Free house training guide from Dr. Sophia Yin

As you have noticed, I think Dr. Sophia Yin is fabulous.  She has just released one of the chapters of her upcoming book, Perfect Puppy in 7 Days;  it deals with how to house train a puppy.  This guide to potty training is free, and excellent!  You have to download it, and you can't print it, but it's still a fantastic resource.

Bite prevention

So, it's been forever since I posted, and I apologize.

It's the end of Bite Prevention Week, so I thought I'd share some related resources.

This is the first part of a series on meeting a new dog, and how to judge the body language that you see.  This article talks about the "green light", or go ahead, signals that tell you that a dog wants to be greeted by you.  Here is the second part, which talks about "red light", or signals that should tell you to stop and be careful;  this dog probably doesn't want you to greet him/her.  Here is the third part, which talks about some more red light signals.  I really like that the author (Casey Lomonaco) talks about how we need to ask permission twice before we meet a new dog:  first from the owner/guardian, and second from the dog.  If we see red light signals, that is the dog's way of telling us to back off.  The final part of this series talks about how to greet a new dog, assuming you get the green light!

Dr. Sophia Yin also has some great bite prevention resources at her website.  These resources are all free, and include a PSA (public service announcement), a poster called The Body Language of Fear in Dogs, an article about how dogs bite when people greet them inappropriately, a poster of how to greet dogs appropriately, and some other articles about bite prevention.

There is also the classic site, doggonesafe.com, which is dedicated to bite prevention and teaching children how to be safe around dogs.

There are a ton of other resources out there on preventing dog bites, how to greet dogs appropriately and safely, and how to read dog body language.  I would really encourage everyone to learn everything you can;  dogs don't really bite "out of the blue", there are almost always signs that the dog is uncomfortable and wanting you to leave him/her alone.

Should we hug or kiss our dogs?

Another great article by Dr. Sophia Yin, this one about a book called "Smooch Your Pooch".  It is NOT advisable for anyone, kid or adult, to hug or kiss a dog -- quite often, this is how a dog bite arises.  This article talks about some great alternative ways to show affection to our dogs (such as trick training, playing fetch and going for a supervised walk), and how to read whether a dog is enjoying our physical affection or not.

Dr. Yin and tips for the dog park

Here's another great article by Dr. Sophia Yin about dog parks.  The question she initially answers is whether it is safe for big dogs and little dogs to play together at the dog park, but she also includes tips on how to manage the dog park experience.

Teaching Your Dog to Come When Called

I am a huge fan of Dr. Sophia Yin.  She has another brilliant article at The Huffington Post today.

Your recall (in other words, getting your dog to come when called) is one of the most important cues that your dog will ever learn.  You never know when your dog will be heading for something dangerous, and you really NEED your dog to come, the first time you call and as soon as the words leave your lips.  Imagine that your dog is racing toward a highway -- you want to yell, "Rover, come!" and have your dog immediately whip around and race back to you.

You can teach your dog to do this, but first you have to commit to a couple of things yourself.  First, read Dr. Yin's great article.  Second, you must never call your dog if you're planning on punishing your dog when he gets there.  Remember that punishment is in the eye of the beholder, so it's what your dog thinks is punishing that matters here.  Don't use your recall cue when you want to cut your dog's nails, or you want to pull burrs out of his coat, or it's time to put the leash on to leave the dog park.  You can have a cue that means "come over here" that you use in those circumstances, but if it's the same cue that you want to use in dangerous situations, you're really diminishing the chance that Rover will come when you really need him to.

In other words, if Fido thinks that "come" means that the fun is over at the dog park, or he has to get his nails cut, or that pain is going to happen when you pull burrs out of his tail, he is more likely to ignore you.  Even if those things happen only sometimes when he hears "come", that's enough to poison the cue for the times you really need it to work.

For those situations, use another word.  It can be "here", or "zoodle", or whatever you want it to be.  But don't ruin your recall by using it when bad things are coming.  You can also choose a different word than "come" for your recall if you want.  The goal is that your dog thinks that wonderful things will ALWAYS happen when he hears the recall cue.

Third, when you use your recall word, sound like it's going to be a fun thing for your dog to come to you.  As Dr. Yin puts it, don't use a voice like they'd use at roll call on death row.  Don't use a harsh tone, don't sound like the voice of doom.  Sound like you are THE MOST FUN THING ON THE PLANET!  Why would your dog want to leave something stinky he wants to roll in, or stop chasing a squirrel, or leave off playing with other dogs to come to someone who sounds like doom personified?  He wouldn't.

You've got to make it fun, each and every time your dog comes to you.  This can mean that your dog gets an absolutely amazing treat, or gets to play a really fun game, or both.  It has to always be a great experience, so that whenever your dog hears that recall word, his automatic response is, "Oh, I have to get over there as fast as I can, because something good is going to happen!"

With my dog, I use "come" as his recall word.  I don't use it unless I'm prepared to have a party with him when he gets to me, which means he ALWAYS gets a treat, and usually several.  If I'm just calling him over, for instance to wipe his paws after he's been outside, I use "c'mere".  (We think those two words mean the same thing, but to dogs, they sound different and they can mean different things if that's what we teach them.)

For other tips on teaching your dog to always come when called, read Dr. Yin's article!  It's really worth spending a few minutes reading the article, and then thinking about how to make sure your dog comes when you really need him to.

Another great article - dogs and fear of strangers

Another great article by Dr. Sophia Yin -- this time, on dogs and fear of strangers.  Great analogies to the human fear of spiders, and good advice on how to help a dog feel more comfortable.