Welcome to Pawprint Academy, your blueprint to
raising better dogs. My name is Ryan, and I'll
be your host for this journey. I've got my trusty
co -host here, Brianna. Hello. And together,
we're bringing you real -world training insights
built on leadership, structure, and proven methods.
We record this podcast with live clients on the
line in one take with live unscripted questions
and answers. At the end of the day, this podcast
is a lot more than just teaching your dog to
sit or stay. It's about... building trust creating
calmness and becoming the kind of leader your
dog truly needs we do that with our three pillar
method of trust obey and perform together we'll
show you how these three pillars shape every
step of training thanks for being here let's
get started Episode seven, puppy socialization.
Doing it right without overwhelming your pup.
I am super excited about this one tonight because
puppies are so much fun. Puppies are super fun.
So tonight we're going to talk about the way
that we introduce our puppy to the world. it
kind of sets the foundation for confidence and
stability. And we talk about confidence and stability
like there are these buzzwords, but proper socialization
is about controlled positive exposure and not
just throwing them into chaos, but to map out
their early learning patterns. And so this one
goes back and forth. It's like, well, how old
is a puppy? But right off the bat, I'm going
to go with it depends on the breed and it depends
on their maturity. Similar to kids. You're going
to have grown -ups that are still kids. Right,
exactly. At heart. But when we're talking about
dogs. Stand by. Did you figure it out? We're
having a mic issue. brie's gonna keep working
on that i'm gonna continue on so when we talk
about uh once again these are the these are the
dangers of doing it live in one take um okay
i think i'm good are you alive now yeah i think
so there we go okay it was just funny okay okay
um continue on when uh how how old is a puppy
so um So right off the bat, if I was going to
define a puppy, I'd say 18 months or less. Yeah,
for sure. This whole concept of like, well, there's
still a puppy at two years. Well, they might
still exhibit some puppy behavior at the two
year mark, but I just, I just can't get behind
that. Right. They're definitely growing out of
all of their puppy habits by that point. Year
and a half, that's where I call it at. But when
we're talking about early exposure, that early
exposure and how they're exposed to things and
what they're exposed to, it absolutely shapes
their lifelong behavior. I just did an eval for
a little puppy that was 10 weeks old. The puppy
is going to, just like all puppies, is going
to exhibit all of these behaviors, but it's learning.
And so if we don't show up in its life, in every
interaction that it has, it is constantly learning,
it's constantly testing. So you got to show up
and you got to show up with that leadership and
that stability and that consistency, which we've
talked about many, many times. in every interaction
they're seeing the same example yeah which is
uh you want me to be calm or oh you want me to
be um you know what you want me to do this you
want me to do that we don't have to train the
dog well so most owners don't need to focus on
training their dog to be excited the dog's gonna
figure that out on their own right we gotta train
the dog to be calm um Now, when you're working
with a working line breed, there is absolutely
something to be said for developing their drive,
right? Yeah, absolutely. That's really important.
But a lot of owners develop plenty of drive on
their own inadvertently, and then they don't
know how to develop the other side of the coin.
Yeah. And so that's what we're going to talk
about. But in the terms of socialization. Socialization
is often defined in people's minds as dogs meeting
other dogs. But that's not the end of it. Puppies
are most impressionable between eight and 16
weeks. So we're talking that two month to four
month time period where you are able to just
pattern things and that puppy is going to. like
figure that out and it's going to leave a lasting
impression no matter what it is, good or bad.
So very impressionable time. And positive experiences,
they build resilience and they reduce future
reactivity. The more positive experiences that
the dog has in many different facets and different
ways. it's going to increase the likelihood that
the dog's not going to react out of fear or aggression
or, um, some other like facet of the buzzword
that we like to throw around reactivity. Okay.
Just like a positive experience will shape their
their life, a negative experience can absolutely
shape their life. So it's really important. Go
ahead. So let's give some examples. I don't know
if that's in one of your questions, but like
what are some examples? Because I think when
we say positive and negative experiences, we
understand what those are. Okay. But I don't
think that everybody kind of understands what
a positive experience is because all the time
we kind of see people with their puppies out
and they're like, yeah, this is great. Right,
it's great for the owner, but not for the puppy.
Oh, that's a really good point. And so one of
the places we train at, brewery, super busy,
almost all the time. When we take dogs to socialize,
we're there like at opening. And not because
we want like a beer at 11 a .m., but because
we want to work with the dogs in an environment
where there's not floods of people in the room,
right? There's one, maybe two. They're spaced
out. The place has plenty of room. There's outside,
there's inside. Like we still have the ability
to work the dog in, but there's not an overwhelming
amount of people. There's almost never dogs there.
And if so, like I said, there's plenty of room.
All the time we see people there with puppies
on the busiest nights of the week. One, that
puppy is doing nothing but scanning all of these
feet, like running by him, all of the hands reaching
down for him, the dogs that are pulling over
to them, different things like that. And so positive
experiences to us are slow environments where
you can go and you can sit down and you can relax
with your dog. And maybe one person comes up
and says, hey, can I pet your puppy? And you,
at that point, if your dog is nice and relaxed,
then maybe that works for you. Maybe you give
them a piece of food and you say, yeah, sure.
I'm actually working with them right now on socialization.
Can you try giving them some food? That's a positive
experience because that person is giving the
dog something that it wants instead of just sticking
their hand out and petting them. And maybe the
dog doesn't want that. But it doesn't know how
to communicate that yet because it's a puppy.
Yeah. Another thing I'll throw out. So the next
supporting point that I had written down was
that controlled introductions matter more than
the quantity of the introduction. Right. It's
like going out to the brewery and passing your
puppy around everybody for everyone to hold.
Yep. Too much. Right. You don't need a hundred
interactions. Right. You need ten solid ones.
Yeah. Okay. So what I was going to add to that
though. Is that just because we're shaping this
conversation towards puppies doesn't mean that
older dogs don't benefit from this as well. We're
just talking about how with puppies, it's even
more important because of that very, very impressionable
like age and time frame. Yeah. But that does
not mean that if you've got a dog that's outside
of there and your dog is two or three or four
or five, that they can't still learn and they
can't still adjust by doing the same thing. Yeah,
for sure. And that quality of that interaction
is better than the quantity. Yeah. Okay, so what...
So what would you say that the most important
thing is to expose a young puppy to in the first
few weeks when somebody goes to a shelter or
they go to a breeder, they buy this cute little
fuzzy creature who has no idea how to even walk
on their own feet. What are you, if you went
and got a dog tomorrow, don't do that. She lights
up. She says she's already thinking about it
in her head. I was reading about a foster German
shepherd. Just kidding. Just kidding. Were you
really? Because someone, someone. Yeah, I was
reading it in our inbox. Oh, right. I was like,
yeah, because someone just reached out. If, by
the way, someone just reached out to, I was like,
wait a second. That sounds familiar. Right. Someone
reached out to us that they are looking for a.
uh a forever home for a little german shepherd
puppy or a foster i think or a foster situation
at this point uh if you are interested hit us
up right there's not a whole lot of information
we have i don't have a lot female german just
reached out on the business page and was like
right that she can no longer care for she was
a temporary foster can she claims that the dog
has no issues Just that her cat does not like
it. Right. Gets bullied by the cat. I don't know
really what that means, but I'm sure people that
have dogs and cats probably know what that means.
But I don't know anything about cats. We have
too many dogs. Right. All right. Back on track.
But side note, yes. Back out of the rabbit hole.
First, most important. What are you exposing
to your your your brand new puppy that you get
tomorrow? Yeah. What are you exposing it to first?
Grooming methods. I'm going to start touching
paws. I'm going to start touching. Yeah. Ears.
I'm going to start like lifting gums. I'm going
to start working them through that in a calm,
relaxed way, which means like treating them through
it. Basically, I grab their paw. I hold it. I
give them a yes. And then I give them a piece
of food and I'll work that through their breakfast.
I'm going to work on like real world noises that
go on in your house every day. The vacuum, the
doorbell, people knocking, blenders. If you like
make smoothies every morning, that's a tough
one. People like don't realize and you turn on
a blender and that's like one of the loudest
pieces of machinery in your house. It wakes up
humans. Right. If you do a lot of yard work,
yard tools. for guys like all the crazy tools
you have that make all those weird noises um
so i don't know you you're not gonna name any
of them right i don't even know what the ones
are called that are super loud so whatever um
but different things like that um riding in the
car that's a really big one yeah um because a
lot of puppies will get car sick and people are
like oh my dog gets car sick i just won't take
them in the car right you have to take your dog
to the vet right i mean there's mobile vets don't
get me wrong but at some point you're going to
need your dog somewhere right you got to take
your dog somewhere if you don't want to you're
going to have to and so those are the things
where when you get to those moments you don't
want it to be the absolute hardest moment or
the absolute worst experience for the dog right
So those are my things. Right. A lot of times
the dog gets sick, not just because of the movement,
but because of all the extra things. It's a new
sight, new sound, new feeling, new all of this
stuff. And all of it together creates a situation
where the dog gets sick. Right. Dexter, when
we first got him was car sick. And so you just
took him on tiny, short little drives. Short
little drives. Yeah. And worked on him laying
down in a kennel. Correct. So start with a very
small kennel so they can't move around. Then
you get a little bigger and a little bigger and
then they stay in the back of the trunk and then
they can move to a seat. It's exactly like everything
else that we do in dog training. You start small
and you build on it. I was just talking to a
guy that was driving from Burgaw and that's like
an hour drive or something like that. He said
always at the same exact moment in Hampstead,
which is halfway, the dog would get sick. I was
like, just stop your car like five minutes before
you know where that location is and let your
dog out. Yeah. And then put them back in the
car and finish your drive. I guarantee you that's
going to help your problem. If not like completely
eliminate the pattern. Yeah. And then after a
while, once your dog gets used to it, then you
can do the entire car ride. Love that advice.
Just tiny steps. Okay. Um, so, uh, I, Wrote down
to share an example of a dog whose behavior was
shaped strongly by early socialization. My example
is going to be Dexter. Yeah. Because I did a
ton of shaping with different things. And now
he's attached my hip. And doesn't listen to Brianna
at all. Right, you trained him too hard. He listens.
No, no, he listens. But sometimes he challenges
me for sure. But he listens, but he's always
looking for like, you're not my dad, where's
my dad? Right. Right, you're definitely his safety
net, his dad for sure. Yep. So just like you
can shape all of those things, it is important
to vary. the experiences right and one of those
things has to also be the handler and and and
who works with them the most right right but
that's something like to honestly like touch
on because we're dog trainers right and so everybody
expects our dogs to be top notch for one dexter's
only 12 months old yeah and for two a lot of
it goes into his breed Because we've known and
had him since he was born. And know his parents
and know the genetics and know like the dad,
super stable, really calm, relaxed, like service
dog -like handler. Brianna was putting little
Q -tips between his little paw pads when he was
six days old. Yeah, so cute. And even like when...
you saw them growing and growing and growing.
Like you could tell the differences in temperament
between those dogs. And that was just genetics,
right? Because they weren't doing training at
those ages. So you can genetically see the difference
in those dogs. And as hard as we have always
worked for Dexter to like develop and things
like that, there's still things where genetically,
like the dog isn't going to like that or adjust
well to that. And you really have to like zone
in on it and focus on it for a while. Yeah. Yep.
Um, then control. So let's, let's talk about,
um, controlled exposure, right? Um, usually controlled
exposure beats. Uh, so let's talk about the terms
first controlled exposure where we're going to
limit the variables that the dog is going to
have to process in a certain amount of time.
Flooding is the opposite where we're going to
bring in a whole bunch of variables all at the
same time. So that the dog doesn't necessarily,
can't process all of those things and to a certain
degree has to kind of let go of control towards
whatever it was that they were initially reactive
to or scared of or et cetera. And as long as
we follow with that flooding technique, as long
as we also provide the dog a very safe interaction
and show the dog. with that action that, see,
you're still okay, you're still safe, nothing
bad happened. Sometimes flooding, and I will
say sometimes, sometimes flooding works very,
very well. That being said, we typically try
to avoid flooding. And the reason for that is
because we can do a lot with flooding. Controlled
exposure. It's not that flooding is an irrelevant
technique. It's not that flooding is a dangerous
technique, but it's not necessarily the right
technique for every dog. Yeah. Controlled exposure
is pretty good across almost all the dogs. We
only use flooding when our controlled exposure
really doesn't work. If that makes sense. Yeah.
All right. So socialization doesn't really mean
to just let your puppy meet everyone and everything
all at once. Right. We want to control all those
variables. So when we are providing a nice like
just a few calm positive encounters that outweighs
dozens of chaotic. flooding ones yeah because
it patterns to the dog what to expect right and
one thing that i want to mention is that even
if you don't necessarily flood the dog something
else could flood the dog right right yeah flooding
isn't necessarily me me flooding the dog right
so the perfect example is taking your dog to
the dog park for the first time and you take
your dog, little puppy, and you even go into
the small dog side, right? That's fine. Your
dog's a puppy. But if that dog park already has
six dogs in it, and I've seen those dogs parks.
We work outside of them. When a dog comes up,
those dogs crowd the gate 100%. Right, because
we want to see the new guy. Yeah, who's this?
Who's this? Yeah, I haven't smelled this dog
yet. Let me smell you. Right. The dog immediately
is like, whoa, especially as a puppy, right?
Because it's all new dogs. And one, your dog
is either going to be somewhat nervous because
they're being overcrowded and flooded by the
amount of dogs in their face. Or two, they're
going to be super excited and learn that running
up to dogs and just meeting them at the fence
is an amazing amount of like fun and overstimulation.
So fun. And and that's that's how it begins.
Right. Right. And so flooding in that like sense
flooding or overexposure it often backfires and
then it ends up just creating fear instead of
confidence. Right. It's like you take your first.
It can go well. Right. But it also can not. Right.
And we always shoot for. Let's just make sure
it's a good idea, right? Right. I really want
to stack the cards in the favor of it going well.
Right. It's just like, oh, such a good one just
popped in my brain. I can think of metaphors
and things all the time with these. It's just
like wearing your seatbelt in a car, right? It's
like you could get an accident or you could not
if you're like going at a slow time of day. But
regardless of whether you could or not. You should
probably just put your seatbelt on. Take precautions.
Just take precautions. Just be safer on the safer
side than on the side of, you know, I don't know
that anything's going to go wrong today. I don't
think anything's going to go wrong today. But
it takes one dog, and I just witnessed it two
days ago at the dog park of a, it's a Great Dane
Border Collie mix. Only dog I've ever seen like
that. It looked like a Dr. Seuss character. I
kid you not. It was a huge dog, but with fluffy
ears. It was crazy. and a Husky. And the Husky
had been at the dog park by himself for a while.
And the Great Dane came in. Everything was fun
and games until it wasn't. And the Husky was
way too overbearing trying to like mount the
Great Dane. And that dog was not having it, but
it's big and goofy and doesn't know how to work
its legs. So it was like flailing everywhere.
And then the owners are over there trying to
separate it. One of them was like taking a nap
in the hammock. What? Had no, yeah. I don't even
know why they have a hammock. It's the only time
I've ever seen that, but it just turned chaotic
so fast. And I was like, all right, time to go.
Oh my goodness. Okay. So other than that, what
are some everyday mistakes that you see owners
make when they're trying to socialize their puppy?
We talked about the brewery or just a public
place where you take them when there's too much
going on. Right. Because I, I, this isn't, I
really want to reiterate this. We don't, we don't
get on the mic each week and talk about this
stuff in a way that we are trying to be like,
no, no, no, no. We know the right way to do this
and no one else does. We're also not like we,
we're bringing this to you really as a teammate,
as, as a team member. We want. everybody to succeed
we want everyone to get better and so we talk
about these things not not in a way that like
we haven't made a lot of these mistakes we've
we've done all of this and we've learned from
it and so that's why we're sharing it with you
so um bringing your dog out in public that is
what the it's what everyone wants to do so that
then their dog's not scared right they know that
in their mind it's just that we We see it a lot
where the dog is just overwhelmed by way too
much going on way too fast. And so that's what
we're talking about with that. What's another
example? I think my two probably big ones are
letting kids chase puppies. Right. So the catch
me if you can game. Right. Going both ways. Right.
Yeah. For sure. It's just a natural thing that
like kids typically try to do is just like chase
a puppy around because they like to run. And
one, it can either scare the puppy or they can
find a huge fun in it. And then you have a puppy
that's stealing your things and running away
because they want you to play with them. And
I think the second one for me would probably
be not paying attention to body language. A lot
of times we look for like tail tucked. That's
a really like big sign that your dog is uncomfortable.
The whale eye that we talk about kind of like
side eyeing things where their eyes are like,
they look like they're like, oh my gosh, this
is way too much. And also one that people don't
really pick up on is like lip licking. If they're
like flicking their tongue and like licking their
lips a lot, it's not because their lips are dry.
It's because they're stressed out. Itching. Itching
is a big one. They're like, oh, my dog is itchy.
Not itchy. yawning your dog is not tired your
dog is stressed most of the time yeah puppies
can be a little bit different because they are
they do sleep a lot more so they can yawn a little
bit more excessively than adult dogs because
they are tired more often but a lot of the times
that falls back to stress so i started doing
something that really really helped me um and
that was when i'm watching dog behavior and a
dog like just sits down right where they are
and they start itching or they like just randomly
like yawn. I just say in my head, sometimes I
even say it out loud. I just go stress. And when
I, when I go like stressed, it helps my brain.
Like, look, are they, does that fit? Are they
stressed about something? And almost like nine
times out of ten, I can point to what it would
be. Right. And be like, oh, right. I just I just
told it to sit or go to their place. And they
like didn't really want to go to their place
or they came off of their place. And I said,
no place. And I put them back there and they
went back and then they got there and then they
like sit down and they're itching. Yeah. And
it's like stress. Right. It's like humans when
we like pick our fingernails or like twirl our
hair. It's a sign of stress is. Are we going,
hey, I'm stressed and biting our fingernails?
No, we're just nonchalantly biting our fingernails.
And sometimes we don't even understand that we're
doing that. We don't even notice. We're like
biting our lip and somebody's like, are you okay?
Yeah, why? Because you're biting your lip. Oh,
I didn't even realize. But if you really like
were to deep dive it, you could probably figure
out why in that moment and be like, oh, right.
I have been kind of worried about this one thing.
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So it's just a trick that
helps me to kind of, I guess, be more cognizant
of what the dog is feeling. Yeah. And maybe they
did just have an itch. That's fine. Right. We're
not saying this is 100%. Maybe they just had
an itch and you're like, I actually, I have no
idea why they would be stressed. Like I literally
just gave them a treat. Yeah. Um, cool. Maybe
it was just an itch. Maybe they have fleas. I
don't know. Yeah. It could be a lot of different
things. Right. A lot of dogs have like dry skin
in the winter, you know, and they need like oatmeal
shampoo baths or whatever. Like there's all sorts
of things, but just be aware of what your dog's
doing and just be like, Oh, they itched. And
if you see it in another weird situation and
it's not typical, be like, Oh, that's weird.
They itched. So what would you set up? To be
like a controlled exposure for a puppy. Oh, put
that puppy on a leash when people come over.
Right. Don't give it the ability to just charge
the door. Don't do it. It's the worst habit.
And it's, I understand it for sure, but it builds
so much drive in the dog to do that so quickly.
Right, because it's super self -gratifying. So
self -gratifying. It's like, yeah, I get to go
see these people. Like they're leaping into their
arms. It's like when your kid runs up to you
after like their first day of daycare and they're
like, mom or dad. And they're like, yeah. And
you just like open your arms and like grab them.
Tons of excitement. Like, oh yeah, I am so excited
to see you. Yeah. For sure. Okay. Socialization
continues beyond puppyhood though. And so. It's
really, it has to become like part of the dog's
lifestyle. It's not really just something that
we can do just when they're a puppy. Puppy socialization,
super, super, super important. But dog socialization
in general, equally as important. It never stops,
right? And I can think of a whole bunch of ways
that like you can socialize, quote unquote, your
dog. You can take them places. You can have them
meet people. You can have them meet dogs. You
can have them not meet dogs. That one's really
important. We do that in our group class all
the time. Our number one rule at the group class
is none of the dogs are allowed to meet. It's
like, how are they going to socialize? They're
socializing. They smell all those dogs. We walk
them past the dogs all the time, but we're just
not going to let them actually get Nose to nose.
And it's not about anything other than creating
the other side of the coin. You've got to balance
it. Most dogs, when they get to be around other
dogs, they get to play with those dogs. So when
are you going to show them that sometimes they
don't? And most people don't have other dogs
that they can do that with. And so we do it in
the group class. Yeah. That's why. All right.
Continued exposure helps prevent regression.
Regression. So when I wrote down this point,
regression is this thing that everyone's like
super scared of. Right. Because. Cool. I worked
on this for like six weeks and it was going really,
really well. But then I took a break and things
got busy. And now I. Tried it again and suddenly
my dog's super reactive again. Right? Consistency
is key. Unfortunately, there's no perfect solution
to that other than those little bits. It is much
more important, and we talked about this in the
consistency episode, but it is much more important
to get those repetitions of that, even in short,
tiny little durations, than it is to... Add up,
you know, I worked on this all day. Much more
important. Dogs that only see the same environment
may develop new fears later on when they go into
these other environments. And so we can avoid
that by showing the dogs more and more and more.
As much... new things and places and stuff that
we can when they're younger it's impossible to
introduce the dog to every single thing that's
out there right it really is so the unfortunate
reality is yeah your dog's gonna have some negative
experiences they're definitely going to see some
things they're like ah i'm scared of that yeah
but when you realize that take a moment take
the opportunity to work through that so that
then the dog sees this is not so much of an issue
all right let's let's highlight that so um right
now in the uh where we are in the season is uh
we have dogs that um that we work with that are
super scared of the halloween decorations I mean,
every dog right now is triggered by the fake
cats in the yard that you guys have pulled out.
There's multiple houses in our neighborhood with
the fake cats, the same fake cats in their yard,
all over their yard. There's like nine of them.
First of all, why are there so many of them?
They obviously came in a pack because both yards
have so many cats. And now that I hate it, I
love the opportunity. Right, but those dogs do
not like that. They don't love them. They're
two -dimensional flat cats. One dog is like,
what is that? At nighttime, they look kind of
real also. I walked by one last night and I was
like, that one would get me even as a human.
And so it's great exposure, but what I want people
to realize is that if you walk by that cat and
your dog like jumps or is like, oh, what is that?
Or walks to the other side of you, you now have
to stop. And you have to go back to those cats
and you either have to do some laps back and
forth until your dog is relaxed or you have to
sit by them. Right. And you have to let them
work through that stress because if that item
stresses them out and they just walk by it and
keep on going, they're going to just learn that
that item was scary and I panicked a little bit
and we just kept on going. You have to show them
sometimes that things aren't what they think
it is. Yeah. We walked by a pumpkin the other
day and the dog I was walking was like, whoa,
what is that? And I was like, go, go, go sit
by it. Go sit by it. And she like sniffed it
and she was like, I don't know what this is,
but I guess it's not going to bite me. Right.
So those are the things that you have to be willing
to do is like work your dog through it. Be like,
just go over and sniff it. You touch it. Right.
So there was a, there was a good video on, um,
alligator mom had a good video on Facebook on.
because of halloween it was this little ghost
like stuffed animal hello hello thing that was
on a couch and her little malinois was like absolutely
not i'm not dealing with that thing and um she
was talking about how it's that is fine because
it's an opportunity for them to learn yeah and
so as they're scared of it you don't go in and
coddle them. You don't go in and tell them, no,
no, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. No, you
just stand there, check out, but at the moment
where they take an opportunity, instead of being
fearful, where they get curious, that's where
you jump in. At the moment where they're like,
well, what is this thing? That's where you jump
in with that leadership to show them, yeah, yeah.
Check it out. Look at it. Get close to it. Sniff
it. And then they figure out. And in this case,
their little Malinois figured out that, oh, I
can bite this thing. And then she engaged the
toy with them. And now it was a fun thing. It
was like, ah, cool. I'm not scared of that anymore.
Yeah. Yeah. Just as an example. But I felt like
it applied. Yeah, for sure. We have no affiliation
with Malligator Mom, just so you know. What else
do I got written down here? Lifelong confidence.
It comes from steady, varied experiences. It
is time consuming and it's not done overnight.
So you have to be patient. It's just about racking
up those slow, consistent events. that take place
naturally throughout the dog's life. We're going
to react to these things the same way, day in
and day out, as they learn and figure these things
out. Right. And I think a lot of people get stuck
on going to like one place and being like, well,
I'm exposing my dog. I'm exposing my dog. It's
like the brewery because it's the most dog friendly.
And you can just go up there and sit for like
hours with your friends, right? But that's not
necessarily always like what you need to be doing
for people that don't know. like stores that
are dog friendly it's like dick sporting goods
academy um hobby lobby uh was it home goods yeah
home goods home goods um lowes home depot tractor
supply um those are stores that a lot of people
don't know about on top of all the restaurants
and coffee shops and things like that but those
are places most restaurants that have outdoor
seating will let you have dogs in the outdoor
seating right and those are places that you can
go that you don't see 25 dogs, right? There's
hardly any dogs. I've never seen a dog in Dick's
Sporting Goods, but was I there with a dog? Yeah,
for sure. I was. And I called ahead of time and
made sure it was fine. And they're like, yeah,
because as long as they don't, you know, pee
on anything or eat anything. And those are the
places that are really good exposure for puppies
because you're not overstimulating them with
things. It's a huge store. I don't think I've
ever been in to one of those places when it's
been like, oh, there's people like all over.
I can't get down any aisles. So there's tons
of room to move and just walk around for a bit,
hang out, and then you can leave. Yep. Love that.
You don't even have to have a vest for your dog.
Right. Yeah. You don't have to have a, yeah,
it doesn't have to be a service dog thing. It's
not a service dog thing at all. Nope. What's
a creative way that you would expose like an
older dog to things without like overwhelming
them? Distance. Right. For sure. For sure. The
thing. So I teach this in in our in our six week
immersion course is like the last lesson. I like
to go out in public. Right. And actually like
teach clients, okay, this is how I take my dog
out. Yeah. And this is, this is the process because
no matter where you go, your, your dog's at some
point going to see something that's going to
get them either riled up or like in a frustrated
way or in an excited way. Yeah. Or in a fearful
way. And we can kind of like damper that we can,
we can, um, alleviate that if we go slowly and
kind of work through it right so we get out of
the car we go straight to go to the bathroom
and then we start at a distance and we start
closing that distance slowly and if we get too
close to something that is triggering for whatever
reason we just incorporate additional distance
right and if you're working with an older dog
or a super fearful dog it's like you can just
go to the parking lot you don't have to go inside
i think people set a goal in their mind when
they take their dog out that they're gonna go
to Lowe's they're gonna walk through like even
certain aisles or through certain sections or
you know do one lap around the store and go from
inside to outside and then we're gonna leave
yeah but if your dog is stressed when you get
them out of the car they're gonna be stressed
the entire time you're in that store yeah And
they're going to be stressed and excited to get
away from that stressor, which is the store,
to get back to the car. And so you have to start
at the very beginning of that process. And that's
getting out of the car sometimes. For some dogs
that are overwhelmed outside and so overstimulated
that as soon as we have clients sometimes be
like, as soon as I take them outside, they're
stressed. You got to start at the front door
then. Right. Inside the front door with the front
door open. Smaller step. Maybe you have to start
with the front door cracked, but you have to
take such baby steps sometimes that I think people
set really big goals and sometimes it can be
counterintuitive in how it works for the dog
based on how they are. And if you're at like
a puppy stage, that's totally different, right?
Because most of the time they're excited to go
new places as long as they're not too like big,
loud and scary. But for older dogs that also
like maybe they're fearful, those are going to
be the tiny like little exposure steps that you
have to take. Michael and Heidi asked, what are
the pros and cons of having a puppy visit and
free play in a fenced area with Maverick? Is
it a... puppy that they're going to be exposed
to repeatedly would be one question of mine but
i think if if it's a dog that they're going to
meet over and over and it's going to be coming
into their territory over and over i have no
problem with two puppies meeting Especially if
I know the temperament, which most puppies, if
they're genetically sound and haven't had any
terrible experiences, are generally going to
be happy, excited puppies. But I would also say
there's a cap on the age of which I will let
a puppy do that because some puppies get real
big, real fast. It's like, what's the size difference
of those puppies? What's the energy difference
in those puppies? Are they both ready to like
go at it? Right. And once you start that process
and they're already playing, are they going to
listen to you when you ask them to cut it out?
Right. So a lot of times like starting on a leash
is a really good option for that because it gives
you some like leeway and some leverage to kind
of like step on it, pull the dogs back if you
need to. But if we're talking about puppies and
they're going to be repeatedly exposed to that
dog, I generally am like, yeah. Just like let
them go, let them play. And if you need to like
just end it. Right. So the pros are it it can.
It can lead to very successful interactions that
are very gratifying to both dogs. Yeah. Right.
And honestly, that's. probably the best case
and that's why you would want to do it right
is because cool the dogs get to run around and
they get to socialize and they get to figure
out who's who where it goes wrong is usually
when you lose all control of the situation yeah
and now the dogs can increase their um they can
both increase their excitement levels and play
off of each other to continue to spiral and increase
the excitement levels till such time as they
no longer, they have so much value. You've, you've
brought such high value to their life in that
moment that now when you say, Hey, come or Hey,
knock it off or Hey, let's go inside or whatever.
They're like, nah, don't care. Right. Because
then you've now created, And the tricky part
is you haven't created a bad situation until
you've now told them to do something. Right,
until you've given a command. And at that point,
now you're teetering on a problem area. Because
now they're so engaged to each other and they
have so much value. You have lost value because
they're so excited and so engaged and they don't
want to. Stop that interaction. So now you say
something and now you are bound to hold them
accountable. Right. But you can't. And they don't
care because they have all the value that they
need. Yeah. And that is where I go. Well, we
can avoid that in a couple different ways. We
can maintain accountability by dogs dragging
a line. Yeah. We can maintain accountability.
By using an e -collar. We can maintain accountability.
By limiting their interaction. And not giving
them full freedom. To engage each other. But.
I wouldn't see. Maverick specifically. Is a pretty
happy go lucky dog. Right. He's not. He's not
really dog reactive. He enjoys. being around
other dogs. Right. Uh, we definitely saw that
at the group class, but he's for sure. Like,
Hey, Hey, my name's Maverick. What's your name?
Yes, that's him. Uh, but he's not reactive in
a overbearing way. He doesn't take other dogs.
Uh, he doesn't really like try to dominate the
interaction. He doesn't respect other dogs space
though, either. Right. Right. Yeah. Right. It's
a work in progress, which it is for all dogs.
So to Heidi and Michael, those are the things
that I would worry. So as you guys are the owners
of Maverick, I would worry less about how that
puppy is probably going to interact or negatively
affect. And I would be a little more concerned
about how Maverick's behavior could negatively
affect the puppy's behavior. Yeah. Right. Because
if Maverick and the puppy get along really, really
well, that puppy is going to look up to Maverick
significantly more and take on whatever Maverick's
behaviors are. Yeah. More so than Maverick probably
will the puppy. Right. For sure. And I also think
that's a natural. When we like match dogs to
play, we typically try to match energies. Yes.
Not necessarily even sizes. My two. So four dogs
combined. I've got I've got two bundles of dogs
that I like to let out of time because I don't
like to overwhelm myself and let four dogs out
of time. It's too much. Right. I get it. It's
too much. So I like to do. Our biggest, most
rambunctious, Dexter, and little Frenchie checkers.
They're my favorite combo. They will get out
there and they will chase each other around.
And he's super gentle with her out of all the
dogs. So gentle with her. He'll like push her
with his nose and she's like, oh, I'm on my back.
And they're the most like relaxed combo. And
they will disengage, go to the bathroom, and
they're like, hey, we're ready to come in now.
Yep. And they'll just stand next to each other.
Yeah, they'll just stand next to each other.
Great energies together. Nala and Dexter, I like
to match them together because they're both super
high energy. So they're going to wear each other
out. They're going to like go at it, have all
the fun in the world. Or. At the expense of the
lawn. At the expense of grass. There's no grass
left. There's grass. We have baby grass growing
finally. Constant. Constant work in progress.
Constant grass eating. I've never bought so much
grass. But anyways, and I will tell you like
the, the worst two would be like Dexter and Gabe,
both the boys that they just get out there. Dexter
likes to chase Gabe. Gabe's like, no, I don't
like that. And then it's like, oh my gosh, guys,
come on. So it's not that. Every dog is going
to get along and want to play with every dog.
It's just not going to happen. We don't like
every person and we don't want to go to dinner
with everyone we meet. And if I don't want to,
I'm not going to. But sometimes we put dogs in
situations where we don't give them that option.
And if you see a dog that's like always on top
in the like overhead position of another dog.
That needs to be like disconnected. You need
to be taking the lead and kind of taking that
space and pushing that dog off and being like,
no, you need to back up. You need to give that
dog space. Yeah. Because at some point the overcrowded
dog is going to be one fearful at this point.
Yeah. Or two, it's going to try to come back
at it and it's going to turn into something negative
for both dogs because that dog's going to snap.
The other dog is either going to take that correction
or it's going to come back with another correction
and then you've got chaos. Yeah. I think that
was it. Okay. I love that. I'm going to cut that
one off real fast, but I think that was it. Okay.
Let's get into our question and answers. So I'm
going to unmute. I think I muted one here. Anybody
who has a question, you can jump in at this point
here while I play the. That's a little Jeopardy
music. What do we got? You're good. Go ahead.
You had started talking earlier about introducing
dogs at a very young age to daily noises they
may hear. Maverick is extremely reactive to the
vacuum cleaner. That's crazy. I vacuumed in front
of him like two days ago and he didn't make a
peep. And that's always like one that I kind
of look for, to be honest with you. Now he was
in his kennel, so that may have made a difference.
So I will ask, do you have him loose while the
vacuum is going? Yes. Okay. So that may be something.
It kicks a lot of dogs into prey drive, right?
It's making a fun noise. It's like going back
and forth. It somewhat kind of makes it a toy
to a degree. So I will say that he was in a kennel,
but he wasn't barking at her being like, I need
to play with it. I need to play with it. Um,
but we do have definitely solutions for, um,
vacuums and a lot with our dogs because they're
Belgian Malinois and they'll eat anything that
makes noise. They hate what they love. It's not
really hate. They love to hate the vacuum cleaner.
Right. It's like the sprinklers. Right. They
love the sprinklers. You shoot water right in
my face. Love it. Yeah. Love it. So we work really.
Well, our dogs work really well and we build
that into the other dogs to work on a place bed
while the vacuum is going on around the house.
And we also switch between a manual vacuum and
like the robot vacuums because those are common
these days. And when dogs see a thing moving
on its own, right, they're like, what is that?
Right. And so. Place beds and place work and
your dog staying on that place bed is always
a really good exercise for them to work on while
vacuums and things like that are going. Did that
answer your question, Heidi? It did. Thank you.
Awesome. We'll have to work with him. We haven't
worked with him a whole lot on the place bid.
Oh, well, he'll come back preloaded with place
bid. Right. We're working on his place. Yeah,
we're working on place. Right. And now we'll
just incorporate some vacuum. Yeah. I'm having
a, it's Cliff, I'm having a situation with Chenoa
where she's, you'll call her and she doesn't
want to listen. she's gotten to that point where
she's getting stubborn or she'll go under the
little chairs that are by the the um the bar
and just lay lay underneath the barstools thinking
that she's hiding from us and that she doesn't
have to answer is that just that we just need
to pull her back and just do some basic training
to get that back because she just kind of looks
at you like i'm not gonna listen to you right
so what what i would worry about um is all dogs
are going to test whether you are going to hold
them accountable or not um and so if she starts
doing it more often it's likely indicative of
some interactions where she was able to avoid
doing exactly what you said and she latched on
to some of that and been like Cool. Yeah, this
works for me. Yeah. She's like, I got away with
it. I pulled the treats out to kind of coax her
to go. Now you changed the game up, Cliff. Now
you're in a hostage negotiation. Right. So think
about it. Think about it. So if she figured out
that if she doesn't come, that you pull the treats
out, what would you do? Then you're just going
to wait for the tree. Yeah. You got to hold up.
I'm going to get extra under this couch until
he, until he pulls those out. Get five more in
your hand and then I'll come out. Right. Yep.
So, uh, the way that we, the way we undo that
before we reinforce more of that is we go back
to that drag line and we try to elicit that behavior.
So take the opportunity to get a drag line on
and then call her. And when she scurries under
whatever it was that she scurries under so that
you will go get the treat bag, it doesn't come
out. And then we go, no, come. And at that point,
we're going to reinforce our no with. leash pressure
because she knows leash pressure she understands
leash pressure and she is she reacts to leash
pressure because we we know that we know that
she does that through all of the other training
that she's been through well she we had the drag
line on her the other day and i guess we We were
busy and the drag line has been a victim of the
mouth. Oh, no. Oh, no. She hated. The worst.
There's a couple of dog leash companies that
actually make lifetime warranties that I've.
Um, tried a couple of times because they will
replace the leash at no cost, no matter like
if the dog choose it or not. So there's always
those small metal ones that she can't just, you
can also, yeah. Metal ones are also, um, an option
that they make for, for dogs that just are insistent
on biting a leash. Um, but also I want to add
in that when she does finally come, whether it's
leash pressure or not. Always reward that. Be
like, good job. Be excited that she still came
back because if she gets a punishment or gets
scolded once she finally is like, okay, I'm coming,
she is going to be reluctant to keep doing that.
You got to throw a party like a legit party.
Even if you're mad. Even if you're mad. You got
to throw a party. Alex, go ahead. Yeah, I try
to do the happy dance and even if I'm mad, do
the happy dance. Good. listen to me and and the
sometimes i'll go towards get her and then she'll
like oh she sees i'm coming and she's like she's
out of there and go into her neck hiding spot
well now that and then that behavior i'm sorry
go ahead jen is it last two days she's been really
really good okay he is completely terrified of
our pumpkins because he likes to tap them. Halloween,
man. Halloween is terrible for dogs. Right, Halloween
is a rough one. Fourth of July, Halloween, Christmas.
But today, the last two days, she has gotten
into this thing where she likes to come and just
sit with me in my chair and she will bring her
bowl to me when she's done eating. So she'll
pick it up and bring it to me. She does have
some failures in times of bringing it to me,
but I make her work at it until she does bring
it. That's awesome. I'm sorry. I didn't mean
to interrupt. You were going to say in regards
to her taking off. In regards to her taking off,
that sounds, just at the surface, sounds like
a game in and of itself. So she may be trying
to engage you. She's looking for your attention.
She's looking to engage in some sort of game.
So when that happens, What I would do is I would
engage her in a different game, but on your terms.
Okay. I got you. Because she's obviously looking
for engagement from you. So give her what she
wants, but on your terms where you initiate a
different game. Yeah. So that it's not related
to her trying to initiate. Okay. I got you. Also
with the pumpkin thing, just put her bowl of
food right next to the pumpkin. I guarantee you
she's not going to turn down that food and she's
not going to care whether that pumpkin's there
or not. That's my like, that's my no fail like
counter conditioning for dogs is like stack food
around it. Just put treats around it and the
dog's going to be like, I'm going to even, even
if they stretch towards it, they're going to
want to get that food as long as it's not like
too close, right? So just work your way towards
it and she'll. eat out of that bowl i guarantee
you if you offer it next to a pumpkin yeah that's
true well i've i was taking her out yesterday
yesterday um night and she waited by the usually
she'll you know i have to say stop let me go
out first and like we talked about and And, you
know, she'll do that. Sometimes I forget and
we're just both out the door and we're like,
it's a free -for -all. But I have to remember
my own training usually is a problem. But she
stopped and she wasn't going to go out. And I'm
like, I was so impressed with her. We got outside,
we were walking, and I didn't realize then we
were coming back. Right, she stopped again. And
then the pumpkins were right there. They're huge
pumpkins. Right, she's like, oh my goodness.
They're the kind you tap and then they start
doing the Halloween noise. I usually just tap
them. It's something I've done every year since
we've had them. She bolted for the door like
nothing. Then I realized she wasn't really being
obedient going out the door. She just didn't
want to go past the pumpkin. Sometimes we can
look past that because we just don't realize
the variables. Yeah, I'll put some little treats
there and try to coax you that they're okay.
Yeah. Nice. Okay. I have lost my place here.
We're going to finish this up with our listener
projects. We've got two listener projects for
you this week. The sound game. Number one, the
sound game. Put your dog in a place or in a kennel
or just in and around you in your home and play
different household sounds such as the vacuum,
the blender, hair dryer, doorbells, dogs barking,
etc. And as you do that, just mark calm behavior.
Mark it with yes. Good job. And. Give a reward.
The reward can be food. The reward can be praise,
affection, whatever your dog responds to. Slowly
increase the volume over time while keeping the
puppy relaxed. Or your dog. Doesn't matter. Puppy,
older dog, same, same. Project number two. Controlled
stranger greetings. This is super important.
So recruit your most trusted calm friend. And
have this calm friend ignore your puppy at first,
letting the pup kind of like approach and like
at its own pace, nice and slow. And then when
your puppy shows calm curiosity, mark it with
yes and then reward. And then end your interaction
before the puppy becomes super overstimulated.
Having a friend or a neighbor or somebody who
can like work through that with you, but doesn't
live very far away so they can do it like repeatedly
or over several days. Super, super important.
Works really, really well. All right. Well, with
that, that is all we have for tonight. So we're
going to start closing this out once again. Well,
thank you for tuning in to Pawprint Academy tonight.
Thanks for the questions, Cliff and Jen and Michael
and Heidi. I appreciate you guys being here.
And for anybody listening or tuning in to us
on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or anything like
that, please give us a question. Leave us a question.
Leave us a like. Leave us a review. Let us know
how we're doing and let us know if you've got
any cool ideas for us to incorporate. Thanks
again for tuning in. Have a great night. Good
night. Good night.