High-rise Living with a Reactive Dog

I remember when I first got Capone - or rather, once he had settled in and started becoming reactive, I had thoughts like, "I can't do this", "I'm going to have to move", "How will my dog ever improve under these conditions?", "The stress is too much for both of us". But we have been successfully living in a high-rise apartment for three years now and not only have we had no complaints or incidents, Capone's reactivity has decreased dramatically. As such, I thought I would share some tips that others in a similar situation might find useful.

Equipment

While there is no magic tool that will fix your problem, having the proper equipment can definitely make things easier and safer. I tried a few different options and here is what I landed on:

1. Gentle Leader Head Halter

These things are fantastic! Having control of your dog's head, especially when living in close quarters with their triggers is invaluable. Note that this is a tool that requires some training as most dog's won't tolerate it just being slapped on their face. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wakterNyUg

2. Hand-held Leash Attached to the Gentle Leader

I use a padded Kong leash with 2 hand loops - one at the end of the leash and one close to the dog so that I can easily adjust the length as needed.

3. Collar or Body Harness

Which you choose will be based on your personal preference and the needs of your dog. I started out with a martingale collar when Capone was a new rescue and flight risk, then moved on to the 2 Hounds Design Freedom No-Pull harness (they can be purchased on Amazon), and have since switched to a flat collar as Capone typically walks without putting too much pressure on his neck.

4. Hands-free Leash Attached to the Collar or Harness

I love the security that these provide! Smoochy Poochy makes a great leash that goes around your waist. Even if you are caught off guard or accidentally drop the hand-held leash, your dog is not going anywhere. It also allows you to focus more on timely treat delivery and less on keeping your dog safely restrained.

5. Treat Pouch

Get one that you can wear on your waist and make sure it's big enough that you can easily fit your hand in to grab treats.

6. High Value Treats

No kibble here! Think soft, delicious, small and easy to eat. Meatballs, bits of cooked chicken, cheese, or slice and dice some Rollover from the pet store. A must on every outing.

7. Muzzle

I personally only put a muzzle on Capone when we are going to areas with greater risk of being approached by off-leash dogs such as parks or conservation areas but be realistic about your dog's limitations and train them to wear a muzzle if you think that they need one. A basket muzzle such as the Baskerville will still enable your dog to pant and receive treats.

Arousal Level

Is your dog amped up before you even leave your unit? Getting calm behaviour every step of the way can really set them up for success when the unexpected happens.

Avoid contributing to their over-arousal by asking questions like, "Wanna go for a walk?!" Trust me, once you grab that leash they know what is happening, there is no need to say anything at all.

Check-Points

I implement check-points to monitor my dog's arousal level and help keep him below threshold. These might include:

• Calm for having leashes put on

• Calm exit through doors (Have dog offer check-in and only exit upon your release cue)

• Calm entry into elevator upon your say so

• Calm exit from elevator when released to do so. These controlled exits will enable you to make sure that the coast is clear before proceeding instead of reacting after the fact

• Walk side-by-side through the lobby for treats. Make it a habit even when there are no triggers present - this will set you up for success when there are

• Calm exit from building. Wait for a quick check-in from your dog and then release with "Let's go". Treat your dog upon exit so that they learn to focus on you instead of exiting 'guns-a-blazing'

• If at any point my dog can't look at me or won't take the food, I know he's not ready to move on to the next point yet. Continuing on regardless can result in a snowball effect, decreasing our chances of a successful outcome if a trigger shows up, and increasing not only the intensity of my dog's reaction but also his recovery time
  

Positioning

I am constantly positioning myself between my dog and any potential danger spots and allowing for as much distance as possible from any surprises. If you have been living with your reactive dog in a building for a while you have likely already identified most of these.

I move well away from elevator doors while waiting, and I use my body as a block. When in the elevator, Capone is tucked into the corner in a sitting position and I stand directly in front of him. If people enter, he gets treats, and he is fine with that now. Other dogs can't ride in the elevator with us as he still wouldn't be able to handle that proximity but if the door opens and there's a dog there, I simply make my apologies while shoving food in Capone's face and our neighbours respect his need for space.

Practice Drills

Once you have identified those danger areas and situations, how are you going to handle surprises when they happen? Rather than leave it to chance and panic in the moment, make a plan and practice randomly when you don't need it. A big one for us was dogs entering the lobby while we were waiting there - either from an elevator or an exit door. "Hurry! Hurry!" means we run behind the elevators or out the side door and Capone gets lots of treats for running with me. Be sure to encourage your dog along with you rather than pulling them when practicing, we want this to be seen as a fun game with a big reward at the end, not one where they get yanked around. With enough practice, it should become much easier to get your dog out of sticky situations in a hurry.

Walk Schedule / Frequency

Especially in the beginning, walks were very stressful for both of us. Consider walking at off-peak times if possible or even decreasing your number of walks per day. I reduced our walk frequency from three walks per day to two. Capone didn't miss that last pee break at all and we were both able to fully relax after our early evening walk. You might consider a grass pad for the balcony if needed and alternate forms of enrichment that you can implement inside if your dog is higher energy or gets bored easily.

Communication with Neighbours

I started a group chat on Facebook Messenger with a few of the other dog owners in my building. Initially I just wanted to give them a heads up when I was heading out with Capone as he is big and strong and was quite loud and scary. Not only did they appreciate the heads up, they started notifying me when they were heading out with their dogs and now it's gotten to the point that we will often wait for each other to return before heading out to avoid unnecessary confrontations. This has had a huge impact on Capone's progress and I am so grateful to them for embracing it the way that they have.

Skills

As you can see, a lot of what you will be doing in and around your building is management. Reach out to a certified positive reinforcement trainer to help you with the skills needed to transform your dog's behaviour while you continue to help them feel safe.

You've got this!

What is a Cue?

If you have done any training with me or another positive reinforcement trainer in recent years you might have noticed the word “command” mysteriously absent from our vocabulary.  In its place, “cue” is the term used to describe how we indicate to our learners what behaviour we would like them to perform.  So what’s the difference?  Is there a difference?  There is.

A command implies some sort of consequence if the behaviour is not performed.  Take “sit” for example.  Traditionally, one would give the command to “sit” and if the dog did not obey, their neck would be yanked up, their bum pushed down, or both simultaneously.  The problem with this method is this; even if you use some form of reward when the dog obeys, sometimes when the dog hears “sit” good things happen and sometimes when he hears “sit”, bad things happen.  He might not fully understand what “sit” means but chances are he is beginning to dislike hearing that word!  In fact, research has shown that if aversives are used when teaching a new behaviour it causes an animal to be less willing to perform that behaviour in the future.  This is true even if the rewards outweigh the aversives and even if the aversive was only a mild leash correction.

So how do cues differ?  A cue signals to the dog an opportunity to earn reinforcement.  For example, when he hears “sit”, if he sits, a reward is likely to follow.  If he doesn’t sit, all that happens is that he gets no reward.  This greatly increases the likelihood of him sitting when he is given the cue.  But what if he doesn’t?  That is simply information for us that more work needs to be done.  Either the dog doesn’t understand what is being asked of him, it is too difficult for him to perform under those particular circumstances, or he is not properly motivated.  It is then our job as trainer to determine why the dog was unsuccessful in that moment and take steps to set him up for success the next time we cue the behaviour.

Pain-free, force-free, fear-free training is not only the most humane method of teaching our dogs, it is also the most effective.  If your trainer is still using “commands”, it might be time to consider a new trainer!

Debra Reid RVT, KPA CTP

The Picky Eater

Let me guess, you love your dog to the moon and back and would do anything and everything in your power to help them live the longest, happiest life possible?  ME TOO!!!  The problem is that our best intentions can sometimes have unintended consequences.  Such is often true in the case of the PICKY EATER.  Let’s imagine for a moment that wee Fido isn't particularly hungry one morning.  You offer him breakfast as usual but he turns his nose up at it.  Being the doting pet parent you are and not wanting to leave him with nothing to eat all day, you offer him some leftover roast beef.  This, he scarfs down!  You feel better knowing he has at least eaten something and are reassured that he’s okay because he still has an appetite for roast beef.  Trust me, I get it!  Now let’s look at it from a behavioural perspective.  If the consequence of a behaviour is favourable, the behaviour is more likely to be repeated in the future - that’s just science.  So how does this scenario look from the dog’s perspective?  He was offered his regular meal.  Action:  He refused to eat it.  Consequence:  He was offered something better.  This positive consequence will increase the likelihood of him performing that same behaviour in the future.  And so, the picky eater is created.  The more times we sweeten the deal, the more we reinforce the holding out behaviour.  Have you ever gotten down on the floor and hand fed your dog?  How about taken his food back and heated it up for him?  Why would he ever eat what was offered straight out of the bowl again?!
So what do I do if my otherwise healthy dog has no interest in his breakfast?  I pick it up and put it back in the fridge until dinner.  While I don’t intentionally fast my dog as some do, I know that his system is capable of withstanding longer periods between meals than ours and so I don’t panic over a skipped meal.  I have also noticed that when dogs tummies are upset (likely due to eating something they shouldn't have!) they tend to go off of their food temporarily.  In my opinion, giving their system a break to let it settle down is probably doing more good in that situation than encouraging them to eat when they really don’t feel like it.  More often than not, by the time dinner rolls around they are ready to dive right in.  Of course I am not recommending you starve your dog.  If by the second day they still have no interest then I would recommend getting him (or her) looked at by a vet .
Perhaps your situation is a bit different and you are attempting to switch brands of food or convert your pup to a raw diet.  Gradually mixing more and more of the new in with the old might help.  Raw can present particular challenges, especially if “food” has always come in the form of kibble.  They may simply not recognize that chunk of raw meat as edible right away or even know how to approach eating it.  Organs seem to be especially aversive to some dogs (and who can blame them?!).  So what do you do if your dog picks them out and leaves them strewn about the floor?  Well, you clean the floor of course!  And say to yourself, “Oh well, I’ll try something different tomorrow”.  Since omitting organs from a raw diet is not an option, grinding and mixing them in with everything else so that they can’t be picked out might be worth trying.  Over time you will likely find that you are able to leave them in small chunks and then larger chunks as your dog gets used to the new textures.  The key here is to accept your failures as they happen and not try to fix them in the moment.  Fifi didn’t like dinner?  Okay, think of a different way to serve breakfast tomorrow.
Having a picky eater is no excuse for not providing a balanced diet.  Where there is a will, there is a way.  Keep up the great work, dedicated pet owners, your dogs are lucky to have you!  Just make sure you aren’t inadvertently working against yourself.  ;)

Debra Reid RVT, KPA CTP

Don't Try This At Home!

“I did then what I knew how to do.  Now that I know better, I do better.”  Maya Angelou

I find this quote very fitting for the world of dog training.  I think anyone who has been working with dogs for any amount of time can easily recall our more punishing past – most likely, as is the case for me, with much regret and sorrow.  But dwelling on the past does nothing to change it, all we can do is keep striving to improve and do the best we can with the information available at the time.  I have no doubt that ten years from now I will be doing things much differently, and that’s okay.

Scientists give us a better understanding of canine behaviour and how dogs learn, but I also learn so much from each of the wonderful dogs who have come into my own life.  Right now that special little guy is Cojack, poster child for The Learned Canine.  I couldn’t ask for a more eager, resilient learner.  He absolutely loves learning new things, and sometimes his willingness to do anything I ask can actually cloud my better judgement.  Training this behaviour was one of those times.

We did it!  (But please don’t try this at home.)

After mastering running across the hanging tires at the local parkette, I thought Cojack was ready for more of a challenge – enter, ‘the chains’.  As always, the key to teaching any new behaviour is to break it down into small, achievable steps and reinforce every step of the way.  Once he realized what I wanted him to do (after multiple jumps through the chains), he was very eager to climb to the top.  However, there was a problem once he got there as the platform at the top meant a larger and steeper last step.  I noticed this as soon as he got up there and intended to make some sort of adjustment to make it easier for him.  He, however, was not to be deterred.  He was so determined that I let him try – and keep trying.  This was my mistake.  Realizing the physical limitations of my dog and taking them into account before asking him to do anything was my responsibility.  That, after all, is why he is so confident in himself and so trusting in me in the first place.  He tries so hard because I had never set him up to fail before.

I am not proud to say that he fell – more than once, to the ground from the top of the chains.  He then developed a fear of the top step which I had to work hard to get him over even after I added an additional make-shift rung at the top.  Add to this the fact that his nails got stuck between the links in the chain on more than one occasion, and it is a wonder he is still willing to climb those things at all.  And so, in retrospect, not only should I have taken his physical capabilities into account before beginning this training but I probably shouldn’t have asked him to do it at all given the potential risk of injury to his feet.  In the end I persisted because I knew he could handle it – and was as eager as I was to master this new challenge.  However, putting these pressures on another dog could have detrimental effects – on their physical well-being, their willingness to try new things in the future, and your relationship.  So, enjoy the video but please, don’t try this at home!

Debra Reid RVT, KPA CTP