Nov 22, 2009    By Dr. Sophia Yin

When we last left off, I’d dropped Lucy, the 8 week old Australian Cattledog with my parents after taking a week to train her through the puppy learn to earn program at my house. Before I brought her down, she seemed virtually perfect. She would automatically sit to be petted, to get her leash on, to go out the door, to have her toy tossed, and even when she greeted guests, including young toddlers. She could fetch and would chew on appropriate toys. And she could walk on leash in heel position and come when called even away from playing with other puppies.

Then I brought her to my Dad, with the hopes that if my parents could just continue to reward the behaviors I had just trained she’d be almost as well-behaved for them. It sounded so simple, until on day one at their house she immediately decided, they didn’t exist. They were far too slow to deliver the treat while she was behaving or sitting and looking at them, so she’d immediately run off and do something else. Luckily, the Puppy Learn to Earn program starts with the puppy on leash at all times when the owners are home so she had to stick near my dad thus giving him a better chance to reward good behavior. After a full day attached to him earning her meal throughout the day, Lucy finally started sitting and looking at him. They finally started bonding. And it was a good thing since I would be unable to return to check their progress for several weeks.

Hints of Lucy’s Bad Behavior

In the weeks that I was away, it was clear my dad and Lucy were bonding. “Lucy licks me when I carry her,” or “Lucy’s doing better at sitting for us,” he would report.

But then came the email reports from my mom when I was traveling several days later. “She’s still pottying in the house, what should we do?” “Lucy’s chewing on our arm, how come?”  ” She keeps grabbing her leash on walks. How do we stop that?” Now these seem like typical questions anyone might have, but that would be people who’s did not already have a 35-page 100-photo book specifically detailing how their puppy had been trained. So my answers included statements, such as ” Did you read and look at the photos on pages 1-8 on how to potty train Lucy, or p 19 on nipping? Or watch the instructional videos I sent on how to perform the exercises?”

Even though my dad doesn’t like to read in English, I had hoped he would at least look at the photos. Yeah, right.

Anyway, based on their reports, when I finally visited them about two weeks after I’d last seen her I wasn’t surprised by her bad behavior. On a positive note, my parents had walked her twice a day through the neighborhoods of San Francisco where she’s greeted many people and received treats for sitting. So she was much more comfortable around cars, buses, individual and crowds of people, as well as fire engines, dump trucks and the other city sounds that and sights that could scare dogs who didn’t get such experiences before 12 weeks of age.  On the other hand two weeks ago we had a sweet puppy who sat for petting, treats, to be greeted, to get leash on and on walks whenever we stopped, now Lucy was a jumping maniac. That in itself wasn’t that bad, nor was the fact that she was still an angel when I walked her on leash but a little monster when my dad tried. She would stop and grabs leaves or lunge randomly in different directions or grab the leash and play tug. What was really bad was the things she learned in her puppy class. I saw them first hand when I went.

Lucy’s Bad Puppy Class

Puppy socialization class started as close to 8 weeks of age as possible is supposed to solve or prevent a number of problem issues from developing in puppies. In class, owners should practice handling their puppies and teaching their puppies that remaining calm to have their feet, ears, tail, mouth examined is good. Puppies should also learn how to play nicely with other puppies and dogs, that humans in general are safe and friendly, and that even in the high excitement environment of a class with other puppies and people, they should be able to calm down and focus on their owners.

That’s in theory what puppies are supposed to learn, but what Lucy learned was exactly the opposite. In the class, the instructor started with handling exercises. Lucy’s breeder had started these during Lucy’s first weeks, so Lucy had been good with me, all of my student volunteers, and my parents from day 1. But during class, the problem was that she wanted to play with the puppies so she was struggling and more agitated overall and my parents didn’t know how to hold her to prevent this. You’d think I would jump in and help, but not wanting to miss the educational opportunity or to interfere in the instructor’s class, I just videotaped the evidence as the bad behavior played out.

First Lucy just struggled in short bursts. But next thing she was growling. The room was fairly quiet with everyone sitting in a circle, so the growling was like a megaphone to me. The instructor seemed oblivious. I asked her what she wanted my parents to do in this type of situation. Her answer told me she hadn’t been watching. She started explaining how to reward Lucy for allowing her feet to be handled when the actual problem was that my parents had not been holding Lucy effectively. (Note: I know this because I had spent the previous year writing a photoillustrated book and DVD called Low Stress Handling, Restraint and Behavior Modification of Dogs and Cats. This involved videotaping and analyzing exactly what technicians, veterinarians and other animal healthcare staff were doing right and wrong when handling animals. And then photographing both correct and incorrect techniques. The book has 1600 color photos).

Not that her instruction was wrong. My parents were actually doing the desensitization and counterconditioning incorrectly. They were randomly giving treats and handling her feet, rather than giving treat at the same time or within a split second of handing the feet so that Lucy could make the connection. The funny thing was that they looked so happy when they were doing it, even when Lucy was struggling and growling. So as I looked through the video camera lens in horror, they were enjoying their just enjoying their new puppy.

I watched as the instructor patiently explained and demonstrated the correct method of feeling the feet and then rewarding for good behavior with a treat. The problem is that after the first few times, her technique changed. She would feel the feet and sometime take over 3 seconds to follow with a treat making it difficult for Lucy to associate the reward with the foot handling. Then, not surprisingly, as soon as the instructor walked away, my parents went back handling Lucy’s feet or mouth and randomly giving her treats, as they had been before. So they clearly hadn’t understood what the instructor had told them. Mental note to self: Have hidden video of participants in my own dog classes to see how frequently this happens. Luckily in my classes I have one assistant per every 2-3 participants.

Next, it was time for puppy play session. The instructor had us let the puppies loose, all 8 at one time and now I understood why Lucy’s behavior was so bad. In my puppy classes I tend to only let two or three puppies off leash at a time while dragging a leash, and I match the puppies based on personality and play style. These puppies only get to play this way after they can focus well on their owners when around the other puppies. Otherwise the puppies will just learn how to blow their owners off.

And ignoring people is exactly what Lucy learned. She’d run and jump on a puppy and wrestle for up to 30 seconds and the run and jump on another. She raced back and forth as the other owners laughed, “Lucy’s the fastest one.” Personally, when everyone in the class is at a consensus that one puppy is the wildest one and that puppies owners are also the oldest senior citizens in the class, that raises a huge red flag. These owners will need lots of one-on-one  help if they plan to keep the puppy in their family for a long time or to raise a canine good citizen instead of doggie juvenile delinquent.

Next the instructor started the exercise called “Catch the puppy,” where people would grab a puppies collar and then give them a treat. The goal is that the puppy learns that it’s good to be grabbed by the collar. The problem is that for puppies to make the connection for sure, it’s best to grab their collar and follow with a treat 5-10x in a row and in multiple sessions until the puppy actively look to you for a treats whenever his collar is grabbed. What Lucy was learning was that she didn’t like having her collar grabbed, it meant she wouldn’t get to play. This learning was clear, later in the class when the instructor was stepping on the leash I’d put on Lucy so that she could observe Lucy better. A puppy owner went to grab Lucy’s collar and Lucy turned, flashed her teeth, and growled. The instructor didn’t notice. So much for observing her better.

This collar grabbing technique became even less likely to effective when the instructor stated, “Now when you grab the puppy, have him sit, and then lie down and then stand.” Now all of a sudden the room was filled with demands of  “sit, sit, sit, sit…” Then when a puppy owner caught Lucy and Lucy was too interested in other dogs to pay attention to the treat, the instructor instructed, “First tell her to sit.” By then Lucy, who knows to automatically sit when she can’t get what she wants, was sitting. Regardless, the instructor repeated, “tell her to sit.” So the puppy owner said “sit” to Lucy who was already sitting, and then gave her a treat. Now, not only was Lucy learning that collar grab means cessation of play, but she was learning her cue to sit (or to not sit in cases where she was too distracted to sit) was “sit, sit sit sit sit.” Unfortunately, I didn’t get this on tape.

The rest of the class Lucy’s behavior continued to deteriorated. She became more and more aroused around the other puppies. She was happy to be the puppy on the bottom of the pile and play on her back, but she pounced on the puppies the way football player pounce on a fumbled football. She could not focus on me or my parents or hold still-especially since even when she was being held by her collar, other puppies might still be running around and jumping on her.

So, in just 2 puppy classes and a little over two weeks with my parents, she’d turned from a calm, sweet, polite puppy, to a puppy with impulse control and the start of aggression issues.

Effects Extend Beyond Class

Needless to say, I took her out of the class and took her back with me to work with her more. Once at my house, I was able to confirm that my worries were correct. Now when Jonesy, my Jack Russell Terrier, growled at Lucy to get her to back off, she would leap on him more excitedly instead of backing down to the more mature dog like she had two weeks ago. This behavior was repeated with two other test dogs similar in size. They grew tired of her repeated attempts to play roughly with them and when they voiced their opinions with growls, she escalated by growling and lunging more. In other words, she was learning, harass other dogs at will and then get into a fight when they growl at you. And she was only just over 10 weeks at this point in time. On to of this, if there was a dog in the same room or within 15 feet of her she had to lunge to try to get at it whereas before she could easily focus on me and even come when called away from puppy play.

With all that had gone wrong in just two puppy classes and a little over two weeks, I wondered, now how long would it take to retrain the bad behavior out of her and reestablish the good behavior from that first week? And once that was established how long would I need to train her before the good behavior could become a habit? Find out in the upcoming blogs.

I can say this, as a result of her bad behavior, I added about 150 more pages and hundreds more photos to the Lucy’s training manual book.

By Sophia Yin, DVM, MS  September 14, 2009

It takes about 5 minutes to train a puppy to learn most new behaviors but how long does it take for that behavior to become a habit? When I started training Lucy, my Dad’s  8 week old Australian Cattledog I was hoping that not long. By then I had been training her for a week through the puppy learn to earn program (a.k.a. Creating the Perfect Pup in 7 Days)  and she seemed virtually perfect. She would automatically sit to get petted, to get her leash on, to go out the door and come back in, and even when she greeted guests, including a young child. And she could walk on leash and come when called even when playing with other puppies.

The idea was, that I would teach her as many of the behaviors and skills she would need as an adult in the first week I had her and before she had to time to learn all kinds of bad stuff. Now the question was, would she behave well for my parents too when I brought her home for the first time to see them? She was good for the all the guests and students that I had interact with her. So I was hopeful that summer day when I brought her home.

Of course the wrench in the plan was that my parents are elderly. My dad is 81 and my mom, though younger, has bad knees. And although they’ve owned dogs for over 25 years, like most long-time dog owners, they are not dog training experts.

Lucy Arrives at Her New Home

As I lifted Lucy out of the car outside my parent’s house and into her new surroundings I was happy that she was immediately interested in exploring. She was used to the suburbs and now she was in San Francisco, a busy city. The sounds and traffic didn’t phase her. But once in their house when my parents first tried to get her to pay attention to them, I knew I was immediately in trouble. At my house, she would automatically sit when you made a smooching sound to get her attention. At my parent’s house, as I instructed my dad how to get her attention and reward her for sitting, she acted like they were invisible. Instead, she lunged towards the roses or grabbed twigs off the ground. Then when she did sit and look at my dad, by the time he started delivering the treat to her (kibble from her meal and treats) she was off doing something else. Or when she sat, he’d get the treat down to her level, but it was 2 feet away from her face. She’d remain seated as if puzzled then shrug her puppy shoulders and walk off.

At this point, I realize that due to my parents’ age, coordination, and ability to learn the exercises, I’m probably going to need to train Lucy for more than a week. Yes, it turns out that senior citizens generally move more slowly than the average adult. And in my experience most middle-aged adults need training on delivering the food or other rewards quickly enough to reward the correct behavior and make the interactions fun. Furthermore I quickly learned that my Dad just did not have the attention span of one of may regular behavior consult clients.  I had written a 32 page photo illustrated book of all of the learn to earn exercises I had trained Lucy to perform and I envisioned teaching my parents how to perform at least half of them during the next 2 days. After working on just one, treat delivery speed and rewarding her when sitting, I could tell, what I really needed was 30 sequential days. Two days per exercise.  Realistically, that wasn’t going to happen since I live nearly 100 miles away.

Will My Dad Bond to His New Dog

I wondered if my dad, who had practically forced me to get this puppy for him, would bond to her. She wasn’t like his last Australian Cattledog, Roody. In her new environment she was more of the typical rowdy, energetic Cattledog. The type that grows up and gets in trouble from bad habits down the road.

But my dad, who’d been waiting all week for me to deliver Lucy to him, wasn’t about to give up. My instructions were that my parents were to have Lucy on leash at all times when she was out of her crate and that she work for every single kibble of her breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout the day by sitting. The only other way she could earn kibble was if they uttered her name and immediately gave her a treat so that she would learn that her name meant that she should look towards them for something good to happen.

On day two as I left for work, Lucy was still focused on me and happy to be petted by my parents, but not on sitting in a focused manner for them. I wondered if I would be taking her back with me when I left the next day or whether my dad would have the patience to keep at it in spite of the early disappointment. To my delight, when I got home after work, my dad reported proudly, “Lucy’s much better. Now she’s sitting for me.” And when I watched she was. She was also sometimes jumping on him because he sometimes held the treat too high or rewarded her too late. But at least she was focusing on him.

Lucy’s Fate?

That night, I left, hopeful that they would read the instructional manual I’d made for them since I wouldn’t be able to return for over 2 weeks. Clearly one week hadn’t been enough to form a habit for Lucy, but hopefully if they performed the exercises correctly at least 50 or 60% of the time her earlier training would kick in. And more importantly, hopefully my dad would get her out for the all-important socialization since she was still in her prime socialization period.  She was already enrolled in puppy socialization class.

With steady training she would become a part of his household, rather than developing the serious behavior issues that dogs with the Australian Cattledog reputation can pick up. Because as much as I like Lucy, I had bought Lucy for my dad, and I didn’t want her to become my permanent pet.

To see the puppy learn to earn program that Lucy went through, and the instructions for my dad go to: http://www.askdryin.com/dog_articles.php and select the article at the top. This will be up temporarily.

To see video of day 1 training go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN6FzBmy2YM.

By Sophia Yin, DVM, MS   August 7, 2009

For anyone watching, you’ve probably noticed some blog silence on my part. No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth; rather, I bought my dad a puppy, which means that, although it’s his, I’m quite busy. Busier than he is, in fact.

If you’d asked me a year ago what I’d be doing this summer, I guarantee I would not have guessed I’d be training a pup for my dad. But about 6 months ago, I had some premonitions that this might be coming up.

First, my parents’ Scottie, Meggie, had gotten lymphosarcoma of the spleen. She then had a splenectomy and for several months seemed perfectly healthy, but the initial scare put the idea in my dad’s head. When I would visit my parents—they live nearly 100 miles away—with my JRT, Jonesy, my dad would slip in statements like, “Let me have Jonesy.” Or “Jonesy’s mine.”

Ok anyone who knows Jonesy, the $300,000 dog, knows that the only way he would live with someone else would be over my dead body. He’s known as the $300,000 dog to some because of the number of hours of training I’ve put into him, just so that he can function like a well-behaved dog in day-to-day life. And anyone—like training assistants— who’s actually worked with Jonesy the first 1.5 years I had him has decided they will never get a JRT.

Now fast-forward several months. We eventually had to put poor Meggie to sleep at 13 years of age. Her lymphosarcoma had come back. Not a week had gone by and my dad was demanding, “Get me an Australian Cattledog. One just like Roody.”  Why an ACD—a breed known for aggression? My veterinary friend who worked in Australia once told me, “When you drive to a farm never get out of the car if there’s a goose or an Australian Cattledog. It’s not safe.”

Because 20 years ago, when I didn’t know any better, I’d bought him an Australian cattledog puppy that we named Roody. According to my Dad, Roody was the perfect dog. Like a canine

combination of Einstein and Ghandi. I have to admit that Roody was a fantastic dog. He always stuck close to us starting at 12 weeks of age, was magically calm as a puppy—no mouthing or incessant playing—and he practically self-potty trained. And he was extremely eager, which made him appear pretty smart. But what my dad forgets is that he used to bark ballistically when people or dogs approached the car and snapped at dogs that came close—at least until I got to keep Roody permanently during the last quarter of his life from 13-17 years of age. Once I had him regularly, it was pretty easy to countercondition him so that he was happy to be around dogs and quiet when people or dogs approached the car.

And I remember when my roommate in veterinary school borrowed Roody for the UC Davis Picnic Day Parade to walk alongside our class’s float. Although Roody, then about 2 years of age, knew how to heel nicely for me, without consistent training from my parents, he walked in 5 directions at once like a bouncing Kong toy. So I’m not the only one who remembers Roody’s flaws. My veterinary school roommate can vouch for me. And then there was the description a friend of my parents and mine said when referring to Roody’s rude treat-grabbing skills trained by my dad, “Everyone knows, when giving treats to Roody, he gets the whole beef jerky.”

Of course, there was no way my dad would listen to me or my mom warning him that another cattledog wouldn’t be just like Roody and that Roody wasn’t as perfect as he remembered. I’d even owned a second Australian cattledog, Zoe, who was clearly very different from Roody. She was great with people and dogs, for one. But my dad had only Roody in his mind when he thought Australian Cattledog.

I knew that at 81 years of age, my dad wasn’t about to change his mind or ways. Either I was going to get him a cattledog or I’m sure he was going to get one on a whim himself. He wanted a catttledog and he wanted one now.

So, I and my assistant Melissa perused the web for available Australian cattledogs, assuming I wouldn’t find one that looked just like Roody for months. And then out of the blue, hey, there was one available nearby. She was the only one available in her litter, her parents were OFA certified fair or good, tested for PRA and her photo posted on the web page looked close enough to Roody to be acceptable to my dad. But even more important to me, when I visited, was her behavioral health. Her parents were both friendly to humans—no crazy nipping at heals or defensive postures. And she, as well as all of the other puppies, was outgoing and friendly. They immediately ran over to be petted and followed us around as we walked around the pasture. And she was also good with the test dog I brought for her to greet. So I got her.

In fact, I got her several days before my dad knew so that I would have several extra days to start training her without listening to his incessant nagging to drop everything I was doing and bring the puppy to him. My goal was to start her socialization to people and dogs and to train her through the puppy learn to earn program in a week so that she would already have good habits before my dad got her. That way he’d have less of a chance to mess her up.

I have to admit, I was not looking forward to having a pup, dealing with potty training, and the business of a pup. But it turned out that in her first week Lucy—that’s the name my Dad gave to her even before I had purchased her—was perfect. By the end of the week, she was automatically sitting to greet people, go in and out of the house, to get her leash on, and basically every time she wanted something from me or we were walking and I stopped. She met about 10 dogs and played nicely but also came when called. And she loved all people she met.

I couldn’t believe my luck. Of course Melissa, who fosters puppies and adult dogs all the time said, no, Lucy wasn’t better than a normal pup. She was just good from the

training and I thought she was great because I like Australian cattleodogs.

So about a week after I had adopted Lucy, I brought her to my dad. How did she do with him? Well, let me give you a hint… She’s back with me for training. But wait. It may not be for reasons that you’d exactly expect. So to find out what happened next stay tuned for updates.

To see the puppy learn to earn program that Lucy went through, and the instructions for my dad go to: http://www.askdryin.com/dog_articles.php and select the article at the top. This will be up temporarily.

To see video of day 1 training go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN6FzBmy2YM.