About a year ago, I moved to Toronto and into a new apartment. It was everything I was looking for in a space — hardwood floors, separate office space, working fireplace (a nice perk). But being in the heart of Toronto it was also a little noisier than Rory was used to compared to our sleepy Ottawa residence.
As a result she developed a bad habit — barking. Not only would she bark whenever she heard anything unexpected, but she would bark and charge down the hallway whenever she heard neighbouring dogs, people on the street or even our upstairs neighbours shuffling around in their apartment. Needless to say, it was a habit that had to stop.
So I started a strict training regiment. Using nothing but positive reinforcement, Rory’s frantic barking is now manageable and civilized. Here’s how I did it:
STEP 1: ACCEPTANCE
There is a saying — “if you can’t beat them, join them” — and that is the approach I took with Rory’s barking. There is no way you are ever going to stop a dog from barking and nor should you try.
A dog barks to tell you something isn’t quite right, that there is ‘danger’ nearby and to raise the pack’s attention. Trying to debark a dog through bark collars and negative reinforcement is like trying to combat a natural, engrained instinct that is programmed into a dog’s DNA. So instead, I chose to embrace Rory’s barking.
It is good that she raises the alarm when something is not quite right in her books — the key then became controlling the bark. In other words, I needed to train her to have an ‘off switch.’
STEP 2: REDIRECT
Every dog has at least one trick that they love to do and never fail to do when asked. For Rory this trick is ‘go to your bed.’ So I began to use that phrase to redirect Rory’s charging bark. Every time she started barking, I would tell her to ‘go to bed.’ Of course, she didn’t always go when asked in the beginning, so I would need to choral her to her bed and once all four paws landed in her bed, reward her with a treat right away.
STEP 3: TREAT RIGHT – AND RIGHT AWAY
Just any old treat wouldn’t work in this situation, because you are trying to distract your dog from a high-energy and agitated state. In order to aptly capture Rory’s attention, I needed to be offering something truly fantastic, so I alternated between cheese and dehydrated cow’s lung.
I also made sure to reward Rory as soon as all four paws were in her bed so that she associated completing that action with the tasty treat. Any pause between command and completed command can cause confusion in a dog’s mind.
STEP 4: BE CONSISTENT
The trick to this sort of training technique is consistency. I couldn’t intervene in Rory’s barking display once in a while and then let it slide at other times. Regardless of what I was doing or where I was whenever at home, if she barked I intervened.
Every single time she barked I would follow, tell her ‘go to bed,’ direct her there if need be and instantly reward with a high-value treat. Every – single -time. You would be amazed how quickly dogs can learn new habits when rewarded positively.
THE RESULTS
Now we have a happy quiet home once again. Yes, Rory still barks when she thinks something is wrong, but she is now enabled with a debark word/command. One quick bark, a word from me and she settles down again. In fact she has now got to the point that she barks once, sometimes twice, and then takes herself to bed to await cross-pawed for a treat.
Rather than punish Rory for giving in to her natural instinct and alerting her family that there might be danger, I have instead managed to reign that enthusiastic barking into a controllable and manageable habit. Rory feels like she is doing her job (protecting) and I am no longer getting frustrated (albeit sympathetic) calls from my lovely neighbours. It is a win, win, win situation.
{Photography via Pawsh Instagram}
PAWSH PERK: Expert advice for training a dog not to lick.
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Today I would like to share with you a fantastic fall pet photo session featuring the sweetest little cattle dog you’ve ever seen! Now that Pawsh Studio is up and running, I hope to share more of my pet photo sessions with you on a regular basis, because who doesn’t enjoy seeing a few furry faces from time to time?
She was inquisitive about everything and had no problem jumping up on rocks and even tree trunks when her human asked. You can absolutely see the love and respect this dog has for people in her beautiful honey brown eyes.
Jumping was also a favourite trick of Miss Trigg’s and she delighted in bounding around whenever she could. What else can I say? This was an ultra joyful session!
No matter where I am working with dogs — be it in the studio or in a vast fall field like this session — I like to always make sure that the dogs have an opportunity to be themselves and express their true dog personalities. Don’t worry if your dog won’t sit nicely for the camera — that’s not their job. Their job is to be themselves… it’s MY job to run around with the camera and capture moments that are genuine and raw in a pretty fashion.
In 2014 I would love to try and come out to different towns and cities — YOUR town or city — for a day or two at a time and devote that visit to doing nothing by pet photo sessions! What do you think? Good idea? Terrible idea?
Nothing can compare to having photographs of your beloved furball. Is it an investment? Yes, absolutely — I’ll be completely honest. But is it a worthwhile investment? As a crazy-dog person, I definitely think so. Pet photographs are something you can treasure for years and years to come.
