Tricks Contest: Adding a Cue

I’ve heard from some of you who are working on your tricks and I am looking forward to seeing the videos! Remember, you need no experience to enter the contest. This could be the very first trick you’ve taught a dog, and yes, it could win the Big Tricks Contest.

Time to talk about choosing and adding a cue. There are those of us who think that the cue really makes the trick. The right cue can make a trick quite funny or so much cuter. One of my dogs crosses one paw over the other, and her cue is “Pose.” If you’ve taught your dog to give you his paw, there is something so much more creative and appealing about cuing it with “gimme five” rather than just saying “paw.” The dog in this photo is doing “night-night” with his little friend, Flat Stanley. I had a client whose dogs both stood on their hind legs and rested their front paws on the wall on cue. If the cue had been “touch” or “wall” that would have been fine. But the trick was hilarious, because the cue was their owner taking the stance of a police officer and saying, “Everybody: up against the wall!”

Your cue does not have to be verbal, it could be a hand signal. One of my dogs barks on the cue of me holding my hand up to my ear as though I’m having trouble hearing him. If I place my index finger over my lips, he whispers (moves his mouth but no sound comes out). You have a built-in hand signal if you have used luring to teach your trick.  Should you want to make it into a more subtle arm or hand movement, just make the movement a touch smaller each time you practice. A giant, sweeping arm movement for “spin” can turn into an impressive flick of the finger. (Hopefully you eliminated the food lure soon into the training, which will give you the flexibility to modify the hand signal).

If you’re using capturing to teach your trick, the cue is built in from the beginning. If you are getting an 80% (or better) response rate on your trick with a hand signal (luring) or with waiting for the dog to offer it (shaping), you are ready to add your verbal cue.  If you’re using shaping, just start saying the verbal cue immediately (within 2 seconds) before the dog is about to offer the action (since you are at least 80% reliability the chances are good you’ll be able to time this just right). No longer reward the dog if you don’t say the cue. To withhold a treat may be difficult for you after all your effort, but it is worth it at this stage, because it will really make the dog attuned to and understand the cue and what it means he should do.

It’s good to get in the habit of having a cue ready to use even before you’ve started training a trick. The reason is that the dog may progress much more quickly than you had anticipated. While you really can’t add the cue too late, it will make your training sharper and his understanding of all his cued behaviors better if they have cues early on in the process. To test his understanding and strengthen his performance, try cuing the trick in different rooms of your house. Try cuing the trick standing sideways (unless facing him is part of the cue!), or sitting cross-legged on the floor. If he has trouble, cue it normally a few times and reward, and then try again at not quite so sharp and angle or just kneeling on the floor to help him out.

As you finish up your trick, let me know if you have any questions about how to fade signals, add cues, eliminate treats, or anything else about the process. Happy training!

Tricks Contest: How to Teach Your Trick with Luring, Shaping or Capturing

People have been teaching dogs tricks since they starting hanging out together, many moons ago. That is my guess, anyway. After all, we both like to play, we both have a sense of humor (some more than others, both species), and we both seem to find it entertaining. I can just picture the first time someone tossed a dog a scrap of meat, and the dog caught it in her mouth. “Cool trick,” the onlookers must have said (presumably in an early Homo sapiens dialect).

So now, here you are, looking at your dog. And your dog is looking back at you, maybe a little bored, or maybe even a little optimistic that you’ve got something interesting for him to do today.  Well, it’s his lucky day, because it’s time to learn a new trick.

Tricks can help a shy dog come out of her shell, can help a busy dog calm down and focus, and can wear out a young, energetic beast who needs something to wrap his mind around. Many a dog has gotten plenty of aerobic exercise, but still has too many ants in the pants from lack of mental stimulation. Tricks fit the bill. They can also relax your dog in the veterinary waiting room, help your dog warm up for a dog sport, or facilitate an interaction between with children or other people who may prefer to enjoy your dog at a slight distance. When you think about it, a lot of impressive dog training, like agility or competition obedience, is really many tricks strung together.

Where to start? The first thing to know is, you can’t botch it up. If it doesn’t work out, so what? Start over fresh, or teach a different trick. It is pressure-free training at its finest. A good way to try out some tricks training is to experiment with the three main ways to teach a trick (there are other ways, but we’ll stick with these three for now). Before you start you should plan on what you are going to call your trick (this is the “cue”).  But (and this is a big but) for the last two methods listed here you will not use a verbal cue until the trick is completely taught (dogs don’t speak English anyway, so it doesn’t help them to chant the word over and over).  I recommend putting only finished tricks on cue, as otherwise your cue will only get you a so-so response. Save the cue for the action you want to show off as the final product.

Helpful Hints

• Use tiny, pea-sized, very special rewards.
• Keep training segments super short (1-3 minutes). Your entire session can be longer if you break the segments up with play or down-time. (Dogs who understand shaping–see below–are often highly motivated to train for longer sessions.)
• Use the cue word only once you have the polished behavior.

Remember to enter the Big Tricks Contest. No experience necessary, any level difficulty trick is eligible. You can post here for troubleshooting help between now and February 15^th. Someone has to win, right? It could be you!

Here are the three methods with which to experiment:

Capturing

This means the dog already does the trick, you just have to put a name to it. It’s something she already does in her daily life, like stretch when she wakes up from a nap (call it Take a Bow!) or shake her whole body from nose to tail when she is wet or has just gotten up form rolling on the ground (call it Dry Off!). The difference is that you will teach the dog that if she hears the cue for the action, then she should offer it on purpose.

That’s what makes it a trick; you cue it, she does it, there is applause.

On the video in the last blog entry, you’ll see the dog is cued with the word “Hungy?” and she licks her lips. I did not teach her to lick her lips; she already did that on her own. I waited for her to lick them, and the moment before she did so, I said, “Hungry?” and rewarded her.  After doing that nine million times (actually, it was really more like ten times), I could say, “Hungry?” when she wasn’t even expecting it, and she would lick her lips. Ta da!

To use capturing, pick the action your dog does that is predictable. For two or three days, keep an eye out for when he is about to do the action you want to capture. Within 2 seconds of him doing the behavior, before he does it, say the cue word in a calm, neutral voice. When the behavior has ended, say “yes!” and reward him with a treat. Don’t want to carry treats around? When you think about how fast you’ll have a pretty complicated, completed trick, it doesn‘t seem like such a big deal to carry a pocketful of treats around for a couple of days. Besides, I bet you can come pretty close to predicting exactly when your dog is about to offer the action you are hoping to capture.

Just a word of caution. Capturing is a good idea for actions your dog does that you like and that you won’t mind seeing more of. You may have read in a dog training book that it’s easy enough to capture a behavior you don’t like by putting it on cue, so that the dog won’t do it at all unless you ask. (Barking and pawing are examples you’ll come across. “Just teach him to bark on cue and then he won’t do it in the absence of the cue,” the books will claim.) However, I don’t recommend trying that for behaviors you don’t like. Most people are not obsessive enough about training to put a behavior under perfect stimulus control (meaning the dog does it only when cued), and they can end up with a dog who offers the annoying behavior more than he did before you started cueing and rewarding it. Just thought I would give you the heads up.

Luring

This means you take something your dog will follow with his head, like a food treat or a toy, and you hold it close to the dog’s nose. You will pretend the desired item has a magnet in it, and that the opposite pole magnet is in your dog’s nose. Therefore, anywhere you move the lure, your dog’s head will follow. Neat! (If your dog won’t follow the lure, he is telling you he doesn’t care about it. Pick something yummier.)

If you took your dog to a basic obedience or manners class, you probably lured your dog into a sit: head following the treat goes up, butt goes down. Ideally you would have said, “Yes!” to mark the moment the hiney hit the floor, and then popped the lure into your dog’s mouth as a reward. This is a wonderful method to use if you need to make the action happen right then and there (class time is limited after all), or if you would like a hand motion or hand signal to be part of the dog’s trick.

Suppose you want to teach your dog to “spin,” meaning he should pivot to his right in a tight circle. You would offer the thing he likes right in front of his face so he can lick at the treat or follow the toy with his eyes. Ever so slowly, you will lure your dog around to his right. When he completes the circle, you say “yes!” and release the reward item to him. If making the entire circle is too much, teach half a circle and build from there. (Hint: start with the dog in a standing position; if he’s sitting, he can’t pivot too well. Back up and make a kissy noise and he’ll stand up to come toward you.)

As soon as your dog has the hang of it, meaning he goes right around as soon as he sees the lure moving, you should begin phasing out the lure (or he will become dependent on it to do the trick). Hide the reward in your opposite hand. Hold an invisible lure in the hand you’ve been using all along. “Lure” your dog around in the tiny circle with your invisible lure (this will ensure all your body, eye and hand cues all still look the same). When your dog completes the circle, say, “Yes!” and reward from the hidden treat in your opposite hand. This is how you explain to the dog that he doesn’t need to see the reward in order to perform, but that it’s the hand motions that counts. Eventually you will hide the reward in your pocket, then on a counter top, then hidden somewhere in the room, until you don’t need it at all. When he’s really good at it, say “spin” a split second *before* you move your arm and he’ll learn the word for the trick. If you want to eliminate the hand signal, you can “fade” it out of the trick by making your arm movement slightly less dramatic each time you cue the trick, until it disappears altogether. Fancy!

In the video, the dog is cued to lie down with the word “down,” but I used luring to teach the trick. First I used the treat to get her in a down position. Once she was doing the motion reliably, I stopped holding a food treat but did the same hand motion. Then I added the word “down” before my hand motion. Finally, by making my hand motion just a teeny tiny bit less obvious each time, the dog learned that just the word “down” meant to lie down, no hand motion needed.

Shaping

Now more than ever, this method is all the rage in the dog training world.  Although I would not say it is better than the other two methods, like the other two, it has its advantages. There is no lure to fade out of the trick. There is also no arm or hand motion to fade out. The dog may have a stronger understanding of the trick because he has to figure it out by trying different things, rather than being shown the finished product from the beginning. And you can get your dog to offer all sorts of actions that would be pretty darned hard, if not impossible, to lure or capture.

They key here is to make sure you have first taught the dog that the word “Yes” is the sound that means he has just earned a treat. You will use this sound to communicate with him every step of the way. Some people use a device called a clicker, because it is a unique, neutral sound that the dog can readily key in on as having the meaning “you just earned a treat!” “Good dog” won’t really cut it for this, because it’s used in too many ways and not always followed by a special treat. To load the word “yes” with meaning, just say, “Yes!” pause a beat, then feed the treat. After about ten repetitions your dog will have it, especially if you use bits of cheese.

The trick “Potluck” from the video was taught using shaping. This means at our first training session I said, “Yes!” and rewarded the dog for any, even tiny, remotely bowl-related behavior she offered. At first she may have only glanced at the bowl, which I marked with the word “yes” and rewarded. Then I said “yes” for her sniffing it, followed by nudging it or walking near it. As the session evolved, she tried hard to make me say the word, “Yes!” by offering new things. As soon as she started engaging with the bowl deliberately and actively, I started getting pickier about what I would say “Yes” for. Soon I was saying “Yes” for any feet in the bowl, then only for all four feet in the bowl, then only for all four feet in the bowl pus staying in it. Then I finished the trick by saying, “Potluck!” just as she was hopping in the bowl.

So first teach your dog the magic word (Yes=treat). Then start rewarding for any movement, then for movement more related to the finished product (however remotely), and then gradually get pickier. You should be saying “Yes” and rewarding a lot because your dog has no clue what the desired action is and you’ve got to keep her in the game until her guesses start looking like what you want. Your goal is to gradually and purposefully shape the final behavior by rewarding tiny, incremental steps toward it.

Ideas for Tricks to Teach (video)

Just for fun, I thought I’d post a short video of a tricks training session for some ideas for tricks to teach. In celebration of National Train Your Dog Month I’ll help you troubleshoot any trick you’re teaching for the Tricks Contest through February 15th. Just post your question here, at the Facebook page, or email me.

Coming up: how to know when to lure, when to shape, and when to capture to train a trick.

Tricks Contest: Pick Your Trick

The beauty of training a trick is that you and your dog will get so much out of the attempt, and it is just so much fun, that it almost doesn’t matter which trick you choose. If you need help picking your trick, just post a question here (or email me at barbara @ topnotchdog.com—minus the extra spaces) and I’ll be glad to help. Here are some tips and resources to guide you in your choice:

Tricks will not be judged on their difficulty, so no need to try for something over the top. You only have until February 15th, so try something simpler than having your dog jump through a hoop of flames. Unless, of course, your dog already knows how to jump over fire and through a hula hoop, in which case you could probably combine those for a new trick in time for the contest. Many tricks take just a few days to teach, if you practice in two five-minute segments each day. Keep it simple, keep it fun, and enter the contest to win a free dog training session.

Consider teaching a trick that will help your dog. If your dog is shy, then big, bold tricks are best (like sit up, leap into my arms, high five, nose touch) whereas a very rambunctious dog might do well to learn calming tricks that require focus (like balance dog treat on nose, lie down with chin touching ground, roll over, go lie on your bed).

Consider size. Do you have a small dog or a large dog? It is often easier to teach a small dog to slalom through your legs as you walk than a large one. It can be easier to teach a large dog to shake your hand.

Consider your level of experience. Here are some good tricks to teach if you’ve never taught a dog a trick before:

• nose touch (dog bops your hand with his nose)
• spin (dog makes a tight circle in place, you remain motionless)
• roll over (a classic)
• shake (dog places his paw in your outstretched hand)

For more experienced tricksters:

• sit up/sit pretty
• back up
• weave through my legs as I walk
• hit it (dog whacks or targets something with her paw rather than her nose)

For more advanced trickmeisters:

• schwing! (dog does a complete, tight circle around you, by backing around you from start to finish)
• limp (Some trick humor: A dog walks into a saloon, limping, and announces, “‘I’ve come to find out who shot my paw!”)
• flip (dog stands facing you from a few feet away; on cue the dog whips around 180 degrees in place, then backs all the way through your legs)
• facial expressions on cue (ears or mouth are  good place to start)
• two-dog tricks

Some videos and books to get you started:

The Everything Dog Training and Tricks Book: All you need to turn even the most mischievous pooch into a well-behaved pet (Everything Series) by Gerilyn J. Bielakiewicz

Serious Fun: Play Like a Dog by Sue Sternberg

Agility Tricks for Improved Attention, Flexibility and Confidence by Donna Duford

Mostly more advanced tricks: Kikopup

Remember, you must record your very first training session and the polished trick on cue in order to enter. Coming up: tricks video, different methods for teaching tricks, why the cue is the most important part of the trick, and how tricks can have useful, real-life applications.

The Big Trick Contest

Top Notch Dog Presents…

The National Train Your Dog Month Trick Training Contest!

This contest is going to have one winner, but it will be a group effort to help that person (and dog!) win.

At any time while working on your trick, you may post to the blog and ask for help. I’ll be your virtual coach and help you as you go. You are welcome to upload video to YouTube at that point to show where you are stuck, but it’s not required. There will be a tricks workshop at Top Notch Dog on Wednesday, January 20 at 1:00 if you’d like in-person help or if you wish to enter but don’t have video access (see below).

You will win: one hour of free dog training for you and your dog at Top Notch Dog ($100 value). Two other finalists will receive a book on dog tricks training and a special surprise for their dog. The winner will be chosen when you and everyone else votes on the finalists. It will be *just* like American Idol.

Here’s how it works:
Each contestant will choose a trick to teach their dog. It must be a trick your dog has never before learned. You have one month to teach the trick. It may be very simple or very complex, as tricks will not be judged on their level of difficulty. Over the course of the month, I will post blog entries that provide the following:

• Ideas for tricks to teach
• Different methods of teaching tricks (luring, capturing, shaping)
• Practical uses for tricks in everyday life
• Troubleshooting your challenges as you work on your trick
• Suggestions for books, dvd’s and links to help you choose and teach the trick

Your finished trick must be on cue. Using ‘sit’ as an example, your cue can be a verbal cue (i.e. “sit”) or a hand or body signal (your hand sweeping upward), but your video must show the trick being cued. You must use reward-based methods (so, you would be ineligible if you forced the dog’s butt down to the ground for the ‘sit’). Luring, capturing or shaping are all acceptable methods (more on these later).

To enter: you must video tape the first training session and the finished product and upload your approximately one-minute clip to YouTube. Once the clip is uploaded, send an email to barbara @ topnotchdog.com (minus the spaces) with Tricks Contest in the subject line. Your email must contain the following:

• Your name and your dog’s name and age
• The town in which you live
• The YouTube link showing the first training session and final product
• The goal you would have for your free, one-hour training session if you won

Fine print: the winner’s free training session will be at Top Notch Dog within 3 months of the announcement of the winner. It may be used only for basic manners or more tricks training (no serious behavior problems like aggression). You will be required to sign a standard waiver and info sheet on your dog.

Happy training!

January is National Train Your Dog Month (and how this could affect your dog)

The Association of Pet Dog Trainers has designated January to be National Train Your Dog Month. It is a brand new year…help your dog dog kick that troublesome habit he has! Special events at Top Notch Dog during the month of January include:

Receive 10% off your first training appointment

Win a free training appointment by winning the Trick Training Contest ($100 value, details to follow)

Participate in any of three upcoming workshops at a special rate of $25 (or attend all three for $60):

* Tricks to Calm Your Dog (Wed Jan 20 1:00)

* Say Goodbye to Pulling on Leash (Sat. Jan 23 10:00)

* Teach Your Dog to Come When Called (Mon Jan 25 4:00)

Email barbara@topnotchdog.com to register or find out more. Or call (919) 493-4560. For oodles of dog training tips, see the National Train Your Dog Month website. Enjoy your dog more, starting today. Happy training!

“Don’t worry, he’s friendly!”

“Don’t worry, he’s friendly!” Perhaps you’ve heard that sentence before, or maybe you’ve even uttered those words yourself. They are usually called out by an owner whose dog is off-leash and approaching another dog or dog-person pair.

If you have ever said these words I will now let you in on a little (albeit tough love style) secret: It does not matter if you think your dog is friendly. It doesn’t even matter if he actually is friendly. What matters is that, at best, it is poor doggie etiquette to fail to gain immediate control over your dog (i.e. have him at your side, leashed) as soon as others come into view. At worst, you are making life more difficult for the other person. Many people are afraid of dogs, and, honestly, you are putting them in an awful position by allowing your dog to galavant around them, run towards them, or approach them in any way. If you encounter someone who is with a dog, you should know that, even if your dog is the sweetest dog on earth, and has never fought with another dog, and who in fact has had magical calming effects on every dog he has ever met, you are putting that person’s dog in a very difficult position. Many dogs have a very hard time with other dogs coming up to them, and it is unfair for you to make that dog feel that way, or to potentially sabotage the training the person has invested in getting their dog to be more comfortable with other dogs.

When you call out, “Don’t worry, he’s friendly,” you may be trying to reassure the other person. Your intentions are good, but the effect is the opposite. By calling out reassurances instead of calling and leashing your dog, whether you mean to or not, you are letting the other person know you a) don’t have control over your dog, which is usually a bit nerve-wracking for them; b) you are putting your convenience above how they feel or how their dog feels, which is not a nice thing to do to your fellow human beings or their pooches; and c)  somewhat paradoxically, they may automatically find your dog annoying, which will earn him a bad reputation, despite your belief that he is friendly and a nice dog.

The hard truth is that it doesn’t matter whether or not your dog is friendly. It is simply rude (and likely illegal given leash laws) to fail to gain immediate control over your pooch when you see other passersby. You may be scaring someone and you may be upsetting their dog. Fortunately, there is an easy solution to this problem. If you allow your dog to run off-leash, teach him to come instantly to you, even in the face of distractions. That will immediately put others at ease, show off what great training and control you have, and give the impression that you and your dog are both good community members. There are many effective strategies for improving your dog’s leash manners, too, so that you won’t hesitate to walk him on leash when needed.

With so many people enjoying their dogs on hiking trails, in town, at dog parks, and on suburban walking paths, it is time we all polished up our doggie etiquette. If you don’t know how to train your dog to pass other dogs politely, or how to get him to stay with you when other people pass, do not despair. There is a wonderful new book that will teach you what to do, step-by -step. It is called Out and About with Your Dog: Dog to Dog Interactions On the Street, On the Trails and at the Dog Park by Sue Sternberg. It will teach you how to pass others on a trail, how to recognize doggie communication and play styles, how to recognize dog park habits that we humans have that are helpful (and some that are not), and, I am not making this up, how to teach your dog to ignore other dogs (and how to know whether that is what your dog needs). You’ll also find a cool quiz so you can assess your dog’s behavior, and beautiful color photos throughout.

I wish Santa would put this book in every dog owner’s stocking this year. Then in the new year, as we dog owners pass each other, we will be calling out to each other, “What a wonderful dog you have there!”

The Straight Poop

Coprophagia is the fancy word for poop eating. Another word for it is “yuck,” and when dog owners tell me they have this problem they also mention the words “disgusting” and “unacceptable.” A dog may eat his own feces or that of other dogs, cats, or other creatures. It may start when a dog is a puppy or when he’s much older. In young dogs, the habit is often outgrown; if it comes on suddenly, particularly in an older dog, consult your veterinarian. There is a slight chance it could be related to a nutritional deficiency, parasite problem, or other condition, in which case there are usually other signs present (such as diarrhea). You’ll want to be extra sure your dog is vaccinated against canine viruses and does not suffer from intestinal parasites if he eats the poop of other dogs or animals. This will also help protect you and your kids from contracting any zoonotic diseases (those that can be transmitted from non-human animals to humans).

Veterinarians and behaviorists do not know why some dogs engage in coprophagia. But it’s neither a surprising nor uncommon behavior, given dogs’ history as scavengers. Maybe it just tastes good to some dogs (when you think about it, dogs do plenty of normal things we humans find gross). And some dogs may thrive on the attention the behavior gets them from their owners.

Regardless of the reasons, if you have this problem, you’ll want to intervene promptly since it’s a rewarding behavior to the dog. And the more a behavior is rewarded, the more it will increase in frequency and intensity.

Taste deterrents such as Forbid or Deter seem to have a limited success rate. I’ve never heard of them working, but perhaps that’s because I only get calls about the dogs for whom the products didn’t have any effect.

The first step is to clean up your yard. If there are just a few piles, a pooper scooper will do, as will the ol’ plastic bag used like a glove trick. If you have quite a bit of dog feces in your yard, you may want to consider hiring a professional company to clean things up so you can start fresh. (One company called Doo No More claims to be “#1 in the #2 business.”)

The next step is to escort your dog, on leash, outside to do her business when it is time for her to poop. If you’re not sure when that time is, keep a written log for a few days so you can see trends in what her bowel habits are. If her schedule is very haphazard, it likely means she is fed on too flexible a schedule. Feed your dog, pick up the bowl or food puzzle after 10 minutes, and don’t offer another meal until the next scheduled meal time. This will help your dog eat regularly, and therefore eliminate more regularly.

After your dog poops, the very moment she’s finished (don’t wait for her to turn her head toward her rear end or toward the pile), say “yes!” and offer her a delicious treat that you’ve had ready in your hand. Take a couple of steps away from the pile, rewarding her with another treat or two. Then, keeping the leash short to prevent her diving for the poop, clean it up and dispose of it. Then do a little bit more training with treats, maybe a down or a few tricks. That way, after she poops, her focus will be on you, the training, and the tasty morsels you have. You’ll be substituting a new habit for the old one. It will also give her something mentally stimulating to do (some dogs may eat feces out of boredom). After about 2 weeks, your dog should regularly turn her attention to you after defecating and you won’t need to keep her on the leash each time. Use the treats and occupy her mind for another couple of weeks. Continue indefinitely to clean up after your dog eliminates and keep your yard free of feces.

Finally, consider teaching your dog a cue to “leave it.” If you work up to a high degree of responsiveness to this cue, you can even apply it to food on the coffee table or floor, or to a pile of poop on the ground (works nicely for other icky things found on walks like gum, fast food wrappers, or smelly things your dog may want to roll in or consume). “Leave it” (or excellent responsiveness to being called to you) is a must if your dog eats feces she encounters when off-leash, such as on a walk, hike or visit to a dog park. Until she is very good at that, if you really want her to stop eating stool, you’ll need to keep her on a line when walking, or condition her to being happy about wearing a basket-style muzzle so she won’t inadvertently reward herself.

Breath mint, anyone?

“What if a dog pees on you?”

“What if a dog pees on you?” that is one of the questions an audience member posed to me during the Q&A portion of a presentation I gave yesterday. In fact, all of the audience members, the first graders at Rashkis Elementary School, were attentive and asked me a lot of great questions. I was part of a speaker series featuring community helpers. I described my job by saying that dogs have feelings and thoughts, but they don’t have words; my job is to help people teach dogs some words, and to help people understand better what dogs are trying to say to us. I told them how important it is to be gentle and safe with dogs. For example, they should never touch a dog who is eating out of a bowl, who is lying down, or who has something in his or her mouth. What if the dog has your homework in his mouth? “Ask a grown-up for help.”

We talked about our dogs at home, at our friend’s house, and in our neighborhood, and how to be respectful of dogs so they don’t become frightened or upset, which can lead to a bite. We covered the ABC’s of Dog Safety, and Buddy the Dog helped demonstrate the right way to pet a dog. Several of the children had been previously taught to extend a hand for a dog to sniff.I explained that this is outdated, old-timey advice. And that’s ok, we learn new and better ways to do things all the time. I asked the children if it’s ok to cough into our hands. (You would have thought I had asked them whether it was ok to start a forest fire!) “No!” they exclaimed, and showed me how to cough into my elbow. So I compared that old advice about preventing the spread of germs to the old advice about sticking our hands in a dog’s face. Now we know better; the dog can already smell us, it is better to just stand still, and if the dog approaches us, pet him under the chin or on the chest. If he doesn’t approach, don’t touch.

One little boy asked me, “How do you train a dog?” (Some of the teachers really perked up for that one.) I told him we make a list of all the things the dog really likes. Then we show the dog what we want him to do. When he does what we want, he gets surprised with something he really likes, so that he will soon do the thing we want any time we ask. Buddy demonstrated (sort of, he’s not very bendy) how we would train a dog to sit by rewarding him with a treat. I then asked the little boy what his favorite thing was. “Pepperoni!” was the reply. And then he agreed he would be happy to clean his room if he got pepperoni as a reward for doing so. I can’t help wondering what his parents must have thought when he reported about his day: “The community helper said if I clean my room you will give me pepperoni.” Of course I would not want to bribe a dog to train him; rewards are what effective dog training is all about. But I may have to wait for the kids to hit second grade before I explain the difference.

I think little kids ask the most profound questions. It was so much fun to spend time with all of them, to see their art work on the walls, to hear about their dogs at home, and to think back to how much I enjoyed learning as a kid, and still do every day. I swear I have the best job in the world.

Oh, and if a dog pees on you, you will need a new pair of shoes.

I Hope You’re Sitting Down for This

If you have a dog, you have probably had a furniture issue at some point. Maybe you’ve had trouble keeping your dog off the furniture when you’re using it, keeping him off it when you’re not at home to supervise, teaching him to use only a particular piece of furniture, trying to get him out from under the furniture, or keeping the furniture free of hair, not to mention free of teeth. We like our dogs, we like our furniture, and sometimes these two things together create problems.

In terms of teaching your dog rules about getting on the furniture, you have many choices. I provide a few options below, plus their effects on your furniture. Whichever way you decide to go, your dog will be neither deprived nor ruined. Just be consistent. Regular readers will recognize the recurring theme of preventing dog behavior you don’t want and rewarding behavior you do want:

Allowing your dog access to any piece of furniture, anytime

Training difficulty: Pretty easy to teach once they figure out how comfy it is up there. And no, allowing your dog on the furniture will not make him dominant, homicidal, or spoiled. But if you have a new dog or puppy, I do not recommend starting with this. That’s simply because you don’t know each other yet and you haven’t had the chance to establish any boundaries and rules. To help your dog develop into a polite family member, it is best to make sure your dog listens well, understands boundaries, and has the training and self-control skills that are important to you. Once that’s established, you’ll be able to make more places and activities available. I also recommend teaching a simple cue to get your dog off the furniture in case your Aunt Betty would like to have a seat. To teach that, say your cue word like “off,” then pat your leg to encourage your dog down. If he’s reluctant, say the cue then bowl a dog biscuit away from the couch. He’ll soon respond to the cue and hand motion that went with bowling the treat.

Keep in mind: If your dog growls or otherwise threatens people when he’s on the couch or bed, he is not a good candidate for this option. He is likely guarding the bed or anticipating being touched. Get professional help with any underlying pain or anxiety.

Furniture consequences: Hair, drool, claw marks, hair, odor, hair. Use a throw blanket that you can launder and easily remove when you have guests.

Keeping your dog off your furniture, all the time

Training difficulty: This is the second easiest option to teach, because it is one of the least confusing (“never” is pretty straight-forward!). If you have a dog with back pain or who is recovering from surgery, your veterinarian may tell you furniture is off-limits to your dog.

The idea here is to a) prevent furniture climbing and b) reward lying elsewhere (like the floor or a dog bed). It is incredibly useful to have an exercise pen handy for this. I find it speeds the transition for a new puppy or dog tremendously. Even if you don’t have an x-pen (as they are called for short), make sure your pooch has a chewy down on the floor before he is tempted to get on the couch. If he likes to lie down on a very soft surface, provide him a cushy dog bed so the couch won’t tempt him as much. Initially you can tether him to a heavy piece of furniture within range of the dog bed (provided you’ll be present). If you do this whenever you are seated on the sofa, at the computer, or at the table, you will condition him to occupy himself quietly at those times. If you are consistent, it will become a habit for him.

To prevent him from leaping onto the sofa when you first enter the room, have him drag a lightweight line or light leash for a week or so. Be ready to step on the line to prevent him bolting for the couch, and then direct him to his bed or place near the couch he can work on his chew toy.

If you are already seated and he enters the living room, be ready; don’t wait to see what he’s going to do next. Call him to you with a treat held down near the floor. You can also teach him to nose touch—-ask him to do that before he has a chance to consider the couch. Try having your dog do a couple of sits and downs to help him get the ants out of his pants before encouraging him onto his dog bed and tethering with a chewy. You can also imagine you are a soccer goalie, and physically block the couch with your body. Slide or move left and right if your dog tries to get by you (no need to say anything, it will just distract him). Many dogs get the message after a few attempts and decide it’s less trouble just to lie beside the couch.

During the training process, which depending on the dog might be a couple of weeks or less, prevent access to the furniture when you can’t supervise. Crate your dog, close the living room door, or use baby gates to prevent access.

Furniture consequences: Your guests will hardly know you have a dog.

Allowing your dog one piece of furniture

Training difficulty:  This is the trickiest option to teach. Follow the guidelines for never being allowed on the furniture, but with the following exception: Teach your dog to ask for permission to get up on the allowed piece of furniture. Have him sit, and release with “Ok!” as you pat the sofa. Just to keep things clear (which always smoothes the training process) make sure he never gets on the designated couch or chair without permission at first. Self-control and manners first, then furniture time.

Furniture consequences: Most of your furniture will be hairless, except of course for the chair he’s allowed up on. Consider using metal cookie trays spread out on the off-limits pieces in your absence (store them under the cushions) until he’s in the habit of using only the chair you’ve selected.

I don’t recommend booby-trapping furniture. I know of dogs who have become wary of the entire living room as a result, or fearful of whomever was standing nearby when they were spooked, which are much bigger problems than a little dog hair. Just use a throw blanket and call it a day.