When dogs return home from a board and train, there's a certain amount of catch up for the humans; it's sort of a crash course those first few days where the owners discover all that their dogs have learned. 

While this is wonderful and exciting, it can also be oddly challenging for the owners. The change in their dogs is so sudden -- board and trains are usually just two weeks -- that it's easy for owners to under estimate what their dogs can now do. Essentially, their expectations might be too low and if that continues, their dogs will meet their expectations! 

Helping owners understand what behavior they should expect is an important part of my training program. It may be a high quality problem, but left unattended, it would still cause problems and is much better planned for and avoided than having to resolve after the fact.

I was moving photos from the mac to the cloud and noticed these great shots of Brian working Ruger through thresholds. The way your dog defers to you in tight spaces -- and thresholds are always narrow -- speaks volumes to how he sees you, either with respect or not, and of course neither determines if he loves you! 

Notice with Ruger, it's not just physical position, although that's important that he is not in front of Brian. It's equally important that your dog's state of mind is calm and relaxed. If you're experiencing any behavioral issues anywhere else, seemingly unrelated, be sure to look at how your thresholds look. They should look a lot like Brian and Ruger's do here!

And remember, every time matters ... to your dog, if not to you. Meaning that if he rushes past you once, literally vying for that valuable resource of space, that immediately puts an idea in his mind that perhaps he doesn't have to defer to you. It doesn't take long (a couple days?) of repeated "success" in that area for him to generalize that same attitude in other seemingly non-related areas: reacting to other dogs on leash, blowing off commands, etc. 

How to avoid (or adjust back to good) the issue? Be as aware as your dog is about going through tight spaces, thresholds being the easiest to "practice" on. When on leash, pause for a half second literally on the threshold (the narrowest part of the doorway, not before it) and check that your dog is pausing both physically and mentally, too. 

Hope that's helpful... let me know if you have any questions or comments! And thanks for modeling so beautifully for us, Brian and Ruger!

Zargon was terrible on leash -- pulled like a freight train, reacted to whatever was out there, and if it was another dog, lunges and barks and jumps and twists were the norm. 

Transformations are beautiful to witness and I got to see one at Mabel and Melissa's two-week check up. Mabel was once a very reactive dog when out on walks with Melissa. For a couple of years she had perfected the routine of barking and lunging or completely shutting down when seeing another dog on walks or off leash.

In this photo, you can see Mabel checking in with her mom as they come up on a dog. This is brand new behavior for Mabel and is a terrific sign that she has learned to rely on her owner for guidance -- one of the hallmark signs that a dog believes in her handler's leadership.  

The change in Mabel from highly dog reactive to calm and relaxed did not happen magically, nor overnight. But it also didn't take years to accomplish. Mabel spent two weeks with me going through my Foundation Package board and train. During that time she learned valuable skills around impulse control and existing in a calm state of mind. Once home, her owner spent the first two weeks going through "bootcamp" with Mabel where she leveraged all Mabel had learned with me to establish a new relationship with her. While still uncomfortable -- it's very early days in their new relationship -- Mabel is practicing deferring to her owner showing the new trust that's been established over the last two weeks. 

I'm proud of all of my clients who put in the work and enjoy the rewards of giving their dogs leadership, but some touch my heart a little more -- maybe because I appreciate how challenging the change was for them -- and Melissa and her dog Mabel definitely met and overcame a big challenge to see even bigger rewards!!

A perfect tête-à-tête, or tête-à- butt ;-) between Nala and my little guy, Thompson. Both are confident and respectful, especially Nala, as she backs off immediately when Thompson signals that he's not interested. She comes in again -- I mean who could resist, really, he's pretty handsome ;-) -- but then promptly moves away when he gets serious and actually mumbles a low growl. 

Whether you find dog-dog interaction fascinating or not, I admit that I do(!!), it is important to be able to get the gist. If you can identify when one dog is saying "back off" but the other dog isn't respecting that, you can step in. Intervening demonstrates your leadership to both dogs and if you're struggling with poor behavior in other areas, showing leadership in this context will help significantly in other areas. 

These two handled things just fine on their own -- mistakes would have looked like Nala not giving Thompson his space or Thompson over correcting Nala by lunging after her. The fact that I was there may have helped their good decisions actually and please remember to always supervise socialization. Especially when there's a size difference with the dogs, a simple mistake by one dog turn into a painful and costly mishap for both.

Nala didn't get shut down by all the boys in my pack, Evan was very happy to go toe to toe with her. Finding your dog a good play partner provides him very of good exercise that's incredibly fun and depletes a lot of mental energy as well as physical. 

In good quality play, dogs are practicing social skills that require reading each other and responding appropriately throughout the session. Often times dogs that haven't had a lot of good guidance and practice at playing appropriately will need help understanding boundaries and self handicapping as well as keeping their excitement level contained. 

For a dog without any underlying issues, one or two corrections from either the balanced dog he is playing with or the human supervising the play quickly helps him learn successful play rules. It's pretty lovely watching well-matched dogs play... it can look like a dance performance full of balance and grace. :-)

Does she like him?  It's a great question. The owner of the dark brown dog asked this after I sent her the photo describing it as a low-pressure greeting between her dog and the Vizsla. Both dogs have a history of dog reactivity and aggression. 

The thing is, it doesn't matter.  They might not like each other and that's got very little to do with my expectations on their behavior. Whether they like each other or not, they should be able to tolerate each other's existence. They can choose to greet each other appropriately or avoid direct contact by walking away.  

The Grocery Store
Consider how we act at the grocery store. It's probable that we wouldn't like everyone we come across.  Yet, we still treat everyone with respect and honor some basic social guidelines: 

• we don't say anything rude 
• we essentially ignore them while we're careful to give respectful space 
• maybe we give a friendly smile if we make eye contact, but unlikely we'd actually talk.

That's it, right? We don't chit chat with people there, we don't introduce ourselves with the idea that we will engage on a personal level.  In fact, all the while we're "interacting" with them, we're actually just going about our business trying to get everything on our shopping list. 

And that's probably true for 90% of the time we're engaging in society outside the house other than at work or with friends and family. Our interaction with others is actually very limited and it's successful based on adhering to social norms which we practice whether or not we like the other people. It's based on respecting their right to share the same space as us. 

We should have these same expectation for our dogs. The majority of the time they encounter another dog or person, they don't need to like them. In fact, they typically wouldn't or shouldn't engage enough to be able to come to that conclusion. They just need to accept their existence and practice at least the minimum bid of good dog-dog social skills:

• don't threaten the other dog -- akin to our not making a rude comment ;-). 
• ignore the other dog but be sure to give appropriate space as they pass by
• if they do directly greet each other, keep it short and simple and then move on. 

Dog Parks and Playgrounds
It's hard to address dog-dog socialization and not discuss dog parks. To be direct, I don't have any use for them. I think it's terrific for dogs to play -- much like we enjoy the time we spend with friends, family, and co-workers engaging in conversation and enjoying their multi-faceted personalities. When dogs "connect" with others and they have riotous fun playing, there's not much cuter than that and there's no denying that they're really and completely having fun. 

But I think that dogs playing is akin to children playing in the school yard... both go best with adult supervision. Like with children, unsupervised play can turn into trouble. Not always but enough times to warrant measures for avoiding or containing it. For humans to effectively supervise dogs' play, it's best if all the humans involved agree on what is and isn't appropriate as well as what methods to use to interrupt it. Unfortunately, most dog parks are frequented by complete strangers -- as random a group of people as you'd find at the grocery store actually ;-) -- and the likelihood that you'll agree on what's appropriate and how to interrupt inappropriate behavior effectively is very unlikely. 

As much as we as a society tend to anthropomorphize our dogs, this is actually a good instance to add in a little human empathy:  not all dogs like to go to parties where they don't know anyone, whether or not there's someone on "yard duty". Keep in mind when you take your dog out and about that he may not like unfamiliar humans coming up to him and petting him, he may not be comfortable around loud noises and in busy areas. Yes, he should still be able to behave appropriately in these settings but it's a good idea for us to realize where our dogs do and don't feel comfortable -- beyond what makes us happy. While his appropriate behavior doesn't hinge on whether he likes the other dogs, humans, or environments, your relationship with him will be better and stronger if you help him succeed by honoring what he likes and where he feels most at ease. 

This gorgeous mastiff arrived for training nervous and wary. Because he's a dog, it's not surprising that he barked and lunged to compensate for his uneasiness. Because he's a very big dog, anyone around him quickly became uneasy, too. 

He left training two weeks later a much calmer, relaxed dog. One that could hang out at a shopping mall -- we happened to visit Santana Row ;-) -- and take in all the sights and sounds not to mention the smells. 

What happened in his two weeks with me, and very importantly was repeated by his family during the first two weeks he was back home, was that he was shown strong leadership that he could believe in and relax under. And I want to be clear that "Leadership" isn't code for heavy handed corrections. It's simply guidance for the dog so that he knows what's appropriate and also what's inappropriate. 

A key factor in being able to guide your dog is that he listens to you and that can sometimes feel like a circular process because a dog needs to believe in your leadership to consistently listen to you. When Kodi's family was here to take him home we spent some time learning how to establish leadership with him. It's about starting small with relatively easy "assignments": Come, Place, Down. Then as Kodi learned to listen to them to do those things it's a natural extension that he can listen to them to stop barking at another dog or not be nervous as a loud truck passes by on the walk. 

His family did a phenomenal job and were took those first two weeks to create a new relationship. This is what allowed him to defer to their authority around things that used to get him too excited (other dogs) or nervous (public places). Kodi's family still gets looks when they go out on a walk, but now it's just because he such a gorgeous boy! 

Now I get it.  But years ago when I was struggling with my dog's reactivity to other dogs on leash, it was a hard concept to understand:  It wasn't about being a good dog. 

In those early days of rehabilitation when Oliver and I would successfully pass by other dogs I felt an almost overwhelming desire to say "Good boy!". I'm sure I was beaming with pride after those first successes... and equally confused and devastated when it wasn't consistent and the next dog we saw seemed to trigger an even bigger reaction from him. 

What's crystal clear to me now is that Oliver wasn't being a bad dog when he was reactive and he wasn't being a good dog when he wasn't. He was simply responding out of fear when he saw other dogs and because he didn't believe that I was in control, showed his fear through barking, lunging, and going a little berserk. The trigger might just as easily have been cars or motorcycles or bags blowing in the wind. It really didn't matter what was making him uncomfortable -- but for him it was dogs as it is for a lot of dogs -- what mattered was how much trust he had in me to be able to take care of it. 

Also clear to me now is the impact of "Good dog" in those stressful situations. It's a flood of soft energy towards your dog when what he needs at that moment is to see you in all your strength and confidence. From his perspective, he just completely trusted you to take care of that big scary thing (another dog, a stranger, a paper bag blowing in the wind, you name it!) and if you go all soft and easy he's going to quickly lose confidence... and immediately start showing the bravado that you for some reason stopped!  

Here's a stab at an analogy... You're in a bus on the way home from a ski trip down a steep, winding, mountain road in the middle of a winter storm. Half way down the mountain the driver pulls over to let the passengers stretch their legs and you hear him say into his cell phone, "Wow, I'm so glad we're half way down, this is my first time driving the bus in this kind of storm." What's your confidence level in this driver now? How comfortable are you trusting in him? A whole lot less than if he'd exuded confidence and spoke about his experience dealing with just this kind of storm. Right? That's exactly how your dog feels when you show him soft energy -- saying "good dog" is inherently soft by the way ;-) -- right after he just trusted you to be in control. He needs to continue to see you as his pillar of strength all the way home. 

Critical But Not Sufficient    If he's reacting to stimuli -- out of fear or excitement -- he needs to believe that you've got it under control. And while it's critical that you keep your cool in the moment and exude confidence, it's probably not sufficient. Your dog probably needs to have practiced trusting in your leadership in much lower stress situations:  at home holding his Place command while your kids are playing in the next room. No longer barking at the doorbell after you've said, "That's enough, quiet." Waiting for food and going politely through thresholds (in and out of the house, his crate, the car) instead of pushing or rushing you. All of these moments of listening to you and deferring to you inside your house where he's already calmer and more relaxed helps make it much easier for him to listen to you outside the house where he's automatically more excited, more nervous, and much closer to his reactivity threshold when you encounter a trigger that might set him off. 

So next time you're out and about and he does stay calm in the face of danger, help him maintain it by continuing to act like nothing out of the ordinary is happening. After all, passing another dog on the street shouldn't be a cause for fear (from him) nor celebration (from you). Save your "Good dog" till you're in the front door and you're giving him that big dose of love that you just couldn't wait to share!

For the majority of my clients, the dog training they need help with is more about behavioral rehabilitation than it is about teaching obedience commands. Maybe the dog is extremely reactive to other dogs, people, or noises. Or the dog is shut down in public from fear. Or a fearful dog may be biting at people in stressful situations... or not so stressful situations. 

Helping a dog with behavioral issues certainly includes teaching them obedience. But the difference is that learning those commands are not the end goal, they're simply a means to an end. In fact, dogs often already know the commands well but do them when they want to, not every time the owner asks. 

The underlying issue for most behavioral issues is an unbalanced relationship between the dog and owner. The owner often suffers with the dog because he gave the dog love, freedom, and fun but not enough rules, guidance, and structure to help the dog know how to handle those privileges. Void of a leader that the dog can follow, he makes decisions on his own and unfortunately they're often the wrong decision:  bark aggressively at things that seem threatening; make a stranger keep his distance by biting at the stranger's hand when they reach in to pet; rush the door every time the doorbell rings to warn the trespasser to stay out. While it sounds very simple -- the fact is it is in principle -- if the dog believes in the leadership of his human, he'll defer to the human's guidance on how to appropriately act in each of those situations. 

The hard work, the diligence, the piece that pays off is insisting that the dog comply with the obedience command every time he hears it. The hard work is in follow through. It's in having an expectation for your dog's behavior and then helping him understand what that is (job one) and insisting that he do what he's capable of (job two). The hardest part about "job two" is that it lasts for the rest of your dog's life. But the easiest thing about job two is that the more you do it, the more engrained it becomes as a habit and the easier it is to do -- for both you and your dog. In essence, the work becomes so easy it feels more like rest. Good habits have that effect on dogs and people. 

There's about 275 pounds of dog in this photo yet this pack is one of my favorite to take out together. They're calm, relaxed, and tuned into me for direction during the walk.  Considering they are each very high energy, have high prey drive and are very "gamey", that may sound ironic that they're calm and relaxed on the walk, but that's the power of having a balanced dog.  

An important key to helping your dog be balanced is differentiating excitement from anxiety. It's very common for us humans to see a dog running around, barking and jumping, as being very happy. We say things like, oh, he's just excited, as an explanation for his behavior as well as a tacit acceptance of its being okay. Actually, that behavior is probably not at all okay and besides being inappropriate for the moment -- perhaps you've had guests arrive or you're in a hurry getting the kids off to school -- it's also not healthy for the dog. If your dog isn't anticipating something exciting, like a game of fetch or a walk or playing at the dog park, then there's no good reason for him to be excited. What you're seeing in the moment is anxiety and uncertainty, neither of which is a healthy state of mind for your dog and neither of which is enjoyable for him, either. 

Compared to what we're used to seeing, a balanced dog looks bored. He's calm and relaxed. He's not "on alert" scanning and searching for things that are moving outside your window. And on the walk, he's not focused in on the bushes anticipating something to move. He's focused on you -- matching your speed, stopping when you stop, paying attention not to bump into you as you turn left or right. That calm state of mind not only feels good to the dog, it is also what allows him not to react inappropriately to stimuli:  other dogs, skateboarders, bicyclists. A calm dog can think, they can process information including the direction they get from you on how they should react to the stimulus. 

It's an interesting shift in perception and one that may help you improve your relationship with your dog. Look with a closer eye the next time you see your dog acting "excited". Is the excitement appropriate, is there a reason for it? Or is it nervous, anxious energy being released because your dog hasn't learned other ways to behave. By your not encouraging the excitement and in fact discouraging it and giving him something more appropriate to do -- the Place command is always a good option -- you will be helping your dog in that moment and also over time as he learns to be calm as a default state of mind. 

In case you're concerned, a balanced dog still gets excited and looks happy just as we enjoy seeing in our dogs. But the difference is we're actually seeing a dog who is feeling happy... not nervous and anxious mistaken for happiness by us.