Relaxation Affenpinscher Mix Lacona, NY

BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION FOR RELAXATION




Introduction



Before we explain the program itself, it is important that the reason the program is to be used is clearly understood. Although this training program may seem like an obedience program, the motivation behind its use is not to teach your dog to sit or down and stay, but to teach your dog to look to you for guidance in situations where the dog feels anxiety or is not decisive about what is appropriate behavior. A good example of this is when we are dealing with a dog who is aggressive toward strangers. The dog sees an unfamiliar person and feels anxiety. The dog growls and the wise stranger quickly retreats and the dog learns that growling helps to remove the source of its anxiety. As a result of this learning experience the dog may now show signs of aggression to unfamiliar people in order to relieve any anxiety the dog might feel. By consistently training the dog to look to its owner for direction when feeling anxious and to pair being told to sit or down with being relaxed, it is possible to encourage the dog to choose these options rather than to choose aggressive behavior. The desired result of following this program will be that in the instances where a dog may feel anxiety, instead of choosing aggression as its course of action, it will choose to look toward you, the owner, for cues as to what an appropriate course of action would be (such as lying down and relaxing).



The most important commands you can teach your dog are the sit-stay and down-stay. In this program we will use lots of positive reinforcement to make learning fun for your dog, and allow him (or her—but for simplicity we are going to refer to your dog as a male—we flipped a coin!) to learn at his own pace. The emphasis is on good obedience for a companion dog, rather than for obedience competition. For example, if your dog is in a long sit-stay and chooses to lie down, that’s all right. After all, lying down is a much more relaxed position than sitting and we are trying to encourage relaxation as well as seeking appropriate direction from the owner.



Basic Guidelines



The following three guidelines are just practical rules that will help you in establishing a training routine for yourself and your dog as well as to strengthen the relationship you have with your dog.



1) Protocol for Leadership – This is just another way of expressing the old adage “Nothing in life is free.” Everyone has to work in life (students for grades, employees for wages, business owners for a successful business) so why should your dog et off scott free?! Actually, the real importance of this is to help teach your dog to look to you for direction (a.k.a. leadership). From now on, anything good in life must be earned by the dog showing deference to you, preferably by sitting or lying down. “Anything good in life” can also be thought of as anything that the dog wants (i.e., treats, meals, having its lead attached for a walk, having its lead detached so it can roam about the house after a walk, even being groomed).

2) Consistency – This can be represented in four different ways. First it means that everyone in the house must agree on how the dog is to be treated in each circumstance and stick to that decision! Second, it means that the dog can expect the same behavior from its owners and guests every day (i.e. don’t prohibit the dog from climbing onto the couch on the weekdays and then let him on the couch on weekends or because a visitor has arrived). Third, it means that the owner expects the same response from a command every day (i.e., don’t let it go when your dog doesn’t place his rump on the floor after being told to “SIT” even if it means putting something else off for a minute or two). Lastly, there is only one behavior expected per command (i.e. don’t tell a dog to lay prone of the floor and to remove his front paws from a guest he has jumped on by saying “DOWN”).

3) Always set the dog up to win, never set the dog up to fail – A gross exaggeration of this, is we would not place a dog in a sit/stay or a down/stay in one end zone of a football field and walk to the opposite end zone and attempt to recall the dog our first time out training. We might place him in a sit/stay and walk to the one yard line and then tell him to come and after we knew he would comply 100% of the time, we would then attempt to recall him from the two-yard line and so on until we were able to recall him from the opposite end zone. Just as we wouldn’t expect a dog to tackle such a tremendous skill in one training lesson, we wouldn’t expect you to teat an entire elephant in one bite, but, bite by bite it would be a cinch.



Use of Food as a Reward



To begin with, we will use food rewards. While some dog trainers may say that the use of food in training a dog serves only as a distraction, when we a re trying to distract a dog from inappropriate behavior and to encourage him to focus on our cues, food serves as the best motivational tool we have at our disposal. The use of a delicious food will motivate your dog to learn for you. At first, when teaching a command, give a food reward every time he obeys the command. This is called “continuous reinforcement.” After he seems to have learned it well, usually after a week or two, decrease the rewards to every other time for a week, then every third time for a week, then randomly, i.e., every fifth, tenth, second, tenth time, etc. This is called “intermittent reinforcement” and it is an effective way to seal a learned behavior. Eventually you will need to give only occasional food rewards, but the dog will never know when a treat is coming. What kind of food should you use? Anything, as long as the dog loves it and you can break it into tiny pieces. Examples are jerky treats or other soft dog treats, freeze-dried liver from a pet store, cheese (a single slice of American cheese can be divided into a hundred small squares, each one the perfect reward size!), hot dogs, crackers, etc. Be sure the pieces are small so that the dog’s attention is on you rather than on chewing.



Each time you reward the dog, pair the food with (use it at the same time as) verbal praise, but keep praising brief so that the dog doesn’t get distracted from the task at hand. Praise does not mean the dog is released from the sit; he should keep sitting/staying until you say your release word when each exercise is finished, such as “ok!”



The amount of time between when the dog complies with what you asked him to do and when you give him the reward is very important. It is necessary that the dog be rewarded while he is still thinking about the action he just completed. A good way to remember how much time you have to reward him for his appropriate behavior is to hold your car keys in your hand straight out from the shoulder and drop them. It is not a lot of time, is it? So, try to give the reward as quickly as possible. Sometimes it helps to practice without the dog.



Teaching the Dog to “Look,” “Sit,” and “Down”



The tone of voice we use when asking the dog to complete a task is also very important. If we remember that our goal here is to help teach the dog to relax, it is easy to see that we won’t be yelling or even using a loud voice as we speak to the dog. We will be using softly, soothing tones, speaking almost in a forced whisper. In this handout you may notice we use the term “to ask” when talking about giving the dog a command. This is because we want to reinforce the idea that we are not barking out the command, but we are using a relaxing tone of voice. This is not meant to imply that we are giving the dog a choice, it merely means that we don’t want a stern voice to be used which won’t serve the purpose we are trying to achieve here.



Teaching the dog to look is another method of training the dog to look to you for direction. Take a food reward between your thumb and forefingers and allow him to smell it. Raise your hand from his nose to the corner of your eye as you say “Patch, Look.” Once he makes eye contact with you, give him the food treat and verbal praise, such as “Good Look.”



These instructions are for the right-handed people; reverse everything if you are left-handed. Hold the treats in your left hand for now—later you can put them in your pocket but for now we want the rewards to be immediate. Stand in front of the dog and show him a food piece in your right hand. Then pass it closely over his head so that he is forced to lift his nose up and , hopefully, sit his bottom down at the same time. At the same time as moving the food over his head, say “Patch, SIT.” If he twists and dances, withdraw your hand and do it again. Do it fifty times if necessary. Remember, your tone of voice should be soothing and yet firm and in control, not too sing-song or too harsh. As soon as his rear end hits the floor and stays there for a moment, reward him both with food and with praise. Use the command word again so that he doesn’t think praise means release (“good sit!”). So the sequence is: dog in front of you, show food treat, move just over head, saying “sit,” as soon as he plants himself down, give the treat and say “good sit!!” then “ok!” Move over one or two steps and get him to move, and then do it again.



The “down” is merely an extension of the sit. We are going to begin the down by having the dog follow the food, as we did the sit. After your dog is sitting, show him the food and, while saying “Patch, down!” bring the treat straight down to the floor and then back toward you, making an “L” facing yourself. The idea is that, as his nose follows the treat, his front legs go down. Most dogs stand up as the treat does down; just be patient and repeat it over and over until his front end goes down, then immediately reward (“good down!”). If he just doesn’t get it after 50 tries, you can try sitting on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you with your knees slightly bent. Lure the dog under your left knee with your right hand holding a food treat between your thumb and forefingers. As he begins to crouch to the floor to get under your knee ask him to “down.” Once he is prone on the floor praise him by saying, “Good down” and giving him the reward.



After he knows what these commands mean, it is important that you no longer repeat the request you are making. Once you have asked him to “sit” for example, allow him to stand as long as it is apparent he is still thinking about what you asked him to do. If he appears to be distracted by looking away or sniffing at your leg, ask him to sit and again wait for him to comply so long as it seems he is thinking about your request. If he does not comply this time, remove all visual, verbal, and physical attention from him. Simply walk away. He will follow you and after crossing the room, you can turn to him and again ask that he “sit.” From this point on he will only get one chance, if he doesn’t comply, continue this pattern until he does. Once he does, quickly praise him and give him his reward. He will quickly learn tat when he listens to you he gets attention, verbal praise, and a food treat, but when he doesn’t comply, he gets none of these things. He will soon realize that it is in his best interest to obey you quickly.



If your dog obeys the sit and stays put for a few seconds, begin the stay command. At first, we will say “stay” but not go away. Tell him to sit, say “good sit’ and reward, then immediately say “stay” and count to 5 under your breath and reward him. Do it again, then try counting to 10. Follow the program from this point on. There is no need to reward between the sit and stay once he knows the stay even for short periods. The only command that you will repeat is the “stay”. This is done so that while the dog is in a stay, his attention remains focused on us and the lines of communication remain open. The stay command is spoken much more slowly than the other commands and should take approximately two seconds to complete. Like anything else in dog training, we start with short periods of “stay” time and gradually increase the length of the period.



What do you do if your dog “breaks” a stay? For example, if you have taken five steps away and he rises, how do you correct him? Most of the dogs have heard the word “no,” in one form or another, all their lives and, unfortunately, it has lost its potency. As we discussed before, the best thing to do is to let him figure out for himself that when he listens he gets all the good things in life, your attention, praise, and a food treat. If your dog lies down during a sit-stay, as discussed previously, that’s fine.



How to Use the Protocol



Practice the exercises every day for 10-15 minutes, once in the morning and once in the afternoon or evening. Choose a time when your dog isn’t wired with energy but is hungry. As you will see, the exercises have been separated into blocks. Begin indoors with Block 1 in a room with no distractions and using a continuous reward schedule. When the dog is able to perform each exercise in the block 100% of the time, switch to using an intermittent reward. After a few days of this, introduce a small distraction, such as a family member walking through the room. If the dog becomes distracted, try falling back to using a continuous reward; if that doesn’t help him to focus on you again, you may need to minimize the distraction. Once the dog can remain focused and relaxed with the distraction 100% of the time, switch back to a variable reward schedule and repeat the sequence using greater and greater distractions. As you complete the blocks, begin a new block the same way you started with block 1 and gradually introduce new distractions. At some point, you may find it easier to work on blocks that are newer in the morning and to work on blocks with distractions in the afternoon or evening. You can advance outdoors later, in the yard at first and eventually even practicing in front of busy supermarkets with your well-behaved dog in a stay wile shopping carts and incredulous customers clamor past you. Everyone in the family should take turns practicing, but be sure the dog has two good sessions every day. If necessary, keep the leash on the dog and step on it while doing the exercise. Some dogs are wiggly enough to warrant a family member standing beside the dog holding the leash while you move around during the “stay”. When you are done with practice, let the dog know it’s over. Use the release word brightly (“OK!! All done, Patch!”, clap your hands, pet the dog and walk away.



When you first work on a block, it is fine if the dog just complies with what you have asked him to do, but remember we are trying to encourage him to relax. The way to do this is to wait until he shows relaxed behavior before you reward him. If he is panting, pawing at you, or vocalizing, he is not relaxed. We can help him to relax by waiting until he isn’t displaying a sign that he is not relaxed and quickly rewarding him. If the dog is displaying more than one of these behaviors at a time, only attempt to eliminate one at a time, usually removing physical behaviors first.



More Tips



Proceed through the program at your dog’s pace; every dog is different in how quickly the commands are learned, but all dogs can learn the commands. Do five steps, two steps or 15 steps per session—whatever seems to work for you. What you should not do is hurry your dog. Be patient and err on the side of slow pacing so that your dog ins continually successful. Walking a circle around a sitting dog, for example, is a touch exercise, and if you show off to friends before your dog is ready you will end up correcting him for something he doesn’t know, not a good idea if you want him to have fun learning.



Hand signals are a great tool to have at your disposal, especially if your dog is some distance away ad possibly in danger. Unfortunately, in this program it should be understandable that they would only serve to distract your dog from focusing on your voice and your face. With this in mind, hold off on using hand signals until you can introduce them as the last distraction of any block.



You may find it easier and less frustrating for you and your dog if you practice a block before you attempt it with your dog, without him. Go through all the motions of asking the command aloud and moving your hand as if you were rewarding a dog. If you know what the next exercise is in the block without looking, you will find the sessions with the dog to be more fluid.



We have written in “down’ and “look’ commands for Block 1. It would be a good idea before starting following blocks to write in you own ‘down” commands for about 50% of the exercises in each block, and “look” commands at the end of about 75% of the exercises in each block.



Finally, try to always end the sessions on a good note, and be sure to end them yourself rather than rely on the dog’s attention span. If you sense he is not in the mood and you are not getting anywhere, don’t lose your temper—training must be fun, not military school—try to get him to obey one short, simple sit-stay, then reward him by telling him how brilliant he is and finish the exercise. There is always time later. Here we go—good luck!!



Block 1........................................Date Exercise ...............Number
.......................................................Completed...................of Times



Sit...............................................................................__________________________________________



Sit for 5 seconds, look........................................... __________________________________________




Down, look............................................................... __________________________________________




Sit for 10 seconds.................................................. __________________________________________




Down for 5 seconds, look..................................... __________________________________________




Sit for 10 seconds................................................... __________________________________________




Down, look................................................................ __________________________________________




Down for 15 seconds, look .................................. __________________________________________




Sit, look .................................................................... __________________________________________




Down for 10 seconds, look .................................. __________________________________________





Block 2



(sit and) Take 1 step to the left and return......... __________________________________________




Take 1 step to the right and return ...................... __________________________________________




Sit for 5 seconds .................................................... __________________________________________




Sit for 20 seconds................................................... __________________________________________



Take 1 step backward and return........................ __________________________________________



Take 2 steps to the left and return....................... __________________________________________




Take 2 steps to the right and return.................... __________________________________________




Sit for 10 seconds .................................................. __________________________________________




Take 2 steps backward and return...................... __________________________________________




Sit for 5 seconds..................................................... __________________________________________



Take 1 step to the right and return....................... __________________________________________




Take 2 steps to the right and return..................... __________________________________________




Sit for 10 seconds..................................................... __________________________________________




Take 3 steps backward and return........................ __________________________________________




Take 3 steps to the left and return......................... __________________________________________



Block 3



Sit for 30 seconds.................................................... __________________________________________



Sit................................................................................ __________________________________________



Take 1 step to the right and return........................ __________________________________________



Take 3 steps to the right and return..................... __________________________________________



Take 5 steps backward and return...................... __________________________________________



Turn your back and take 1 step and return........ __________________________________________



Sit for 30 seconds................................................... __________________________________________



Take 4 steps to the left and return....................... __________________________________________



Take 1 step to the right and return....................... __________________________________________



Walk halfway around left side of dog and return. __________________________________________



Sit for 20 seconds.................................................... __________________________________________



Walk halfway around right side of dog and return __________________________________________



Sit for 30 seconds................................................... __________________________________________



Take 7 steps backwards and return................... __________________________________________



Take 7 steps to the right and return.................... __________________________________________



Take 7 steps to the left and return....................... __________________________________________



Walk halfway around left side of dog and return __________________________________________



Block 4



Sit for 15 seconds.................................................. __________________________________________



Sit for 30 seconds.................................................. __________________________________________



Circle dog to the left, 3 feet away........................ __________________________________________



Take 5 steps backward and return.................... __________________________________________



Turn your back, take 3 steps and return............ __________________________________________



Sit for 10 seconds.................................................. __________________________________________



Sit for 45 seconds.................................................. __________________________________________



Sit.............................................................................. __________________________________________



Take 7 steps to the right and return................... __________________________________________



Take 7 steps to the left and return....................... __________________________________________



Sit for 30 seconds................................................... __________________________________________



Turn around 360 degrees in one spot................ __________________________________________



Take 10 steps backward and return................... __________________________________________



Take 5 steps backward and return...................... __________________________________________



Take 10 steps to the left and return..................... __________________________________________




Block 5



Sit for 15 seconds................................................... __________________________________________



Sit............................................................................... __________________________________________



Circle dog to the right, 3 feet away....................... __________________________________________



Circle dog to the left, 3 feet away.......................... __________________________________________



Turn your back and walk 5 steps away and return __________________________________________



Sit for 30 seconds................................................... __________________________________________



Run for 3 steps to left and return......................... __________________________________________



Run for 3 steps to right and return....................... __________________________________________



Run in place for 5 steps........................................ __________________________________________



Run in place for 10 steps...................................... __________________________________________



Walk 10 steps to right and return ........................ __________________________________________



Walk 5 steps to left, then 10 steps to right (past
dog) and return________________________




Sit for 30 seconds................................................... ___________________________________________



Walk 5 steps to right, then 10 steps to left and return ___________________________________________



Circle dog to left, 3 feet away................................ ___________________________________________




Block 6



Down for 30 seconds............................................ ___________________________________________



Walk 5 steps to left, then 10 steps to right (past
dog) and return_________________________




Walk 5 steps to right, then 10 steps to left and return ____________________________________________



Run in place for 5 seconds................................. ____________________________________________



Run in place for 10 seconds............................... ____________________________________________



Run 7 steps to the left and return........................ ____________________________________________



Run 7 steps to the right and return..................... ____________________________________________



Run backward 7 steps and return...................... ____________________________________________


Sit for 10 seconds.................................................. ____________________________________________



Circle dog to right, 5 feet away, twice.................. ____________________________________________



Circle dog to left, 5 feet away twice...................... ____________________________________________



Run in place for 30 seconds................................. ____________________________________________



Walk briskly 10 steps to right and return............ ____________________________________________



Walk briskly 10 steps to left and return.............. ____________________________________________



Turn your back, walk 10 steps away and return ____________________________________________



Go 5 steps away and sit on floor for 15 seconds and return ____________________________________________




Go 10 steps away and sit on floor for 30 seconds and return ____________________________________________






Block 7



Sit for 10 seconds...................................................... ____________________________________________



Down for 30 seconds, look...................................... ____________________________________________


Walk around a corner and immediately return..... ____________________________________________



Sit for 1 minute............................................................ ____________________________________________



Run 15 steps to right and return............................. ____________________________________________


Run 15 steps to the left and return........................ ____________________________________________


Run around dog to right, 10 feet away.................. ____________________________________________



Run around dog to right, 10 feet away two times ____________________________________________



Run around dog to left, 10 feet away two times.. ____________________________________________



Sit for 2 minutes........................................................ ____________________________________________



Walk 5 feet to left, wait 1 minute and return ........ ____________________________________________



Walk 5 feet to right, wait 1 minute and return...... ____________________________________________



Walk out of room for 5 seconds and return......... ____________________________________________



Sit for 2 minutes....................................................... ____________________________________________



Walk out of room for 10 seconds and return...... ____________________________________________



Walk 10 feet backwards, wait 1 minute and return ____________________________________________



Walk out of room for 20 seconds and return...... ____________________________________________



Walk 10 feet to left, sit on floor for 2 minutes and return _________________________________________




Walk 10 feet to right, sit on floor for 2 minutes and return ______________________________________




Walk out of room for 30 seconds and return...... ____________________________________________





You probably have the idea by now, and so does your dog! Continue until you can leave your dog in a five minute stay with supervision, and maybe even with you out of the room. On long stays it is easier to put the dog in a down. The possibilities are up to you… if you feel your dog is doing the stay reliably up to 1 minute, practice outdoors as much as possible, at first in quiet areas such as parks at dawn or early on Sundays, or your yard and working up to busier places such as sidewalks and parking lots. Always have a leash on the dog when you are practicing outdoors—wok with at least a 6 foot lead, or a longer one if possible—unless you have a fenced area in which to practice. When you are walking your dog down the street, try telling him to sit and stay as people/kids/bicycles/dogs come by. Get him to sit well in advance of whatever’s coming so that you have good control by the time they pass—it’s great practice for control.



Now you have a good canine citizen, and you did it yourself!

Animal Behavior Clinic

College of Veterinary Medicine

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY 14853

(607) 23-3450