.
So there's a lot of differentways that you can approach it,
depending on why they're barking.
If it's separation anxiety,that's a very unique scenario.
You can address it.
But you have to address theissue of separation anxiety as a
whole rather than the barking,because the barking is
(19:07):
territorial, it's warningbarking, it's attention barking,
it's excitement barking,boredom barking.
And those are all things thatyou can address with changing
the environment, permanently ortemporarily.
Now, if it's just as easy foryou to put a couch in front of a
window or something like atable so that your dog never
looks out at it, problem solved.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, so that your dog never looks out at it.
Problem solved.
Yeah Well, I think it'sinteresting.
You said that, though, becauseI think a lot of times people
think and I have thought thisbefore running an animal rescue,
we get a lot of deliveries.
I mean, the poor Amazon person,the chewy person, the EPS guy,
the mailman, whatever you know.
We get a lot of people comingand going, and not only does it
turn into a barking situation,but it's turned into fights
(19:48):
before, because somebody istrying to control somebody else
and it just you know.
So I guess I thought it waslike a personal failure that I
had to shut the blinds in orderto prevent that.
But if that's the easy, simplesolution, then yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You know, I always think of things like closing the
blinds as akin to I locked mydoor right Now.
Is it a failing on my part thatI don't trust society not to
come in?
Absolutely not.
But also, you know, one of thethings that you can do is you
can sort of change your dog'semotional response right.
(20:28):
You can sort of change yourdog's emotional response right.
Whether your dog thinks there'san intruder or just so excited
that someone's coming over, youcan actually use, you know,
desensitization and counterconditioning to change the
response to the doorbell.
And you know, in a 30 seconddemonstration it's ring the bell
, give a treat, ring the bell,give a treat, ring the bell,
give it until your dog starts toassociate the bell Not with oh
(20:53):
gosh, a big scary man's going tocome in, but oh treats.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Now see they need to invent.
Maybe we should do this.
We can go into businesstogether and invent a doorbell
that has a treat dispensingportal on the inside of the
house and every time thedoorbell rings it kicks out a
treat like those littleautomated ones that they have.
We could make millions.
Hopefully Ring is not listeningto this podcast episode.
Next thing we know we're goingto see it on the market, so I
(21:21):
like that.
So, starting off withidentifying the stimulus,
preventing what stimulus you can, and then redirecting the
behavior, is the way to go, andI would think, just like with
anything else, that's somethingthat would start in puppyhood
too, because I've noticed that,having had litters of puppies
here, some of them are just,even if, even though they're
(21:41):
from the same litter, they'rejust.
Some are talkers and some aresuper quiet, and so identifying
those talkers and redirectingthat early, yeah, yeah it's.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I mean, just like if you have six human children,
they're all going to bedifferent, you know, even though
they have the same parents.
That's just how genetics works.
It's fascinating.
But you know, we socializepuppies.
If you adopt an adult dog thatmaybe hasn't been socialized,
things can feel more triggeringto them.
But yeah, we do teach puppies.
You know, that's one of thebenefits of raising a dog from
puppyhood is being able toexpose them to a lot of
(22:17):
different things that they mightnot have been if you got them
as an adult.
There's special joys toadopting an adult dog as well,
so you know, it's just sort ofwhat works best for you.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Yeah, all right, so let's move on then to and we
talked about this a little bit,because you talked about using a
long lead and recall but anyother tips that you want to talk
about?
Because if you don't haverecall, you shouldn't have your
dog off leash in public, andit's amazing to me how many
people do.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Recall is important.
It's a safety issue and I thinkeveryone should focus on it.
And it isn't as hard to teachas people think.
And there are two main mistakesthat people make with recall.
The first I alluded to earlierwhen I said they let it go and
cause their dog to believe thatit's optional.
(23:06):
So if they call their dog,they've been working on it in
the house and then they take itto the yard.
They call their dog and theirdog doesn't come, they'll say,
well, he didn't come.
You can't do that because inyour dog's mind it's like well,
they call me, but it's up to me,so you cannot let it go.
And if they don't come, not letit go.
(23:33):
And if they don't come, youhave to make it easier for them
to come.
If you have to get within a footof them and still call them,
they take one step towards youand you're like good boy, yeah,
you did it, here's your treat.
You act like they ran a mile toget to you, through like razor
wire, because you want them toknow that it's not optional.
You want them to.
When they hear you call theirname, you want them to like if
(23:57):
it was a romantic movie and atthe end of the movie that people
are like running on the beachto each other.
You want that to be you andyour dog.
When you call their name, yeah,and so the other major mistake
people make is they fall intothis trap of only calling their
dog when they actually have tocall their name.
Yeah, and so the other majormistake people make is they fall
into this trap of only callingtheir dog when they actually
have to call their dog.
It's time to leave the park,it's time to come in the house,
(24:17):
it's time to go to the vet.
So you have to practice callingyour dog so that only 30% of
the time it's actually the funis over.
Otherwise, your dog can developa negative association with
being called.
Nobody wants to go to anybodyif the only time they ever call
(24:38):
you is to like disappoint you.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, that's such.
A huge point is how many timeswe use our dog's name.
You know, calling them whenwe're angry about something, or
calling them because you'regoing to give them a pill, or
calling them, you know, it'slike I've caught myself doing
that and it's like, even thoughthey're good natured and they're
coming over, it's like, oh,maybe I would have been better
off walking over to them andgiving them that pill, or
walking over to them and thenjust cutting their nails, than
(25:03):
to use the name.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Or if you call them, 10 times, only cut their nails
one time, the other nine timesthey got a treat and they got to
go back to play, or they got atreat a belly rub, and then they
got to go do what they want.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
So you're saying the dogs play on the odds right?
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yes, Like, hmm, let me see Dogs are eternal
optimists, so that if evensometimes a bad thing happens,
right, they won't focus on that.
They'll focus on ah, sometimesI get cheese when she calls me.
Maybe this is the time, youknow.
(25:43):
Yeah, Even if every once in awhile you give cheese and the
rest of the time you give kibble, they'll be like oh, I wonder,
if this is cheese time, They'llrun over and it'll be kibble and
be like dang.
Maybe next time it'll be thecheese time.
They'll just do it becausethey're like oh, maybe next time
, maybe next time.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Well and think about it, though, because I think
about there are certain wordsthat I, if I say them in the
kitchen like oops, or I use abad word, everybody comes
running because they know for afact something has likely fallen
on the floor.
So it's like it's interestingthey all come running when you
say oh crap, or something likethat, but yet they don't come
when you call their names,because they've learned.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Trainers have this expression called poisoning the
cue, Whereas you've taught themsomething.
But you kind of messed it up.
Now it doesn't work anymore.
You can just change the word.
You could literally be in thepark and go oh crap, and all
your dogs will come running.
And if it works, it works.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Everybody's dogs are going to be coming home with me,
then if I do that though.
Now that's such a good point.
Yeah, maybe come up with abetter, a different recall word.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, because it doesn't matter to the dog.
You could use the worddollhouse for recall, and so
long as everyone in your dog'slife knows that they come.
When you say dollhouse, it'sfine, it doesn't matter.
They don't speak your languageper se.
They've learned a particularsound and they've related it to
(27:08):
a particular behavior, but itdoesn't matter to them what that
sound is.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, yeah.
Now I've got all kind of funthoughts running through my head
about the things you could bescreaming out in public to make
your dogs go yeah and havepeople wondering about your
sanity, but anyway, okay.
So that's definitely somethingand that's, I think, also
something that I have made themistake of not doing when I've
had puppies is it's so mucheasier to work on that when
(27:34):
they're little and you can catchthem, you know, and they can't
get that far away.
And making that a positivething to come back to you, right
.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
When I'm working with a client and we're teaching
recall to their dog, I alwayssay when you get to the point
where you 100% think you cantrust your dog to come away from
distractions at the park offleash, you put them on a long
line and practice it for anothermonth, right, and then you try
letting them off.
So you have to raise up thedistractions slowly and when you
(28:05):
think you can trust them, youstill need to work on it because
your dog knows the differencebetween being on leash and off
leash.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I had a golden retriever in high
school and that dog I will saythat other than the recall, I
mean he was so well trained, hewould do everything with hand
signals.
I would set up obstacle coursesand he would go over under
around.
You know, he would heel andspin around and sit at my side
and we worked and we worked onthat long and obviously I either
(28:32):
did something wrong or I didn'twork on it long enough.
But I felt like we did the longlead so many times and I swear
it was a thing like okay, he, he, he was reliably coming and
then I would take the leash offand he would come once, he would
come twice, he would comehalfway the third time and then
it was like a light bulb wentoff and off he went and it's
(28:56):
like, and then I finally gave upLike I couldn't get past that
point.
But yeah, I never did break himof that.
He was always a runner.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I do also tell people when you're practicing it wait
till your dog comes all the wayto you before you give them the
treat, and some of the timetouch their collar and then let
go and give them the treat,Because dogs will sort of come
close enough to get the treat,but not so close that you can
grab them, and that way you candesensitize them to the touching
(29:25):
them and the hooking them andthat sort of thing.
And there are a couple ofbreeds that are more difficult
to teach because of what they'vebeen bred for Huskies, beagles.
I mean, I'm not saying youcan't teach them, but it is more
challenging because it goesagainst their genetics.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I had somebody tell me and I can't remember if it
was a trainer or just a personwho had said something about
after a certain age that the dogcan kind of like let's say,
you've got a dog that's sitting10 feet away from you and you
call them that they have theability to think to themselves.
I'm here, what do you want?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
I think at any age some dogs will do that.
I think that's a personalitytrait more than an age or a
breed thing.
Some dogs my last dog he wouldthink, you know, I'd call him
and I'd wait it out and he wouldthink for a minute and then
he'd slowly kind of shuffle overmy dog now Shadow, I call her
(30:26):
and she flies at me like I'mgoing to give her a million
dollars.
So you know, your dogs havedifferent personalities.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Is it bad to keep saying because that's another
thing I see people do it's likeI say Gunny come, gunny, gunny,
gunny, come, come.
Should you really say it onceand then wait it out?
And when do you repeat it?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
This is something that other trainers do different
.
I know there are trainers whosay say it once and if they
don't come, they didn't come.
I don't agree with that.
I am a two strikes guy.
Call my dog.
If they don't come maybe theydon't hear me right I'm going to
give them a second chance, callthem again.
Also, give them a moment tofinish their sniff, right?
(31:09):
If I ask my friend to grab me acoffee while they're in the
kitchen and they're like, yeah,in a minute when I finish this
phone call, that's not a no,that's an.
I'm'm doing it right.
Give your dog that same benefitof the doubt, unless there's a
bear coming at them.
Give your dog that same benefitof the doubt.
And if they're running to youand you want to encourage that,
(31:34):
then you could say whatever youwant while they're coming, like
you're cheering on a race.
So the reason that we saytypically, don't repeat yourself
is we talked about how the dogsdon't really speak the language
they understand sounds.
So to a dog, come shadow is notthe same as come, come, come,
come, come, come, come.
There's two different sounds.
So you don't want to confuseyour dog.
(31:55):
So I usually tell clients countto 10 in your head before you
repeat yourself.
Give your dog a moment to kindof wrap their mind around.
Oh, they said come.
I don't really want to, but Ilove them and they have hot dogs
.
So I'm going to go.
Before you say it again, Ifocus how I do things on what
your average family with a dogis comfortable with, right?
(32:20):
So I'm going to.
If you're telling me you want totrain your dog for obedience
competition, you're going tohave to learn it a completely
different way.
But I don't do that work Right,and I work with families who
want a safe and healthy andhappy dog and dog owner
experience, and so that sort ofinforms how I do things and what
(32:42):
I think most people are goingto be comfortable with and
capable of.
So that's sort of what backs upmy philosophy, which makes me
differ a little bit from some ofthe other trainers Not all, I
mean.
Some others are like me, butyou know, there there is advice
that says you call them once.
Use a unique sound like orsomething instead of a word,
which is fine.
(33:02):
There's nothing wrong with that, yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yeah, all right.
So another personal favorite ofmine we're down to our last,
last two items here is jumpingup on people.
So a pet peeve that I have, asI am trying to adopt out dogs
and I'm trying to work on thejumping up thing, is when you
have the guest or the potentialadopter who tells you no, no,
(33:27):
that's okay.
And it's like I have to gothrough this explanation of why
it's not okay, because atminimum it's because we're
trying to train the dog not tojump up on anybody, because not
everybody loves it is kind ofthe bottom line with that.
But I've tried differenttechniques for doing that and
have had various success.
So I'm curious what yourthoughts are as far as like, is
(33:47):
it OK for a dog to jump up onpeople or is it something that
everybody should be eliminatingfrom their dog's behavior?
Speaker 2 (33:53):
It's OK for your dog to jump up on you if you don't
mind, right?
Shadow jumps on me every time Icome home and I think it's
adorable, but would I allow herto jump on a passerby like she
wants to do?
No, because that's notappropriate.
You don't want people to getdirty frightened, you don't?
You never know who has amedical issue that that a dog
(34:16):
jumping on them could.
You never know who has amedical issue that a dog jumping
on them could set them back.
So you can't allow your dog tojump on other people who don't
want your dog to jump on them,right?
Or if you're not sure theydon't want to be jumped on, you
default to they don't want to bejumped on, it's perfectly fine,
if you don't mind your dogjumping on you.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
But how does the dog?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
know the difference.
So what I do with people?
Because this comes up that thedad loves the dog to jump on
them and the mom and the kidsare like, no, I hate it.
Default to teaching your dognever jump on people.
That's the rule.
Never jump on people unless apeople invites you to jump on
them.
So unless someone says come on,come on, then they don't jump.
(34:59):
Dogs are smart enough tounderstand that.
The way you teach your dog notto jump on people is you teach
your dog rather than try to tellthem no, don't do that thing.
That's hard, that's nebulous,right?
You teach them to do somethingelse.
That's incompatible with theoriginal behavior.
You teach them to do somethingelse.
That's incompatible with theoriginal behavior.
So, jumping up me putting mypaws on your body, the opposite
(35:22):
of that is me keeping my fourpaws on the floor.
So I teach the dog keep my fourpaws on the floor or do
something else.
When I hear the bell, I go tomy place.
When I hear the bell, I go geta toy, whatever it is.
You want to teach your dog.
There's always multiple ways togo about it, but you teach your
dog that the other behavior,the desired behavior, is
(35:43):
preferable, and you do that byusing treats or toys, some kind
of reward that feels good toyour dog, and by trying to make
jumping on people as boring aspossible.
One way to make it boring isfor the person not to respond,
which is hard, because even fora dog like if you're like no, no
(36:04):
off, that's exciting.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Yeah, you're playing.
It's like a game.
When you're put especially,I've seen people a lot.
They're talking a lot, they'reflapping their hands, they're
pushing the dog and it, you know, it becomes a, it becomes a
game.
One of the things that I'vealways done is just to put my
arms up, kind of cross themacross my chest and out of the
way and turn my back to the dog.
You know, if I've got a dog,that's that's jumping on me,
just because I'm certainly notgoing to make it fun for you and
(36:30):
I'm not going to engage youwhile you're demonstrating that
behavior.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Right.
If the dog isn't rewarded forthe behavior, the behavior will
fade away that behavior Right.
If the dog isn't rewarded forthe behavior, the behavior will
fade away.
So if that response is possible, it's a good solution.
And by possible I mean thehuman is physically capable of
it and the dog responds to it,because some dogs, when people
do that, get frustrated andthey'll start to nibble on your
bum.
(36:54):
I usually say and I addressthis the same way I address
things like demand barking.
If the behavior is new, if yourdog just figured out that they
could jump up, ignoring it is agood way to shut it down because
it's not a fully ingrainedbehavior.
If your dog has been doing itfor four years and you finally
got to the point where you'regoing to address it, you're
(37:14):
going to have a hard time justignoring it.
Because when in a situationlike that, the behavior is going
to get worse before it getsbetter, because it has always
worked and your dog has anexpectation that it will work
and so they're going to doubledown, like this always works,
why isn't it working?
Maybe.
Maybe they don't feel mejumping on them, so they're
going to, they're going todouble down at first before it
(37:36):
fades away.
It's just harder for you,physically and mentally probably
.
So if the behavior is ingrained, I usually go straight to
teaching an alternative behavior.
And so let's say it's jumpingon guests when they come in the
house.
You can create a block, you canput a baby gate or an X-pen or
(37:56):
something to help your dog stayaway from the guest, keep your
guest behind it or whatever.
But you can also leash your dogright, like have when the
people knock or, you know, haveyour friends.
You can practice it yourselvesor your friends text you when
they're outside, put your dog onthe leash.
The person comes in, ask theperson to come in and sort of be
(38:18):
boring.
Don't come in, like hey,everybody, how's it going?
Come in quietly, just standthere, throw treats on the floor
for your dog so that they startto associate someone coming in
with like little smorgasbord onthe floor, and you'll see after
some practice that your dog willhear the door start to open and
look down for their treats.
(38:39):
And then you can start topractice it off leash.
The reason for the leash in thebeginning is that if your dog
always jumps on people theminute someone comes in they're
going to default to jumping andeven if they see your treats,
it's going to be after theyjumped on the person Right.
So the leash will help you inthe beginning and you can slow
it down.
Where, if your dog starts toyank on the leash when the door
(39:02):
just starts to open an inch,okay, close the door.
No one comes in because you didthat you get.
You know you can different dogsyou can take.
You know some dogs you can comeright in Some dogs you really
have to go minuscule, step byminuscule step.
It just kind of depends.
Really have to go minuscule,step by minuscule step.
It just kind of depends.
Dogs are lovely in that theydon't mind giving up an old
(39:22):
behavior for a better behavior.
You know humans, sometimes wefeel like, well, I've always
done it this way, I'm not goingto try your newfangled way.
Like we can get in our headslike that sometimes.
But dogs don't.
If you show them a better way,they're happy to do the better
way.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Okay, great, those are definitely some good
suggestions, and I think that,again, that goes back to the,
especially when you're talkingabout having to, you know, open
the door an inch, open the dooran inch.
You know it's, it's, it'spatience on the part of people,
and it makes me wonder, like I'msure people say to you you know
, I'm, I've got three kids andI'm busy and I don't have time
to do this all the time.
(39:58):
And you know, my thinking isalways then you shouldn't have
gotten a dog.
But maybe I'm just being rude.
I don't usually.
Well, sometimes I do, sometimesI do say it, but I try to say
it as nicely as possible, butit's like this is what it's
going to take.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
So yes, I don't say that because I mean partly
because this is my business andpeople pay me to come to their
house and help them, not tellthem what they're doing wrong.
So I want them to succeed andso I think what will make them
succeed?
I mean I've had clients withyou know, multiple jobs and
(40:33):
multiple kids and they had anewborn and their grandma's sick
.
Or you know jobs and multiplekids and they had a newborn and
their grandma is sick, or you?
know, like, yeah, people's livesare complicated and whether or
not they have the emotional andtime resources for their dog,
they have their dog, they lovetheir dog.
You know, maybe their lifechanged after they got the dog.
You know what I mean.
Like I always try to givepeople the benefit of the doubt.
(40:55):
Sometimes it's the fact thatthey had a baby or that they
moved that creates the unwantedbehavior.
So dog was well behaved beforeand then you know, something
happens in their life thatchanges it.
But so you do not need vastamounts of time to train your
dog.
You can take five to 10 minutesa day.
(41:16):
You can take five, three minuteincrements and almost everybody
can find that amount of timeright.
Like, well, leash walking thatwe talked about earlier, you
walk your dog anyway.
It doesn't matter how far youget.
You might as well practice notpulling on leash while you're
(41:38):
walking your dog anyway, right?
So the easiest way to findthese five minute spots in your
schedule to teach your dog isaround the things you do with
your dog anyway.
So maybe five minutes beforeyou feed them, maybe even while
you're getting their dinnerready.
You're like sit, lie down, comeplace, run through some things,
(42:02):
practice so they don't forget.
Or while you're on a walk, ifyou usually walk your dog for 30
minutes, walk your dog for 20and take that 10 minutes to
practice recall or whatever itis you want to practice the not
jumping and the fact that yourdog is using their brain and
their body too.
If you're practicing recall,they're still getting that same
(42:25):
level of stimulation, enrichmentand exercise that they would
have if you spent that 10minutes doing a little bit
longer walk.
So you know, you, you look atpeople's schedules and you fit
it in where people are able tofit it in, cause I mean the way
I look at it, like I'm not asuccessful dog trainer if my
(42:46):
clients aren't successful withtheir dogs, so whatever it takes
for me to figure out for them,like here's, here's exactly what
you do.
This takes 30 seconds.
This takes 30 seconds.
This takes 30 seconds.
Here's four 30-second thingsthat you're going to do two
minutes four times a day, rightafter breakfast, right after
(43:10):
whatever it is, and that's allit takes.
You don't need more time thanthat, right?
You just need a little bit oftime and you need to do that
every single day.
I mean you're going to skip aday.
You're going to catch the flu,you're going to skip a week,
fine, go back to it, just like.
The same advice applies whenpeople are like well, I have to
start exercising, okay, well,where can I fit it in?
(43:32):
How much time realistically doI need?
Where can I fit it in?
You know what I mean.
Well, eventually it'll become ahabit, right, right, your 28
days or whatever it is they saythat creates a habit.
And also, you know, it'sself-rewarding, so it's not just
rewarding for the dog.
If you're working with your dogone, it's good for you, right.
Playing with your dog lowersyour blood pressure.
(43:53):
It reduces stress.
As you see, your dog's behaviorimprove, you feel good and
you're like this is working.
That's self-motivating to keepdoing it.
And then you're like what elsecan my dog do?
At first, when you're lookingat all these unwanted behaviors
and you're like this is aninsurmountable mountain of
trouble and I don't know what todo and I don't know who to turn
(44:17):
to and all of that kind ofstuff.
You know I've had problems likethat too, where you're like
where do I even begin?
But once you get started andyou have someone you trust to
help you, you're like oh, wow,look, I didn't know my dog could
do that.
You know, you feel so good.
You want to keep going.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Yeah, you definitely have to have the right
motivation and go for thosesmaller wins as they come along.
Yeah, all right.
Last but not least, I'm goingto protest my property taxes,
and one of the things I'm goingto show them is the work that I
would need to do on this houseto get it up to the value that
they believe it is.
But part of it is because I'vegot all kind of places on my
(44:55):
walls, on my baseboards, wherevarious creatures who have been
in this house have chewed.
So that's one we hear a lot,and it's not just puppies that
chew on things.
So obviously I can't take thebaseboards away.
They exist.
So what is your advice for thedestructive chewing?
Speaker 2 (45:14):
So dogs most dogs have a need to chew obstructive
chewing.
So dogs most dogs have a needto chew.
It is a way to self-soothe,it's a way to clean their teeth.
It's enjoyable, like how somepeople like to chew gum.
It's fun.
(45:35):
So you need to allow appropriateoutlets for your dogs chewing
so that they don't chew oninappropriate things and in
order for them not to chew oninappropriate things.
Every time you catch themchewing on something they
shouldn't, you redirect them tosomething that's okay to chew on
.
And anytime you see them maybesitting around thinking thoughts
like what can I do?
Offer them somethingappropriate to chew on so that
(45:57):
they're meeting their need tochew.
It's helping them relax.
And especially for you where youhave rescue dogs, you know
that's a stressful situation tobe in.
They're homeless, right.
They're living in a shelter.
They, you know they don't knowwho their real mom is going to
be someday.
And it's a stressful situationfor dogs to be in a new
(46:18):
environment with differentsmells and different sounds.
So different dogs have differentpreferences for chewing.
Some like harder, some likesofter, some like to tear
something up, some like to justchew on something that stays the
same.
So baseboards, if they'rewooden, they have that say.
You know, maybe yak cheesemight have a somewhat similar
(46:40):
mouthfeel.
You can try that.
Or you can just try a varietyof different things, edible and
non-edible, in order to satisfythat need on something that you
don't mind them chewing.
And then you just, you know, themain things to think about is
the size of the dog, because thesize of the mouth matters.
You know, the Kongs come indifferent sizes, different
(47:02):
hardnesses, so don't the yakcheese and lots of different
things.
They make teethers now forpuppies, but adult dogs can use
them too.
So you want to avoid chokinghazard.
You want to supervise a dog ifthey're chewing on something
that can break up like a bone.
You can get them real bones,just not cooked bones, that you
(47:23):
can either buy at a pet place oryou can get from a butcher if
you have a butcher.
My dog now.
She likes tracheas, she likesto chew on tracheas.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
They're disgusting but she loves them and I buy
them and some of them are goingto last longer, because I know
we used to do the.
My Doberman loved cow hooves,the little cow hoof, trimming
things, but, boy, you got towatch that like a hawk, because
we had a couple of scaryinstances where I didn't get
that last little you know halfdollar sized piece up off the
(47:54):
floor and the next thing youknow, he swallowed it and caused
an obstruction.
So, keeping an eye on thecondition, same thing even with
the stuffed toys.
It's like once they eviscerateit, pick up that stuffing, don't
let them swallow that stuff.
Speaker 2 (48:08):
Right, right, because you don't want to bowel
obstruction.
The other thing you want tothink about with hard shoes just
like people, different dogshave different strength teeth.
Whether it's just like people,different dogs have different
strength teeth, whether it'sgenetic or the nutrition they
had as a puppy.
So a lot of vets recommendagainst antlers because they've
(48:28):
met dogs who've broken theirteeth on antlers.
So you kind of have to knowyour dog.
If you're not sure, you can askyour vet.
You know, do you think this isappropriate for my dog, because
they're going to know your dog'smouth better?
And then also, what does yourdog like to chew on?
My dog?
Would?
My last dog would chew onanything I dipped in peanut
butter.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Yeah, yeah, and I've had dogs that have had no
interest in chewing things, LikeI had a dog named Bonnie that
she had her little stuffedfleece baby and she would carry
that thing around.
I mean she never, never rippedit, never really chewed on it
and she didn't really wantanything to do.
I mean she like an edible bone?
Yeah, she did that.
(49:07):
But something that was justsolely for the purpose of
chewing.
She wanted nothing to do withit.
But then you have other onesthat are you know, you give them
something stuffed and it's just, you know, in a million pieces,
in two seconds, yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Right, some dogs prefer licking my dog now Shadow
.
She'll destroy toys, except forparticular toys that she treats
like babies and she hides themin a big pile on the couch,
checks on them every once in awhile.
They're under a blanket and theonly difference is that they
make like there's a cow and itmoos and there's a chicken and
(49:39):
it squawks.
So to her those are completelydifferent from the regular
squeaky toys and she treats themdifferent.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
And I, you know.
The other thing I would say inmy experience cause I've learned
this the hard way issupervision goes a long way.
You know, it's like when Iclose dogs up in the hallway
with a baby gate and go to workor whatever it might be, I'm
kind of asking for it If I don'tknow that dog well enough to
know, yes, they're going to chewon the baseboards or puppies,
you know, if there's not enough,sometimes even if there is
(50:07):
enough stuff in there, it's likethey've been there, done that
with that toy and they'relooking for something else to do
.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
They're curious animals.
Some dogs will chew on electriccords.
Some Furious animals.
Some dogs will chew on electriccords.
Some dogs won't do anythingnaughty.
Some dogs are safer, cratedwhen you have to leave them
unsupervised.
One thing you can do is samething people do with human
children is take half their toysand put them in a closet and
every three to six months justrotate everything out so it
(50:34):
seems new again.
Or trade toys with a friend sothat they have completely
different smells every once in awhile, just like a do a toy
trade with the mother.
You know your dog mom friendsor dog dad friends and those
toys you know other people'stoys are always more interesting
than your own toys.
So there you go so that helpstoo.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
okay, that that's a good yeah good idea.
Just make sure you wash themgood and everybody's up to date
on all their disease preventionof course I wouldn't even wash
them.
Speaker 2 (51:04):
I would just give them because they're going to
smell like the other dog.
But I wouldn't pick it up offthe street give it to my dog.
Speaker 1 (51:11):
Yeah, Okay, Well, Ruth, thank you so much for all
of your wisdom and informationhere.
I'm hoping that those who arestruggling with some or maybe
even all hopefully not all, thatwould kind of suck, but some of
these issues at least have somestarting points and some food
for thought.
But I know that you obviouslyyou're in the Cambridge
(51:31):
Massachusetts area, so peoplethat are in that area can seek
you out for in-person.
But how would people get a holdof you if they wanted to pursue
you to help them virtually orthrough the courses that you
have to offer?
Speaker 2 (51:45):
So my website is creaturegooddogtrainingcom and
you can find everything there.
You can make an appointment fora free consult with me.
I have created a handout forthe stuff we talked about today
where I've written down myadvice.
People can download thatthrough my resource library,
social media, through my website, so that's the easiest way.
(52:06):
Yeah, and I'm happy to answerquestions and you know I could
talk about dogs like all day,every day, you do.
Speaker 1 (52:15):
You already do.
I think it's my job yeah.
All right, well, great, well, Iput those links and information
up on the show notes andhopefully people who are
struggling with this realizethat this podcast is just a
starting point.
You don't have to go it alone,and I'm quite sure that the
advice that we've given and Ithink we alluded to it
throughout is that all dogs aregoing to be a little bit
(52:37):
different, all situations aredifferent, so seeking out a
consultation to basically sayhere's my specific scenario, is
obviously going to be even morehelpful, because Ruth would be
able to give you, you know,specific advice tailored to your
needs.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
Right, that's going to fit your lifestyle, fit your
dog's personality, I mean,that's just like anything.
Getting help from an expert isthe easiest way to go, and you
know, DIYing it is harder, butif you're a diehard DIYer you
can do that too.
Speaker 1 (53:07):
That's right, you've got options.
You've definitely got options,all right.
Well, again, ruth, thank youfor being here and thank you to
everybody for listening toanother episode.
We will see and hear you nextweek.
Thanks for listening to MuddyPaws and Hairballs.
Be sure to visit our website atmuddypawsandhairballscom for
more resources and be sure tofollow this podcast on your
(53:29):
favorite podcast app so you'llnever miss a show.
And hey, if you like this show,text someone right now and say
I've got a podcastrecommendation.
You need to check the show outand tell them to listen and let
you know what they think.
Don't forget to tune in nextweek and every week for a brand
new episode.
And if you don't do anythingelse this week, give your pets a
big hug from us.
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