Dog Behavior Down on the Farm Causes Issues With Owners

My sidekick Poncho the dog and I received a dog behavior advice question from an inquisitive canine named Kia. This lucky dog lives on a lovely coffee farm in Hawaii where, in addition to the coffee, there are avocado trees and wild pigs.

Seems these environmental conditions have resulted in plentiful amounts of avocados for Kia to hunt and dine on, as well as piles of pig poop to roll in. Poncho, being an inquisitive canine, confirmed that this is the ideal place for a dog! I mean, how much fun is it to have your own "entertainment center" (aka: enrichment) right outside your front door? Snacks and one doggone fun activity such as rolling in nasty stinky stuff.

As you can see from these photos, Poncho likes to "rock 'n' roll"

too! Maybe because he's smaller and easy for me to bathe I allow him to roll in whatever he finds appealing - as a matter of fact I'll use it as a reward if I can! I call these "environmental rewards" or "real life" rewards.

For instance when we're out on a walk he sees something interesting and starts showing signs of wanting to roll. For Poncho this includes: lots of sniffing, followed by scratching the area with one of his front paws, more sniffing, scratching, then rubbing the side of his face against the surface. If he likes what he's "sensing" then he starts his rolling....

If he's on leash I'll ask for a behavior first, like "watch me", sit or "touch" - then I'll send him off to roll, after I've given him his release cue of "okay". This allows Poncho to be a dog, but still minding his loose leash walking manners - as opposed to just pulling me wherever he wants.

The guardians of Kia can use this same training plan. Allow Kia to roll in the pig poop, but only when she's been given the cue to do so. (And she's had clearance from her veterinarian that it's okay to roll in that stuff).

A few other training tips for both the rolling and avocado issue I'd recommend are:

• Reward Kia every time she ignores an avocado or pile of stench. And I mean reward! More than just a “Good dog!” Set it up where you are actively walking Kia near to where these items are, and whenever she looks at one and ignores it, throw a party!
• If she goes towards either of these items, use the “Leave it!” cue, lure her away from whichever item you want her to ignore, then reward her.
• If Kia decides the item in question is more motivating, give her a “Time out!” penalty - put her on leash for 20 seconds or so. But then let her off leash so you can give her another chance to make the preferred choice.

Lastly, management of a dogs environment is key when setting him or her up for success! A farm filled with a bounty of avocados and piles of stinky stuff to roll in is an ideal place for total fun! It's unfair of us to expect they wouldn't want to go and explore, so we need to take the time to teach our dogs what we want in a way that he or she would understand.

This Dog Trainer Can Trust Her Own Dog, and the Dog Training

We had a little incident at our home this evening. Yep, I admit, this dog trainer isn't perfect and neither are the rest of the humans in the household. However, Poncho, my inquisitive canine and trusty dog behavior advice column sidekick seemed to be spot on tonight, (although I admit my fast twitch muscle fibers were working well).

What was the issue? We had a cookie malfunction: my darling husband was carrying a cookie and half of it fell out of his hand and flew across the slippery hardwood floor like a hockey puck on the way to the goal. Needless to say, Poncho McQuikie pants was right on its tail!

I was in the other room, watching the whole thing go down, envisioning Poncho consume his entire caloric intake for the week in one bite, but before his soft warm fuzzy lips wrapped themselves around the delectable molasses chew from Trader Joes, I yelled out "Leave it!" as I was flying out of the chair and across the room, while reaching in and grabbing the mouthwatering morsel up off the floor...AND BY GOLLY PONCHO THE DOG DID IT! Poncho actually backed away from it even BEFORE my hand was near it! I was so shocked I did the happy dance, said he was a good boy, then broke off a tiny, Poncho-sized piece for his reward of leaving it alone!

The "Leave it!" behavior is one of the basic cues I teach in many of my dog training classes here in Ventura. And I guess all the practice with him as my demo dog has paid off! During this more emotional time, I allowed all the training practice to kick in and lo and behold it worked! One of my dog training class mantra's is "Train it before you need it!" or "Don't wait to need a behavior to train a behavior!" I always hope I never have to use this type of cue (usually indicates danger), but it's nice to know I have it in my arsenal just in case there is a cookie incident.

Another point I make in my dog training classes is the concept of "trust". The use of food in dog training helps dogs develop trust between themselves and whomever is working with them, or with other humans. For owners, they need to trust that their dogs are actually going to perform the behaviors they are being taught. I guess I'm the prime example of that!

Thank you my darling inquisitive canine Poncho! I hope I won't need to use that cue again, but it's nice to know you're paying attention and that I can trust you know you're stuff - and the cues! What a good boy you are!