http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/rss en http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/april/moving-on-from-purely-puppy-to-friday-fv  

The move to the Friday guest spot will allow me to expand what I can talk about to all animals — from worms to wolves. If they can be kept as pets, I can feel free to talk about their behavior. I am excited to write about other species, as well as dogs at different levels of development outside of puppyhood. Don’t bunny and cat owners have the right to know what their pet is thinking, too?

Before I go, I want to leave you with some pearls.
 

You get more flies with honey than vinegar. Use positive reinforcement techniques to teach your pup.

Give your dog boundaries. From the beginning, let your dog know what is expected and what his limitations are. The more structure the better.

Keep him busy. Get to as many classes as you can so that your dog stays stimulated and you are motivated to keep working with him.

Get help when you need it. Find a board certified veterinary behaviorist at www.dacvb.org.

It’s probably not dominance. Often dominance is applied incorrectly to commonly seen attention seeking behaviors such as pawing, leaning, and jumping. No, the dog is not dominant. Often the dog is simply attempting to find out how to get reinforced in his environment.

Ignore the problem. Many behavior problems that are ignored will be extinguished.

Give the gift of independence. Teach your dog to stay by himself so that he doesn’t get upset when you leave.

Find the positive opposite (from The Kazdin Method). Try to find the positive opposite of the problem behavior and then teach that behavior.

Aggression causes aggression. Do I really have to explain this one?

Start them young! Socialization is essential. Dogs who are well socialized are better adjusted to their environment and are less likely to have behavior problems relating to fear as they develop.

Adopt with your head. Before you adopt a puppy, consider the breed, your needs and the needs of the pup, and the different places to adopt. Your relationship with your dog will last longer than your marriage in many cases. Choose with your head.

 
See you next Friday!
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Eric Isselee / via Shutterstock
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/april/moving-on-from-purely-puppy-to-friday-fv#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000 30138 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/april/your-dogs-bad-behavior-is-not-your-fault  

In my experience, where serious behavior problems are involved, it is the dog who has the problem, not the owner. Think about it. Most people who come to see me have had dogs before, some all of their adult lives. Yet, their dog is aggressive or has separation anxiety. They haven't raised this dog any differently than they have raised any of their dogs. Why is this dog so different than the dogs that they have had? If the owner was the problem, wouldn't the pattern just repeat itself with every dog? Wouldn't the other dogs in their history or currently in their homes have similar problems, or at least some problem? It doesn't make sense to blame the owner.

I find myself explaining this to owners almost on a daily basis. Someone has told them when discussing their dog's behavior that it was their fault. They were too anxious ... lenient ... fearful ... soft … etc. They feel guilty for being such horrible pet parents when really, it is not about them. It is about the conflict, fear, and anxiety within the dog.

For some dogs, they are simply born that way. For some, they have endured some deep trauma from which it is hard to recover. For some, they were not exposed to life — that ever important socialization — when they were still open to receiving it. Some are in pain or have metabolic illnesses which affect their behavior.

So, what is the owner's part anyway? Well, many owners have done things that make their dog's behavior worse or at least haven't helped. I have seen many a fearful dog turn into an aggressive dog through the use of ill-timed shock collar corrections, for example. Again, the owners may have made it worse, but they didn't cause it.

What can owners do? There is a saying in veterinary medicine: "Recognize and refer." It means be able to recognize what is normal and what is abnormal, treat what you can within the scope of what you know, and then refer out when you are over your head. This is what I would recommend to owners as well.

Ask yourself these questions:
 

Is my dog's behavior different than any other dog I have owned?

Is my dog hurting himself because of his behavioral illness?

Is my dog unhappy?

Has this dog failed to respond to the typical training methods that I have used with my other dogs?

 
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, your dog may have abnormal behavior. That is when you need to be referred out to an expert. First, speak to your veterinarian about whether or not your dog's behavior is normal for his age, sex, and breed. If your pet's behavior is unruly, your veterinarian can refer you to a positive reinforcement dog trainer.

(You can also find more on dog training at my site, Florida Veterinary Behavior Service. Go to articles and then dog training. )

If your pet's behavior is abnormal, such as aggression or separation anxiety, your vet will need to refer you to a board-certified veterinary behaviorist. You can find one at www.dacvb.org.

The take home message...

It is probably not your fault.

Feeling guilty doesn't help your dog.

You are not the problem, but you can be a big part of the solution!

Reach out and get the proper expert help for your dog so that you can both be happier!
 
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Annette Shaff / via Shutterstock
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/april/your-dogs-bad-behavior-is-not-your-fault#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000 30060 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/april/hookworms-whipworms-and-other-worms-in-dogs-puppies
Dr. Radosta will return next week with an all new column. Until then, please share your thoughts and experiences on parasite prevention and treatment for your pets.

 

What has six razor sharp teeth and sucks your pup’s blood? No, it is not a Halloween nightmare! It is a hookworm. Hookworms and whipworms are similar to roundworms in their transmission, availability of treatments, and susceptibility to the agents in many heartworm preventives. Like roundworms, hookworm and whipworm eggs are passed in the feces of an infected pup. Once the larvae develop in the egg while in the environment, the pup can pick the infection up through the skin in some cases, through grooming, or by eating an infected animal.

Hookworms are nasty little creatures that set themselves apart from the rest by causing blood loss. Hookworms can cause life threatening illness. Like roundworms, hookworms have a zoonotic potential (the likelihood of making you sick) so it is important to stick with deworming at two week intervals until the infection is cleared. Prevention includes cleaning up the environment (eggs can last a long time in the soil), cleaning up housetraining accidents immediately, and avoiding areas where unknown dogs defecate.

Whipworms have to be different. Unlike the other worms that we have discussed, whipworms hang out for about three months in a part of the large intestine called the cecum. They cause terrible damage to the mucosa of the gut and lead to hemorrhagic enteritis (bloody diarrhea), poor appetite and abdominal pain. The diarrhea can be intermittent, making you think that the worms have been cleared and that your pet no longer requires treatment. Because the adult worms don’t produce eggs daily, it is very common for whipworm infections to be missed on fecal examinations.

Whipworm infections have to be treated with a specific regiminen and dewormer. Depending on the dewormer chosen by your veterinarian, your pup may have to be treated once, or on three consecutive days initially, with follow-up treatments at three weeks and three months. Whipworm eggs are hardy. They can survive for years in the environment, making reinfestation common. If your pup is continually being reinfected by her environment, you can either fill your yard with concrete or walk her somewhere else.

Tapeworms are often first noticed as little pieces of wiggly rice hanging from a pup’s rear end. Certain tapeworms can cause serious disease, so it is important to see your veterinarian if you see any "wigglies" in your pup’s poop.

The most common type of tapeworm breaks from the parasite norm due to the alternate route of infection: ingestion of a flea. Prevention is pretty simple if you have good flea control. Like whipworms, tapeworms may not show up on a fecal examination.

It is doggy nature to investigate the world with the nose and the mouth. To deny a pup that basic freedom seems unfair and cruel. Yet, for some pups it is the nose and mouth that continually get them in trouble, reinfecting them with intestinal parasites. To keep this behavior at bay, your pup should know how to "leave it." Over the past decade, I have come to love this behavior. I use it for dogs who lick themselves, growl at other dogs, investigate the environment too closely, and who bark too much. To the pup, it simply means "stop what you are doing with your face."

Start with your pup sitting or lying down facing you. Place a treat in your hand and make a fist. Offer your fist, palm side up, to your pup with at least 12 inches of space between her muzzle and your fist. Do not move your hand toward your pup or say anything. Your pup will sniff, lick and paw at your hand. Be patient. As soon as she takes her nose away from your hand, even for a nanosecond, immediately open your hand, praise her and let her eat the treat. Repeat this procedure until your pup no longer moves toward your fist. Now you are ready to start to pair the words "leave it" with the presentation of your fist. If your pup does not move toward your fist, backs away or turns away, immediately open your hand, praise her, and let her eat the treat. When your pup consistently and correctly responds to "leave it" when you say it, you are ready for the next step. At this point, your pup should see your closed fist, hear the "leave it" cue and back away or look away.

At this point, you are ready to slowly make the exercise more difficult by opening your hand with a treat in it, going through the same process. Then you will move to putting the treat on the floor. When she can wait for your cue in this situation, you are ready to play the game with toys. Start with low value toys (the toys she likes) and then move up to higher value ones (the toys she loves). When your pup can back away from a favorite toy when told to "leave it," you are ready to take it on the road.

Practice with every sort of thing so that she really gets used to walking away from interesting things. Remember to reward hundreds or thousands of times before you even think about varying up the reinforcement. You are asking your pup to do something that is completely unnatural for her — walk away from something stinky (stinky = good!). Pay her big for her good behavior!
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: KellyNelson / via Shutterstock
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/april/hookworms-whipworms-and-other-worms-in-dogs-puppies#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000 30039 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/march/training-dogs-the-nice-way
On this particular Sunday morning, a small bike race was taking place on the trail. Surprised by the man’s outburst, I stopped running and went over to talk to him. With an angry, loud voice he stated that he had rented the trails. I explained that I was an experienced trail runner who was used to looking out for bikes; always yielding to them. I certainly didn’t want to interfere with his race, but these were the only safe (for a woman running alone) trails within an hour of my house.

He upped the volume a couple of notches, yelling that I was one of those selfish people who didn’t care about charity and the fact that I was running alone was not his problem.
 

At that point, the situation turned for me. You see, if you approach me with kindness, you can generally sway me, but if you push me … I push back. It is my nature. The conversation got heated. The Park Ranger was called and I continued my run on the trails. As I was running, I wondered how it could have gone differently. He could have motivated me by explaining what his charity was about. I certainly would have donated. Great! More money for his charity.

He could have given me clear guidelines which would have allowed us to coexist. For example, he could have asked me to run opposite traffic and move off the trails when I saw a rider. He could have just asked nicely if I could go run somewhere else in the park, but he didn’t. He thought that he could bully me. NOT!

We all know that you get more flies with honey than with vinegar, but for some reason, dogs seem to be exempt from that rule. Bullying dogs by hanging them on pinch or choke collars until they turn cyanotic (blue), holding them down until they urinate or defecate, shocking them and/or deliberately provoking them to bite in the name of training or “rehabilitating” them is not only accepted in our society, it is held up as an ideal as millions watch these brutal methods play out on popular television shows with no objections what-so-ever. If that was a child, the trainer would be in jail.

The fact is that you don’t have to hurt someone to get them to respect you. I am all of 103 pounds and I controlled my Rotties without brutality. Why in the world does a grown man have to whip a 10 pound Shih-Tzu around by a pinch collar? But that is what is happening out there every single day in training facilities all over the country. Good owners drop their dogs off for training, or learn about these methods in their own homes from self-professed “experts.”

Dr. Meghan Herron published a study in the Journal of Applied Animal Behavior Science which gave us scientific proof of what we knew was true — if you are a meanie you are more likely to be bitten than if you are a sweetie. She surveyed dog owners who came to the university and asked them about how they intervened in their dog’s behavior previously and what happened after those interactions.

Physical methods such as hitting and kicking, growling, holding the dog down (e.g., dominance down, alpha roll), forcibly taking things from the dog’s mouth and grabbing him by his jowls, all were shown to elicit an aggressive response in about ¼ of the dogs. They must have personalities like mine.

The fact is that most pet dogs who are aggressive toward their owners have fear or anxiety disorders. This is the case in my practice and survey studies of board certified veterinary behaviorists show that I am not alone.

Let’s step into the dog’s paw prints so that you can understand what is happening here: You don’t speak English and you have the cognitive ability of a one year old human child. You have a caretaker who you love dearly and look up to, but you have this little anxiety. You just don’t want your bones taken away. Honestly, it makes your blood pressure rise. You don’t have any problem with the other dogs in the household because they see the worried look on your face as you lower your head, slightly avert your gaze and look up showing the whites of your eyes (you can find out more about canine body language here: Canine Body Language). They get it and they walk away.

But your human mom, she acts differently. She walks right up and takes your bone. How rude is that?! OK, she doesn’t understand dog. It is not her fault that she never took any dog body language classes in school. So, you make your signal to her bigger — you growl. Then, she starts to yell at you and get close to your face and your bone. You have no idea what she is saying, but you are more than anxious now. You are downright scared. You tuck your tail and put your head closer to the bone. Why is someone that you love screaming at you? Finally, she takes your bone and walks away. Mom is definitely acting irrationally. Maybe this will be a one and done interaction.

But it is not one and done. Mom shows up with a shock collar the next day. The “training session” consists of putting a bone down and then shocking you when you go near it. At this point, you can’t figure out why you are being hurt by someone that you love. You are confused and afraid. When your owner reaches for you, you bite her, afraid of what she will do next.

Does this scenario seem far-fetched? It really isn’t. I see it every day. So, what to do?
 

Work with a qualified positive reinforcement trainer from the time that you adopt your dog. If they ask you to do something that doesn’t sit well with you, don’t do it.

When your dog has a serious behavior problem such as aggression, see an expert. You can find a board-certified veterinary behaviorist at the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.

Don’t do something to your dog that you wouldn’t want done to you. No physical stuff or in-your-face yelling. That provokes aggression and creates fear.

Give your dog clear boundaries and structure from the beginning of your relationship. Help him to know what you expect from him.

When in doubt, step back and take a deep breath. You are smarter than your dog and you can help him to understand what you want by using your brain, not your brawn. You may need to get some help from a professional in order to do this, but you can do it.

 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: siamionau pavel / via Shutterstock
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/march/training-dogs-the-nice-way#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29977 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/march/when-should-a-puppy-be-returned-to-the-breeder
In the exam room, he was exuberant and friendly with adults, but I could tell that the children made him uncomfortable because when they reached for him he moved away and he never solicited their attention. That along with the owner’s history made it clear that this was not the best home for this pup.

he family decided to return the pup to the breeder. They were not up for the long-term treatment and challenges of working with an aggressive dog. There was a time when I might have judged them, but not anymore.
 

What I have learned over my lifetime is that as soon as you judge someone, you will be faced with the same decision they were. In other words, don’t judge people because it usually turns around to bite you in the butt.

I actually applaud this owner for making the best decision for the pup. You might be surprised at that, however, it was clear to me that this pup and this family were mismatched. I could see that the puppy was unhappy and that this home would bring out the worst in this pup as he aged. Was he treatable? Sure! However, this family was not committed to treating him, setting themselves and the pup up for failure. I had to advocate for the puppy in my recommendations. I laid out a treatment plan, but we also discussed taking this pup back to the breeder.

It was also important that the owners consider taking the pup back to the breeder before he bit someone more seriously and would not be eligible for adoption. Many, many tears were shed before the pup was returned. This was not an easy decision. The breeder has contacted me and we are working together to find the right home for this pup.

If you have been reading this blog for the past couple of years you know that in December of 2011 I adopted a 1½ year old Beagle from a wonderful breeder. He had been shown to his championship and sired a litter. Now, he was ready for a home.

I have wanted a Beagle my entire life. He was a fun loving dog who loved kids. I spent about four hours with him — some with and some without his breeder. I noticed that the longer he was in a new environment, the more he showed signs of stress, such as lowering his tail and backing away from people who approached him. They weren’t huge signs, but they were there.

I thought that we could work through it. After all, what home was better for a dog than mine? We never grab our pets physically, but use food or previously taught behaviors to get things away from them or to move them. All pets are treated with respect, given personal space and enrichment, immediately given boundaries, and always rewarded for positive behaviors. What could be wrong with that?

So, I adopted Pete. He was immediately great with my daughter. The three of us spent lots of time together pretending to be astronauts, paleontologists and explorers. Unfortunately, over the course of the ten days, I watched that joyful clown of a Beagle turn into an anxious, fearful, unhappy, and aggressive dog. He began cowering in his crate and showing signs of separation anxiety. He snapped at a stranger and then at my daughter later on that same day. I returned him to the breeder the next day. Pete never looked back at me. He was so happy to be home. It was a revelation for me. Maybe my home isn’t always the best home for every dog.

What happened? Pete was used to being one of many at a breeder’s house with no rules for him individually. She was physical with her dogs, picking them up abruptly (Pete always looked like he liked this when she did it).

At my house, he had lots of rules, and that’s a big difference. Now he was being asked to sit before he went outside and stay off the furniture and learn new tricks each day. At my house he was an only dog unable to get away from the stressors of interacting with people. There weren’t any other dogs to take the pressure off of him. My house turned a great dog into an unhappy dog.

Wait, am I saying that dogs are disposable and that you should just return them if they don’t work out? No!! We had a rescue Rottweiler for twelve years as a part of our family. Why didn’t I send her away when I had my daughter? Clearly a fearfully aggressive Rottie is not safe to have with an infant. The difference is that Peanut was a part of our family for eight years when my daughter was born and we loved her dearly. She wasn’t going anywhere despite what people told us to the contrary. The bond was there. Just as importantly, Peanut had nowhere to go. It was us or euthanasia and euthanasia for a behavior problem that I could treat was not an option for our family. My daughter was perfectly safe and Peanut lived out her years with our family with a great quality of life.

So, when to return? When your pup is from a good breeder who stands by the dogs that she or he breeds. When the pup is not right for your family and it is clear to everyone including the pup. When the pup is young enough and the behavior problem is not severe enough to prohibit rehoming.

It is not always the right decision, but sometimes it is what is best for everyone.
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Ysbrand Cosijn / via Shutterstock
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/march/when-should-a-puppy-be-returned-to-the-breeder#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29959 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/march/intellect-versus-emotional-in-fearful-dogs
I am familiar with this phenomenon, as it would also occur when I used to trial my dogs in obedience years ago. Even though I didn't feel nervous mentally, my body would always react in the same way that it did the day of my race. I finished my race and met my two goals of neither walking nor face planting as I came down a hill or jumped a root. As I drove home, I couldn’t help but think of the dogs. I thought of all of the dogs who are reactive, fearful, or aggressive. I would imagine, based on what I see in the clinic, that they feel about the same way I did during my race.
 

I understand how reactive and fearful dogs can be intelligent and obedient, and yet feel out of control physically when they are afraid. I understand how they may be able to think through that man in a hat isn’t going to kill me today, but their body doesn’t agree. Their body has a memory of a previous event in which a man with a hat was present. Their body remembers that stress response, and that response is summoned up instantly — without rational thought  — when the stimulus presents itself. They react with aggression or barking without even thinking through it.

The interesting thing about a stimuli being paired with a physiologic stress response is that the stimulus does not even have to be the cause of the fear to be paired with the fear response. For example, if a man with a hat is present during a time when the dog is scared, such as when outdoors at a fireworks display, that man with that hat, or sometimes any man with any hat, can elicit that same physiologic fear response that the sound of the fireworks would elicit.

Owners frequently say that their reactive or fearful dog is highly intelligent — maybe the most intelligent dog that they have ever had. Yet the dog is in my office because of a serious behavior problem. As I generally explain to the owners, intellect or obedience is separate from emotion. Haven’t you ever had a really intelligent friend who is emotional or high strung?

Intellect is your intelligence level or your level of skill. Emotion is how you feel and the physiology of your behavior. They can be, and often are, exclusive of each other. This is hard for people to wrap their heads around. They want their dog to just understand that the man in the hat isn’t scary. They want their dog to rationally think through what is going on. Life doesn’t work that way.

Once there is a physiologic response to a stimulus, the dog will need more than obedience to overcome the fear or reaction. Instead, he will need targeted treatment that includes desensitization and counterconditioning, and possibly medications to change his emotional state.

Desensitization is exposure to a fear producing stimulus at levels at which the dog does not react or barely reacts at all. Meanwhile, a technique called counterconditioning is often employed in conjunction with desensitization. In this technique, something good is paired with that scary stimulus (i.e., the man with the hat).

Sometimes, owners can implement these techniques themselves. Often, they need the help of a qualified professional. The challenge is that it is very easy to go too fast. If you push the dog past the point where it can tolerate the stimulus without any reaction, you risk sensitization. Sensitization is when the physiological response is actually paired with the stimulus, making the dog believe that they should be paired, inducing more fear and thus making the dog worse.

It is important to define what the threshold is for each dog before attempting to move forward with these techniques. The threshold is the point where the dog reacts. That seems simple right? Think again!! You have to be able to read your dog’s body language very well to know your dog’s threshold. You can find body language information here: Canine Body Language

For example, let’s revisit the dog who is afraid of the man with the hat. The owner sets her dog up about 100 feet from a male friend who is wearing a hat. The dog puts his ears back and licks his lips. The owner is at his threshold. That is right. Those are both distance increasing signals in dog language. In other words, the owner cannot go closer to the stimulus (the man with the hat) at this point because the dog is already as close as he can go comfortably.

When the dog is comfortable at this distance, whether in a day or a month or a year, the owner can move closer to the man. Desensitization and counterconditioning should be like watching a turtle go up a hill — slow, steady, and sleep inducing.

If you have a dog who is scared or reactive, remember the emotional response of the animal and how it takes slow and steady work to overcome that fear. Now, get to work!!
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: A.B.G. / via Shutterstock
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/march/intellect-versus-emotional-in-fearful-dogs#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29937 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/march/your-dog-does-not-have-to-be-social  

Well, I didn’t get over it. First, I assessed whether or not he could move. There really wasn’t any way for him to move farther from me because of the size of the chairs. Then I attempted to shift my chair until I realized that it was joined to the two chairs around me. Finally, I leaned over to the right side of my chair to avoid touching him. I stayed that way throughout the entire show.

No, I am not a germaphobe. I am just not interested in touching people that I don’t know. Matter of fact, I am not really interested in hugging most people outside of my very immediate family. It just makes me uncomfortable. So, if I don’t like it, why do I have to do it?

Most of you are probably saying that I don’t have to sit so closely to a stranger or hug someone if I don’t want to, but I bet that is not what you expect of your dog.

You probably expect your dog to be friendly to just about everyone — canine or human. Not only does your dog have to be friendly, but your dog has to tolerate anyone and everyone touching him. It doesn’t seem fair to expect more of our dogs than we expect of ourselves.

Now, there is a continuum between disliking certain interactions and actually acting aggressively toward someone who approaches you.

Let’s take a pause to separate out those dogs with a behavioral illness such as fear-related aggression or global fears. These dogs don’t just dislike meeting certain dogs or people, they have a physiologic response (their body reacts, not just their mind) to certain dogs and people. This response actually negatively affects their quality of life. These dogs certainly have to avoid people and dogs (depending on what they react to) until treatment has instituted. While it isn’t desirable for your dog to act aggressively toward someone, he does have the right to avoid that person.

Along those same lines, many of my clients want their dogs to go to daycare or to the dog park. They feel that the dog is missing out on something because they are not “social.” When you think about a dog park from a human point of view, it is easy to see how it can make other dogs uncomfortable.

Let’s take a look through our eyes: You walk into an outdoor area from which you cannot escape (dogs don’t have thumbs so they can’t leave without your help). Immediately, 10 people come running over and get within inches of you, sniffing areas of your body that are generally regarded as private. How are you feeling? It reminds me of going to Disney on a hot August day; torture.

I tell owners that the experience of going to a dog park is only valuable if their dogs find it so and if it doesn’t make their dogs’ behavior worse. There is no intrinsic value for your dog in loving everyone that he meets. If your dog finds these types of situations stressful, there is nothing but more stress to be gained from these experiences. For example, I am not missing out on something because I might be less social than my husband. I have wonderful friends and a very full life. I am actually happier because I am not pressured to be something that I am not.

So, what should you do if your dog doesn’t like to go to the dog park? Stay home. What is the big deal after all? If your dog is afraid or aggressive toward other dogs, and that is why he doesn’t like the park, go to www.dacvb.org where you can find a board certified veterinary behaviorist to help you. In the meantime, accept your dog’s lack of sociability as long as it is not dangerous to you, him, or others.
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
Image: A Day at the Dog Park by O World of Photos / via Flickr]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/march/your-dog-does-not-have-to-be-social#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29905 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/feb/why-microchipping-your-pet-is-immediately-important  

The story itself is amazing in that Black Jack had the will and strength to survive such emotional and physical trauma and abuse and could learn to trust the stranger who finally got him to the Big Dog Ranch. However, the most amazing part to me was that this dog had a microchip and that the microchip registration was current and up to date. He was returned to his rightful owner almost a year after he had been stolen because of that little computer chip implanted under his skin. You can find out more about this story here.

As it would happen, today I received an email from a friend listing a lost dog. The last line of the description stated, "no microchip or tattoos." My heart sunk. Even if this little dog is found, how will he find his owners? If he is found by someone who doesn’t live in his neighborhood, he will immediately be transported, most likely to the rescuer’s house, outside of an area where he will be recognized.

There, presumptions will be made about the dog. Maybe they will assume that the dog doesn’t belong to anyone or was abandoned. If he was running loose without food and fresh water for a couple of days, he will look a little orphaned. Maybe the rescuer will bring the dog to her veterinarian, who will scan it for a microchip. When it is found that the dog doesn’t have a microchip, the dog will stay with the new rescuer as her own dog or he will be moved into the rescue/shelter system. The rescue or shelter will again scan the dog for a chip, but with nothing there, the dog will be rehomed, or worse, deemed unable to be rehomed, which leaves him with little options.

Why is it that people don’t microchip their pups? Some are afraid of the size of the needle. Well, truth be told, the needle is mighty big, but it is a pinch and it is over. Seems like a drop in the ocean compared to all of the other procedures, surgeries, dentals, poking, and prodding that we veterinarians do to dogs. It could bring your dog back to you just as it reunited Black Jack with his owner. It seems worth it to me.

Some believe that their dog will never get out of their house or yard so they think that their risk is low. In my experience talking to my clients, rescuing dogs for many years, and just driving around in my neighborhood, dogs get loose commonly, not uncommonly. I picked up two Cocker Spaniels on my way to work today and returned them to their owners’ home. Thank goodness they had collars with tags and were friendly enough for me to pick up. The bottom line is that microchipping is a relatively cheap insurance policy that gets your dog home to you safely in case he gets lost. Well worth it.

Some people think that their dog’s collar is enough. I don’t think so. The fact is that we have a rule that Maverick only goes out into the yard or out of the house with his collar on, but sometimes we forget. If that is the one time that the gate is left open, he could easily get out. Even if your dog does have a collar on with tags on it, does your dog have the type of personality that would allow someone to get close enough to read the tags? Some dogs just won’t allow someone that close. If the dog is caught, they may not be willing to put their hands under the dog’s neck to read those tags, but they can scan the dog for a microchip without too much risk of being bitten. Again, seems worth it to me.

Microchipping is a relatively inexpensive procedure with an extremely low risk of any negative effects and it could save your pet’s life and bring him home to you. Go now and get your dog or cat or horse microchipped. Just do it.
 
 

Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Fer Gregory / via Shutterstock
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/feb/why-microchipping-your-pet-is-immediately-important#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 20 Feb 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29841 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/feb/counter-conditioning-methods-for-fearful-dogs
It will depend on the puppy’s genetic predispositions and how traumatic the event was from the puppy’s perspective. My impression from my clinical practice is that many dogs who are exposed to a traumatic event early in life are not permanently scarred. This leads me to believe that many dogs who do succumb to a fear or phobia because of a traumatic event are most likely hereditarily predisposed to this type of emotional behavior. Nonetheless, we don’t have any concrete evidence to prove that point at this time.
 

What constitutes a traumatic event? It could be something as simple as prolonged separation from you, her owner. It could be a surgery, a bite from another dog, or a frightening encounter with a child. The trauma is in the eye of your puppy. The best way to understand the puppy’s perception of what happened is to read her body language. If she displays fearful body language, she could well be traumatized by the experience.

Observe how long it takes for her to recover from the trauma. If she has recovered immediately as the stimulus (person, animal, or thing) has backed off or disappeared, she is likely not traumatized by the situation. If she is trembling 10 minutes afterward, reacts extremely when back in the same situation, or displays fear when she is exposed to the environment where she was initially scared without the actual stimulus present, that experience has caused her trauma and her future behavior will most likely be shaped by it.

So, what to do?
 
Take it slow.

Forcing her to be in environments and with stimuli that scare her without control over those stimuli will not make her better. It will make her worse.
 
Get organized.

Make a list of what frightens your dog. Include locations and stimuli. You should work through each of those stimuli methodically.
 
Find your dog’s currency.

Use what your dog loves most to encourage and reward bravery.
 
Desensitize.

Expose her to what frightens her at a level at which she is not scared. Then, as she succeeds at that level, you can increase the level of the stimulus to increase her threshold or tolerance for the scary thing. Don’t move the stimulus closer until she is completely successful at a lower level.
 
Counter condition.

Pair something great with the scary stimulus. Take something you know that she loves and reward her generously with that special treat or toy when she is exposed to what scares her.
 
 
What I have written above sound pretty easy right? Then why do so many people fail at this procedure? The most common mistake is moving too quickly or forcing the dog to tolerate something in the hopes that she will adjust. That is called flooding. Flooding is a procedure where the puppy is exposed to the full strength stimulus instead of slow exposure.

Imagine that you are afraid of spiders. Which procedure below would help you get over your fear?
 

You are tied to a chair and a box of spiders is dumped on top of you (flooding).

You are sitting in a chair and every second you are handed $100 as you look at a box of spiders about 50 feet away. Each day, the box is moved one foot closer to you while those $100 bills just keep a comin’ (desensitization and counter conditioning).


Of course you chose “B,” and your puppy would too! It may be sounding pretty simple about now, but it can take many months to get through this procedure. You have to bring patience to the table as well.

If your pup has been traumatized and her behavior is changed by it, now is the time to act. Don’t wait. As she develops she will be most amenable to turning back the hands of time.
 
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: aspen rock / via Shutterstock
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/feb/counter-conditioning-methods-for-fearful-dogs#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29821 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/feb/creating-the-fearful-dog-by-punishing-good-behavior
The owner described her body language before her aggressive episodes as follows: head lower than her shoulders, tail tucked, and eyes glazed over. After she bites, she backs away. Baby had read the textbook. She was showing fear related aggression.
 

When asked, the owner remembered Baby as a fun puppy who was friendly to everyone. She took Baby everywhere and exposed her to every stimuli that she could. Baby’s parents were friendly as far as the owner can remember. What was going on here?

But, as Baby’s mom is talking, I hear a clue: "What was she like when people would go to pet her?" I ask. "She would throw herself on the floor on her back," she answered. Eureka! As the owner goes on, she describes more and more subtle signs of fear which are misinterpreted by owners regularly. Yes, Baby had been a fearful puppy and through the power of the science of learning, she had become a fearfully aggressive dog.

Let’s take a look at what happened…

Baby offered an inguinal presentation (belly up) to the visitors. She also approached slowly and her tail was wagging lower than her back. These are all signs that she was uncomfortable with interaction at least, and downright fearful at worst. She is a cutie so most people would reach to pet her.

Think about what is happening here. The dog is offering a body language cue which any dog worth her salt would understand means that she is uncomfortable. A dog would decrease or stop their direct interactions with Baby when she displayed that signal. This would reinforce (reward) the signal, preserving it. So, Baby would offer that signal again when she was scared because it worked to make her fear go away. This is called negative reinforcement-the removal of something the dog doesn’t like to increase the likelihood that a behavior will increase. Baby rolls over — the dog leaves — the rolling over will continue to be a tool for Baby to use when she is afraid. No aggression.

People, however, are not near as savvy at reading canine body language, so most people would reach to pet Baby when she offered her belly. By doing this, they punished the signal. They might as well have yelled at her. They decreased the likelihood that Baby would offer the belly up signal again in this context. BUT Baby is still fearful. Her best coping tools and communication tools are not effective!! What is she to do?

Baby had to find another way to communicate with human beings. Over the first year of her life, she displayed more and more overtly fearful body language, but it just didn’t work … until she reached her limit one summer day and bit the person who was reaching for her. The person pulled his hand away and in one fell swoop, taught Baby that the best way to communicate with people is to bite them. Other techniques weren’t effective, but biting sure was!

Now, I am not suggesting that the stranger should have left his hand in a place where Baby could continue to bite it. Only a fool or someone getting paid a lot of money on television would continue to provoke a dog to bite them. However, if someone had controlled the actions of strangers and given Baby a way to safely interact with them, she would not have progressed to that point in the first place.
 
It is through the power of punishment that Baby has learned to bite people instead of just showing fearful body language. Shame on us.
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: wcm1111 / via Flickr
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/feb/creating-the-fearful-dog-by-punishing-good-behavior#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 06 Feb 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29807 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/jan/why-some-dogs-develop-fear-related-aggression
In all aspects of our lives we get very caught up in the "why?" If we can figure out why something happened, maybe we can figure out how to fix it. Possibly, we can make sure we do not make the same mistake the next time.
 

I don’t always have the answer to that question for every owner who comes into my practice. In most cases, I can identify an underlying cause. In almost all cases I can come up with a couple of hypotheses for what was likely to have caused the pet’s behavior.

We are going to take a look at the causes of fear related aggression in today’s blog. It is the most common type of aggression I see in my practice. There are four general influences which cause the development of this disorder: heredity, traumatic incident (including pain), lack of socialization, and the influences of learning.

Some patients have more than one influence. As you would expect, those cases can be harder to treat.

We have already talked about socialization enough that the readers could write a blog on it, so we won’t cover that now. Let’s talk about traumatic incidents and their influence on pups during the important developmental periods.

Remember that trauma is in the eye of the beholder. For example, when I stub my toe on Maverick’s Nylabone, it hurts, but I forget about it pretty quickly. When my daughter did the same recently, it took daily Hello Kitty band-aid changes and was a topic of discussion for days. Same incident, two different perceptions.

Back to your pup. If your pup is scared by a stranger with a hat on during the socialization period, that may count in his mind as a traumatic incident, which will shape his behavior for his entire life.

There was a recent study published in Translational Psychiatry which showed that rats that were exposed to a fear producing stimuli before puberty actually had changes in the expression of the genes and in the neurotransmitters in the brain. These changes made them more likely than rats that were not exposed to a stressful stimulus when young to display aggression toward other rats in the future, even if those other rats were not associated with the fear producing stimulus. Are you wrapping your head around this?! If the rat is scared during critical developmental periods, the brain, how the genes are expressed, and the neurotransmitters change! These changes make it more likely to be aggressive toward innocent rats! Does this sound like any dogs you know?

It is realistic from what we know about dogs to assume that these changes most likely occur to some extent in their bodies as well. This is one of the many reasons why fear related aggression doesn’t respond well to obedience training. It is not an obedience problem. It is an emotional problem, which is mediated at least in part by the neurochemicals in the brain.

I meet many dogs who are obedient but are still fearfully aggressive. So, that is the 1st "why" of fear aggression. Next week, we will discuss another "why": The power of learning.
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Art_man / via Shutterstock
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/jan/why-some-dogs-develop-fear-related-aggression#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29781 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/jan/what-happens-after-puppy-socialization-stage-socialize-puppy
This was my friend and colleague Debbie, who generally says exactly what's on her mind. Her point was that although I talk a lot about socialization in this blog, I don't talk near enough about what happens after the socialization period.

Her concern is that owners will believe that ALL they have to do is expose their puppy until it is 16 weeks old. In other words, that there is no work to be done after that time period. After admonishing her for missing the multiple times that I have written that puppies should be exposed well into social maturity (1 to 3 years) I realized that, in fact, owners could be led to believe that they are done at 16 weeks.
 

The fact is, new puppy owners are no more done at 16 weeks then I will be done when my daughter graduates from preschool. Just as she will not be mature enough to navigate the world and make good decisions, your puppy will not be mature enough at 16 weeks to stop learning about the world and how to interact with it.

Let’s talk about the different developmental periods and how you can navigate them successfully with your puppy.

The juvenile period spans from 12 weeks to 6 months. What the puppies have learned is already starting to shape their future interactions in the juvenile period. Within this period is a second "fear" period in the dog’s development. Basically, traumatic experiences within this developmental period will be more likely to shape future behavior than those same experiences as a 4 or 5-year-old adult because of the dog’s heightened sensitivities during this time.

You should continue to get your puppy out about 3 times a week, including at least one play session with other dogs and at least one dog training class. I tell my clients that I really don't care what their puppies learn as long as it is taught with humane methods and the puppy is out of the house. Your puppy's positive experiences with the environment should continue through this period until he is 6 months old.

Next comes social maturity (1-3 years). Even though you may not have known that this period exists, you have been through it if you've raised a dog. Many of us have experienced that somewhere around 3 years of age, when our dogs became more easily manageable.

Clinically, during this time period, young dogs begin to test their boundaries. Younger tendencies toward behavior problems often become more obvious during this time. Anxious dogs may become aggressive dogs and noise sensitive dogs can become noise phobic dogs.

Dogs should continue to be exposed at least twice a week during this time, which can include a dog training class and one other outing. Again, I counsel my clients that I am not necessarily concerned about what their dog learns. They should take classes that they are interested in. I am most concerned that their dog leaves their home on a regular basis and experiences the wonders of the environment with a positive twist.

The first outing can be a walk in a public place, a trip to the veterinarian's office, through the drive-through at the bank, or any other place outside of the home.

Remember that these are supposed to be positive experiences, so you should come wearing your highly fashionable treat bag loaded down with all kinds of rewards. This is your time to solidify these behaviors that you have been working so hard to teach, such as sitting for attention and being calm around other dogs.

Remember to smatter in some play dates with other dogs during this time, too, or you may find that your dog's play style really changes in a negative way as he goes through this developmental period.

The bottom line is that you should keep working with your dog through about 3 years of age to ensure that he can live in our world happily.

Good enough, Deb?
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Tatiana Katsai / via Shutterstock
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/jan/what-happens-after-puppy-socialization-stage-socialize-puppy#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29766 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/jan/socialize-puppies-before-its-too-late  

His owners have brought him to me today because he is fearful of anything new and of most things outside, including noises. Through interacting with him, watching him interact with the environment and unfamiliar people, and watching videos of his behavior with other dogs, it is clear that he was not socialized. How can I tell so quickly? Let me explain…

I can rule out any trauma because we know his history. He was kept by the breeder until four months of age at the family’s request for personal reasons. There was no history of trauma with the breeder or with the very nice family who adopted him.

I can rule out any negative learning because the family hasn’t done anything to scare him. I can also rule out (not concretely, but for the most extent) any hereditary influences because both parents and the rest of the litter are unaffected. However, the rest of the litter was adopted out at two months of age. In addition, to point to an influence other than heredity, this puppy has a desire to greet people. What I mean is that he goes toward someone when he sees them. His temperament and personality are friendly. If the person backs away, he goes toward them again to solicit attention. When they pet him, his tail tucks showing fear. He wants the interaction, but it scares him. Finally, he loves and plays normally with other dogs. There were five other dogs in the breeder’s house. In other words, he was well socialized with other dogs.

What is left to cause this baby to be so scared of things outside and of people? Socialization. That’s right, here we go again. I am like a broken record telling people to socialize their pups, but this is just as important as anything that you do for your dog’s health. It is as important as heartworm prevention, spaying and neutering, and vaccinations. It is also easy and free.

In this case, the breeder bred a wonderful dog but she didn’t socialize the dog for the new owners before the age of 16 weeks. Most likely, she just didn’t know to do this, or she thought that exposure within her house was enough to create a well adjusted puppy. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. As a result of the lack of exposure, the dog is afraid of what he hadn’t experienced between the ages of 8 and 16 weeks. Mostly that includes unfamiliar people and unfamiliar things.

Burn this equation into your brain:
 
No exposure = Negative exposure
 
If you don’t socialize your pup before 16 weeks, it is equivalent to a negative interaction, not a neutral interaction.

The door for socialization closes at 16 weeks. It may be cracked a hair for some individual dogs, but for most, it is closed. After that, you are treating a behavior problem and you don’t want to be in that situation. You can find out more about socialization here (and here).

What should the breeder have done?

She should have taken the puppy out five days a week between the ages of 8 and 16 weeks. Some of those outings could have been in her neighborhood because there are lots of new things to see and experience. However, some outings have to be outside of the neighborhood. I like to see about 50 percent of the outings be away from home. This can include running errands, visiting the veterinarian’s office, or even going through the pick-up line at school. It doesn’t really matter where the pup goes as long as the experience is positive and he sees something new.

The goal is to expose the puppy to everything you think he will see and hear as an adult, within that two month period. It seems like a lot, but you would be amazed at how much you can get accomplished during just one outing.

I am wishing for and waiting for the day when I don’t have to remind people to socialize their puppies. That is definitely going to be a day for celebration.
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Shelter Dog Lillie Mae by Kathy Doucette / via Flickr
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/jan/socialize-puppies-before-its-too-late#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29720 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/jan/teaching-dog-to-drop-things-and-pick-own-things-up
I read an excellent parenting book some time back called The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child. Yes, my daughter is strong willed. Apparently, the apple doesn’t fall far from the… Anyway, Dr. Kazdin proposes that parents should find the “positive opposite” of the behavior that they want to correct and then teach and reinforce that behavior instead of always focusing on punishment. I absolutely love that idea because that is what I recommend to clients all of the time. And that is what we are going to do with Jack. The negative behavior is stealing and chewing the owners’ possessions. We have already set in place boundaries, reduced his ability to steal by closing off doors and picking up the house, taught him how to get attention, and increased the level of enrichment exponentially. Now, we have to find the positive opposites of stealing so that we can teach those to Jack.   Positive opposites of stealing:   Give items back to your owner instead of running away.   Choose your own things.   Teach Jack to give things back to his owners by teaching him to "drop it."   Jack’s owner started by tossing a toy onto the floor right in front of him.   When Jack picked it up, she immediately offered him a treat right at his nose. He opened his mouth to get the treat and she said “drop it,” praised him, and handed him the treat. Then she picked up the toy and tossed it again to repeat the entire sequence.   They did this over the next week innumerable times. Finally, Jack would drop the item when he saw the owner’s hand coming toward him. They were ready for the next step.   The owner set up the same situation as before, but when Jack picked up the item, she said “drop it” first and then reached for the toy. When Jack dropped the toy, she handed him a treat. This is where the real change occurs. Jack is learning to respond to the verbal cue instead of the sight of a treat in the owner’s hand.   Over the next couple of days, the owner worked with Jack until he no longer needed the hand motion to respond to drop the toy.   Now, the owners have a way to get things from Jack when he picks them up.    Teach Jack to find his own things and pick them up.   With Jack watching, the owner rubbed a treat on his favorite toy to make it smell good.   Then, she hid it in plain sight.   She then directed Jack to "find it."   When he found the toy, he also got a treat.   Over the next week or so, the owner made the finds more and more difficult, hiding more toys in harder to reach places — always rewarding Jack when he found the toy.   Finally, the owners had to stop reinforcing Jack for stealing or chewing their things. Whenever Jack would pick up something that he shouldn’t have, the owners were directed to simply ignore him. If they had to get the item from him, they could tell him to drop it. This way, Jack would never get to engage in a game of chase with his owners over their prized possessions. A strange thing started to happen, Jack started to pick things up and bring them to his owners for a treat. My previous dog, Sweetie (aka the best Rottweiler of all time), used to do the same thing. I thought that a couple of slobbered socks brought to my lap was very cute so I never did anything about this behavior. However, Jack’s parents were a bit more stuck on cleanliness so I instructed them simply to NOT reward this behavior. Ignore it. It will go away. So, that is the story of Jack. A normal, Labrador Retriever puppy who is highly energetic and whose parents are not. In the end, it all worked out.     Dr. Lisa Radosta     Image: Mmm tasty fish! by Mike Duigou / via Flickr  ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/jan/teaching-dog-to-drop-things-and-pick-own-things-up#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 09 Jan 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29673 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/jan/teaching-boundaries-to-dogs-for-better-behavior  

As you may recall, Jack is a thief. He steals for the attention and also for the fun of chewing on something different than his toys. His owners are going to work very hard on enriching his environment to alleviate his drive to chew on their things. Now, they have to teach him that stealing is not the best way to get attention.

There are always multiple ways to address a problem. One way is to try to correct the problem and the other way is to show the animal how to get what they want and hope they choose this path. We are going to use the latter.

Imagine if you are lost in a maze of tunnels. Each time you choose the wrong tunnel, your mom pops out of a window and yells in your face. You certainly wouldn’t choose that tunnel again. However, you don’t have any better idea how to navigate the maze. Oh sure, eventually you will go down the right route by process of elimination, but by that time you are exhausted and haven’t learned anything. That is how we often interact with our dogs.

"Jack, no!"

"Jack, off!"

"Jack, down!"

"Jack @#*!!!!!"

Now, Jack knows how to get negative attention from his owners, but he doesn’t know how to get their attention in a positive way. Because he is so "bad" that he doesn’t get a lot of positive attention, he will not only take the negative attention, he will seek it out. Negative attention is better than nothing.

Imagine yourself back in that maze. Each time you go down the wrong tunnel your mom pops out and gives you a verbal lashing, but then, magically, a door opens to the right tunnel — the way out! You take it and waiting for you on the other side is your mother with that pie that she used to make for you when you were a child.

Which maze would you rather be in? The second one, of course. Dogs are no different. That is where structure and boundaries come in. They help to tell the dog how to get attention from the owner so that the negative behavior is no longer reinforced. They also keep the dog out of situations where he doesn’t belong, keeping the trouble down to a minimum.

Jack’s owners were instructed to do the following:
 

Ask Jack to sit for every interaction with them. This means every interaction, every pet, every kiss, every, every, everything. Now, Jack knows exactly how to get attention from his parents. Soon, he will be sitting when he wants attention instead of stealing.

Teach Jack to go to his own bed and reward him for that behavior. This gives him an alternate place to be instead of getting into trouble.

Use a crate whenever you need a break from Jack, overnight, and when you are not home.

Use baby gates and closed doors to keep Jack out of rooms where he doesn’t belong so that stealing is down to a minimum.

Do not let Jack up on the furniture or the bed. Puppies who are on the furniture don’t have any greater likelihood of exhibiting negative behaviors — yes that is right — you are not a bad parent if your pup cuddles with you on the couch. However, Jack launches himself onto the owner’s laps, then onto the back of the couch, then onto the floor. This kid needs some boundaries, so furniture privileges have been revoked indefinitely.

Push things back on the counters so that he can’t steal.

Pick up your stuff. My house is a mess so I get how hard it is to pick up, but you can’t expect a puppy to be born with the knowledge of what is appropriate to chew on and what is not. For the time being, Jack’s owners have to keep a clean house so that Jack has fewer things to steal.

 
Next week, we are going to visit the final steps: reinforcing positive behaviors and ignoring negative behaviors.
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Sitting waiting by nrtphotos / via Flickr
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2013/jan/teaching-boundaries-to-dogs-for-better-behavior#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:00:00 +0000 29655 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2012/dec/environmental-enrichment-for-puppies-and-dogs  

So, why write about Jack? He seems pretty normal right? Well, he was adopted last Christmas by a retired couple. They also have an older Labrador retriever who is, of course, "perfect." Jack's destructive nature made his owners pick up the phone and make an appointment with me. Whenever destructive behaviors are bad enough to make an owner call me, I always want to rule out separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is extreme stress and distress when the dog is virtually or actually separated from the owners.

But, that is not Jack's problem. Jack is happy to pick things up and destroy them right in front of his owners. If he is lying down, he just rolls over, grabs a chair leg in his mouth and starts chewing. This all began as a normal behavior when Jack was a puppy. Because the owners were used to living with an older dog, they had forgotten what it was like to live with a puppy. Puppies need lots of stimulation, and Jack needs 2 or 3 times the stimulation that an average Labrador Retriever puppy would need. Because Jack was not well exercised, didn't go to training classes, and did not have near enough toys, he learned that the best way to expend his energy is to find something in the house to chew on. A secondary payoff that he hadn’t anticipated was that the owners would give him loads and loads of attention just for grabbing their things and running off with them. Now, Jack is not only destructive, he's also a thief.

To set Jack back on track, we focused on enrichment, supervision, boundaries, ignoring negative behaviors, and reinforcing positive behaviors. This week we'll talk about enrichment.

Jack's owners said the same thing that 99.9% of all owners say when I begin to talk about enrichment: "My dog has lots of toys."  And I always say the same thing: "I'm sure he does. However he has slobbered, torn up, and rolled around with every single one of them already so they're not very interesting anymore."

This reminds me of a night when my husband and I were getting ready to go out. My husband stood behind me as I stood in my closet staring at my shoes. I turned back to him and said, "I just don't have any shoes to wear." As he looked down at all of my shoes lined up neatly in boxes with pictures taped to the outside, he exclaimed with disbelief, "What? Look at all those shoes!"

To my husband, I had lots of shoes. But to me, they were old, worn, and very uninteresting. Dogs feel the exact same way about all those old toys sitting in the toy-box. To combat that boredom, follow the suggestions below.
 
1. Feed your dog all of his meals — yes I mean every morsel of kibble — out of food toys. The pet supply companies have finally caught up with the current behavioral recommendations and as a result offer innumerable numbers of food toys. This takes a very small event — eating dinner — that usually takes 5 minutes and turns it into an event that could last an hour.

2. Get your dog out. An excursion in the car, in the basket of your bike, or just down the street will enrich your dog’s life and mentally wear him out.

3. Schedule doggie play dates. There is nothing like off-leash dog play to wear a dog flat out. Be careful about taking your dog to dog parks. It is much safer to simply schedule play dates with friendly dogs.

4. Rotate your dogs’ toys so that your dogs have 3 toys per dog in the household per day. Keep the toys out of rotation for 5 days. Continue to leave your toy box full.

5. Purchase some puzzle toys. Puzzle toys are toys which test your dog’s intelligence by making finding treats more challenging. Take the treats you would've given your dog for being cute, break them into quarter inch pieces, and put them into the puzzle toys. Think your dog is smart? Try one of these puzzle toys.

6. Find your dog's preference and go with it. I told Jack's owners to go to the local pet supply store and to online websites and buy as many different types of toys as they could find. Then, they were to watch Jack with the toys so that they could determine his preferences. When I first adopted Maverick, my Labrador retriever puppy, earlier this year I did exactly what I had instructed Jack’s owners to do. It became apparent that while Maverick generally liked pretty much all toys, his preference was for very hard toys. Now I make sure to have many hard toys around the house for him.

7. Have a reasonable expectation of your pet. Jack's parents were very distressed by the idea of rearranging their lives, their feeding schedule, and their home for Jack. Outside of medicating Jack — who remember is a completely normal dog — I don't have a way to change who he is. On some level, Jack's owners will have to commit to keeping him very enriched, most likely over the course of his entire lifetime. They can swim against the tide and eventually become exhausted, negatively affecting the bond that they have with their dog, or they can accept the level of care that Jack requires and go with the flow.

*

Next week, we will talk about boundaries and the level of supervision puppies like Jack need.
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Hisom Silviu / via Shutterstock
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2012/dec/environmental-enrichment-for-puppies-and-dogs#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 26 Dec 2012 11:00:00 +0000 29642 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2012/dec/fixing-the-house-training-glitch
Dr. Radosta will return next week with an all new column. Until then, please share your thoughts and experiences on house-training puppies and dogs that have gotten into the habit of eliminating inside the house.
 

I am sitting at a coffee shop talking to a nice young couple with a 2-year-old male Maltese named Steve. He has the whitest coat and the blackest nose. He is good looking, for sure. From the very beginning, he is my best friend — wagging his tail and jumping on me. The owners got him from a really great breeder at 3 months of age. He had never been in a crate. When they tried to crate him, he cried the entire night. It broke their hearts and they never used a crate again. He still urinates in the house.

Fast forward to the next day: I am sitting in my exam room with a nice, one year old yellow Labrador Retriever named Sophie. She has spent most of the appointment so far chewing on a worn tennis ball. She was purchased from a pet store when she was four months old. The puppies were kept in baby pools covered in newspaper with other puppies. They were not walked outside. She likes her crate, but will urinate and defecate inside. She will also urinate and defecate outside as well. If they don’t take her out quickly enough after dinner, she eliminates in the house, usually on soft surfaces.

These are the stories real dogs and real owners. Luckily for these dogs, their owners love them dearly. Believe it or not, studies examining the reasons for relinquishment of dogs to shelters generally have house-training woes pretty high on the list. It surprises me because house-training is pretty straightforward. So why do so many dogs end up on death row for peeing in the house?

Sometimes people just don’t know how to house-train a dog. There are lots of good resources for house-training online and in dog training books. (You can find a simple handout on house-training on the Resources page of my website.) Often people don’t understand the basic concepts of house-training. At its simplest (which is the way I like things), house-training is the act of teaching the dog to eliminate on your schedule, in a certain environment, and/or on a certain substrate. If the dog is being taught to eliminate outside, they have to learn that elimination only occurs when there is a sky (not a roof) over their head. If they are learning to eliminate on pee pads, they have to learn to eliminate only when they feel a soft substrate under their paws.

These simple rules should be followed:

1. Give the dog access to the elimination area frequently (every 1-2 hours at first).

2. Make eliminating pleasurable by rewarding your puppy (treats and affectionate responses) when she chooses the right place.

3. While training, remove the opportunity to eliminate anywhere except for the designated elimination area (constant supervision).

This last one is the one that messes people up. Most people give the puppy too much freedom too soon. Dogs and puppies who are being house-trained have to be supervised every second that they are not outside or confined for a minimum of one month. Direct supervision means that the puppy is in the room with the owner and within the owner’s direct eyesight or on a leash being held by the owner. Yes, I get that is hard, but which is worse: the time it takes to house-train a dog or a ruined oriental rug? As the puppy proceeds through the house-training process, the amount of time that she doesn’t have to be supervised can be increased.

In my experience, serious house-training problems result from a glitch in the house-training process, not a simple lack of knowledge. Some dogs, like Steve, were never crate trained as pups. When Steve put up a fight on the first night, the owners gave up. Without a way to confine him, he never learned to eliminate outside exclusively. When a crate or some other type of confinement is not used it is more difficult to train the puppy. For these puppies, a small confinement area or exercise pen would work better than a crate. The entire area can be papered or better yet, covered in sod so that the puppy learns to prefer that substrate

In Sophie’s case, crate training was not the issue. The issue stemmed from how she spent the formative months of her puppy-hood. She learned to eliminate under a roof on a soft surface. Puppies develop a substrate preference somewhere around 7-8 weeks of age. If a puppy is raised in a kennel, she is more likely to eliminate on cement instead of grass. If the puppy was raised on paper, she is more likely to prefer paper or other soft substrates.

To Sophie, there is no crime in urinating and defecating in her crate or inside of the house for that matter. She did it her entire life up until now and it has worked out OK for her. The idea that a dog will always regard a crate or other small area as one to keep clean is not accurate. If the dog has learned at a young age or otherwise that it is acceptable (to her) to live in a soiled house, that will often continue into adulthood.

Some dogs have confinement anxiety or barrier frustration. This is a pathologic problem regarding confinement, which has an accompanying physiologic reaction. These dogs simply can’t be crated without a lot of behavior modification, and often medication. This behavior generally shows up in puppy-hood, sometimes as early as eight weeks. They are comfortable in the crate until the door is closed, then they panic. I am not talking about crying and barking for 15 minutes. I am talking about complete panic, jumping, screeching, trying to escape, urinating and/or defecating in the crate. It is pretty difficult to work on getting your dog to accept the crate calmly when you have to confine him there for hours at a time for the purpose of house-training. It just doesn’t work. Like the dogs that are not crate trained, a small confinement area and availability of the appropriate substrate is best.

Some people start out pretty well with house-training and then make mistakes like screaming at their puppy or shoving her face in the urine or feces when they find accidents. Wait; don’t judge these people too quickly. These are usually good people and good owners who don’t really know what to do. The end result is that the puppy thinks that the owner is crazy!

A more scientific description of what happens is that the dog associates the owner’s presence and the presence of the urine with punishment. She has not learned that the act of urinating causes the owner’s behavior change unless she was caught in the act. Even then, the use of punishment from a scientific standpoint is iffy. This is because urinating and defecating is self rewarding. Have you ever held it on a long drive? Didn’t it feel good to finally go to the bathroom? It is the same for dogs. Once the puppy has received reward, there is no way to make that reward go away regardless of how foolish the owner acts. The association of the owner’s presence with the presence of urine or feces causes the puppy to try alternate strategies such as eliminating only when the owner is not present. These dogs may sneak off into the corner of the owner’s bedroom to eliminate, or they may refuse to eliminate while on a leash or when the owner is near-by.

I generally tell people that if their dog has an accident, they should roll up a newspaper and hit themselves over the head with it while repeating, "I forgot to watch my puppy. I forgot to watch my puppy." Seriously, if the puppy is caught in the act, the owner can interrupt her with a hand clap. Then, they should immediately bring the puppy to the elimination area outside or to the pee pads inside.

Housetraining is no reason to give a dog up. There is a lot of help out there in the way of good material on the subject. When in doubt, go back to basics and you should be okay.

*

This is the time of year when we take the extra time to express our gratitude for the blessings in our lives. I want to remind you that no matter what you are going through in life — and we all have our stuff — your pets are thankful for you every second of every day.
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Max Day 11 by Scott / via Flickr
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2012/dec/fixing-the-house-training-glitch#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:00:00 +0000 29574 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2012/dec/keep-your-puppy-safe-during-holiday-december
Simple management can help to keep your pup safe this holiday season.
 

1. Protect your pet from holiday decorations. Put glass ornaments higher on the tree and the less breakable ones lower where your pup won't be injured if he knocks a couple off. Instead, you can use a baby gate to keep your pup out of the rooms with fragile decorations.
 
2. Do not feed your pup from the holiday table. Holiday meals are generally high in fat, salt, and spices. Eating foods like these when the body is not accustomed to them can easily lead to pancreatitis, which will equal a hospital stay in short order.
 
3. Prepare your pup for visitors by making sure that he responds well to the “sit” and “go to your bed” cues. These are essential cues in order to decrease jumping and begging at the table.
 
4. Get your pup used to confinement. Similar to young children, there are some aspects of parties that are not appropriate for puppies. Maybe you have a family member who is afraid of or allergic to dogs. Maybe there's just someone who you would not trust to be around your pup. Either way, your pup is better in his crate. Crate training is an essential part of every puppy’s life. You can find out more about the importance of crate training here: Everyone Needs Their Own Space.
 
5. Keep your pup from escaping. Make sure that your puppy has been microchipped. Microchipping is the process by which a tiny identification device is placed under your puppy’s skin. Most veterinarians and shelters have scanners that can identify your puppy, facilitating his safe return to you. Every puppy should be microchipped. Your puppy should wear a buckle or snap collar made of nylon or leather with his identification tags and his microchip tag on it during the holiday season. Finally, block off the entry way with a baby gate that opens easily and closes on its own so that your guests can move in and out without letting your dog out. Make sure to close your front gate once all of the visitors have arrived.
 
6. Keep your puppy occupied. Even if your puppy is allowed out to enjoy the holiday celebration, your friends and family most likely do not want to spend the entire time entertaining him. Use food toys to keep him occupied so that everyone enjoys the holiday season. You can stuff his breakfast and dinner into these toys along with tablespoons of canned food or white meat chicken. Freeze the toys overnight and you have hours of fun for your puppy without any worry for your guests.
 
7. Don't ever leave your pup unattended with a Christmas tree or a lit menorah. Use common sense when you include your puppy in the festivities. If you would not leave a toddler in a room by herself, don't leave your puppy there either.

*

Be safe this holiday season, and don't forget to get a gift for the puppy.
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Munch-kin by trazomfreak / via Flickr
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2012/dec/keep-your-puppy-safe-during-holiday-december#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 12 Dec 2012 11:00:00 +0000 29549 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2012/dec/getting-a-puppy-to-live-with-your-old-dog  

Tito is a deliciously cute, rambunctious, obnoxious, annoying, hyperactive, 12-week-old Border Collie. From the very beginning, he was all over Susie. She growled at him to politely correct him, but her owners had disciplined her! This only made her retreat from the family and become even more aggressive toward little Tito. And that was why Susie's owners had called me. They wanted a marriage made in heaven. That would take some work.

I never quite understood why an owner would adopt a puppy for an elderly dog. I have heard stories from my clients about elderly dogs who get a new lease on life when the family adopts a puppy. However, most of the stories I hear are filled with tales about how the puppy annoyed the heck out of the older dog.

Would you want to live with a toddler if you were 90 years old? Really?

I think that often the real motivation for getting a puppy as a dog ages is to make sure that the house is never completely devoid of four-legged children. While I understand the deep need to have a house filled with animals, during Susie's appointment I found myself wishing that her owners had first thought of what was best for her. She had given them so much. Why didn’t they think of her first?

To add insult to injury, when Susie had tried to set boundaries for Tito the owners had scolded her. This is very commonly done. The reality is that Susie is well within her rights to growl at, lunge at or even snap at Tito if he is out of bounds. Now, some families have serious problems with aggression between the older dog and the puppy. If your dog is biting the puppy, causing injury, or acting inappropriately aggressive toward the puppy, you should seek professional help from a positive reinforcement behavior professional. Sometimes, it's difficult to know whether or not the older dog is behaving appropriately with the puppy.

Consider these 2 scenarios:

Tito approaches Susie and pounces on her back while she's lying down. Susie has arthritis and cannot move very quickly so she growls at him. He backs up a couple of steps, cocks his head and looks quizzically at her. Then, he gathers up all his energy and pounces on her head, biting her ear. She turns, shows him all of her teeth and growls. Tito gets the message, throws himself on his back to show that he is no threat whatsoever to Susie and cries out just for good measure. Susie gets the point, ambles off to a comfy dog bed and settles down to go back to sleep. This was a normal interaction where an obnoxious puppy got appropriately corrected. Susie started with a lowest level of aggression and then escalated when needed. That's the first sign that she was attempting to interact appropriately with the puppy. Next, when the puppy showed that he was deferential or submissive to Susie she backed off. That's another good sign that she's reading his signals and communicating well with him.

In the second scenario, Susie is again lying down and Tito throws himself on top of her. He is corrected as above, however instead of slowly increasing the level of her correction, Susie starts with a strong correction and grabs the puppy causing him to cry out and run away with his tail tucked. That is much too strong of a correction for the crime that was committed. When Tito runs away, Susie pursues him and continues to growl at him. Susie is clearly not recognizing that Tito is no threat to her and using a much higher level of aggression than is necessary to correct him. This type of scenario should worry you and you should seek professional help.

In reality, Susie and Tito’s interaction was the first scenario. But what threw a monkey wrench into the situation was the behavior of the owners. The owners yelled at Susie for giving Tito an appropriate correction. Susie was just being a normal dog and didn't deserve a correction. Being completely confused by what just happened, she began to avoid interactions with Tito and with her family. If this continues to go on, Tito will continue to develop into quite a brat and Susie will stay in the back bedroom by herself.

What we did was very simple. We gave Susie special privileges and special treatment while teaching the puppy some self-control. For example, Susie was allowed on the bed and the couch but Tito was not. Susie was allowed to get her food first, get petted first, and get her treats first. The owners make sure that if Tito tried to steal her toys, get on top of her while she was sleeping, or nudge her out of the way to be petted that they stopped it immediately. The owners were instructed to get Tito into puppy class yesterday and keep him in classes steadily for the next couple of years. When Susie correctly disciplined Tito the owners stayed out of it and within about a week Tito had learned on his own to respect Susie's boundaries when she was sleeping.

I can hear some of you screaming right now that giving Susie special privileges was not fair. I am here to tell you that the dog world is inherently unfair. Dogs generally accept this unfairness very well. It is the owners who have a problem with it. Susie’s owners will continue to treat the dogs in this way until Susie passes away. I hope that she lives many long years and that Tito with his new-found respect for her continues to fit in with the family.
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: Border Collie Puppy by David Jones / via Flickr
 ]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2012/dec/getting-a-puppy-to-live-with-your-old-dog#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:00:00 +0000 29518 at http://www.petmd.com http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2012/nov/finding_time_to_train_your_puppy_dog  
 

When I arrived home, I immediately sprang into action. I checked the fridge and realized that I had no treats prepared for my pup. Freshly cooked meat is essential for keeping Maverick’s attention during a distracting dog class. My heart sank. How would I ever have time to cook liver and still get to class? Wait, I'm super mom! If anyone can do this it's me.

I grabbed some liver out of the freezer and threw it into a pan. While that was cooking I ran to change my clothes and call a client back about her pet. After a lengthy phone call, I glanced at the time. No problem I can still make it! I was already dressed. Now all I needed was my shoes. As I stepped into the closet, I felt something wet on my foot. What? The cat threw up in my closet! I smell the liver burning in the pan. The carpet is stained anyway. I could probably just leave it until I come back from class. After a couple of seconds of debate, I stop to clean the mess. I sprint into the kitchen carrying my shoes and socks. With Matrix-like smoothness I flip the liver over in the pan and take a minute to put on my socks and shoes. Within minutes, I had chopped all of the liver into quarter inch pieces, stored them neatly in snack bags, grabbed Maverick’s training bag and was running out the door!

Like many families, we are on the go. It's difficult to find the time to actually work with your dog. How can busy moms squeeze in that extra couple of minutes a day to be a good mom to her pup? Here are some tips that help me to find the time to work with my pup.


1. Make obedience training part of your daily life. Instead of working with Maverick for half an hour each day, I work on the behaviors that are necessary to be a good family pet constantly throughout the day. For example, we work on “go to your bed,” “lie down,” and “stay” each and every time we sit down to the table to have a meal. We also work on sit each time Maverick has to go outside.

2. Place treats all around the house so that it is easy to reward your dog. If you have to go looking for the rewards, not only will there be a delay between the behavior and the reward, which makes the reward ineffective, but you will be unlikely to reward the behavior at all because it will take you so much time to find a treat.

3. Involve your dog in what you do. If your dog is with you when you go out to breakfast or when you're playing in the front yard with your kids, it is easy to work in a couple of obedience cues.

4. Make play a learning experience.  Just as you teach your children numbers and letters as you walk through the grocery store, teach your pup basic behaviors while you are playing with him. For example, before you toss the ball, ask him to sit.

5. Work with your pup while you are doing something else. Many stationary obedience activities like lying down, staying, and relaxation behaviors can be completed while you're working at your computer checking your e-mail or cooking dinner.

6. Involve the entire family in the training of the pup. Just as you delegate the activities involving dinner — setting the table, cleaning up the table, doing dishes — you can also delegate certain training activities to other members of the family.

7. Make it a priority. By making it clear to the entire family when you adopt your pup that training is important, you'll have a much better chance of getting the support you need on those busy afternoons.
 
 

Dr. Lisa Radosta
 
 
Image: AntoniaDiaz / via Shutterstock]]> http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2012/nov/finding_time_to_train_your_puppy_dog#comments PurelyPuppy Wed, 28 Nov 2012 11:00:00 +0000 29500 at http://www.petmd.com