Sarah Whitehead - Clever Dog - Understand What Your Dog is Telling You

Perhaps my greatest challenge when working with pet dog owners is to get the message across that your dog is not an adversary but an ally. Work together and the team will build bonds so strong they will never be broken. Work against each other in the belief that your dog is trying to dominate you, and the relationship will start to suffer.

During the whole time that Sharon, Kevin and I were chatting, Ice lay on the floor looking nonchalant, as only a Malamute can. He was one of the most beautiful dogs I have ever seen, with ice-blue eyes (hence the name), a thick, plush coat and a face that you just wanted to snuggle into. However, every time I so much as moved my hands, he became still and rolled his eyes slightly – a clear and perfectly polite canine communication warning me to keep my distance.

Since I’d entered the house, Ice had kept a careful eye on me. He was not proactive and as long as I held back, I knew I was going to be safe around him. He just needed to know the same about me. It was little surprise that Ice thought I was likely to be bad news. Ever since the training class incident, Keith and Sharon had received few visitors, and had taken to walking Ice in the early hours of the morning so as to avoid other people, fearful that he would act aggressively and force them into making a final decision. Poor Ice had been kept a virtual prisoner in the home, and although he was well cared for, his owners had been ‘tip-toeing’ around him, fearful of what he might do next.

As in many such cases, the road to success would require a careful combination of planning and action. Ice desperately needed an active social life in order to re-establish his social skills with other people and other dogs. But in the early stages, my uppermost goal was to build the family’s confidence in each other once again. We started with some basic training. Training is often under-rated in these situations, but it can be the glue that holds the family together while relationships are reformed. Thankfully, training these days can be fast, fun and friendly. Gone are the days of ‘stomp and jerk’ techniques. Indeed, what we know now is how much faster dogs learn if they are encouraged to use their brains rather than brawn. Nowadays, there are many enlightened trainers and instructors out there who are using behavioural understanding to underpin their training – a far cry from the outdated techniques that poor Ice had been subjected to.

Ice was a fast learner. With the help of some tasty morsels of cheese, we had him sitting up and (quite literally) eating out of my hand within minutes. Having motivated him to want to engage in some fun interactions with his owners, we encouraged him to sit, lie down and give a paw on command. We finished with a finale of ‘be a bear’ – a great trick in which the dog sits up in a begging position and looks as cute as cute can be.

Inspired, his owners were given two weeks to practise these new behaviours. Ice was to be engaged in ‘fun training’ twice a day, using food and a relaxed approach, and was to get used to wearing a special head collar so that his owners could take him for a walk without being towed along behind him. Head collars allow almost complete control, like power steering, and make perfect sense in cases where the owner needs to avoid getting into a battle of strength with a big dog, who is clearly going to win. After all, no one would consider walking a horse on a piece of string. This bit of kit made all the difference to Sharon, as she could walk Ice with confidence when using it.

After two weeks of indoor practice, we were ready to hit the streets – and it didn’t have to be at two o’clock in the morning either. Poor Keith and Sharon had lost so much confidence in their ability to handle their dog that we formulated a programme of ‘stop on sight’. This meant that every time we saw someone walking our way, we asked Ice to give us attention, stop and sit. How, you might ask? Through good, old-fashioned bribery. In fact, this is not the ‘giving in’ that many people think it is. In the first few instances when Ice saw someone heading towards him, we simply showed him that we had some delicious chunks of cooked chicken on offer. This immediately produced the desired result, However, the next part was pure magic.

Imagine you have been summoned to see the boss. Generally, when this happens it’s not good news. As you walk towards his or her office door, you start to feel a little anxious, your palms get sweaty and you begin formulating defensive arguments in your head to stave off possible attack. However, when you go in, your boss greets you with a big smile and holds out his hand to congratulate you. You have earned a bonus. He gives you £1000 in cash on the spot. You are overjoyed! On the same day the following week, you are once again called to the boss’s office – and the same thing happens all over again. Unbelievably, this is repeated a third time, at the same time and on the same day of the week. Now, just imagine how you feel going into work in the fourth week. Are you elated? Full of hopeful expectation? You bet! Rewards that are linked to circumstances (days of the week, visual cues, people) have the power to affect your emotional state, not just your behaviour.

With this in mind, we worked on the equivalent canine scenario, and watched as Ice made giant conceptual leaps. During the following six weeks, the appearance of someone walking towards him in the street prompted him to whip round, sit down and look up at his owner, without having to be bribed, cajoled or reminded. Even better, he even started to offer ‘be a bear’, which elicited smiles and laughter from those walking past where they might once have given him a wide berth. These new responses were heavily rewarded. We played with Ice in the park, the street and in the communal front garden of his owners’ home. We gave him chicken, dried liver, hot dog sausages and fish treats for being calm and social around new people both inside and outside his home. We praised him for good behaviour and ignored it when he got it wrong. It worked like a dream. Within three months, without any drama, pretending to be Alpha leader, punishment or Alpha rollovers, Keith and Sharon found themselves back in control – and completely besotted with their lovely dog again.

TOP TIPS ON BUILDING A GREAT RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR DOG

» Work on building a trusting relationship with your dog. Don’t assume he is trying to challenge you for ‘leadership’. The best dog/owner combinations are teams, not competitors.

» Start as you mean to go on. If you don’t want your huge, muddy dog getting on the sofa when he’s three years old, don’t let him do it when he’s twelve weeks old – no matter how cute.

» Start training early, the second that you can – especially with big breeds. The old adage that you can’t start to train a dog until he’s six months old is wrong. Just think how much easier it is for children to learn a new language than it is for adults.

» Be consistent. Agree rules and boundaries within your family – and stick to them. Write them down if it will help to avoid domestic arguments later. Dogs like to know exactly what they can and can’t do.