[VIDEO] Dog Aggressive (Dr. Sophia Yin)
Some of you may have seen this on FB already, but I thought this was a nice video. A little more realistic in the way she deals with the reactive dog (not just classical conditioning, focus, and redirection but incorporates equipment, obedience, and -R too). Be sure to watch with the sound on as she narrates it.
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Comments
This is very similar with what I had to do with London when we were re-socializing him and desensitizing him to other dogs. It's been two years, but he's gone from preemptively reacting to other dogs (with extreme fear/aggression) while on the lead to looking to me first when we pass another dog by. Most of the time, he won't react on lead (though he is much more aggressive on lead than he is off lead), but sometimes (with "rude" or posturing dogs that run up off-leash while he's on) he'll still growl or his hackles will go up or his tail will tuck even IF his attention is on me.
We have a lot of loose dogs on our street that will rush me when I'm walking London and Russell. Most of them are actually very friendly and just want to play, but because they run up so fast, London is always scared of them - no matter how many times he meets them. It's hard with these dogs because the owners just do not seem to care and simply demonize London's behavior. Still, London's had a LOT of improvement using this method in the video and as long as I continue to see progression (even tiny amounts), I'm happy--and he's less stressed.
This is what I do with Rakka to keep her from lunging at other dogs. If I let her lunge and just pull her away, the frustration just builds, so she really does need something else to keep her busy. I don't use a halti, though. Either an easywalk harness or just her collar. I often just use my body to block her. Like, I'll just keep moving in front of her so she can't look at the other dog.
I did feel like she was overly mechanical in her interaction with the dog. Her body language was very rigid, she moved quickly, enthusiastically, and all of her motion was very efficient. It seemed like the dog's body language mirrored hers. He was snappy, enthusiastic, and efficient as well. I wonder to what degree that's a result of training? Or just a coincidence in personality/temperament.
I was also a bit bothered by the use of the catch phrase "learn to earn" and the fact she included a "training time = 10 minutes" statement in the video. Makes me believe she's selling a "system" of training, which always makes me very wary. Makes me wonder how well this approach works when the dog being trained isn't an "ideal pupil".
She proposes not using fool bowl at all and uses regular kibbles as food rewards to train the basics. She really focuses on teaching "Sit" as the default behavior, meaning the dog should automatically sit whenever he wants something from you. This teaches the dog impulse control and paying attention to the owner. The great part about using the kibbles is that a dog probably will eat 100+ kibbles a day and using kibbles, you don't have to worry about giving them too much treats that mess with their nutritional needs. Also the quantity of the kibbles means you have so many opportunities to practice the basics and practice does make perfect.
I like Dr. Sophia Yin's work because she explains things in an easy to understand manner and she is pretty good at explaining the theory before going into the actual training. I also like her focus on the foundations, so it is more of a life learning/basic manner, rather than treating trainings like tricks. The book is fun to read with great graphic illustrations that really help get the points across.
She has 2 books for the average pet owner - "How To Behave, So Your Dogs Behave" and "Perfect Puppy In 7 Days". She also has books for the Vets on low stress handling and a good pocket reference book for Vet professionals, so they can put in their lab coat pocket for quick references.
Kodi eats 10 cups of food and day, how would you ever be able to give him all that in toys and as training treats?
Sometimes I think trainers don't really consider the big picture when they come up with these concepts.
Also - to Kodi eating ten cups of food/day... holy crap. That's hard for me to even imagine! I've been used to Rakka for so long, though. I feed her 1 cup/day and she hardly ever finishes. She eats like a bird. I don't even know how she managed it, because it's not like she's sedentary and she has a high percentage of muscle on her body. I guess she's just efficient.
I will still use a food bowl when I don't have time, or ration some of the kibbles for training purpose and put the rest either in a toy or just the food bowl.
I like the kibble training approach as it helps a lot with desensitization and counter-conditioning of something that dogs do not like much, but also not hate or too fearful of, such as touching, opening their mouths and touching or brushing their teeth. You can set your pace and just practice a bit every day and alternative with other training to make it fun for the dogs.