Praising BAD Behaviors Is GOOD
Date: 2003-06-17 23:38:10 PST

HOWEDY People,

This post will cover most of what you never thought
of and MOORE than you already know about stuff...

We have 3 children under age 13
And a New Foundland/ Aussie Shep. mix.

Interesting X. I've never seen one of them
before, and I'm not big on "breed" issues,
but I just got to laugh at that picture I got
in my head of a Aussie runnin around in a
Newfie suit. I'm fallin outta my armchair
and my sides are splittin!!!

We have had this dog for 1.5 years. She was a
rescue and she was 7 wks old when we got her.

Fine. I prefer to see pups get into their new HOWSES
as soon as they're weaned. Many folk prefer to allow
the pups to stay with mom till twelve weeks or so, but
I've never seen a problem for pups who'd been "orphaned"
and into their family much earlier. My preference is six
weeks. But that's not addressing your questions.

She is fixed and weighs 73 lbs.

My 40 years experience and some studies I recently
read indicates some aggression may be precipitated
by S/N. It's a hot button topic for many people, because
it's one of those things where "you're damned if you do
and damned if you don't." FWIW, according to Judaic
law, spaying would be appropriate, neutering would not.
There's other laws in their book about such issues as
muzzling working draft animals etc. Very interesting stuff.

I believe that she has been at this weight for nearly a year.

Oh drat! You just burst my bubble! Now I can't laugh
about a Aussie dressed in a Newfie suit.

She is extremely energetic

When I hear that, I think HYPERACTIVE. Hyperactivity
is caused by stress barring such outside influences
as toxins in the environment or malignancy of some sort.
Purdue recently did some stuff on OCD and determined
that stress percipiticpates OCD behaviors (Duh-Oh!). No
news to this trainer. That's HOWE COME it's SO EZ for
my students to break the anxiety SYNDROME and
rehabilitate their hyperactive dogs in a few days, maybe
less.

Thyroid problems could be involved there too, and I've got
a different take on that as well. I rather doubt the thyroid
or any system is likely to malfunction for no reason. I
believe that the constant on/off stress of ORDINARY
DAILY LIFE in an ORDINARY NORMAL HOWEShold,
is enough to push dogs, and some breeds more EZily
than other's over the edge, resulting in obsessive
compulsive behavior disorders like hyperactivity,
excessive chewing,barking, digging, pacing, HOWEling,
separation anxiety, self mutilation, fear of thunder, and
even most carsickness.

and is really a sweet dog for the most part.

When I hear THAT, I don't wanna ask what's after
the most part...

Our biggest problem is her attitude with our girls.

Bummer. I hate that. Scares the beejeesus outta me.

She loves them one minute

Good, I'm relieved.

and then for no apparent reason snarls at them.

Dogs don't do things for no reason. Do you know
what will provoke her? There's a commonality
between all behavior problems, so if you can think
of what when and where she'd had incidents in the
past, you might isolate the triggers, and then you're
half way done training her...

I have been watching her intensely

Perhaps even just your scrutiny can be pressuring her.
Dogs are very sensitive critters, it doesn't take much
to throw them outta whack.

and I can say without a doubt that none of our children
have harmed the dog or scared her in any way.

Probably true, but that's the half of it also. I'll try to explain
later...

She is extremely protective of food

Right. That sez to me, she's insecure. It's a survival
instinct. HOWE COME should she be insecure and
thinking of herself first, rather than "feedin the family,"
as a mom dog would do? Well, mom dogs do not,
they need to sustain themselves first, so they can take
care of the bigger picture, even if that means culling
her litter.

Greed is what it looks like, but dogs aren't capitalists,
so it's got to be something telling her there's not
enough to go around. Perhaps she's been teased with
treats or had rewards withheld? Dogs are scavengers.
They steal scraps of food and run to hide with their back
to the wall in a heightened state of alert.

Putting food or bribes into an untrusting dog's face
will likely make him think fight/flight/survive... so I
never use food bribes. Sure you can train animals
and slaves by withholding or treating with food, it's
the bottom line when you think about it. You'd need
a mighty big treat bag to control all the food in creation
Anything that takes precedence in your dog's mind
over you, is usurping your authority and diminishing
your dog's esteem for you.

and once she has been given her food she will growl
if anyone comes even remotely close.

Right. That sez to me she's not entirely trusting, that
something is concerning her that she's not SAFE.
AGGRESSION IS FEAR. We don't attack for no
reason, we attack to defend ourselves from a real
or perceived threat.

In looking for answers, I am not looking to make excuses
for the dog's behavior. I personally don't care HOWE COME
the dog does something, I deal with the whole problem from
another perspective entirely, and many of these insecurity
issues will be AUTOMAGICKALLY CURED, just by removing
the inconsistencies and stressors in her daily life.

Whoever said "it's a dogs life," never put on the hat...
Dogs are just as sensitive about family tensions like children
squabbling and parents correcting them or the dog, for
whatever. LOOK at HOWE many times a day you probably
have to say STOP THAT! and correct all of them? At bedtime
the kids may give you the standard bedtime runaround, a kid
falling and crying about it can make the dog nervous, anything
goes.

She won't do that with me

Hmmm. That makes me very suspicious. I like CONSISTENCY.
Even if it's bad. But that may be good too, cause it could give
us some insight into what's goin down here.

but if someone else walks by she will growl even if
they are in the other direction.

By 'someone else,' you mean the kids, anybody else
or everybody else? That too, may give some insight
as to what's cookin.

Her snarling at the girls is in no way related to food.

Hmmm. She's OK with the kids and food? That's got
my antennae up. I believe you're sayin she's SAFE
with the girls passing her while eating. THAT makes
me very happy, if that's correct. At least about the
food issue but it offsets itself with the dichotomy
of her incidents with the kids. There's too many
inconsistencies, and that's gonna tell us what's
the problem, I think.

And there is no one thing that sets her off.

Good. Tell us what you know of will set her off,
and we can figure out what's upsettin her and
HOWE to break the response.

One minute she is happy and playing and the other
she will snarl if they walk by.

That doesn't give me a clear picture. Again, if
you can predict when a behavior will happen,
we can set it up to break or extinguish it, if
it's still a problem after we do some simple
preliminary conditioning exercises.

It is as if she doesn't respect them.

Forget respect. FEAR. Something concerns her,
it's not disrespect.

I should mention that the possibility of me meeting a
dog behaviorist

You just did.

is nil due to the fact we live in a remote part of Alaska,

No problem.

accessible only by air.

Likewise. I do all my work from sittin right here stark
ravin nekkid.

Any suggestions you can give would be greatly appreciated.

I'm wondering if you've done any training with her
and if so, HOWE was she trained. The fact she does
not growl at YOU when you're near her food is probably
not because it's you who gave her the food.

That she doesn't growl at the kids around the food,
makes me wonder if she's ever been corrected for
'food guarding' with the children.

That could explain HOWE COME she won't growl at
them near the food, but will in other situations particularly
play, concerns me, but in a GOOD way. That's displaced
aggression, I expect. That's cause by repressing behaviors.
My methods use alternately variable distractions and
prolonged non physical praise to extinguish the reflexive
behavior through triggerin and non fulfillment, not by ever
offering REPLACEMENT or alternate behaviors, because
THAT disavails us of training opportunities and leaves the
problem behavior intact, waitin on the whim of the dog.

That suggests to me that she may be reacting to
an incident perhaps long ago where she or the kids
had been scolded or corrected for roudy play? That's
called superstitious or flashback behavior, whereby
a former incident is thought of by a similar circumstance
and the dog simple flashes back to that former state
of mind and isn't even thinkin of the present, and usually
ends pretty quickly, soon as he realizes this is a different
time and place.

All we got to do is play with that thought a few times if
everything else is in order, and the dog will quickly override
his BOOGEYMAN...

The food guarding is not against the children, is that correct?
Perhaps I'm a little unclear on the scenario. I think you're
saying she's fine with you and the kids around the food, the
food being an issue for other family members, visitors etc?

Has she ever had an incident of growling at you? If so,
when, where, and HOWE did you respond to it. Also,
HOWE do you currently respond to her incidents with
the kids now and HOWE often does this happen?

Do you give her treats? Will she 'go off' around a
treat or only AT her food bowl, and is she OK with
your children around their food and do the children
give her treats and is she OK with that?

Finally, do you crate her? If so, does she go to her crate
on her own? If so, that too, can be causing or exacerbating
these issues. Crating can cause a lot of problems for
insecurity. Because the crate becomes a safe haven for
her, kinda like hiding under the covers from the boogeyman,
when the door opens, it's like havin to get outta bed in the
dark to go to the toilet... SCARY!!! You might crawl over
the bed to get close the light and then run and jump to
hit the switch before the monster under the bed can get
your by your ankles.

Those answers will give us a better idea of exactly
HOWE COME the dog is growling. But after all is
said, it still doesn't matter to me except as a curiosity.
We'll fix this behavior problem EZ, I'm certain.

She doesn't sound too scary to me now that we've
looked at what she's doing. In fact, and please
correct me if I misunderstood, she's ONLY staring
and growling and showing some teeth? She's never
tried to assault the kids, right?

What do you feed and are you using any chemicals
around her like floor cleaners containing phenols? I ask
about food because some contain BHA, BHT, ETHOXYQUIN,
or propylene glycol as preservatives and they're suspect
of causing some hyperactive like behavior.

You might break the food guarding malarkey by simply
moving the dish to another location, preferably a neutral
area. IOW, take her out of the environment in which
she's accustomed to having incidents, and desensitize
her there.

But don't start messin with that stuff till you know
HOWE to handle it just in case she should go off
when you try testing it out. Besides, after an hour
of training that food thing will probably disappear
on it's own, just from the basic conditioning exercises.

You might try taking her dinner bowl in hand and
slowly walking her around while eating and making
passes by other folks. But not yet, you got a little
study to do and some practice... about two hours
work. Must be COLD out there.

Lets get the lesson plan in mind so you'll have your
wits about you if she should growl so we don't lose
an opportunity to address an incident should she growl,
because doin so in new environment would make it
that much easier to break, due to the change of environ.

Same question goes for the growling. Is that a generalized
behavior or does she only do it say, in the living room
or only inside the HOWES, will she growl if they're playin
outside.

Does she growl ONLY when she's in play? That
could be VERY telling. Does she growl when she
is NOT ALREADY EXCITED PLAYING (besides
at the food bowl, I'm over that)? If so, that's the
problem, BUT, that still leaves the question of
WHO does she growl at around food? That too
could tie up another loose end.

Does she always / sometimes / not often come to
the kids when they call her? Will she always come
to you when you call? Is she walked on leash often,
and is she well behaved or is it a struggle, and what
kind of collar do you use. Even though you're not
writing about an on leash problem, we're still gonna
need to work her on lead and longe line for the initial
conditioning exercises.

Sincerely,

The program I teach begins by stopping all negative
or corrective responses and interactions with her. That
includes scolding the children, because that may be
what provokes her to growl. That's called allelomimetic
behavior. IOW, if you scold the kids for jumpin on the
sofa, the dog will copy your action and attitudes and
likewise correct them.

Sibling rivalry is not caused by siblings, is cause by
mishandling. Scolding one peer in front of the others
causes animosity towards the others whom the subject
was scolded in front of. That causes 2 things to happen.
The scolded party gets embarrasses and assaults
the observers of the scolding, or the observers copy
the disciplinarian, and likewise scold the subject.

Catch22.

HOWE are we gonna control three kid critters and
one Aussie runnin around in a midget Newfie suit???
Could take three juvenile detention and one AC
officers 24/8 to throw down on them when they get
goin like kids will do.

I'm pretty EZ going, but I require strict discipline. I
can't have a child interrupting me while I'm doin this
and have my dogs going kookamunga while I'm
trying to teach someone on the phone HOWE
to control their dog's barking, for example.

NOW I'd be curious about the ages of the kids
"children under age 13," cause if there's things like
hyperactive or disabled children or autistic kids or
an infant who'd maybe cry or have seizures or
whatever that could upset the dog.

I'm not lookin for excuses to mitigate her behavior, just
to understand it better so's we're lookin at the facts
of the matter based on what is happening Vs feelings
about HOWE whatever we may emotionally feel about
stuff.

We want to back away from the micro aspects
of the behavior so we can take in the big picture
and then we can see what parts don't fit, and figure
out what to do to remedy the etiology rather than
fightin symptoms of the problem, because as we
repress symptoms, they change, to other, often
worse, seemingly non related behaviors as
trainsfer or replacement behaviors.

That's HOWE COME so many dogs go through
every behavior problem in the book before simply
runnin outa behavior problems that haven't already
been repressed.

Think about it. As we repress all the normal puppy
behaviors we make the pup nervous cause he's only
a animal. They cannot know right from wrong, only
what's nice and what's not. They're not a human child,
they cannot understand BAD.

Dogs do not DO, BAD, dogs only do dog, and of curse,
they also copy us. As the dog matures to 8-9 months
they go through their 'adolescent rebellious' stage (Scott
&Fuller). HOWE can a dog have a rebellious stage if
there's nothing to REBEL AGAINST? Well, he still
has not run through all the behavior problems he can
be provoked into, so when he's maturing as a teenager
and trying for more freedom, we become more repressive
because the dog is out of hand, and there goes the shootin
match.

My student's dogs do not go through that because we
never have a negative or forced interaction with them,
we NEVER tell them NO or INSIST on a command,
because THAT triggers the opposition reflex and makes
the dog rebel.

Our dogs are eager to work because we PRAISE IN
ADVANCE, with the command, all in one breath not
after the dog has finished doin his behavior. Dogs do
not work for credit. By the time the dog comes to
you when called, he's not longer thinking of the
command.

Dogs respond in predictable, instinctive, reflexive, ways,
to situations and circumstances of their environment
which we provide for them. That means we can change
or control the environment to set the dog up to perform
as predicted, and know when to do what you've planned
in advance, to properly trigger / distract / praise / trigger /
distract / praise the behavior till it's extinguished, MUCH
LIKE FLOODING, but not quite... Or, we may use traditional
flooding techniques with distraction / praise to extinguish
behaviors.

Before addressing behavior problems we condition the
dog to praise with every brief eye contact and learn
HOWE to handle the lead so we're not pulling on the
collar and triggering the dog or hyping him up for
a random outburst. Proper leash handling techniques
insures safety and teaches the dog gentleness and
conditions them to respond to our praise, as it entices
the dog in and settles him down in just a few minutes.

It's kinda like Dr. Ian Dunbar's "make like a tree," but
not really anything at all quite like it. They just look similar
at first glance. The Hot & Cold Exercise is like the kid's
game "gettin hotter gettin colder" with the dog's attention
and body as we stand and handle the lead properly to
get the feel for it and reassure the dogs we ain't gonna
be pullin no more on them.

After a few minutes the dog will be hangin out waitin
for you to do something, then you're ready to go into
the Family Leadership Exercise where we very subtly
work the dog in a conditioning routine we'll rely on for
other situations and begin to install the come command
as a conditioned reflex.

That usually takes my students about one hour, often less,
very rarely four hours, but that'd get a perfect recall on
the most difficult critter. Once we've got that dog willing to
work with us we can begin to break his behavior problems
using variable distractions and praise techniques.

Using praise in advance relaxes the dog and encourages
him. For training, isn't that all we need?

Praising BAD BEHAVIORS is GOOD. If your dog were
boltin out the door, it's not "NO! STOP!," it's GOOD
GIRL NICEDOG YOU'RE A GOOOOD FELLA!!.

The dog ain't goin NOWHERE except come back over
to you. Might even ask if he wants to go to the park.
Sure he wants to but you don't. Who cares? He's only
a DOG. Tell him you're gonna put your shoes on to
go but it'll be a minit. Dogs like kids FORGET in a
minute... Tomorrow when you ARE going to the
park, tell him you're goin cause you PROMISED him
yesterday, and now it's time. They'll think you're the
kat's pajamas for bein the greatest mom/dad in the
whole wild world.

Dogs and kids just wanna have fun. Therefore my dogs
never see me frown on them. NO MATTER WHAT. I
never tell them NO or DON'T, or physically reach to
restrain them, partly because THAT would trigger the
opposition reflex and compel the dog to "outstep me"
and rush the door or eat the steak or whatever AND
teach the dog that doin THAT, will command 100%
of your undivided attention...

That's HOWE COME proper understanding of the
methods and developing the feel for leash handling
is imperative, so's we don't sabotage ourselves by
reacting to our own fears of dangerous situations
we're gonna work through in a few minutes if you
can refrain yourself from saying NO DON'T! and
pullin the lead to force control.

Of course I know that your dog isn't having leash
problems, but it fits here...

Our dogs naturally want to do everything they're asked,
cause just like kids, dogs just wanna have fun.

Your Puppy Wizard. YPW;~}

----- Original Message -----
From: n
To: "Jerry Howe"
Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2002 5:21 PM

Subject: Damned Family Leadership Exercise -
Am I expecting to much

Hi Jerry,
When I talked to you on the phone to order to machine
for daughter's new pup, I told you that I had an older
Chessie. I rescued him at 9 years old and have had him
for 3 years.
It's funny, but I thought I'd try some of your book training
with him.
Where I used to say "come" and then say "good boy"
when he obeyed, I have reversed it with a "good boy" first.
It really does work. He was very confused at first,
wondering what he had done to get the praise.
But it really gets the attention and distracts him from
whatever he may have going through his brain when
he hears it.
Dogs are funny, but people are too. Can't wait to get
the Doggy do Right, etc.
Thanks,
N

==================

----- Original Message -----
From: Eric
To:
Sent: Friday, November 29, 2002 7:54 AM
Subject: just checking in..

Jerry!

You helped me with my pal Dundee about a year ago
regarding submissive peeing. Just wanted to let you
know he's doing great- he was "cured" in about 2 days
using your techniques!

He has since become the "smartest dog in the world"!
Once I stopped thinking like a human and got inside his
head, I can teach him ANYTHING, usually in a matter
of minutes. Makes me look like an expert dog-trainer.

I rescued two strays last week, cleaned 'em up, wormed
'em, and am getting them their shots. Time to get inside
their heads and teach them to teach themselves how to
be good dogs!

Instead of feeling like "training" is a chore, I look forward
to working with these guys a couple times a day...

Although I don't follow your instructions "to a T", I learned
from you to "think like a dog" and stimulate their brain rather
than beating ass or pinching, or any of that nonsense.

I know damn well I would NOT be loyal to someone who beat MY ass
lol!

Well, just wanted to thank you for rattling the bushes
out there and teaching folks the RIGHT way to "train" dogs.

A horseman friend of mine uses very similar techniques in
training his horses- he calls it "natural horsemanship". He
is hated by nearly all the local "trainers" yet somehow he
repeatedly wins at every show he attends. He rarely shows
any more, but goes now and then to rub their noses in it
(pun intended)... Too cool....

Have a great holiday season and keep up the good work!

Eric , Dundee, Sammy, and Maynard

==========================

Subject: Dog will not listen to anyone but me!
Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2002 11:33:36 -0500
Message-ID:

Okay, I gotta speak up here... We've been using Jerry's
methods with our dog. We had the same problem as the
original poster has with Buzz. One day working with the
family pack exercise and practicing the recall command
with the family and she'll now go out with hubby and
daughter instead of needing me to reassure her or even
refusing to go with anyone but me.

I really urge you, regardless of the negative things you
might hear about Jerry & Wits' End here, to try the method
and *judge the results for yourself*.

Let's see what other areas she's improved in... always
comes when called, not chewing stuff even if we leave
it laying around, "re"housebroken after long shelter stay,
walks perfectly on leash, doesn't try to steal food from
our plates or beg... probably a few more things I'm
forgetting to mention. *(Yeah, the kats lay off the koi
and don't wander. jh).

That's in about a week's time.

Her overall demeanor has changed. When we brought
her home she was very untrusting and ultra-submissive
(except with her area/toys where she was possessive and
nippy).

She had been abused and beaten by previous owners,
then she was in a shelter for months. They (most of them)
wanted to give up and kill her Now she's gained confidence
and trust with us. Last night was another big breakthrough
(in my eyes). She barked! Big deal, she barked just once
when she heard the front door. Great!

Anyway, you'll be told lots of nasty stuff about Jerry or that
the Wits' End manual is culled from other sources. In my
opinion, even if it is, it takes only the good stuff and leaves
out the bad. Works for me.

(And I suppose I gotta say this... I don't know Jerry personally.
I've emailed him and instant messaged him. I have not bought a
"Doggy Do Right". He's offered help for free.)

Ms. Mick Owen Crneckiy
http://www.crneckiy.com & http://tarot.crneckiy.com
E-mail & MSN Messenger:
AIM & Yahoo!: MickCrneckiy ~ ICQ: 72461227

======================

"Hoku Beltz" wrote in message
. ..

Aloha Sunny,
Just follow the training program to the letter, no matter how
insignificant some of the step seem to be and your puppy will
be a very well behaved dog in a few days.
I would seriously consider backing out of the training
classes as they will conflict with the Wit's End principles.
I went the training route first, and still had problems until
I found Wits' End. Now I have two "new and improved" dogs.
You won't be disappointed if you follow the program.
Good luck,
Hoku

==================

----- Original Message -----
From: Hoku Beltz
To: The Puppy Wizard
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2002 6:12 PM
Subject: Mahalo

Aloha Jerry,

Just wanted to let you know that the surrogate toy
technique is working wonders. I have not had a
shredded sheet for over a week now. It is nice
to be able to leave the bed made and come home
to a made bed.

Your program is awesome, but you already know
that. Keep up the good work!

Hoku

==================

Thank you,
Jerry Howe,
Director of Research,
BIOSOUND Scientific
Director of Training,
Wits' End Dog Training
1611 24th St
Orlando, FL 32805
Phone: 1-407-425-5092
E-mail:
http://www.doggydoright.com