If you’ve been following my column – and I’ve no reason to think that you haven’t – you’ll know that the hubs and I are still adjusting to life with Rescue Dog #2. This dog, Hambone by name, is the complete opposite of our previous dog, Munster. Where Munster was a happy, confident dog, Hambone is fearful and submissive. He also requires an enormous amount of patience – a thing that isn’t always in great supply here at Critter Cottage (I’m talking to you, hubs!). But the patience is showing results, and I could not be more relieved if you paid me money.
In the first place, I had no idea how to build up his confidence. Surely there must be specific exercises for that? But as our daily routine has taught me, it’s the little things that make the difference, such as hearty praise for every single thing he does correctly. In addition, I’ve been working on something that will, ultimately, prove extremely useful: teaching him to “stay.” Years ago, I was taught by a trainer who ran a Good Manners class that the dog, in order to gain any reward, must look to you, the owner, and make eye contact. Then he must wait until you give the signal that he can do or have whatever it was he wanted to begin with. In Hambone’s case, he’s learning that he must sit just inside the door and look at me. Then I open the door, but I use my hand to indicate (along with the spoken word) “stay”. When I see that he is, indeed, following my directive, and is still making eye contact, I then say the magic word, “o.k.”, which releases him from “stay,” and he’s allowed to leave the house.
I can’t tell you how hard it was to get “stay” across to him when his previous experience with hands was of them hitting him. The first few hundred times I made the attempt, he squinted and sort of scrunched up his head as if in preparation for something hurtful. Because of that, I made sure that I kept the gesturing hand up close to myself, rather than down, in his face. He seems to be learning the difference.
You might think that because he has learned “stay” at the door, he knows “stay” in any other context, but you’d be wrong. My current task, now, is using “stay” in other situations. I’ve been working on “sit,” “down,” and “stay” inside the house, with treats involved. Sitting was easy enough as I think he already knew that one. Lying down was a bit trickier, but again, using treats, and lots of time and patience, he came to see that “down” meant good things. Now, a few weeks into this training, I’ve started using the same hand gesture for “stay” outside that I use at the side door. The Good Manners trainer had taught us that initially, we needed to put a very small distance between ourselves and the “stay” dog, while gradually increasing the distance, so that ultimately, the dog will understand that “stay” means the same thing whether we’re standing next to each other, or a few metres apart. And once he learns that, I can begin to work on halting him from a distance.
Hambone is also learning “place,” a command in which he’s meant to jump up on a designated item, such as a couch. Ideally, the designated item is a raised surface, so that the dog understands that he’s meant to step or jump upward. Hambone has picked this one up very quickly. Mind you, you’re meant to be decreasing the amount of treat rewards so that, over time, the dog is responding to your command alone and not just because you have something to bribe him with. In that way, your dog will come to understand that he needs to do your bidding because you’re the Alpha, and you’ve told him to. If you leave it all up to treats alone, your dog will eventually decide that he doesn’t always have to do what you’ve told him to if there aren’t any treats involved.
So that’s where things stand at the moment, here at Critter Cottage. Of course, the hubs is no more use now than he was with Munster. Frustratingly, this dog is quickly learning that he can behave badly with the hubs and get away with it. As I’ve said many times before, the hubs needs more training than the dog! Until next time!