Woody the Daschund.

Meet Woody!

….But be calm and unthreatening when you do.

Woody’s family got him at eight-months-old from a breeder who assured them that their puppy was friendly and socialized. They were told that Woody was going to be a great pet since he was already past the most difficult of the puppy months. Unfortunately that wasn't exactly the case.

It was a huge shock for Woody, to be taken from his brothers, sisters and quiet backyard and brought to a new home. There were so many new sights, sounds, and smells that confused and frightened him.

Even though our dogs are domesticated, their primary instinct is still survival. When presented with a new frightening situation, that instinct kicks in and completely takes over — dogs go into fight or flight mode. The only thing dogs in these circumstances are concerned with is either getting the heck away or making whatever frightens them go away... which usually means barking, snapping and being as frightening as possible themselves.

In Woody’s world, two men like me and Gordon coming into his home was very scary. As we stood in the entry, we felt legitimately nervous. Since Woody was beyond the point of reason, we wanted to make ourselves as unthreatening as possible so we sat down; sitting made us smaller, and by being smaller, we were a lot less scary.

At that point, we began to earn Woody's trust quickly and easily: we had a Treat Party! By giving Woody Treats for No Reason, we stopped being a threat and became a source of food. Suddenly we weren’t so scary anymore! Ten or fifteen minutes after we sat down, Woody began to sniff around our chairs and even sniffed us, looking for more food. It was a major step, but it was only the first of many Woody needs to take in order to be comfortable with his world.

By giving a dog food when he is scared, we help him associate good things with what was once a life-threatening experience. Though it may seem otherwise, doing this doesn't reward our dogs for being scared — at that point, dogs are too scared to do any training exercises. Many terrified dogs won’t even take treats once they're scared and panicked. We want to teach our dogs to connect something they're frightened by (men, loud trucks, rolling chairs, etc.) with their favorite treats. If you train slowly while your dog isn’t too freaked out, you can work to change his feelings and associations enough so, while he might still be nervous, your dog can handle things he doesn't like.

For more information on Treats for No Reason and Treat Parties, check out Zen Dog Training Online.

Stella the Yellow Lab.

Meet Stella!

A four-month-old puppy and, as we were told, a bundle of Lab-ish mischief. Before we arrived at their home, we pictured the typical lab greeting: incredibly excited puppy anxious to jump all over us, smothering us with attention... then trying to chew off our shoelaces.

When we arrived, Stella’s dad came out to meet us; we had a fantastic “nice to meet you” chat and slowly made our way inside. Immediately, we realized that something was wrong! Where was the whirling dervish? Why were our shoes still tied? And why was it so darn quiet and peaceful?!

We took a look around the living room and finally saw a pair of emerald eyes looking at us from a crate next to the couch. And even though she was dying to meet us (and boy was she excited when we let her out) Stella knew that during crate-time she was expected to be calm, settled and quiet. Wow! What an easy, fun visit it turned out to be! The hard work was already done for us!

Starting from her first night home, Stella had been introduced her to the crate and understood the ground rules. The crate was to be her happy place. She was fed meals in her crate. Her crate had a towel to block out the light. Inside she had a soft washable bed, her favorite chewy, and a food dispensing toy (Busy Buddy).

Since dogs are den animals, they tend to want a safe, quiet place to call their own. By properly introducing Stella to her crate, her family had created a place for her to feel safe and — best of all — those "tough" new puppy problems were easier to solve!

• Housetraining becomes a breeze since you know when your dog is full. If they've just had water, then went to sleep in their crate for 30 minutes....than you know they probably have to go pee? Now you can show them where you want them to go and reward them when they do!
  
• Independence training, the most important (but often overlooked) skill to teach a young puppy is almost effortless if you practice sometimes leaving your dog in the crate — while you are home. That new puppy over-the-top, nervous, attention-seeking, whining and crying for attention can be safely ignored.
• Destructive chewing becomes easier to stop because you don't have to think about your dog all the time. With puppy in the crate, you can put in a movie or make dinner without worrying if your dog is chewing the cable wire or peeing behind the couch.
• Separation anxiety can be avoided because your dog learns that when you are around they are not always the center of attention. Of course, crating a dog who already has Separation Anxiety can be harmful! (Call your Zen Dog Trainer for help!)
  

Bottom line, the crate is an invaluable tool when living with a puppy — or with a dog of any age. It is instrumental to house training, and a place where a wound-up, over-tired, puppy can learn to settle-down and take a nap.

To learn more about crate training your dog check out our Separation Anxiety or Housetraining eBooks at Zen Dog Training Online.

Tito the Shepherd Mix.

Meet Tito!

Tito is a handsome and sweet fellow, in spite of poor eyesight. Tito still happily goes out for walks, visits his parents' vacation home, and loves being brought to work. His favorite place to be is in the center of attention! But more than anything, he loves his parents and just hanging out around the house.

The difficulty was that Tito was not at all confident when left alone. As soon as they went out, he would lie directly in front of the door, or he would watch the door like a hawk to make sure no one left. More recently Tito began to throw a fit when his parents would leave... Tito would try to bite his parents and their clothes in order to get them to stay with him.

When Tito was a puppy, he never quite learned that biting a human was NEVER EVER ALLOWED. When he would play bite, his well-meaning parents would look him in the eye and yell at him to stop. Now, this wasn’t a very pleasant experience for young Tito but to him it was still attention from the people he loved. He learned that when he bit them, his parents would pay more attention to him. Even though that attention was a bit scary it was still better than no attention at all... so he never stopped biting.

A year and a half or so later, when Tito didn’t want his parents to leave him alone he tried the same tactic which worked when he was a puppy: he would bite at them to get them to stay and to pay attention to him.

Bottom line: puppy play biting is natural! It's a good thing — up to a point. Minor play biting should be allowed until the sixteenth to eighteenth week. Young puppies learn that hard bites hurts, and that they need to have a gentle mouth (what we call "bite inhibition.") However, dogs older than five months need to learn that they can NEVER put their teeth on a human. Even though wrestling and rough-housing may seem fun, all it takes is one scared child to create a situation no dog owner ever wants to face.

To learn more about with puppy play biting and adult dogs biting, check out our Playbiting Summary, Out of the Pack, and Out of the Pack Advanced on Zen Dog Training Online.

How Zen Dog Training Cured my Dog!

Letter to New Dog Owners.

Congratulations on the newest addition to your family!

Whether you have adopted a dog in need or purchased a pedigree pooch, owning a dog is a journey filled with love, excitement, and responsibility. If you’re reading this, then you’ve already taken the first step towards being a responsible dog owner by recognizing the need to teach your dog good manners.

Zen Dog Training is based on the idea that dogs communicate and learn differently than humans. In the past, this language barrier has made the training process frustrating for both dog and human partners. That’s why we created Zen Dog Training Online. Members have access to over eight hours of videos in 2-3 minute clips that cover everything from separation anxiety and housetraining to “The Six Puppy Essentials” and why it’s so important to start training as soon as your puppy arrives in his new home.

In our Theory section, we break down how to teach commands in a way that has been scientifically proven to be the fastest and easiest way for your dog to learn. By watching videos, reading our eBooks and playing our games, your dog will learn to understand you faster than you imagined possible! With Zen Dog Training Online, we have provided you and your family all the tools you’ll need to create a training program that is simple, effective, and dog-friendly:

• Printable eBooks to read and share with other members of your family
• Videos to help you learn subtle training secrets
• Our Five-Step Solution to Problem Behaviors
• Over 45 specific solutions to common problems!

Our website is dedicated to teaching people how to humanely and gently communicate with their dogs to simply and effectively reach their training goals. We hope you join, learn new ways of understanding your dog and discover how to peacefully get the behaviors you want from your dog. Go ahead, log in, sit back, relax and start watching!

Have fun training,
Gordon

p.s. Although all dogs speak the same language, your dog is unique. If at any time you feel threatened by your dog or just think your dog may need special attention, contact a professional.

p.p.s. If you are lucky enough to live in the Boston area, call us to set up an In-Home appointment!