Behavior Counseling

Veazie Veterinary Clinic realizes that behavior can have one of the largest impacts on an owner and pet’s quality of life. Having a great relationship with your dog takes time and effort, but the staff at Veazie Vet is ready to lend support and tips should you need our help.

What to Expect at Your Behavioral Consultation
Veazie Veterinary Clinic offers behavior consultation exams to owners and their pets who are having difficulty with training. We may ask you to leave your dog behind, but bring any family members who are affected by the pet’s behavior. A thorough history will be used to diagnose the cause of the undesirable behavior. We will then go over a treatment plan based on your pet’s specific behaviors. We provide written instructions and tools to work with your pet and always encourage follow-up!

Common Behavioral Issues:

• Separation anxiety
• Aggression (fear or territorial)
• Common doggie manners
• Jumping, walking on a leash, barking

We base our dog training on the theory that “nothing in life is free”. This is a simple, day-to-day training process that doesn’t take any extra time and anyone can do.

Much of a dog’s behavior is geared towards getting your attention. They demand attention and we give it to them. This makes it pretty easy for them to assume that they are the boss. Nothing in life is free means that they need to do the expected behavior in order to get the reward (your attention, a toy or food).

You might think, “But I don’t pet him, I tell him no and push him off me!” You can reinforce a dog’s behavior (good or bad) by paying attention to it. There are three basic ways to give a dog attention:

Eye contact: Looking at your dog

Voice: Talking to your dog, saying “good dog”, or even “NO!” is paying attention to them

Touch: Petting your dog, or even pushing them off you, grabbing them to take something away

• Start by making your dog work for attention, food, etc. Make him sit before you give him anything. Don’t give him his dinner, treats, toys or even attention until he is sitting quietly. If he is already sitting, you can go so far as to make him lay down first. This establishes your authority to control when the dog gets attention, food or toys. If he doesn’t follow your command, ignore him for 5 minutes and try again.
• If your dog comes over and teases for attention by biting at your hands and clothes, butting her head against you, barking or other undesirable behavior, look at her and tell her to sit. If she doesn’t sit, look away and ignore her. If she tries to get up in your lap, stand up and walk away. Wait a few minutes, and then go back to making her sit, then inviting her into your lap.
• Every time your dog goes outside or is crated for the night, go around and pick up all his toys. Throughout the day, make him sit, then give him a toy and let him go play. This way, they become your toys, not the dog’s toys. You dictate when he can play with them, and if necessary you have the authority to take the toy (or other objects) away from him as needed.
• These are a few basic steps that work with puppies and adult dogs that can help you establish a base for good behavior and more advanced training. Our veterinarians and technicians are well-versed on behavior and training and are always happy to answer your questions.

You can call and let the staff know what you are having a problem with and we can help you address the behavior. For more destructive or dangerous behaviors and problems like separation anxiety and barking, we can arrange a 30 to 60 minute behavior consultation with one of our veterinarians.

Introducing to Other Pets
If you already have other pets, the most important pet in the world must be the animal(s) in your home already. That animal must feel secure in its surroundings and its place in the family. It must also not feel like its territory is being invaded. Your old pet will be very defensive if the new animal is just plopped into the middle of its house and given the run of everything. To avoid conflicts there are several steps that can be taken to help.

1. Introduce the new pet in a neutral area. A friend’s house or a park are good choices. Ideally the introductions should be done before the new pet is chosen in case they absolutely despise each other. This process usually works better with dogs than cats.
2. Once the new pet arrives at your home it should be limited to only one area or room of your house for a few days. This should not be your other pet’s favorite room and should not cut them off from access to their regular feeding area and/or litter box or sleeping area. This lets the old pet know they are still king of the house and sets up limits and security for the new pet. The old pet will also be able to get used to the smell of the new pet before actually letting it out into the rest of the house.
3. You may want to have a separate play/cuddle time for a few days to a week where the old pet doesn’t encounter you spending time with the new pet. You’re still giving plenty of attention to the new pet but the old pet doesn’t feel displaced.
4. When it’s time to introduce them to each other in the house make sure to pay all your attention to the previous pet and/or children. Ignore the new pet. This lets the new pet know who gets attention first and sets up a good routine.
5. For the first several days, if not weeks, the new pet should only play with other pets and children with adult supervision. This will let you be sure things do not get out of hand and continue to reinforce the routine in the house.

Introducing to Children
If you don’t have other pets but do have children the same approach should still be taken, especially with younger children. While a child won’t necessarily feel displaced in the family, the new pet needs to know that the children are going to get attention first. This will help set up a routine with the children.

After a week or two the children should be feeding the pet, with supervision. If they are old enough they can also help with grooming and walking tasks.

It is also important that the children understand the rules of having a pet in the house.

• Pets are not toys; they are living creatures that can be hurt by rough physical behavior.
• They may not like being poked, having their hair pulled or being teased any more than the child would.
• Loud noises and surprises don’t usually mix well with animals.
• Teach other good habits like always allowing the pet to come to you, don’t chase.
• Pet the animal from the collar back, moving slowly with the direction of the fur.
• Establish and enforce the rules with your children from the beginning to avoid any unfortunate incidences.

A Few Other Tips

• Begin handling all parts of the pet early on.
• Play with feet, ears, tail, mouth, etc. This will get the animal used to being handled, especially for things such as children handling the pet, vet visits and other times when the animal may be stressed. It is important the pet feel comfortable with being touched.
• Practice taking things away from the dog.
• Make the dog get up and move out of your way instead of going around it.

Carsickness is only one of the problems that riding in a car can present when managing a dog. Some dogs leap all over the car, making driving dangerous. Some create noise that impairs safe driving. Aggression toward people through car windows makes a dog dangerous to take along. In most cases, transporting your dog in a car can be done safely and sanely if you take some basic precautions.

Carsickness

Young puppies often get carsick and then outgrow it as they mature. This may be related to the maturing of the ear canals, a process that also makes human children more susceptible to motion sickness than human adults.

You can often help a carsick dog by positioning the dog to see out the front of the vehicle in the direction of movement. This allows the eyes to help orient the confusing sensations from the ears. It also often helps to open one or more windows about three inches, to help equalize the air pressure.

Other Causes of Car Sickness

Consult your veterinarian if it seems a medical problem could be affecting the dog’s ability to cope with car riding.  An ear infection is one example of a medical condition that can contribute to carsickness.

Orthopedic conditions can make getting in and out of a car and bracing against the car’s movement painful. If the dog feels profoundly ill or experiences pain with every car ride, the medical issue needs to be handled to relieve that before you’ll make much training progress.

Stress contributes to carsickness, and a dog who has lost a previous home via a car ride may be stressed by riding in your car at first. The same happens with dogs who have only been driven to the veterinarian’s office for treatment and never to places they enjoyed going.

More About Stress

You can help remedy the stress factor by taking the dog on short car rides to fun places. Make some of these enjoyable social outings to the veterinarian’s office for treats (and petting, if the dog enjoys it) from the staff when no treatment is scheduled. Call your veterinarian’s office about what times are convenient for such trips. You certainly would not want to interfere with the staff’s ability to provide essential care to other animals.

If you have another dog who loves car rides and gets along well with this dog, take the two on some rides together. If, on the other hand, the other dog dislikes car rides, avoid taking the new dog on rides with the other one! Every dog needs regular individual time with you anyway, and you’ll be better able to shape a positive attitude toward the car in the new dog if you avoid the influence of a dog who doesn’t like car riding.

If your dog has extreme problems with the car, you’ll need to start at the level that doesn’t trigger the problems and very slowly practice more and more success until the dog can go for rides without problems. In some cases it will take many “baby steps” (see below) to achieve the goal.

Taking the dog on a long car ride in the middle of trying to recondition the dog to riding in the car through baby steps can ruin the program. The goal is to systematically change how the dog experiences riding in the car, so of course it can create a huge setback if you put the dog into a situation that brings back all the original problems.

Systematic Steps

Some of the steps in reconditioning the dog for the car can include:

1. Feed the dog outside the car, at whatever distance the dog will happily eat. Move the next meal closer. Gradually, meal after meal after meal, work your way up to having the dog eat in the car. At first have the car door open and the food barely inside. An intermediate step would be to gently close the door part way. Gradually work up to the food well inside the car and the door closed.
2. Advance this only at the pace that keeps the dog happy for every single step. If the dog shows stress, including reluctance to eat, back up to an earlier step in the program.
3. Sit in the car for a short time with the dog, without turning on the engine. Give treats. Work your way up to turning on the engine in future sessions. Eventually move the car a little. Next step might be down the block.
4. Gradually increase the distance, while including treats as well as making the destination pleasant for the dog.
   • One example for a dog who enjoys going for a walk would be to drive down the street, get out with the dog on leash and take a short walk, and then get back into the car and drive back down the street to your house.
5. If the dog finds the engine a trigger to stress, you can turn on the car and do the feeding routine, starting at a distance and working closer, meal-by-meal, until the dog is eating happily inside the running car.
6. Associate the rewards used in conditioning the dog to the car very closely with the car. If you take the dog for a short ride and then give a big reward AFTER you get back home, that’s rewarding being home, not riding in the car. Keep in mind what you actually want to reinforce, and make sure the happy things happen when the behavior you wish to reinforce is happening.

Other Car-Riding Problems

Bouncy Dogs
For the dog who leaps all over the car while you are driving, you’ll need a method of restraint. This is recommended, anyway, to keep your dog safe in case of an accident. The most secure restraint for the dog’s safety is a good dog crate.

If for some reason you don’t wish to use a dog crate, a dog seat belt harness is another option. Check your dog supply resources for one that fits your needs.

Aggressive Riders
Some people may feel that a dog who behaves aggressively in the car seems like useful protection, but it’s more likely the dog will bite the wrong person than an actual criminal. Restrain this dog to protect your community–and your bank account.

Barking Passengers
Barking in the car can drive you nuts, and there is no perfect solution for this problem. Experiment with what the dog is able to see. Some dogs are stimulated by sight and will be much quieter in a crate or other situation that restricts their view. Make sure, though, not to overheat the dog. Give the dog something interesting to chew in the crate.

Citronella anti-bark collars can have some benefit with dogs who bark in cars. Keep the dog adequately restrained so that the collar won’t spray too near the car’s driver.

Use the ideas in the “Systematic Steps” to build your dog’s ability to remain calm and quiet in the car. Reinforce with treats and other things the dog likes when the dog is quiet. Avoid any reward when the dog is making noise.

If you are going to administer treats to do any other dog training in a moving car, make sure there is one person to drive and at least one other person to work with the dog. Dog training is a huge distraction from driving.

Stay Safe: Dogs in Hot Cars

We can’t talk about transporting a dog in a car without mentioning the heat and oxygen problem that kills so many dogs in cars in warm weather. Dogs have to cool their bodies through respiration, which is an inefficient method. They cannot tolerate nearly the heat that a human can. Add the limited oxygen in a closed car, and your dog can quickly die.

Even if the car is not hot enough to kill the dog, excess warmth in the car will contribute to carsickness. For safety and to help create in your dog an enjoyment of car rides, keep it cool inside your car whenever you transport a dog.

It’s Worth It!
Every bit of effort you put into gently conditioning your dog to enjoy car rides will yield huge benefits. Essential tasks such as visits to the veterinarian will become more convenient and less stressful. You’ll be able to take the dog along on outings for fun, increasing the time you and your dog can spend together. Car rides make a dog’s life more interesting. In difficult times, such as a dog experiencing grief over a lost family member, car rides can actually aid recovery.

For most of us, having a dog who can ride safely and calmly in a car is so important that this is truly essential training. Start it as soon as possible with any new puppy or dog who joins your family. Remember to take the steps as slowly as necessary to keep the process enjoyable and not stressful for the dog. With care, you have an excellent chance of winding up with a dog who shows great pleasure when asked “Do you want to go in the car?!”

Everyone knows that dogs, especially puppies, like to chew. Here is some information on chew toys and what is safe for your dog to chew on and play with.

Non-Edible and Long Lasting:

• Kong Toys come in a variety of shapes, sizes and durability
• Nylabone products are long lasting but can still carry a risk of fractured teeth, use with care
• Planet Dog is a Maine company that makes recycled, non-toxic toys in a variety of chew strengths

Edible Toys:

• Nylabone Healthy Edibles, Greenies

Real Bones:

• Bones can cause stomach upset, intestinal blockages, worn and even broken teeth

Rawhide:

• Some dogs tolerate rawhide well while others experience stomach upset or intestinal blockages if swallowed whole.

Tennis Balls:

• Traditional tennis balls have an abrasive fiber cover that can wear down a dog’s teeth over time.
• Look for dog-safe tennis balls made by Kong, or any that have a felt nap instead of nylon or fiberglass

Dental Treats:

• A lot of treats & chews say that they reduce tartar, but only products that have the Veterinary Oral Health Council seal have been proven to reduce tartar build up on teeth.

Socialization
Socialization is the process by which a dog learns how to behave appropriately with others in its environment. Puppies must learn how to interact with adults, children, dogs and other pets in a variety of social situations, from the dog park to the front yard.

Why is it Important to Socialize Your Dog?
If dogs do not become socialized, they may become anxious, fearful and antisocial with people and other animals. Behavior problems are a leading cause of pet relinquishment to shelters and lead to the death of more animals per year than any infectious disease.

How Do I Go About Introducing My Puppy (or Dog) to the World?
Invite family and friends (one at a time) and their pets to visit you and your puppy. This initial visit should be one friend and one pet, working up to having more friends and pets at the same time. Once your puppy knows how to sit, have them sit when they meet a new person and have that person give them a treat.

Once adequately vaccinated, take your puppy on walks and short car outings. It is important for your puppy to meet all types of people, and especially children, even if no children live with you. If your puppy is not exposed to children, they may react poorly to them when they are older.

As your puppy matures, expose them to sounds such as alarms, airplanes, sirens and other neighborhood noises so that they become used to them.

When Should I Take My Puppy (or Dog) to Obedience Class?
Ideally between 8-16 weeks of age. Obedience class is a great way to expose your puppy to new situations, dogs and people, and to teach them good behavior when they are most eager to learn. But taking your dog at any age is better than never taking them at all.

Gentle Collars: Follow My Lead

By Amy Marder, V.M.D.

Timid Dogs – the Best Approach

By Kathy Diamond Davis

Timid dogs–also sometimes called shy dogs–can become sweet and loving companions. On the other hand, some will be unsuited to life in busy households or with small children. They may find life in the fast lane of dog sports too stressful. Sometimes, the fearfulness you see in a puppy can turn into aggression as the dog matures.

Is This the Dog For You?
When meeting a puppy or a dog to adopt, carefully consider whether a timid one will fit your needs and be happy in your lifestyle. Just as it’s unwise to marry someone you feel needs a lot of changing to become the spouse you want, choosing a dog with problems you plan to solve can have a sad result.

“Interview” the potential new family member away from familiar territory in order to get a more accurate picture of personality. Puppies and dogs who are confident at home may not cope well with unfamiliar environments. Don’t assume this is a temporary, fixable problem. It may be much more permanent and persistent than you think.

Genetics and experiences both contribute heavily to a dog’s personality. Some dogs have such solid genetic temperaments that they rise above all bad experiences. Others have such problems in their genetic temperaments that they can’t do well with even the ideal environments.

More often, the genetic temperament serves as a limiting factor to how much personality improvement you can achieve through providing the right experiences. The wrong experiences, especially early in life, are typically impossible to totally overcome, though an outstanding program of reconditioning can help a lot.

Don’t expect miracles, and don’t underestimate the length of time and the amount of work this can involve.Think carefully about whether this is really the kind of dog who will make you happy, and equally important, whether your home is the right place for this dog to be happy.

Slower is Faster
The old thinking that led to throwing children into the water so they would learn to swim is now known to be ineffective for both children and dogs. To improve a timid dog’s confidence requires a gentle, positive, gradual approach. Whenever the process is pushed faster than the dog’s ability to enjoy it, you lose ground.

Start with the dog at a distance from whatever the dog finds intimidating. When the dog is relaxed, you know you’ve found the right distance. It may be much further than you would expect.

By the way, this is another thing to consider in whether or not to bring a timid dog into your family. If you can’t provide the dog with enough distance within the home from things the dog fears, the fears will only be made worse.

When a dog feels cornered, you get “fight or flight” survival behavior, and neither reaction is helpful. When it’s fight behavior, the dog is faulted as aggressive.

The solution to this problem is not to try to punish the dog into better behavior–that approach only increases the dog’s need for self-defense, both on that occasion and in the future. Instead, you need to reduce the intensity of the situation for the dog, with distance as well as other factors. For example, if the dog is afraid of the vacuum cleaner, start working on that fear at a distance from the vacuum cleaner when it is not running.

When you have found a degree of intensity low enough that the dog can relax, use treats and games to help the dog form a positive association with this experience. Move a little closer to the feared object while continuing the pleasurable activities. Your goal is to stay at a distance that keeps the dog comfortable, and yet, gradually, over many sessions, reach the point that the dog will be comfortable close to the feared thing, and with it operating in a normal manner. This is the case whether the thing is a person, another animal, a piece of equipment, a place, etc.

One exception to note here to the rule of gradual conditioning to a feared thing is when the fear is recent. If the dog had just been frightened by something and you immediately respond by jollying the dog with treats and/or games in the presence of that thing, you may be able to resolve the problem in one session. More precisely, what you’re doing is preventing that fearful experience from becoming a permanent new problem. Whenever your dog has a negative experience, EVEN IF THE DOG DOESN’T SEEM UPSET, do this remedial conditioning. It never hurts, and it will frequently prevent serious problems.

Do not attempt to overcome a dog’s fear of something that is actually dangerous for the dog. For example, if your dog is afraid of being in the vicinity of a running lawn mower, well, dogs should not be in the vicinity of running lawn mowers as it’s not safe! Anyway, if your dog is afraid when the people across the street run their lawnmower, you’ll want to work on that fear, never going closer than a safe distance.

Sideswiping
One way to work toward getting the dog closer to a feared situation is to hold the dog’s attention with your voice and treats as you walk with the dog past that thing “sideswiping” it. This has a similar effect to placing distance between the dog and the feared thing, because the dog is thinking about something else instead. Thus the intensity of the feared thing is reduced for the dog.

Before performing this maneuver, work in quiet settings to develop a strong focus between yourself and the dog. The following method, developed by expert trainer Linda O’Hare Newsome, is effective for the purpose:

Have treats on your person (lots of tiny pieces of tempting food), but keep them out of the dog’s sight. To initiate the focused attention sequence, say “[Dog’s Name]!” and YOU MOVE ABRUPTLY away from her. If you want to say “Heel” or “Come” or “Front” or “By Me,” that’s fine too. The main thing is, say the name–this is going to become the word on which she will learn to look at you–then MOVE.

When she moves with you, quickly PRAISE her. This is where you would use a clicker if you wish to use that method, but a word of praise is fine, too. Then instantly whip out a treat and give it to her. Do not show the treats until you are ready to give one. This prevents the treat from becoming, in the dog’s mind, an actual part of the command–or a bribe. Each time you give a treat, align it between the dog’s eyes and yours. You want eye contact from her with that treat. Soon you will find her seeking your eye contact. Always praise her when she does that, and it’s fine to give her a “free” treat for doing it.

Okay, you’re not done. When you do this sequence, always do at least 3 to 5 in a row. Each time, you 1) say the name, 2) move, 3) praise, 4) whip out a treat and 5) give it. This doesn’t necessarily take up a bunch of space. You can move one direction the first time, back the other way the second time, etc., except when you have plenty of space and want to move forward, or “sideswipe” something you’re working on with your timid dog. Always do at least 3 to 5 repetitions in a row before you release the dog’s attention. This is what teaches her to SUSTAIN that attention on you until you release it. Practice this exercise everywhere, including at obedience class.

There are other methods of teaching focused attention to a dog, including work with a clicker. The important thing is to develop the exercise to the point that the dog can maintain the focus and tune out everything else. To very gradually increase the dog’s “closeness” to the object you’re working on, you can, over time, release the dog’s attention for one second, then two seconds, etc. Just as when you use distance to reduce the intensity of the feared thing to the dog, you must not advance any more rapidly in this process than the dog finds comfortable.

In Your Home
When a dog shows fear at home, don’t put pressure on the dog in a rush to get things done. To do so would risk pushing the dog into the fight-or-flight survival mode. Use your attention exercise and all other positive training you’ve done with the dog to move away from the dog and induce the dog to come with you. TAKE YOUR TIME. Accept the fact that taking care of any dog is going to take time out of your day, and this is the kind of care your timid dog needs. Time spent in positive training with a timid dog pays off mightily, both in giving you more and better tools for managing the dog, and for increasing the dog’s confidence.

If the dog is afraid of one family member, that person needs to patiently wait for the dog to make each approach. Never corner a dog. You would increase the dog’s fear, and also risk pushing the dog into a defensive bite. It helps if this is the person who feeds the dog and tosses toys if the dog likes to chase them. With plenty of patience, the dog will usually get better. If months go by and the dog is still afraid, rethink the way the person is handling the dog. Even one outburst of impatience or anger from that person can create a huge setback.

When a dog fears guests, follow the principle of reducing the intensity of the situation to the point that the dog is comfortable. This may mean, especially at first, that you settle the dog into another room to relax away from the guests. Be especially cautious about subjecting a fearful dog to boisterous children, overbearing people, or intoxicated people.

Training Class?
Some timid dogs may be ready for attendance in a training class that uses positive methods when they’ve lived with you just a few weeks. In particular, puppies need puppy class experience, if they are able to enjoy it and if their immune systems are up to it (consult your veterinarian for this assessment).

Some timid dogs may be too fearful for class until you’ve done a lot of foundation work first. A private trainer or behavior specialist can help you structure positive experiences to build the dog’s confidence, and also help you determine when the dog is ready for class.

The first class experiences may need to be low-key, keeping the dog on the perimeter of the training group and at a distance from anything the dog fears. If you’ve developed focused attention with the dog before starting class, this exercise will be extremely useful for helping the dog relax in the situation. Some dogs may need several visits–starting with very short periods of time–to the training facility before actually participating in a class. Some dogs may never be able to function well enough for class.

If the dog has any tendency to snap at dogs or people or to bark inappropriately, a head halter is an excellent safeguard that helps to eliminate this habit without introducing new problems. Have a behavior specialist help you fit the halter and introduce the dog to it. Use your focused attention exercise to keep the dog’s mind off the halter. Be sure to remove the head halter at all times except when you are actively working the dog. Don’t use a long line with a head halter, because you could put a dangerous amount of force against the neck.

For Life
Don’t expect a dog to get over being timid because it will more likely be a lifelong tendency. Many timid dogs will become loving, safe companions, when kept in situations appropriate to their needs. Be proactive with the dog’s care, thinking ahead so as to avoid excessive stress. Help the dog develop genuine confidence, and you’ll have the best chance of avoiding such potential complications as self-protective aggression.

Is your dog or puppy overly enthusiastic when people come to your door? Running to the door, barking, or jumping on visitors when they arrive can become a real problem, especially when your 5-pound puppy turns into an 85-pound dog. Here are some steps to help:

Step 1: Desensitization
First you must desensitize the dog to the ringing of the doorbell and knocking on the door. To do so, you must repeatedly ring the doorbell and knock on the door until the dog doesn’t respond to them anymore.

Step 2: Increase Intensity
The next step is to make the bell ringing and knocking more intense-try doing both ringing and knocking at the same time. Then try it with strangers instead of people already in the household.

Step 3: Show the Dog What To Do
Teach the dog what you would like them to do when the doorbell rings or someone is knocking on the door without any distractions (sit, lie down, or go in their crate).

Step 4: Put It All Together
Combine steps one through three.

Step 5: Reinforce
Reinforcement is key to the dog understanding that they have to do this every time that the doorbell rings or someone knocks. Practice this frequently until it is a normal part of your dog’s routine.

Socializing Dogs to People

by  Kathy Diamond Davis, Canine Behavior Series

Ideally every puppy would receive a good foundation of experiences for the ability to cope with all kinds of people as an adult dog. Even if the genetics for temperament in your pup are not the best, or your pup has a bad experience when young, a good foundation of social experiences will give the best chance for a dog to have good social skills. If your puppy comes from two temperamentally-sound parents and is lucky enough to avoid any traumatic experiences with humans during formative months, you might never see problems from lack of good early socialization.

Bad experiences unfortunately happen without anyone being able to foresee or prevent them. What you can do, though, is give your dog plenty of positive experiences. That way when your dog has a bad experience with, for example, a man with a beard, several previous GOOD experiences with bearded men will have already taught your dog that a bearded man is not a bad guy!

Quality AND Quantity
Having lots of experiences with humans will not help your dog if those experiences are of poor quality. When “quantity” means a number of bad experiences, quantity is not a good thing. Your goal is to build in your dog a belief system that most encounters with humans will be safe. Your dog learns from experiences, and those experiences need to illustrate the message you wish to teach the dog.

A dog who has high-quality positive experiences with humans may still not be adequately socialized if there are not enough experiences. Let’s say you have your dog Joe out for a walk and a passing man frightens him. Perhaps the man crashes into Joe, drops something on him, or steps on his tail. Maybe it’s accidentally, maybe the man is under the influence of some substance, but either way, Joe has a bad experience.

If when this happens to Joe he has previously encountered 50 men on outings, 40 of whom ignored him and 10 who gave him treats, what is Joe’s opinion of men likely to be? “Gee, men are usually okay, but that guy was strange!” Give Joe several good experience and he’ll likely put it into the perspective of many good experiences and decide not to worry too much about men he meets.

If Joe has inherited a difficult temperament, he may require more good experiences and more time to offset his bad experience. The same is true if Joe has not had a large number of good experiences before this unfortunate one.

It’s even possible that Joe will never be able to handle exposure to men, or to whatever type of person he decides to worry about. All dogs are not equal when it comes to the socialization they need and how they will be able to handle the world, with or without good experiences. All you can do is your best.

Bear in mind, too, that some breeds were selectively bred to have temperaments you might find difficult in a companion dog. Be sure to research breeds ahead of adopting a dog to find one likely to fit your lifestyle.

To establish the good social experiences with humans that your dog needs, plan contacts with people. Dogs don’t tend to catch infections from humans, so there may be places you can take your puppy to meet humans before the veterinarian wants the pup around other dogs.

Keep outings short so the puppy won’t get tired, and when in doubt, carry the pup to avoid exposure to contaminated ground. Try to do a little every day. The time can increase as the puppy matures and has more stamina and a stronger immune system. Try to remain aware of the dog’s stress level at all times. Your goal is for every experience to end happily.

Don’t let the habit of jumping on people get started because changing this habit later can put your dog’s good attitude toward people at risk. It’s also much easier to prevent than to fix. Don’t let anyone pet the puppy or dog who is standing on hind legs.

You can gently hold the dog in four-on-the-floor position (a chest harness is addition to the collar gives you a secure handhold that doesn’t pull against the dog’s throat), wait until the dog quits trying to jump, or even stand on the leash so it doesn’t give the dog room to jump. Don’t try standing on the leash of a big dog, though, or you can get pulled over!

If you happen to have a not-uncommon combination of a shy dog who also jumps on people, you can teach the dog to do “paws up” to your forearm, and hold the dog there for people to pet. The dog is under your control, so it can be a reasonable compromise while you work on training skills and social skills with a nervous young dog.

Another way to handle the jumping-up dog is to teach the dog to sit for petting and a treat, and this is a lovely behavior. If you start the non-jumping greetings early enough in a dog’s life, it becomes such a habit that the dog is trustworthy even when highly excited and when around frail people. This is a goal well worth the effort, no matter what the dog’s age.

Being able to take some initiative in greeting people gives confidence to many dogs, which is one reason they jump up. Once you’ve taught your dog not to jump up, it’s helpful to teach the dog a cue phrase for greeting people, such as “Say hi.” You can add a signal to this, pointing to the person you mean.

When the dog makes the approach, the dog will tend to feel more comfortable. The same is true when a dog offers a paw to shake hands. Dogs love structure, knowing what is going to happen next, and shaking hands can satisfy this desire.

Variables
Dogs notice all sorts of differences in people. With good socialization, dogs learn to ignore the differences that are not important, such as beards, hats, skin color, and the like. If you react in such a way that your dog thinks there is reason to fear that type of person, though, you can inadvertently create fear, suspicion or defensiveness in your dog toward other people. That becomes inconvenient, and sometimes downright dangerous. So strive to treat people the same no matter what their differences when you are socializing your dog!

In socializing your dog, you want to create positive experiences with every variation on the human condition you possibly can. Here are some differences to use:

1. Accustom your dog to people of as many different appearances as possible. This includes people who are tall, short, narrow, wide, bearded, short-haired, long-haired, and with skin all the colors of the rainbow. Whatever differences you and your dog come across, your goal is to teach the dog that these things are not important.
2. Get your dog used to people who smell different ways. Being in my 20^th year as a therapy dog handler, I’ve come to believe that dogs are not as put off by scents as people are. If you don’t like the way someone smells, you may notice it makes no difference to your dog. What you don’t want to do is react in such a way that your dog will be afraid of that scent.
3. Let your dog get used to people moving in all sorts of ways. That means walking, running, limping, riding a bicycle, skating, skipping, and anything else you can think of or find. Keep in mind the dog’s comfort and safety so your dog will have good experiences with these movements, not bad ones.
4. Accustom your dog to all sorts of sounds associated with people. That includes whispering, talking, laughing, coughing, singing, yelling, playing music electronically or with an instrument and all the other variations you can arrange.
5. Give your dog the experience of people appearing suddenly. This is startling to some dogs, so start at a distance and be prepared to distract the dog with an eye contact exercise.
6. Expose your dog to people wearing a wide variety of clothing.
7. Get your dog used to people carrying all kinds of objects. A safe distance from a construction site is a convenient place to work on this.
8. When you can actively work with your dog when someone comes to your home, this is a great opportunity to get your dog used to people in a potentially delicate situation. If you’re not able to actively control the dog, though, put the dog into an area away from being able to see the visitors. You don’t want any bad habits or beliefs to get started.

Remedies
An eye contact or focused attention exercise is a good way to handle your dog around people the dog might find stressful. When in doubt, start with having the dog focus on you, and release the dog’s attention for brief moments at a time to see how the dog reacts to the person.

If the dog reacts badly to someone, increase your distance from the person and continue to work with the dog’s attention on you. In the early stages of focused attention it’s usually best to use treats to keep the dog’s eyes on yours. This has the added advantage of giving you a reading on the dog’s stress level. If the dog normally will eat a particular treat but will not eat it in that situation, that’s reason to think the situation may be too stressful.

Don’t let people corner your dog. A dog on a leash may feel cornered even with a lot of space around because the dog can’t get away. If someone is pushy about petting your dog and won’t listen to your instructions, walk on, keeping your dog’s focus on you. Yes, it’s a bit snobbish, but it’s good for the dog! It tells your dog that YOU will deal with the humans, and that you are a leader worthy of following.

Acting out aggression or fear tends to fix both the behavior habit and the feeling more strongly. If your dog reacts in this manner to a situation, you need to stop putting the dog in the situation. Change the situation to one the dog can handle, and work gradually up to the level your dog needs to be able to cope with.

For example, let’s say your dog is afraid of men encountered on walks. You need to take your dog out to eliminate, so you’ll need to work the dog around men. How can you approach this training?

First, if the dog is aggressive toward men, get the help of an expert in person to work on the problem. Aggression is not a do-it-yourself project. Ask your veterinarian to recommend a behavior specialist in your area. Aggression and shyness are two sides of the same coin, so be alert for a fearful dog to show signs of aggression. If that happens, don’t delay getting help.

In the case of a dog showing mild fear without aggression, it helps to “sideswipe” people—not by hitting them as you go by! But instead of walking up to someone and stopping and putting your dog in the position of having to deal with them, just walk by the person, keeping your dog’s eyes on your eyes. At first have the distance between your dog and the person fairly large—whatever it takes for the dog to feel relaxed, maybe 20 feet. The dog may also feel relaxed when your body is between the dog and the other person.

If the person is willing to help, you can walk by several times, getting closer. For the first session, that may be all you want to do. You might do just that for several sessions.

As the dog shows progress, you could make your passes closer, and slow down as you pass the person. Eventually you could stop near the person and keep your dog’s attention while perhaps talking to the person.

If the dog gets more comfortable, you might have the person just lightly scratch the dog with one hand reaching from the side behind one ear – not reaching over the head. You might also have the person give the dog a treat. Another possibility is to have the person drop a treat for the dog, if you’re willing to let your dog pick up food from the ground (that’s a training decision).

If your dog is not showing comfort with being petted by people, you could make the choice to just teach your dog to ignore everyone else when out with you. This might seem extreme, but when you think about it, it’s not so different from what some humans have to do in order to endure constant closeness to people living in neighborhoods and apartments.

In tight quarters, people give each other some “space” by simply not engaging every time they pass. Some dogs need more space than others, and if you can’t give the dog physical space at that moment, you can create emotional space. With practice and teaching your dog that you can be trusted to keep things safe, this kind of space can work for many dogs.

Children and Puppies
The combination of a preschool-age child and a puppy at a critical stage of socialization requires special handling. A typical result is a dog who is never good with kids because of things that happened during critical early weeks of the pup’s life.

If you have a young child and want to add a dog to the family, your best bet is a dog already positively socialized to young kids. If you have a young child and a puppy, be aware that a puppy may not show the effects of the child’s behavior until the pup is several months of age.

Be careful how any child is allowed to behave around any dog, and never leave a child under school age alone with any dog for even one second.

Good contact with dogs in the early years can have lifelong benefits for children, so it’s worth a lot of effort to provide this contact for your child and the children of your acquaintance. Just make sure there is enough skilled adult supervision on every encounter. The ideal is one skilled adult handling the dog while another handles the child.

Companionship
What a sociable dog can do for humans is beyond scientific measurement and beyond words. It is worth a great deal of effort to socialize your dog well with humans. It’s also a lot of fun.

Dogs are the ultimate ice-breakers between people. Handling a dog skillfully around other people is challenging and fascinating. You’ll be rewarded by having your dog provide even more benefits in your life, as well as in the lives of other people.

Canine Separation Anxiety

by Barbara S. Simpson, Ph.D, DVM, Diplomate ACVB, The Veterinary Behavior Clinic

Canine separation anxiety is a common behavioral disorder and is diagnosed in 20% to 40% of canine cases presented to specialty behavior clinics. Although the exact cause is unknown, separation anxiety is thought to be a product of the social nature of dogs and their attachment to specific individuals. Neurophysiologic and genetic factors may also be important. Signs of canine separation anxiety occur when an affected dog is left alone or is separated from its “significant person.” Anxiety is expressed by pacing, whining, salivating, and destructiveness. The dog’s behavior when alone may be in marked contrast to the way it acts in the presence of the owner, when it may never exhibit signs of anxiety. The owner may be unaware that the dog’s behavior is due to an anxiety disorder and may attribute it to the human emotion “spite”.

Signalment and History
The signalment for canine separation anxiety is variable. The dog may be of either sex, although males appear to be more commonly affected. The disorder may occur in any breed, but mixed-breeds are over represented in surveys. The typical age of presentation is 9 months to 2 years. Later separation anxiety may appear in older dogs as their sensory world diminishes and they become more and more dependent on their owners.

Among young dogs, one of two historical presentations is common. The first is a dog that has exhibited signs of canine separation anxiety from puppyhood, perhaps as an extension of the distress that all puppies express when isolated from their littermates and mother. The other is a dog adopted from a rescue group or animal shelter. In the latter case, it is possible either that the dog was abandoned because of separation-related problems or that the dog had lived with other dogs and had no prior experience with social isolation. Clinicians often have the impression that the adopted dog, after a life of deprivation, bonds quickly to its new owner and demonstrates extreme distress when separated from him or her.

There is no evidence that “spoiling” a dog by allowing it to sleep on the bed or furniture and allowing it to ride in the car on errands contributes to separation anxiety. There is evidence, however, that many owners of dogs with separation anxiety have a particularly close relationship with their pet.

Diagnosis
Diagnosis is made based on the behavioral history and the exclusion of differential diagnoses, which may be medical or behavioral. Behaviors characteristic of canine separation anxiety include destructiveness, elimination, hypersalivation, and vocalization. To make a definitive diagnosis, these behaviors must not occur in the house when the owner is home. That is, they must be restricted to times when the dog is left alone. Dogs may exhibit one or more of these signs.

Destructiveness
Destructiveness is a common presenting sign. Often the dog’s destructive behavior is focused around the door that the owner has exited but may include other sites of egress, including windows and other doors. The molding around doors or windows may be chewed and clawed, and the door itself may be extensively damaged. Digging may occur at the base of the doors to the point that the carpeting or other floor covering is damaged. Dogs left outdoors may direct their destructiveness toward the outside of doors and windows as they attempt to get inside the house, which is the route of the owner’s departure.

In other dogs, destructiveness focuses on specific objects in the house. Articles of clothing, including shoes worn by the owner, may be sought out, moved to a new location, and chewed. Some dogs chew furniture, newspapers, and magazines, and overturn trash cans. A dog left in a crate when the owner leaves may tear up bedding or newspapers in the crate, chew on its bars, or attempt to dig out of it. The owner may return home to find the dog has broken its teeth or nails in its attempt to escape.

Differential diagnoses include general destructiveness, thunderstorm phobia, and territorial behavior. General destructiveness is especially common in young dogs, which may be particularly destructive when unsupervised by the owner. In such dogs, destructiveness may occur only when the owner leaves and no longer monitors the dog; a thorough history, however, may reveal that the dog chews objects if not carefully observed.

Dogs fearful of noises such as thunderstorms may exhibit destructive behavior when frightened while the owner is gone. Territorial behavior may be manifest as chewing around doorways and windows in an attempt to contact visitors to the house, such as postal workers or delivery persons. These explanations for destructiveness must be ruled out through discussions with the owner before a diagnosis of separation anxiety can be made.

Elimination
Fecal or urinary elimination in the house is a common presenting sign of canine separation anxiety and is related to autonomic arousal. If this occurs when the dog is confined to a crate, the dog may have soiled itself. When both fecal and urinary elimination occur, separation anxiety is a likely explanation, since few medical disorders cause these concurrent signs.

Differential diagnoses for elimination when the owner is absent include house training failure, male urine marking, noise phobia, gastrointestinal or urinary tract disorders, and seizures. Dogs not fully house trained will eliminate when the owner is not present to supervise them, and male dogs often urine mark in the house; these incidents may mimic the signs of canine separation anxiety. The behavioral history should be investigated to verify that the dog never or rarely eliminates in the house unless the owner is absent.

The numerous medical causes of inadequate voluntary control of feces or urine should also be investigated. For fecal incontinence, these include internal parasites, enteritis, and malabsorption syndrome; for urinary incontinence, these include cystitis, cystic or urethral calculi, diabetes, or latrogenic causes of polyuria. Epileptic dogs may have seizures during the day while the owner is gone, with the only remaining sign being elimination in the house. It is critical to rule out medical causes of elimination in a dog that is well house trained.

Hypersalivation
Hypersalivation occurs in a small percent of dogs that exhibit separation anxiety. In these cases, the owner may return to find the dog’s face, chest, and forelimbs soaked with saliva. Dogs left in crates may be standing in a puddle of saliva at the end of the day. The owner often reports excessive water consumption when he or she returns, as the dog compensates for transient dehydration. When the hypersalivation occurs only in the owner’s absence, it may be considered pathognomonic for canine separation anxiety.

Vocalization
Dogs may vocalize when the owner leaves, indicating distress and frustration. The vocalizations noted include plaintive whining, howling, and barking. Neighbors may report such vocalizations to the owner. The pattern is often highly individualized: some dogs whine as the owner prepares to leave, and others howl during the entire time the owner is gone. An anticipatory greeting bark may occur when the owner returns and is not necessarily related to separation anxiety.

Although whining, barking, and howling occur in dogs in many contexts unrelated to separation anxiety, the owners of dogs with this disorder often report that as they leave their home, the dog produces a particular vocal sound that is distinguished from vocalizations at other times.

Other Signs
Dogs that exhibit separation anxiety often have highly affiliated relationships with their owners. The following traits are frequently observed:

• The dog remains close to the owner, following him or her about the house
• The dog becomes distressed as the owner moves further away, such as a trip to the mailbox or to take out the trash
• The dog shows signs of restlessness or depression as the owner prepares to leave
• The dog greets the owner excessively upon his or her return home
• The dog may be anorexic when the owner is absent and may eat only in the presence of the owner

Summary
Separation anxiety is a manageable condition. Best success is obtained by a multifaceted treatment program that changes the environment of the dog while it is alone, changes the relationship between the owner and the dog, and provides anti anxiety therapy in the form of appropriate medication. The veterinary technician can play a critical role in the success of the treatment of separation anxiety by educating the owner and advising him or her on the steps in a therapy program.