I recently saw a meme that talked about separation anxiety. The owner dressed up a “lookalike” human dummy and left it with her dog. It kept the dog company. The dog’s behavior improved. He began to relax when the owner was not home.
It’s not hard for me to see why this might work with some dogs. The smell of the clothes to snuggle up against could give the dog comfort and if the dog is feeling more comfortable, anxiety might reduce in that dog. If anxiety reduces and the dog is happier? What more could you want?
I was intrigued by some of the responses I saw. Sort of a pushback against the idea that there could be a quick fix to a complicated problem.
Recently I offered a webinar called “Cutting corners to Loose Leash Walking” and I got pushback on that too! Doesn’t cutting corners mean a quick fix? Doesn’t it mean lower quality?
That’s asking the wrong question. The question we need to ask is about the RELATIVE value of the solution. Effort put in for results turned out.
So back to the dog with separation anxiety….let’s say you put a pile of clothes with the dog or you dress up a pretend dummy and the dog’s behavior improves. What is the effort in? A few minutes. And what if the dog’s behavior improves 50%, 60%, 80% or 95%? That’s an amazing return on investment!
Now let’s say there’s another method that can get your dog to 100%. Unfortunately, to apply it takes 50 hours of training time and a lot of additional expense. Which method is better?
For the vast majority of pet people who need to get on with their lives the quick fix is better. Of course that assume it works! But if you can get to 80% with a few minutes of effort versus 100% with a significant investment in training? Try the quick fix first. Keep the complicated solutions in your back pocket and use when the easy answers fail and you think you can inspire handler compliance.
Heck, even if the quick fix fails 90% of the time? Think how happy that 10% is going to be! It’s worth it as a first line offense.
If you work with the pet dog community, I certainly hope you see the value of the quick fix as your initial “worth a try go to” solution, even if the end result is not as impressive.
Back to my method for loose leash walking. The reports I’m getting back are that it works pretty much instantly for a sizable number of dogs. It’s pragmatic, kind and effective – my three criteria for all “manners” pet dog training. If your dog is going to benefit, then within a few days your dog will be walking much more nicely on a leash without relying on food, frustration levels will be way down for both of you, and odds are pretty good that your reactive dog will behave better to boot – an unexpected side benefit that I plan to thoroughly explore because…we need a pragmatic, kind and effective method for improving the behavior of reactive dogs going out on walks!
What more could you want? The dog is happier. The handler is happier. Everyone goes for walks now because they are…happier! The relationship around the house improves because the dog is getting exercise, and all of a sudden we are closer to our ultimate goal – time enjoying our dog rather than training our dog.
Let’s face it, most people get dogs to enjoy them and not to train them, so our “go to” training solutions should start there. Not working? Okay – bring out the bigger guns and work hard to get handler buy-in.
I’m all about the quick fix. If there is a simple way to get from here to there, it’s pragmatic, kind and effective, and a person gets to 80 or 90%? I’ll start there every time.
And if I’m training for competition? That may be a different matter. If scores or competition are involved, it is perfectly likely that I need 100% to reach my goals, but keep in mind that I am a professional dog trainer who owns dogs not only to love them but specifically to train them. And honestly, a lot of my training for competition also involves cutting corners and it works out just fine. This blog is full of simple solutions that work quickly. Lots of corner cutting!
Pragmatic, kind and effective.
Pet dog training should be about getting the dog and handler happy with each other. If you are a pet dog trainer I truly hope that is your focus with your clients. From there the rest falls in the place.
I’d like to explore this direction of dog training in more depth – to see pet dog training strive to be as pragmatic, kind and effective as possible. Maybe we need to start doing more “out of the box” thinking – what else can we try that might be new or different? Can we share our most successful strategies more broadly? How can we address the specific requests and interests of our average pet person? It’s not always an easy group to work with! What can we do to more effectively reach them – help them fall in love with their dogs and apply training that solves their problems to a “good enough” degree and keep both the dog and the handler happy? I hear professional trainers complain a lot about pet people! Pet people don’t want to rely on food long-term! They don’t want to practice every day! They want to get on with their lives and have their dogs fit in! Frustrating? Sure. Now let’s talk about solutions that work for that audience. Because if the dog is happy and the handler is happy then you have a winner.
If you want to learn more about my “Cutting Corners to Loose Leash Walking” method, sign up for the webinar on April 4th at 6pm PT. It’s okay if you cannot attend live because you’ll have the recording. People who attend live can ask questions. The first time this webinar ran it sold out, so this is a repeat and I expect that this one may sell out too, so if you’re interested then sign up sooner rather than later. This webinar is appropriate for pet dog owners, professional dog trainers, and anyone who wants more options for reducing reactivity in dogs.
And if you have found a solution to a common pet dog problem that is pragmatic, kind, and effective, feel free to describe it in the comments! As long as you meet all three criteria, I’d love to hear about it. Management solutions count too!
My issue with this method for SA is the fallout. For SA dogs, I think we can “trick” our dogs in several different ways – We can sneak out the door, we could set up a dummy, we could lay our clothes around (side note: this last one is a common SA myth – your whole house already smells like you!) What happens when your dog realizes something is not right? That their human snuck out the door, or set up a fake double in their place? That dog goes into a state of panic and potentially self-harms. For my SA dog, a solution that works 10% of the time and results in panic 90% of the time is just not a risk I’m personally willing to take. Those odds are more likely to result in a worsening condition and a poor quality of life for the dog.
That’s not to say I look down on management strategies! I manage my dog’s SA all the time. He goes to daycare and he spends a lot of time in the car. Those aren’t training solutions, and they’re not helping him feel better about home-alone time, but they’re awesome ways to help both of us navigate through our lives together without major panic or fallout. Being active in many SA support groups, I see many people that don’t have a behavior modification plan or train daily, but they do have an awesome support system that allows them to manage their dog’s condition. And in my opinion, that is a perfectly fine way to manage the problem without the risk of fallout.
I don’t love the comparison to your LLW method here because of the difference in consequences. If LLW fails, the consequences are pretty minor. Sure, you might have a bad walk and you might feel grumpy that day. But under normal circumstances, neither you nor the dog will have a panic attack or feel traumatized by the consequences. That is quite different than the fallout and panic associated with “tricking” a SA dog.
You bring up some great points! Now consider this as well…. dogs are not “normal” one day and panicking the next. It’s a process that takes place over time and people are not likely to go from doing absolutely nothing to all out intervention. So spending a few days trying one easy method (DAP callars, clothes, whatever) before switching to another is not likely to be that big of a deal.
We had a female golden with pretty severe SA. If you count chewing through walls, floors, and a couch as “severe”.
And we even had a another golden who was a year older.
Our vet gave us the simplest solution imaginable. We just ignored her for half an hour before we left the house. No fussing or goodbyes.
Just ignored her.
We never had a problem after that.
Probably not a solution for every situation, but it sure worked for us.
My little guy was an SPCA special on his 4th trip through the facility and I’m guessing he was returned so often because of his severe SA. I realized this the first day when I attempted to crate him while I ran to the store. It was obvious that he was going to injure himself. He wasn’t just barking and whining; he was hurling himself at the crate, biting the wire, trying to claw his way out. So, I managed it. Daycare, sitters, you get the idea. My point here is that it’s really obvious really quickly if you have a “quick fix” issue or an “OMG what have I gotten myself into” issue. And as an update, he’s better. He still is more excited than the average dog when I’m gone for more that 30 min or so but I’m not worried he’s going to injure himself in my absence.
Im really glad your dog found you :).
This makes perfect sense! After checking dog’s health and other basic functions are in place then I move to looking at antecedent arrangements, and changing the thing that happens before the unwanted behaviors. Leaving the dummy human would function as so. One only needs to move on to something more complicated if these first two simple things (health check, antecedent arrangement) don’t allow the goals to be met. You know…that whole LIMA principle thing 😁
Hey Denise! This blog was a breath of fresh air to read! I am a trainer in Cali and this is EXACTLY where I am focusing my attention recently – what is the best/quickest solution this is still positive training. I have said those things almost verbatim – pet owners just want a solution! Most do not want to become trainers. I also started feeling disheartened when I saw so many dogs leaving positive training classes that still were not trained and I thought.. it can be the best method if it takes too long for the owner to train.
I realized recently that behind almost every pet owner that goes to a shock collar trainer is a positive trainer that let them down, that did not fix their jumping problem, that couldn’t solve barking, etc.
So anyway, it was a breath of fresh air to read because I felt like the only one trying to solve these problems!
I recently tried Dr. Dunbar’s Growl class method (do you know it?) for reactivity but have only done one class so far. Previously have done standard desensitizing/cc but find it works great/quick on some dogs that are relieved to just ignore and turn to owner, but is SUCH a laborious/impossible thing to control in a neighborhood for the average person.
But last night I had an epiphany of a different method to try that may be more effective so I am excited to try and will definitely share if it works!!!
I am also trying to find the quickest solution for really really problem jumpers.. teach sit seems to take too long to generalize with strangers but can work.. tossing treats down BEFORE jumping to have them stay down with the prediction of treats (but also relies on treats..) etc.
Anyway, I would love to connect with other like minded trainers that are also trying to solve these problems for quickest, most effective, best method for pet owners. 🙂
If you are not a student at FDSA hope you will consider becoming one. I think you might find like-minded people, both now and in the future.
Does this method work with a stubborn beagle who is a 6 year old rescue?
Figuring out what might work for a given dog is not simple, regardless of your specific dog. Maybe give it a shot and see what happens?