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By Suzanne Clothier Note: This is an abbreviated version of He Just Wants to Say HI! Please see the full length version for more complete information. Sitting quietly on the mall bench beside my husband, I was minding my own business when the man approached. I glanced up as the man sat next to me. He was a bit close for my comfort, so I edged a little closer to my husband who, busy reading a book, ignored me. Still feeling a bit uncomfortable with the strange man so close, I then turned my head slightly away from him, politely indicating I was not interested in any interaction. To my horror, the man leaned over me and began licking my neck while rudely groping me. When I screamed and pushed him away, my trouble really began. My husband angrily threw me to the ground, yelling at me "Why did you do that? He was only trying to be friendly and say hi! What a touchy bitch you are! You're going to have to learn to behave better in public." People all around us stared and...

Recently, I overheard someone call their dog over to them, and then heard them proceed to punish the dog for something it had done a few seconds beforehand. What do you think the dog actually learned? Did it learn not to do that thing it was being punished for? NO! It learned NOT to come when it's called! Think about the steps that went into training this dog NOT to come when it's called: The dog did a bad thing. It's master says "come Fido" Fido dutifully obeys, coming over to it's owner. Fido gets smacked (this is how this particular dog was punished, more on this later). Fido learns that when he hears "come Fido", if he goes to his owner, he'll get punished. Oy. When disciplining (verbally, PLEASE!) bad behavior, you must think like a dog. Dogs are very linear. If they do some thing, and something good happens, they'll do that thing again. If they do some thing, and something bad happens, they will NOT do that thing again. You cannot dis...

I just received some really great comments from Willie and Frankie's breeder on this article: Is Spot Happy? Just Look At His Tail Thought I'd post her comments below. By the way, you know I can find anything on the web. so here's the link to the actual study paper. Ha! ===================== As someone who has worked with dog training, dog and pack behavior as well as spending a lot of time rehabilitating abused dogs the majority of my entire life, and professionally as a young adult up until now, (I'm 42, started at my grandfather's AKC CH Beagel Kennel when I was 8) that's 36 years of multiple breed training, redcue and rehabilitation, competition, and breeding Labrador Retrievers...always learning new thing along the way. In addition to certifications acheieved, etc...now in my older years, I am still a very small-time breeder, having cut down on my kennel size, and I am ANAL when it comes to morals, ethics, education, and plain old common s...

I know this is old, but I found this document hiding on my computer. This is an "official" report given to us by our SWAT friend who assisted us in training Frankie. It's so official, it's cute! ------------------------------------------- FRANKIE 8-18-04 Frankie was taken to different venues in a crate to expose him to its use. It will serve to queue him he is “working” with me when he is placed in it. Walmart Frankie was taken to Walmart and exposed to plants in the Garden area. Short down-stays were done with me frequently going out of sight for a duration lasting 20-30 seconds. Frankie was downed in an aisle while I “shopped” and dropped items above me to the floor near him to test his reaction. He did not start in fear, just looked at the items with curiosity. Again, down-stays were conducted as I shopped. I went out of sight to another aisle several times. I was out of sight for up to 30 seconds. He maintained his down with no breaks noted. Frankie was do...

This weekend was a monumental weekend. We learned two important things about Frankie. On Saturday, we finally tested Frankie to see if these last six months (yes, SIX months!) of Bonding With Mommie have paid off. For those of you following this saga, you'll remember that I've been sleeping in our guest bedroom with Frankie. Just the two of us. Also, I've been the only human member of our family interacting with Frankie. And I've been the only one training Frankie. Did I mention that I've been sleeping in another room, just me and Frankie, for SIX MONTHS! Long time. Back to Saturday. This was deemed to be the day we tested Frankie to see if this long bonding process had been successful. Me, the Hubby, and Frankie went shopping. The test was to see if Frankie would be distracted by the Hubby, if Frankie would maintain his focus on me when the Hubby left us, and if he would still pay attention to me when the Hubby came back to where we were. Frankie passed wi...

Gad, I love Cesar Millan. You know, The Dog Whisperer dude? His show is on The National Geographic channel. Almost worth upgrading your cable package just so you can watch his show. He uses the same types of training methods I use and the same tools. He's not a proponent of Clicker Training (a.k.a. operant conditioning or as I call it... The Pavlovian Training Method). He uses prong or slip collars where appropriate, and he uses pack discipline. I like him because he's all about pack behavior and the humans role in it. It's fun to watch the looks on his client's faces when he tells them that it's not the dogs fault, it's theirs. Fun stuff!

I was ready. I thought he was ready. But I was wrong. There, I just admitted in writing that I was wrong. Make a note. Frankie has been doing very well lately with his training. And it appeared that the bonding process was also going well. He still pays some attention to Rick, but the majority of his attention goes to me. The hubby has been off work for the past week or so. These past few days we've gone out, but I've haven't been feeling well enough to shop, so I've stayed in the truck. I decided those times we went out to take Frankie. Even though I didn't need him to work, I kind of wanted to show off Frankie's excellent behavior in the vehicle. The hubby hadn't had the proper tools to do this training (remote shock collars rule!), so when Frankie was transferred over to me, this was one of the first areas I started working on. I demand Civil Car Behavior from my dogs. Well, on these outings, Frankie's Car Behavior was spot-on. The hubby was...

QUESTION : LL wrote - ok...so you know how I was litter training jack...well I didn't like that cause the litter is messy, jack liked to chew the litter, and also he missed his box a LOT not even realizing it. So I switched to like a glorified pee pad thing (basically a pee pad holder)...better on clean, but the problem of him missing is still there. So then I decided to just train him to go outside, and he can go inside if needed. To do this, I figure I need to start over basically, and slowly remove the glorified pee pad all together from his options at first, b/c he would never learn how to tell me he needs to go outside. Problem : he has had more accidents in the house lately than he has had even when he was 12 weeks old!!! This has become an ISSUE, or at least is becoming one. He peed TWICE inside today right in front of me, once ON the couch, and once on the living room floor. Since he is old enough to hold it, I am just not sure how to decipline him. He knows abou...

I worked Frankie again today. We went to HEB ( The H.E.B. for those in Texas) to get some fruit and stuff. He was pretty good with distractions and has a very nice down stay. But, damn, he's fast! I describe him as being like a fast car with no steering or brakes. When he's really focused on pulling and he feels the pressure on his harness, he just wants to go faster! Fast does have it's place. I know he'll have no trouble pulling me up ramps and such. But slow is needed too, like when we're careening around a corner and there's an end-cap display of pickles. In glass jars. Stacked in a pyramid. Are you picturing pickle juice all over the place? Do you know how hard it is to get rid of pickle smell? If you were to go back into that HEB in 2 weeks, would you still smell pickles? I think YES. This didn't happen to me, but I'm just sayin'.... ya never know!

When I took Frankie out to work yesterday, I did some socializing along with the exposure work. It actually happened accidentally... I wasn't planning on allowing petting, especially since he's been weaned off it for a long time now. He's gotten more like Willie where he doesn't look for petting and if he does get pet, he just sits there. Doesn't lean into a nice ear scratch, doesn't pant or wag his tail like a maniac... just sits there. And that's the way I like it. Yesterday, when I was in the reptile store, a little boy came up behind us with his dad and just started petting. Frankie just sat there. Then another little boy with his dad approached us from the front and that little boy started petting. Then the Dad-Without-A-Clue says: "Is it OK if he pets your dog?" I say (looking into both little boy's eyes): "It's OK, but you should always ask first before petting a strange dog." The Dad-Without-A-Clue says: ...

Today was the first time I've ever "worked" Frankie alone. By myself... no Rick, no Willie. And it was pretty good! I put the word "worked" in quotes because Frankie's still in training and it shows. He still lacks those little nuances that Willie has. Here's a few things he still needs to get: Slowing down the pace inside a crowded store. He still tries to go at break neck speed, and it's my neck that's gonna break! Anticipating turns. Not sure if this is a mind-meld thing I have with Willie, or if he feels when I'm starting to lean into a turn. Since I know Frankie doesn't have this skill yet, I try to give him ample prep time to do a turn so he doesn't get his footsies run over. Relaxing on a down/stay. Frankie's down looks like a cheetah ready to pounce. He's laying down, but his belly isn't touching the ground. It takes him quite a while to relax completely. Settling down in the car. Frankie is still st...

Yesterday, the hubby and I worked both doggies. I worked Willie for the start of the outing, and then decided to give Frankie a try since he had done so well a few weeks ago (see here ). Frankie always starts out pulling like he's going to a fire. But then he finds his rhythm and pulls at a slower pace. Unfortunately, his "slower pace" is pretty dern fast! When we got home, I undressed Willie and Rick undressed Frankie. We both have our undressing rituals: after I undress Willie, I say "thank you for helping me" over and over and he rubs on my legs like a kitty cat. An 80 pound kitty cat! Rick undresses Frankie and then says "give me a hug". Tall Frankie jumps up and puts his arms on Rick's shoulders and they hug. Well, when we got home yesterday, Rick said "give me a hug"... Frankie ran over to me, jumped up and hugged me!!! That was a first! I guess he remembered that he worked for me and wanted to give me some lovin'. ...