Heirarchy of Humane Behavior Practices

So, Fido's a little Fiesty? Or Spot won't Settle?

It's hard sometimes knowing what to do to help your pet. Wish there was a road map to follow? Something to give you specific instructions on modifying behavior for good? You're in luck!
Renowned Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Susan Friedman has published just that. This pyramid tells you exactly what steps to take in order to modify your pet's behavior, and create a happier & healthier pet. Of course, this road map isn't new, educated Animal Trainers and Professional Behaviorists have always followed this hierarchy.

Hierarchy of Behavior-Change Procedures
for Humane and Effective Practice

So, how does it work?
Easy. You start at the top, and follow each step down until the behavior is modified. This means, that each step in itself can help or even modify your pet's behavior altogether.
I.E. A pet that is struggling with aggressive behavior should be looked at for thyroid issues, seizures, eyesight and hearing issues, as well as full blood panels & urine analysis. It is not uncommon to find that an aggressive animal is ill & actually in need medical attention, not behavior modification. When you have an animal in this situation, usually once the health issues has been cleared up, then the aggression subsides as well.

Let's walk through a few of these steps:
Medical, Nutritional, Physical - All of these can affect behavior in a profound way with our animals, yet this is something that is often overlooked when you have a pet struggling with inappropriate behavior. It's always best to ensure that you are feeding a healthy, appropriate diet, as well as having a clean bill of health from your veterinarian before starting any type of behavior modification.

Antecedent Arrangements - I once had a client ask me for help. Every morning, she would put her lunch and briefcase in the car, and then also put her dog in the car to be taken to daycare. The problem she wanted help with was; while she walked back to the house to lock it up, her dog would eat her lunch. The antecedent arrangement here would be that she not put her lunch in the car with her unsupervised dog, she could set it on her car, or even carry it last to the car before leaving. She could also restrain her dog so that her dog was not loose in the car with her lunch. I call this 'setting your dog up for success' - we need to give them every chance possible to do the right thing!

Positive Reinforcement - This is the practice of reinforcing behavior that we want to happen again. Example: Your dog sits calmly, you praise and reward with a treat or toy. Now your dog is learning that if he sits quietly, he will be get something he desires. This encourages him to perform the behavior again.

By now - you should be starting to get the idea - Make sure your dog is healthy and thinking clearly, set them up for success and reward behaviors you want to have happen again. I think it's important to note, that I rarely have to go past these steps. If done correctly, behavior can be easily modified with these first three steps! But let's examine a couple more:


Differential Reinforcement - This is the practice of rewarding one behavior over another. Example: Your dog jumps on you when you get home, instead of saying hi, you ask your dog for a sit, when he does this, you offer praise, attention, a treat or a toy. Now he is learning that it is more desirable to sit instead of jump, earning what he wants sooner.

Extinction - This is the practice of completely ignoring behaviors until they become extinct. This often requires great patience and is good for very persistent dogs. Once the behavior stops working for them altogether, they will move on to trying other behaviors, until one is reinforced. Example: Your dog keeps jumping when you ask him to sit, so you completely ignore him, after awhile he will calm down and sit, then you praise and reward.

There is so much to keep in mind when you are trying to modify your dogs' behavior. Be sure to stay calm and be patient during the process, although training can sometimes take awhile. If done properly, you will have a happy & healthy companion for life!

*Happy Training*

Creating a Calm Canine

This is one of the things I get asked endlessly: How do I get my dog to calm down?!

There are many things than can lead to hyperactivity in your pup. Did you know that as natural predators, dogs should sleep an average of 20 or so hours a day? We'll discuss some of the things that might be working against your pup as well as simple things you can do to help create a calm canine!

~ Food.
The food you feed your companion can actually be causing them to act out-of-control! Think of hyperactivity as a allergy - certain foods can cause this allergy to flare up. Corn (and all it's by-products) are the #1 culprit here. Corn always causes hyperactivity and can even cause skin irritations as well as other allergies. Dry dog foods high in grains can also cause this. Look for foods that are free of corn, and limit other grains to one wholesome source.

~ Lack of Exercise.
Many of us lead hectic lives. We get up early and race through our day, by the time we get home: we're exhausted and our pup is ready to go! Don't consider your work done until your pup has been exercised. Make sure they get their walk, or a nice long game of fetch. After some physical exercise, try some brain work to ensure you wear them out! (See our post on interactive toys)

~ Constant Chaos.
Many of us don't give our dogs the kind of 'down-time' they need. Take time to give your pup some calm attention, engage in a bonding experience such as meditation, massage or Doga (Yoga with your dog). Breath deeply while you're with your pup, notice how their breathing slows as well. Take this time to just 'be in the moment' with your pup. If your pup is excited at first, simply remain calm and ignore them until they calm down. Once they are calm - try putting this on cue. At our house - we use the cue 'calm'. We've practiced being calm so much, that when I ask my dogs to 'calm', they do just that. Handy for the dog that's easily excitable!

~ Encourage Calm Energy.
Sometimes it's nice to have a holistic remedy to help you on your calm journey. Flower Essences and Aromatherapy products can be extremely useful for this. We offer a couple of remedies that will help your pup replace the anxiety and excitability with calm energy. You can find those at out store:
www.HappyHealthyPup.etsy.com

We hope you find these suggestions useful, we wish for every pup to experience calm energy.

*smooches to the pooches*

What I've learned from Dr. Temple Grandin

For those of you who are not familiar with Temple Grandin. She is autistic, and has done pioneering work for the autistic community, but also realized that her autistic abilities allowed her to better understand the animals. She is a renowned animal scientist. And I had the opportunity to hear her speak. The energy was amazing.. people were overflowing everywhere, the SLC Library auditorium, which generally seems large, seemed minuscule by the throngs of people. I loved it.


*Animals have feelings. Their feelings are the key to their emotional and physical well-being.*
I loved hearing this out loud! Just loved it!
After all, this is what my life work is based around. The fact that animals feel, and their emotional well-being is important. Temple speaks in her book about the importance of the emotions of animals, and also addresses the fact that their emotions directly effect their behavior. Beautiful & oh so true! I see it everyday!

*Animals Think in Pictures*
For most of us that work with animals in behavior modification, we completely understand this. She spoke specifically of fear and used the example of a horse that was scared of black hats. Any other color hat was fine - black was not. She found out that, during a procedure with the horse, someone splashed alcohol in her eye. The horse was looking at a person wearing a black hat. That is the photograph her mind took when she was scared. Ouch = Black Hats. This is true for any animal that has a bad experience... I could list hundreds of examples here, because I see them everyday. Dogs that are pinched, shocked, forced or physically manipulated. Their fear, anxiety and pain are real - and most often make an association.

*Flooding is not fixing*
I loved that she was able to make this point to the audience in attendance. There is a very common mindset locally, that you should just make the animal 'do it', that they need to 'get over it' or be forced in order to 'suck it up'. This couldn't be more wrong. Fear is a real emotion for an animal, and whether or not we see the threat - they do. Flooding is a psychological term for basically 'forcing'. She actually used the example of Cesar Milan - noted an episode where he forced a dog to walk across a slippery surface that the dog was afraid of. She literally gasped as she said it - it struck her as that inappropriate and cruel. Stating that more often than not - the fear worsens instead of getting better.

There was much, much more. And, if you have the chance to read any of her books - I highly recommend them.

One other thing I took away that evening is - never underestimate the power of friends. I loved seeing the others trainers I work with there, as well as rescue people, therapy animal people & other friends. What a wonderful opportunity to bring us all together!

*smooches to the pooches*