Category: training

What is safe play?

Dogs playing together fulfils an important social need, but can you recognise when play is escalating into something less safe?

Here’s a quiz for you!

Imagine two dogs playing together. Can you identify what would constitute unsafe play? This means that the play may be developing into fighting, not pretending. Only one answer is correct.

1. The dogs chase each other
2. One dog seems more excited than the other
3. They are grabbing each other’s necks
4. They are performing air snaps (biting at the air)

Unfair you might say! If there are other things going on, all of them could be if-y. But indulge me. Pick one!

Chasing each other can be okay: often one dog prefers to be chased over another, or both dogs will take it in turns. One dog might seem more willing and engaged than the other – again this is okay if the play encounter is brief enough. Performing air snaps is normally okay too. This is a dog’s ultimate survival instinct and practicing their ability to self-defend. Biting empty air on purpose is a dog’s way of saying I can do this, but no way am I going to actually bite you.

So the answer is 3). Even two friendly dogs in the same household who exhibit this behaviour should be encouraged to play in a different way. It only takes a small increase in the jaw tension for this to start becoming dangerous. Nor can the other dog easily move away from this hold. It may not even be intentionally directed, i.e. aggressive, but merely from over-excitement. But if this is allowed to continue, at the very least the dogs will learn this to be an acceptable behaviour. If they then try this on another dog in the park, the outcome will likely not be a good one.

Try this one. Same question, what is unsafe play, but here, more than one answer is correct:

• One dog uses body-blocking
• One dog is always dominant and on top when the other is on their back
• Both dogs are rather entangled with each other for more than a few seconds but both seem quite calm
• One dog barks at the other’s face

The correct answer is all of them. If one dog uses their body weight to block the other dog’s escape, or to constantly pin it to the ground, this is not good. Neither are the longer silent entanglements: there can be skullduggery going on here but because it’s quiet, it may not be obvious. (A much noisier example but the same thing – think of a rugby scrum!) And even demand barking (play with me!) that is in the other dog’s face, well, that’s just rude and may elicit an aggressive response. Lower, aggressive barking: same thing, amplified.

A common question

A significant number of people I train have two or more dogs in the household (about 25% in fact). A question that often crops up during an assessment or training itself is regarding play. In other words, when the dogs play together and it seems to be getting increasingly out of control, at what point does the human intervene? Is the play safe? Is it safe for the human to break it up? The same thing applies to a single dog who enjoys playing with a buddy in the park. There is often an unspoken, questioning glance between the two owners as the play continues, develops and becomes more excitable: is this okay now, do you think?

Recognise safe play

The easiest thing to do is to recognise what safe play looks like. A common thread is that the play is roughly equal: both dogs take it in turns to be on top, chase or appear more ‘dominant’. So it’s a question of balance. Chasing itself or being on top is okay, as long as the dogs swap roles. It will never be exactly 50/50, but don’t settle for more than 60/40.

The other thing to do is recognise your dog’s body language. And this is why play is so good for training yourself to learn your dog’s emotional state by their body language. When you are outside you can still do this when you are chatting to the other owner. But let’s pay attention! Fun and safe play that might be okay for a few minutes does not become okay if one dog decides they have had enough. Things to look out for here would be when one dog shows submissive behaviour:

• Repeatedly rolling on their back
• Lowering their ears against their head
• Averting their gaze
• Making their body smaller: lowering themselves close to the ground
• Moving their tail lower or between their legs (more extreme)
• Trying to move away (Flight)

By proxy, if the other dog is pretty much doing the opposite: blocking access, making their body stiffer and larger, and so on, it is time to stop.

Another time to stop is when one dog starts a warning rather than a submissive behaviour: beginning to growl (or growl lower), bark, and so on.

What about puppies?

An important aspect of socialisation is for a puppy to learn for themselves how to read another dog’s body language and listen to their vocalisations. Play is hugely important not just as an outlet but also for their social skill development. A more mature dog will often tolerate a puppy play-pestering them and then tell them enough is enough! This is a highly valuable scenario for puppy learning, but do make sure you know the other dog and that the play here is closely supervised by both owners.

How long is too long for safe play?

I am generalising here but two dogs playing outdoors for longer than five minutes, or two dogs from the same household for longer than ten minutes, need a Time Out! Why?

• Think about where YOU are in this triangle. The longer and more intense play becomes, the less significant you are.
• Even with the most benign intentions, dogs can over-arouse themselves into a more frenzied state, and here you will have a problem. The longer play goes on for, the more likely this is to happen.

So it’s healthy to intervene and suggest a break.

How do you intervene?

It’s never advisable to try to get between two dogs playing. And chasing them or moving towards them will be ineffective. Guess what, they are having a good time and they are usually faster than you!

If you are out in public, using one or all of a Recall, Wait, This Way etc. along with a reward will go a long way, as will moving yourself away from your dog in the other direction.

If you are home, it is a perfect time to first try another distraction with some toys and/or a treat reward for a Sit etc. It’s actually good training (obedience under distraction) but it’s also important to let play re-commence so your dogs do not always associate your intervention (i.e. you) with always meaning play stops. No fun!

When you do have to stop it, whether outside or inside, do give them a treat for doing something else instead. And for when you are outside, remember your dog will be highly aroused. They may want to run up and play with the very next thing they see. And that thing may not be their best buddy this time! So lower the temperature for them with a short lead walk or just a calming minute being with them.

So as long as you know what to look out for, let the safe play begin!

Should you reward an AWOL Recall?

Sometimes it can be confusing what you are rewarding your dog for, or whether you should be rewarding them at all…

It has been a busy month here at Dog Citizen despite the holidays. As I was walking my dog trying to clear my head, we came across an owner trying to get their dog back. As far as I could see the dog had not been too far away. Nor were they doing anything especially undesirable. Just being a dog, that sort of thing. Anyway, after repeated attempts the dog did return to the owner, whereupon they were scolded for not paying attention in the first place. Or maybe just for “embarrassing” the owner. I don’t know. Hmmm.

What do I mean by AWOL Recall?

It got me thinking about more alarming scenarios though. The ones where your dog actually disappears from view. In a big way. What I mean by AWOL (Absent Without Leave) Recall is any time your dog does just that, or moves so far away from you that you no longer feel things are under control. You do try Recall but to no avail. Eventually the dog thankfully happens to decide to return to you after all. In their own time.

This could cover a range of scenarios: chasing wildlife can challenge any gun dog’s normally good training. Some dog breeds have strong “escape” drive instincts: some terriers for example, or the wonderfully-named Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen spring to mind. (If you have never seen one: google it – wonderful dogs.) Or some dogs simply have poor owner response. Whatever the particular scenario, what I call AWOL Recall is simply an extreme example of your dog not coming to you when called. But they end up coming back when they have finished their investigation of whatever the distraction was.

To praise, or not to praise

I get asked the question a lot with normal Recall training when we are looking at this on a smaller scale. Do I still reward her for coming back to me, even though it took ages?  It’s a really good question, and not one that all trainers necessarily agree on.

What should the owner be doing?

Try to remain calm. This is really important. If a situation has escalated, this is one of the hardest things to do: exercise self-control. But the less frustrated or angry you are, the better chance we have of your dog feeling motivated to return to you. If your dog has bolted for the horizon, admittedly all bets are off, and I am not here to judge anyone. But it does depend on the scenario.

Is your dog running away from something, or towards something?

If your dog has been spooked by something, repeatedly calling them back while you remain fixed in place will not help. This is because you are asking your dog to return to the location of the spooky event happening. I am all in favour of letting your dog know where you are with the occasional shout or whistle as long as you are on the move away from that location. Dogs are good at locating sounds, so try to get closer to them but at a different angle from the location. And you can still remain calm while moving quickly! But desperate, repeated shouting is more likely to become noise to your dog and may only add to the panic. In flight mode, it will only confirm to your dog that something indeed scary needs to be distanced as quickly as possible!

If your dog is running towards something, possibly too far away for human ears or eyes, more often than not the target will either have escaped out of sight or be caught! Either way we have a quicker conclusion and hopefully being reunited with your dog is the happy ending.

Do you reward and what are you rewarding?

Dogs respond to training by being rewarded for the last thing they just did. It is not because they have short memories (far from it), but their brain works by repeating emotional associations with an action that just happened. This is how reinforcement works and why basic Obedience skills work: we reward a Sit to make it more likely to happen next time. Treat incoming! Or to turn it on its head, we might think we are rewarding a recall when our dog returns to us and then we make then do a Sit. In actual fact you are reinforcing the Sit, not the Recall.

Recall for a dog is an emotional event

For us humans, asking your dog to come back to you is simply a process. It may well be tinged with relief and joy in a dicey situation. But for a dog, coming back to their owner is an emotional event. It is special, and we need to reinforce that. So an AWOL Recall should always be rewarded. Once your dog is coming back to you, the thing that happened before is history. However belatedly, and however much it has underlined you guys might need some training after all, you can address that after the walk. For now, they have (finally) made the right decision to come to you. And the act of coming to you is a big deal for your dog: as much about the heart as with the head.

Think about that owner berating their dog: would you feel inclined to return next time if you are met with a scary human who is cross with you? What is it that we want to reinforce here? Now you know! Always reward an AWOL Recall, and hopefully it is a very rare event for you!

Why dog training is great value

Training your dog with the help of a professional is an investment that will pay dividends for the rest of your lives

Priceless. That’s a word that often comes up when a satisfied owner describes their feelings after our training programme. The walk being stress-free now, their dog coming to them when called, their dog being okay left alone when the owner has to go out. Priceless. It’s all about an emotion. Feeling good. Less anxiety about things. Dare I use the Happy word? And like all things emotional, by definition we can’t really put on monetary value on it, can we?

Why your dog deserves to go to school

Quantify something we must though, because trainers need to earn a living by sharing their expertise. Sure, you can take various shortcuts: a book doesn’t cost much, thousands of help videos are widely available and free, or of course you can skip any formal training and fly by the seat of your pants. Many people do. Good luck with that, by the way! Your dog deserves to go to school because it’s the only fair way for them to learn the rules. And for you to know how to help them. (Because a good trainer is training you as much as your dog, don’t forget.)

Just as most people would expect their children to be educated through some sort of formal schooling, so a lot of us recognise the need to have some professional help with dog school too. But for some, the cost can be off-putting, so I am going to try to debunk this.

What’s expensive, and what is not

Owning a dog is expensive. Period. Not owning one, need not be.

Cheeky answer! But true. The current times are difficult financially for many of us. Just the running cost of pet ownership has become too much for some and the tragic stories in the press about this continue. If that is your current challenge – just being able to feed your pet and ensure a minimum standard of welfare, I applaud you for the sacrifices you are no doubt making. But for many of us, baulking at the new price of Buddy’s replacement toy, we still go ahead and buy it.

Let’s consider for a minute how much you think you spend on your dog. Let’s rule out the initial cost of your dog, if it was not a rescue, and the up-and-running costs of beds, leads, collars, toys, bowls etc. None of those items last forever and must be replaced by the way, so a “running cost” should take account of this. Leads and harnesses should be replaced yearly to protect against wear and tear and equipment failure. Beds lose their shape and comfort after a couple of years. And so on.

How much does owning a dog really cost?

In 2022 the PDSA estimated here the minimum cost of owning a dog in the UK to be £5,000 – £12,000 over their lifetime, depending on the size and breed characteristics of the dog. This is the minimum, so only includes basic food and care but does include nominal vet insurance. It does not include any extras nor additional vet visits necessitated by accidents or illnesses not covered by insurance, if you have it, or below your excess costs. This was also before we recently had 10% inflation too, and I found myself going through their list, thinking I spend more than this on almost every category.

What about my dog? (skip this bit if you already know!)

Pen and back of envelope ready?

Here’s a quick exercise. If you have no idea how much you spend, it’s a good thing to learn! Be honest with yourself.

1. Jot down roughly what you spent on:

Getting your dog (Breeder cost, or rescue fee)

Initial running costs: bed, walking equipment, toys, food bowls, vets, microchipping etc.

Write down your total, keep this separate for now.

2. Jot down how much you spend every month (then x12) or on average across a year on:

• Food (main)
• Poo bags (please tell me you use them)
• Treats (if any) and chews
• Health maintenance (vets, boosters, flea/worming, accidents/illness, pet insurance)
• Replacement equipment (leads, harnesses, toys, towels, coats etc.)
• Professional services: grooming, day care, walking etc.

3. Multiply your total for 2) by your dog’s estimated life span and add in your total from 1). Are we £5,000 – £12,000? Or more?

So how much does training cost?

A couple of hundred pounds, usually. In my case, it would cost you £200 – £300 for a personal programme on average. Maybe £400 for a more complex behavioural issue. Maybe another £50 on top of this to buy a better leash and harness. The odd top-up session might cost, say £50 per time further down the line. Often, I have clients who come back for more, because they enjoy it! Otherwise, we almost always keep in touch. I’m always there for advice. Remember training is never over, but once you have the tools to know what to do, you will know how to keep your dog making the right choices for the most common situations. Seen in the context of everything else you spend,

A few hundred pounds goes a long way and with easy maintenance, can last you a lifetime

Let’s even take it a step further and say you went to town on the training, ending up spending £250 initially, and another £250 over your dog’s lifetime. £500 vs. £12,000+. So what does £500 buy you?

Why training is an investment

Training buys you:

• Safer living and exercising
• Boundaries for good manners to flourish
• A calmer existence
• Fun experiences, but under control

Mix these well, adding in our final ingredient: the emotional enrichment of a closer bond with your four-legged friend, and you arrive at…….

Priceless

But that’s what £250 or £500 buys you.

Training is about the day-to-day living with your dog. Allowing your dog to be a dog. But allowing them to fit within your lifestyle and boundaries.

Of course, there are no guarantees with training. And you have to put in effort yourself, whilst enjoying the fruits of that effort every day. But training is not something that comes off a shelf and magically fits every dog, your dog. But it will give your dog the best chance in life: to live life to its fullest, safely. And with you. And that much, you owe your dog.

New Year, time for training!

It’s a great idea to get your dog trained, because you never know what life may throw at you

With festive eating and drinking gently winding down, there is nothing better than shaking off those cobwebs with a good winter walk with the dog. If you are fortunate to go for walks in a nearby local park – and lucky with the weather –  you may have noticed how beautiful winter can be: trees and snow turn everything into a Narnia winter wonderland. Most dogs love frolicking in the snow and it’s always such a pleasure to see them enjoying themselves. I realise not all dogs enjoy these conditions – particularly if they are of mature years – just like us, really! And when the pavements and roads are icy death-traps, just walking to your car or taking your dog with you to post a letter becomes more of a challenge.

I recently had a training client who wanted their dog to learn some recall. OK, I said, what’s your dog like getting to the park with you in the first place? Turns out, he pulls like a train. So, before we look at the fun stuff in the park, we need to look at you guys moving as ONE unit, whether on or off the lead. If your dog isn’t noticing you when he is on the lead, why would you expect him to pay any attention to you when he has all that freedom when you do get to the park? So we need to rewind and look at walking along and crossing that busy road first. You get the picture. I could see how crestfallen my client looked – he hadn’t reckoned on doing “boring” (trust me, it isn’t) leash work, but reluctantly he agreed.

Well, we recently had a very cold, prolonged spell of wintry weather, and the road and pavements around here were ice rinks. And this same owner was so grateful that we got his best friend loose-lead walking before the Arctic stuff happened to hit us. He otherwise would have been pulled over onto the ice in no time. The moral of this is not to get your dog trained for this specific thing, like wintry conditions, but something more holistic. It’s a great idea to get your dog trained, because you never know what life may throw at you, and because with a trained dog you can get on with your life so much easier. Simple!

Now some people love the idea of it. Some of those will go as far as contacting a dog trainer or training school. That gets mentally ticked, and then they move on. We all do it, it’s called procrastination! We feel so much better about getting that cheaper insurance quote – vowing to do something about it next week, then completely forgetting about it until that pesky renewal kicked in. Some will even go as far as buying a book or watching YouTube. Sorted! And well done you. It may well be sorted. In which case, move on.

But the thing is, it’s not always sorted, is it. You see, you and your dog are individuals, both with unique character traits, mindsets, and ways of doing things. No book or video, however good – and there are also some very poor examples out there – is going to capture this and your particular quirks or situation. You can’t replace the unique dynamic of trainer, owner, dog. This is where one-to-one or 1-2-1 or personal – whatever you want to call it – dog training comes into its own. This is because

trainer, owner and dog learn from each other in a constant feedback loop

It’s all about feedback, in fact. I’m learning from you both at the same time you are learning from me. A technique that might work for one dog – and the breed here is irrelevant, because remember your dog is an individual – might be a disaster for another dog. So we adapt and learn. Next session we are all empowered to hone those skills just that little bit better.

With the start of a new year, the old cliché (because it’s true) kicks in: we take a breath, evaluate where we are and where we need to go, so to speak. And dog training should be high on that list. Investing a little time and money for a few weeks or months will yield a lifetime payback and reward: life with your dog can be so much more enjoyable. And yes, safer too!

Dog-Ninja or all-rounder?

Strive for excellence but celebrate Normal

I once attended a training class when the participants were invited to share a technique they could ably demonstrate with their dog (no pressure then, but it was strictly voluntary!).

Now, it is customary and good practice for a trainer to explain the benefits of a particular behaviour we want our dogs to learn before we all get down to the nitty-gritty of actually doing the stuff. It helps with motivation. You can visualise the real-world situation and the help a certain technique can offer both of you. Especially during the early phases of learning something new, when both dogs and owners alike can appear a little bemused at what’s being asked of them. You know – when your dog gives you that look. Dog: Why are you asking me to do this stuff? Owner: Beats me!

Back to the class, and one brave gentleman came forward and volunteered to show us a technique where your dog walks through the gap in your legs as you are slowly pacing forward. Clever stuff, and probably far beyond the capabilities of the rest of us, and certainly for the owner with the 60kg Newfoundland. Maybe you guys can sit this one out! But hey, it’s a bit of fun.

And that is exactly what it was. Our collective failure to comically avoid tripping over our trusty pooches was a great way to end the class (mercifully without injury), but for me I took home two important things (and no, my dog being able to weave in and out of my moving legs sadly was not one of them).

First, a good trainer should only be teaching you things that are achievable, building one step at a time on a previously known tool in the kit. And things that are relevant to your life with your dog. That includes show and agility exercises, like the one described here, which is absolutely fine in the right context, and certainly fine just for a bit of fun like we did here. (So no criticism of our brave volunteer.) But it is an important thing to keep in mind. If you want to teach your dog to settle and lie down by your feet when you sit down in the pub, your dog needs to have nailed a Down before that. And so on.

Second, and this is what disturbed me just a little, was the reason given for this exercise. A good trick/fun game, an essential tool for agility work etc. would be top of my list for why we would be doing the weave. But the first (therefore key) reason given for doing it was to get one over your neighbour when they show you their Fido can Sit on command. It was not meant to be a joke. He meant it. Oh yeah? Watch this!

It got me thinking about why we own dogs. Even the expression “ownership” implies a possession. Fair enough, “companion” is not a real verb, but the question still stands, and the answers are as long as my dog’s tail. Deep down, have some of us chosen a four-legged companion simply to be a trick ninja, a fashion symbol or a macho extension? Maybe. For those of us who have, can you take a step back and genuinely say your dog has a fulfilled, happy life? If you can, then that’s okay. But if you can’t, or if you don’t know, because your dog doesn’t know any differently, then embrace being Normal. Join in the fun with the rest of us, laughing in the training class, simply learning to live with your dog in harmony.