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Riley---Study for behavior modification

18K views 108 replies 19 participants last post by  gdgli 
#1 ·
Riley is a 4 1/2 year old dog from a litter that I had bred. He is a neutered male that I may be acquiring because the owner is going through a divorce, planning to move, and feels that she will not be able to take care of him. I have been working with this dog for several weeks. I welcomed the opportunity to work with this dog. This has given me the opportunity to observe dog body language (while interacting with my dog), retrain unwanted behaviors, observe the current owner's interaction with Riley and help modify it, and do some additional obedience training.

Some issues:
1. Counter surfing
2. Unwanted digging in the yard
3. Need for calming
4. Some reactivity, not dog reactive
5. Introduction to my own dog who is a littermate. Actually a reintroduction.
6. Some resource guarding

Riley is really nice looking, smart, and was the pick of the litter. I will not rehome him, I will keep him for myself.

Riley:



 
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#6 ·
INTRODUCING RILEY TO THOR


I like to take my time with stuff like this. Riley of course got a whiff of Thor from my clothes and vice versa. I thought it would be good for the dogs to be familiar with each others scent. This was done over a period of a few weeks. I then had both dogs, seperated, in the same house for short periods---two gates with a "No-Man's Land" in between. This was done for a couple sessions. Then both dogs were walked together on opposite sides of the street. Thor showed interest in Riley but I kept a close watch for body language. Thor's body language was very good. We then had both dogs on leash, across the room. We put them on a sit stay and then released them. They met and had some brief play.


I need to mention that I don't take Thor to dog parks and I have not let him play with dogs, only his mother. Riley has played with other dogs. It was interesting to watch Riley try to play while Thor only gave brief periods of play. Thor has since played more with Riley. It seems that they needed to learn each other. Very interesting to me.
 
#10 ·
Interestingly enough it took a while for the boys to learn each other's play. Thor is easily distracted from play but returns to Riley to continue. They play chase, keep away, tug, and they like to wrestle. They take turns at being "top dog". Here Thor is offering to go below Riley IMO.
I am thrilled because Thor has had bad interactions with dogs in obedience class. At least three times a dog while off lead has run to Thor to attack him while he was on lead. Typically Thor would put his right paw on the dog's shoulder and then pin him. (Guess who gets blamed.)
 
#15 ·
Rukie's Golden friend across the street is 10 months old but now bigger and heavier than Rukie. They also take turns being the bottom dog. They do this funny thing where one goes under the other while he's standing up and tries to run with that dog on his back. I stop it though, it doesn't seem safe. I'm glad Thor likes Riley. Chase and wrestle are such easy ways for them to burn off energy.
 
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#14 ·
Riley is a handsome boy. I so liked the photo you posted of Riley and Thor playing together. As you well know, it does take time for everyone to become acclimated. I agree with the comment made by Nolefan that digging may very well be due to a lack of buring off all of his pent up energy. I like that ole saying that a tired dog is a good dog. I would encourage daily hard running tongue dragging play. See if this helps any with the digging issue.

Good luck with retraining. With your experience, I suspect you'll have Riley trained properly in time. Of course patience, love, and consistency will paly an important role in his and your success. Keep us posted.
 
#16 ·
BODY LANGUAGE BETWEEN RILEY AND THOR


I frequently comment on body language between dogs. Watching these two boys has revealed a lot. First of all when they first looked at each other Riley displayed only soft signals (my term) as opposed to what happens with almost all other dogs. Thor responded in kind---friendly tail, relaxed ears, relaxed stance. Also they did not stare at each other. I never let my dog stare at other dogs. I have found that one dog will respond to a challenging stare from another dog and excitement/reactivity increases which I don't want.
I also notice that interactions and displays between Thor and Riley are very quick and hard to catch. But I am getting good at it.
 
#17 ·
BODY LANGUAGE---QUICK COMMUNICATION


I have been watching body language between the two boys closely and have been quick to interrupt if necessary. For example if both enter a narrow passageway from opposite directions I am especially careful that they do not approach directly face to face, nose to nose. Thor sees this as a challenge. Interestingly enough they will approach each other, bypass each other but find a way to avert each other's eyes. It is very quick. They make sure that there is no challenge in their approach. This is very different from encounters with rude dogs.

Also I have been rewarding each dog for displaying calming signals when they look at each other, praise for relaxed posture, relaxed ears and happy tail wag. I do walk around with a treat bag so I can also treat for this.


This is very rewarding for me. I did not grow up with dogs. I am constantly learning.
 
#19 ·
BODY LANGUAGE---WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PLAY BOW

When they first met, the boys did give each other play bows as an invitation to play but they were very brief, like under a second. Since then there are very few almost no play bows. Instead they have used other signals as invitations to play. There are different signals for each game. Very interesting to me.
 
#20 ·
BODY LANGUAGE---GROWLS

I probably won't correct a dog for growling. Growling is dog language. The dog is communicating with a growl. Do we really want a dog that bites without a warning growl?

Although I don't like having toys out when more than one dog is out this situation has exposed both dogs to multiple toys a the same time. They have been pretty good around toys. However there are two high value toys, a certain large squeaky toy (Thor) and a blue rubber dog bone (Riley). Thor approached Riley while Riley had his rubber bone. Riley growled and Thor just reversed direction. VERY COOL! Before I knew any better I would have thought that I had a near fight on my hands. Now I recognize this for what it is---Thor was getting into Riley's grill while Riley had possession of a high value toy. Riley felt uncomfortable, Thor understood the message, and Thor backed away. THIS WAS NOT A KEEP AWAY TOY, THIS IS NOT FOR PLAY!!!

Now growls in general. I did have contact with a reputable veterinary behaviorist at some point in the past. Growls are part of a dog's language. She said we should be thankful that a dog is communicating with us. In fact she recommended that we actually say thank you. The dog has let us know what makes him feel uncomfortable, maybe something we should counter condition.
 
#22 · (Edited by Moderator)
BODY LANGUAGE---GROWLS

I probably won't correct a dog for growling. Growling is dog language. The dog is communicating with a growl. Do we really want a dog that bites without a warning growl?

Although I don't like having toys out when more than one dog is out this situation has exposed both dogs to multiple toys at the same time. They have been pretty good around toys. However there are two high value toys, a certain large squeaky toy (Thor) and a blue rubber dog bone (Riley). Thor approached Riley while Riley had his rubber bone. Riley growled and Thor just reversed direction. VERY COOL! Before I knew any better I would have thought that I had a near fight on my hands. Now I recognize this for what it is---Thor was getting into Riley's grill while Riley had possession of a high value toy. Riley felt uncomfortable, Thor understood the message, and Thor backed away. THIS WAS NOT A KEEP AWAY TOY, THIS IS NOT FOR PLAY!!!

Now growls in general. I did have contact with a reputable veterinary behaviorist at some point in the past. Growls are part of a dog's language. She said we should be thankful that a dog is communicating with us. In fact she recommended that we actually say thank you. The dog has let us know what makes him feel uncomfortable, maybe something we should counter condition.
I never thought about growls this way. This is actually very true. Thank you for sharing with us. Let's growl.
 
#21 ·
COUNTER SURFING---WHAT TO DO

Well Riley is one of the worst counter surfers that I have seen. However some of the incidents kind of explained what happened and actually offer a solution.
Some examples:
"Riley grabbed the butter that we left on the table."
"Riley grabbed the crepes that my daughter left on the edge of the counter."
"Riley grabbed my son's hat and ate the sweat band out of it."

My take on this. This may be a tough one to deal with. Dog grabs item, immediate reward, self rewarding behavior, additional reward when the owner chases the dog around the house shouting and waving arms. I explained to the owner how counter surfing is rewarded.
My strategy: I confined the dog to the kitchen. I removed all tempting items and pointed this out to the owner. I have spent maybe 20 hours observing the dog. He hasn't gotten anything off the counter, tried only once when an item was at the edge. A behavior like this will decrease in frequency if it is not rewarded. I think that the owner now gets it. I guess I am training the owner.
And to be honest Thor is the second worst counter surfer that I have seen but I have followed my own advice.
 
#24 ·
CALMING---A SUCCESS STORY

One of the issues I have dealt with is Riley's reactivity. Not dog reactive but reactive to petting and being handled, reactive to new situations. He would get apprehensive in these situations. I recognized what was going on. Riley at this point needed counter conditioning to many things.

Some things we have worked on:
1. Being petted
2. Being brushed
3. Being touched in different places, especially around the base of the tail.
4. Reinforcing calming behavior
5. Playing with the owner
6. Remaining calm when someone may surprise him by entering the room

Yesterday Riley had a visit with the vet. The vet: "I don't know what you are doing with him but keep it up. He is the calmest that I have ever seen him." To be honest when the owner told me this I felt great. I really felt a sense of accomplishment.
 
#25 ·
CALMING---BEING PETTED

I used a technique where I lured the dog with a treat. In order to get the treat he had to brush past my hand, making contact with the hand. The contact is then extended to other areas. This really worked. Riley got comfortable with being petted and having people reach towards him. Of course this needed to be generalized i.e. expanded to include other people.

PS I always tell people how to approach and pet a dog. It helps.
 
#27 ·
ceegee

I find your incident very interesting. I welcome opportunities to observe these things. Were you able to observe other aspects of body language? It is difficult but I am learning to look for other signals---hackles, ear position, tail, etc. I think it helps in reading the dog. I also look at the lips. It seems that that there are different levels of growl.

I think I will research this more.
 
#28 ·
It happened very quickly. The other dog came at us "low and fast", border collie style, with his eyes fixed on Duster. He was showing his teeth, but was silent. Duster reacted by "puffing up". His hackles went up and he had a forward stance. I didn't see his tail and don't remember his ear position or his lips, but I did hear him growl very clearly and loudly. It was an obvious "challenging" stance, not an "appeasement" stance. When the other dog saw the reaction, it stopped in its tracks and then took a couple of steps backwards before trying to charge again. By that time its owner had got a handle on things. Duster was already on a short leash when the attack happened, but I didn't restrain him any more than I was doing before the attack. My immediate "gut response" was that it was important for him to have the sense that he could defend himself, since he seemed inclined to do so. In other words, I held the leash firmly but didn't pull him back. I would do the same thing if it happened again, I think. If the other dog had attacked, I would have let go of Duster's leash so he was free to defend himself, and I would have tried to grab the other dog's leash and pull it away.
 
#29 ·
REACTIVITY---HAND SHY

I discovered that Riley is hand shy. I raised my hand over his head, he quickly pulled back and winced. I immediately said "This dog has been hit!"

I guessed it was the husband. I disliked him enough that I hesitated on selling them the puppy, THE PICK OF THE LITTER!!! It was obvious he had been hit although probably unseen by the wife.
 
#32 · (Edited)
SOME UPDATES

Counter surfing---Riley is making fewer and fewer attempts in the kitchen, now almost none. He has taken a look but no reward. Now very few looks. We will start to expand to the dining room.

Introduction to Thor---I am training them to walk together because they will be walked 3x-4x a day together. That is what I do with my dogs. They are also being trained to sit stay while I pick up poop.

Reactivity---Hand shyness is being counter conditioned. Also touching base of tail and surrounding area is being counter conditioned. He is a little apprehensive. Very useful for grooming and helping with removing hanging poop (pardon me for being very descriptive but it can be a problem.)

I am so pleased with our success.
 
#33 ·
WARNING ON SPEAKING ABOUT DOG ISSUES

Unfortunately someone in my club is very jealous, always has been. Upon hearing that a dog is being returned to me this person is now spreading rumors that there is something wrong with my dogs' temperament.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Probably a good idea not to discuss your dog issues with anyone.
 
#34 ·
RILEY-THOR INTERACTIONS


I love watching them interact. There are many subtle interactions. For example things like turning sideways to show non-threat, very low almost imperceptible growl--"this is my dirty dish to lick", averting direct stare, ear position, very quick play bows, and tail position to name a few.


There have been very quick exchanges of snarls. I have recognized that these are just normal communication between the two. No hackles raised and very brief. These are usually related to space. I am very happy to learn from these two.
 
#36 ·
Your comments are making me watch the interactions between our two more closely! It's fascinating, the small things they do that we humans don't usually notice. We have a size disparity as well (toy poodle - golden retriever). We have always known that the poodle is the king of the pack, but it's interesting to see the subtle ways in which he asserts his self-perceived superiority!
 
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