Teaching "Calm"

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

My new trainer has gotten to know Murph pretty well over the past couple of weeks, and he's pointed out some things about his temperament that have been really helpful with his training.  Probably the biggest thing is that he has a tendency to get himself really excited, and this is what always gets him into trouble.  He's still such a big puppy, with tremendous energy. We started working a couple of days ago on a new word (I guess it's sort of a command), and it's "calm".  You may remember that I posted several months ago about how difficult it was to groom Murph.  He was going "ballistic" whenever I tried to comb or brush him.  He thrashed about and tried to grab the brush from my hand.  I assumed it was out of fear.  I worried that he might have some sort of strange tactile sensitivity.  So, this week I asked the trainer to observe my "grooming" with Murph and give me some advice.  Sure enough, Murph went into his typical "antics".  What he told me was Murphy was just playing a game with me, and he was having a "blast".  He said that there was absolutely no fear involved...as a matter of fact, it was just the opposite.  Again, it was Murph's excitement that was resulting in this behavior.  He took over, and it was completely different.  First of all, he calmed Murphy down, to the point where he was laying on his side and the trainer was massaging him.  When Murph was "ready" he started to slowly brush him.  Murph immediately stood up and tried to get the brush.  He gave a verbal correction and said "calm".  Guess what?  Murphy stopped.  He just sat there and didn't fight the brushing at all.  He brushed him for a good five minutes with no reactiveness from Murphy.  Then it was my turn.  I was nervous (because of past history), and sure enough Murphy went right back into his "crazyness".  The trainer sort of "talked me down" until I was completely calm, and we started again.  It worked.  So now we have a whole new thing that we've added to our bag of tricks, and it's the word "calm".  With things that make Murph "hyper" (which usually ends up making me hyper), I use the work "calm".  It's to remind BOTH of us to relax.  We tried it this morning when Murphy got crazy and started jumping on and off the bed...time after time.  He was "worked up".  I took his collar, and told him "calm".  Then I sat beside him and just softly petted him (calming myself at the same time).  His whole demeanor changed.  I find this really interesting.  We've also been talking a lot about how important exercise is for Murph as this stage so that he has an "appropriate" outlet for all his exuberance.  Next week he will start work with us on the treadmill.  It's not the perfect answer....walking is.  Right now with the weather, that's just not really practical, so we'll give this a try.  In the meantime, I'm watching for when Murph gets into this overly excited "place" and we're working on the "calm command". 

[Melissa]

Thanks so much for sharing!  I will definitely try this with Buddy.  There are times he just goes nuts and I don't know what to do.

 

Please share your treadmill story too.  We have a treadmill and sometimes when we are watching TV Buddy gets on the treadmill and stands there.  So I get up and gently hold his collar and start the treadmill off REALLY slow.  I help keep him centered and then gradually speed it up only got to about 1.5 miles and hour.  He was walking really good and then about a minute later he jumped off.  I would love to get him walking on it regulary, but I need to do some research to see how to start safely.

[Linda and Murphy]

I have not done it, but there are videos on youtube demonstrating how to do it.

[Lisa {Zoe's Mom]]

Ohhhh I love this idea....Going to try it on Zoe when she gets in an excited state.  Keep us posted on your progress!

[Adina P]

Since dogs don't speak English, it's not the word 'calm' that has magic.  You could have said balm, blog, bath, or salmon.  Obviously you took some steps to teach that 'calm' means something or that calm is associated with a certain behavior.  But what I'm not quite clear on is the steps taken to put calm on command.  Can you expand on that?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Probably not "bath". :)

[Adina P]

true!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

You're right, Adina!  We chose that word, because it has a human connotation that seems to evoke a change in OUR mindset which seems to translate to the dog as well.  Some people do use "settle" in exactly the same way.  These are the steps he did (and what I've been doing since).  He told Murph to sit.  He got down on the floor with him and held his collar very gently.  He started petting very lightly (avoiding the head), and very softly said "good boy" and "calm".  Murphy started to relax and then he told him "down" and "calm".  He did right away.  Then he massaged for a few minutes, again using the word "calm" several more times.  At this point, he introduced the brush, first letting his smell it.  Murph started to get up, and he gave another "down" and "calm" command.  Then he started to brush, at first very slowly and gently.  Murph stayed in his "calm" state.  Then he did the exact same thing with the comb.  Each time Murphy started to get excited again, we went back through the process.  Finally he just settled down, and seemed fine with the grooming.  He said at this point, until he gets used to how the process is different from the way it was before, I should not be doing anything unpleasant (like dematting).  Yesterday I took his to the groomers and had his coat cut back a little to avoid any potential for mats (for a while). 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I think he does use many Cesar Milan "techniques".  Adina actually pointed this out when I first started with him.  I had never been a huge fan of Cesar in the past, because I thought he was pretty aggressive with some of the out of control dogs on his show.  The thing is my trainer is completely fair and kind with Murph.  He believes in quick collar corrections when warranted and also believes in LOTS of praise. He has spent a lot of time showing me HOW to do a correction.  It is supposed to just be a reminder to Murph that he has lost his focus and needs to get back to "doing what was asked of him".  He communicates expectations very clearly, and then makes sure the dog understands what he is asking him to do.  The thing that is different with this trainer is that he doesn't just teach me about how to train to commands.  He seems to have a great understanding of what's going on with Murph (and me), and how that is impacting his behavior with training.  I can't even tell you how many times during our training sessions he will just stop, take Murph, and tell ME to calm down.  He can tell by the way I'm holding my body that I'm getting nervous (usually when I see another dog) or not feeling confident.  Getting that kind of feedback the minute it happens has been hugely helpful to me.  He has also made a big impression on DH, who has previously not been at all involved with training.  Now my husband is very interested, and we're starting to work both Guinness and Murphy together (depending on what the exercise is).  The behavior of one dog has a direct influence on the other, so it is important to work the two together for some things.  For example, our "at the door" training involves both dogs, because they will always be together in the "real world" when the doorbell rings.  I really should read a little more of Cesar's work to do a good comparison....I don't know, maybe a lot of what he teaches is "Dog Whisperer" content.  If that's the case, I may develop a whole different perspective of Cesar.

[Adina P]

CM is really big into "energy" and being "calm" and such things.  Also the owner's body language and sort of reading a dog and coaching the owners to behave differently and look at things differently.  The only thing that CM doesn't really cover on his show is obedience in the sense of teaching a command and precise ways to do that.  He tends to equate a dog's disobedience with the owner's lack of pack-leader status --- which is something I tend to disagree with.  Training obedience is definitely something that involves leadership but it's far more complicated than that, in my opinion.  Most of the time on his show what bothers me most is not what he does but simply that the owners become convinced that they need to step up their leadership when all along all they had to do was consistently train the dog and they wouldn't have gotten into that mess in the first place.  This is not related to you and your trainer, just my thoughts on the Dog Whisperer show.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I agree.  I think he operates more as a Behaviorist than a Trainer.  I noticed that on his video tapes that you can buy, he uses another trainer to do the training on commands like sit/stay.  Actually, that trainer that he features uses treats and praise as the motivator.  I don't think he's really selling himself as a "trainer".  On his show, I've heard his say....that's for the trainers to teach.  So far, my trainer is doing both.  I'm not sure that if I ever get to the point of wanting to go into competition obedience with Murph (doubtful right now, but who knows), he'd be the right guy.  Right now I'm just looking short term.

[Adina P]

Behaviorists, technically speaking, tend to be Skinner-based/operant conditioning/classical conditioning and on the positive-treat end of the spectrum...at least if the term 'behaviorist' is someone who is operating under the umbrella of 'Behavior Science.'

I, frankly, don't think it much matters what a trainer calls himself...the proof is in the results. So if your trainer helps you get what YOU want out of training Murphy, then he did his job. I am biased toward competition obedience trainers whether or not I compete simply because of my preference for 'single command performance' off lead as the ultimate goal.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

You're absolutely right.  I was reading Murphy's reaction to grooming completely wrong previously.  I was very stressed during grooming, and we fed on each other.