Our dog, Zora, keeps climbing the fence! We live in a rented house so we don’t really have the option of changing or upgrading the fencing. We’ve lived here for over a year and she has just recently started doing this, since mid July. How can I prevent or change this behavior?
Cynthia D.
————————————————————–
Dear Cynthia,
Don’t fence me in! The old Cole Porter song is a bit dated now, but your dog obviously has a case of old fashioned wander lust.
The good news is, this falls squarely into to the category of “dogs will be dogs.” Left to their own devices dogs will do doggie things, and that includes busting out of this place (wherever this place may be) to do a little exploring. Here are some things to consider.
Manage the behavior. If you’re not already, you really need to closely supervise Zora in the back yard. That means that you never leave her out there unattended. You have to be there with her to make sure she’s not up to no good, or up and over the fence. If she’s hopping the fence right before your unbelieving eyes, take the extra measure and put a leash on her for potty breaks out back. We don’t want to leave anything to chance here.
If Zora is an “outside dog,” might I suggest you make her an “indoor dog” in a hurry? It’s not as hard as you might think. Most of the time, it’s just a matter of teaching potty training and some basic doggie manners. The effort is well worth it. Backyard dogs get in trouble; they get out, and sometimes they get hurt (or worse). Don’t take that risk.
I like to stay in close contact with my clients. This is especially true for cases which involve bites, or even lunging and barking. With my newest clients, Tiffany and her dog Tad, I’m using an online training journal. Tiffany and I share the journal on Google Docs. Daily, or at least every other day, she adds an update on her progress with Tad. I respond with feedback, and sometimes notes on how we can make his behavior-change plan more efficient and more effective.
The journal really helps all of us involved. It keeps Tiffany thinking about our training plan every day. She observes Tad more keenly and works with him more regularly, because she knows I’m expecting journal updates. The journal also helps Tiffany reflect on her own progress with Tad, because she has to take moment to stop and record her thoughts. Writing in the journal is a planned “pause and take a deep breath” moment.
As a behavior consultant, I benefit a great deal from the online training journal. There are several ways a behavior change plan can get slowed down or derailed altogether. One is poor execution. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t about beating up the client. Tiffany, as an example, is an extremely committed and intelligent person. However, two weeks will have passed before our next appointment (even a week would have been a long time). Much of the material she learned to help Tad is detailed and technical. Mistakes happen. It’s better to catch those along the way than two weeks down the line. The online journal is very helpful with that. As her coach, I can help her catch execution errors within a matter of hours rather than weeks. Of course, there are occasionally problems with the training plan itself. If an issue comes up on the training journal highlighting an error I’ve made educating the client, I want to be able to fix that immediately.
Tad benefits the most. Two species are learning new information at once throughout this process. One of the tricky parts of behavior cases like this is that both the human and the dog are putting brand new skills into action as they are learning them. That can set both the dog and the person up for some added stress and possible mistakes. For Tad’s benefit, it’s a good idea to have at least two human brains collaborating on his behavior-change plan daily. Again, that’s where the online journal plays a key role.
Of course the journal is not a replacement for regular phone and email check-ins. I do those with my clients as well, and that includes Tiffany. The journal is definitely a more-is-better addition to the client-coach relationship. We have two learners from two species taking in brand new information. Add to that, in some of these cases the stakes are pretty high. I’d rather not leave anything to chance. And if everything is going well, then excellent; checking in is still worthwhile. If nothing else, the online journal is a great way to remind Tiffany and I that we are both involved in helping Tad and that neither of us is walking this path alone.
Changing behavior is all about verbs, actions. We can observe behavior in real space and time because it is physical and often includes movement. We describe behavior with verbs. He sits. She runs. They eat. Remembering that helps us steer away from the labels we put on dogs, like dominant, dumb and stubborn. Those are adjectives, and the only real way to change them is to stop using them. Actions, on the other hand, we can change.
I didn’t invent the science of behavior change (I wish I had). In fact, there isn’t a dog trainer in Houston or anywhere else for that matter who can make such a claim. The truth is, the core concepts of animal training (including the human animal) are more than a century old. And they are among the most tested and verified bits of knowledge in the field of psychology. That’s a good thing really. We dog trainers don’t have to reinvent the process. Be careful of those who claim to. I wrote about the science of dog training in the March 2011 issue of Houston PetTalk. While we are always refining the way we apply the science of behavior change in dogs, the fundamentals remain the same.
Ah science. There seems to be a collective yawn when the topic comes up. Maybe our concept of science reminds us of boring afternoons in the classroom. That’s not what I’m talking about here. Using behavior science in dog training is cool, very cool. In fact, every trick you have ever taught your dog is an example of applied behavior science. Dolphin shows are excellent examples of it. Behavior science is actually happening all around us. Dog trainers use it all the time in some form or other, even if they don’t fully understand it.
Photo Courtesy: Robyn Arouty
Here’s how it breaks down. A behavior is repeated (and becomes habit) when there’s a history of favorable consequences following the action. How about an example? Put on a sweater – enjoy warmth and avoid being cold. Nice! Here’s a doggie example. Knock over the garbage can – enjoy snacking on the spilled food scraps. The actions of putting on a sweater and raiding garbage cans will increase over time because of the consequences. Changes in the environment set these learned behaviors into action. Let’s look at the human example again. The temperature drops when the sun goes down – put on a sweater – avoid the cold. The temperature drop didn’t cause the action of putting on a sweater, but it did set the stage. Perhaps the sight of a garbage can and the absence of people set the stage for the action of knocking the can over. In both examples, it’s the consequence which keeps these actions going time and time again.
You’re on your way to understanding how to change behavior (your dogs’ actions). Cues from the environment (we are part of our dogs’ environment, by the way) and consequences in the environment influence our dogs’ actions. That’s very good news for those of us who live with dogs. Why? Because we can change their environment. We can remove garbage cans as a potential trigger of destructive behavior. We can also provide food-delivery toys like Kongs and Bob-a-Lots for better behavior when the dog is left alone. Now we have the tools we need to change behavior. We actually had them all along.
Think of anything your dog does that you’d like to change. Remember to use verbs. Then think of what happens right before the action, and right after. Those are the trigger and the consequence. Can you change either of those, or maybe both of them? When a visitor comes to the house (trigger), and your dog jumps on her (action), does she pet him (consequence)? How many of those environmental pieces can you influence? Better yet, could you teach your dog that when the visitor comes (trigger), he sits politely (action), and she gives him a snack and some petting (consequence)? I bet you could.
The best part is we’re focusing on our dog’s actions and things in the world around him we can control. We’re not worried at all about labels. Those are adjectives and they are not of use in changing behavior. We’re all about verbs (like sit, and come, and look at me). And we’re not just looking at our dog’s actions either. The best way to change an animal’s behavior is to make a few little changes to the environment, and this often means changing our own behavior.
Now we’re talking about a wonderful noun: Relationship.
