City Dog: On Attempting to Maintain Dog Training in the Winter

Since there can be so many unexpected things we encounter on our city walks (Three-legged rats! Gyros in snowbanks! Drunk people trying to put sombreros on our pups!) we like to treat all of our walks like training walks so our pups are ready for the unexpected.

Over the years the pups have become accustomed to the routine. Practicing waves. Knowing to sit at every corner. And always checking in with us for directions.

Though as we've been spending our winter climbing snowbanks and navigating icy sidewalks, training has become an after-thought.

At the same time, we always regret the lapse once we remember how hard spring walking can be.

Here are some ways we're trying to keep up our training:

Focus on the Main Focus

During the warmer weather, when we can actually walk on the sidewalks, we have quite the repertoire of tricks.
They wave.
They wait.
They lay down at the raise of a hand.
Miss M even walks around me in a circle.
We do these to keep the pups' communication and focus. Which is nearly impossible to do when navigating snowdrifts.
So we just work on check-in's. This is our most important training to keep the pups' attention on us, which we can even do among the snowdrifts. We wrote more about it, here. 

Making our Treats Accessible

With the distractions of the snowbanks and narrowing sidewalks, we often need treats to keep the pups' checking in. And there has always been a conflict between keeping hands warm and dispensing treats.
I like using treats that can be broken into smaller bits for treating. Ours are long jerky-type sticks where I can just hold one stick and break it into smaller pieces for treating.
I also like walking with flip-top gloves which can make it easier to hold things.

Gearing Up

The biggest thing is making our pups comfortable in the colder weather so they do have the chance to focus. If it's too cold, Mr. B will try to sprint away (that is until he reaches the end of the leash).
We've learned the art of layering, which we talk more about in this post.
We use dog boots when sidewalks are icy and covered with salt, but we also make sure to practice wearing walking with the boots inside so they will be comfortable once they get outside. We wrote more about it, here. 

Anyone else have tips on keeping up your training when the weather gets rough?

Also:
How to exercise your pups when you can't go outside.
And with shorter walks.
Forgetting winter.
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City Dog: Learning to Walk Multiple Dogs at the Same Time

We are always talking about how walking a dog through the city can be like an obstacle course complete with excited on-coming dogs, entire discarded gyros, and ubiquitous day-drinkers who try to put  sombreros on your dog. Which can become twice as difficult if you are walking a second dog.

While I have figured out how to balance our two pups, when we add a foster dog to the mix I'm back to taking the pups on separate walks. And what was once 2-3 walks a day quickly becomes 4-6 walks. Which is basically my entire day.
As we've been fostering foster dog Feeney, things have been a bit different. Feeney is a slower walker who matches Miss M's walking style perfectly. So I've been walking them together.
And since I already know how to walk Miss M and Mr. B together, I can sometimes walk all 3 pups together.

If you haven't read this really, really good post by Willie and Nabi's person already, read it first. I've been using her advice about check-in's and perfecting the single-dog walk to walk our pups together.
These are some additional things I've learned about walking all of our pups together:

Make Every Walk a Training Walk

Even though we've had Miss M and Mr. B for so long, we learned it's important to keep consistency by treating every walk like a training walk. We have a routine where the pups know to sit when I'm locking the door, opening the gate, stopping at corners or picking up poo. We use the check-in's to make sure the dogs are still paying attention to us on each walk. I will spontaneously stop the walk and ask them for other commands ("Down", "Wave", "Shake") just to make sure that they are staying alert. This routine has helped both of our dogs recognize the routine and look to us for guidance instead of making their own decisions to jump or get excited.

Create an Order:

I've learned that each of our dogs walks better in a certain space. Miss M is slower, so she generally likes to walk on the outside. Mr. B takes the check-in's literally, so he walks next to me.
If I know something exciting is coming up (Mr. B's kryptonite is dogs barking behind windows) I will move one of the dogs to the side with me in-between them as a buffer. This way if one dog gets over-excited, this generally won't translate to the other dog because they aren't right next to each other.

Colored Leashes:

Before our pups became fashionistas, our trainer told us we should have different colored leashes on each of the dogs. This way if we saw a trigger, it's easy to hold or move that dog to another spot.

Know Your Pup & Anticipate:

Multiple-dog walking is always a work-in-progress, and I usually only do it on familiar routes where things are already familiar to the dogs and I know the route so well I can avoid most of the triggers. I've also taken our pups on so many walks that I can recognize their triggers.

This is something that will always be a work-in-progress for us.
Does anyone else have any additional ideas on how to make walking multiple dogs easier?

Also:
Walking like a city dog
How dog walking is like dating.
The odd couple.
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City Dog: The Dog Trick We Never Expected to Use Most Often

When Miss M first came to live with me, I always joke that she was 'raised by wolves'. She had no focus, always needed to be entertained, and she just couldn't sit still. It was really taking her to a basic training course that changed both of our lives and I realized how much Miss M loved to learn.
We have written a lot about how we use basic dog commands in our every day lives, but unexpectedly, it became one of Miss M's vanity tricks, the "wave" command, that has become her most frequented trick:

Keeping Focus:

With every walk we go on, probability is high that we will encounter oncoming excited pups, chicken bones, drunken people trying to grab the pups (and often all of the above!). With these being the expected, plus the even crazier unexpected, we know how important it is to maintain constant routine and communication treating all of our walks like a training walk. The pups do a great job with "check-in's" and throughout our walk we will ask the pups for sits and stays, and throw in the "wave" command for variation.

Being Approachable:

Even though we feel lucky to be a part of a community where there are so many fellow pit bull-type dogs, we know there are many people who are still wary. Having our pups focusing on us, and doing cute 'parlor tricks', does make them more approachable and we often have many people coming up to meet them. My favorite is when we do hear an offhand comment to have the pups sit right at our side, then wave. Usually the other people waiting at the corner with us will say something positive to outweigh any of the negatives.

The Humor in It:

With all of the photos we take of the pups, we love the option of 'wave' because it does give us some funny variations.
We also love when children walk by and wave at the dogs and we can have Miss M wave right back (though she's usually looking at me when she does it).

How we Taught the Wave Command:

We taught the wave command as a variation of 'shake'. We started by holding our hand out as if we were going to do the shake but then put our hand slightly out of reach so they had to try pawing at us to reach our hand. We marked the pawing in the air motion (we say "yes, wave!") and eventually we were able to change the hand signal instead of reaching out to meet their paw to just waving.
We think it's a little harder for Mr. B with his stubby T-Rex arms.

Are there other pups out there showing off their 'wave' commands? Or do you have other 'vanity tricks' that you are using on a more than regular basis?

Also:
Remember when we tried to teach it to Mr. B and this happened?
This one changed our lives
Circus Dog!

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Mr. B reluctantly gets petted

 

There appears to be a change in the popular opinion about pit bulls, especially in our neighborhood.
During our daily walks we have been getting more parents and kids flocking to the pups asking to meet and pet them.

Miss M loves the attention and at the mere thought that anyone wants to pet her she begins wiggling and smiling. Her favorite thing is to pop up and give big kisses on the face.

Mr. B, on the other hand, is the perfect pup to be petted.
He doesn't seek out the attention, and he stands there motionless just accepting the pet.

Even though Miss M loves meeting people so much, we often direct children to pet still-standing Mr.
B knowing he won't try to sneak smooches onto kids' faces.
So even though Mr. B isn't the one who seeks petting, he actually gets petted more than Miss M.
Do you have a pooch that loves to get petted so much that they are unpetable?
Also:
They do have this in common.
Happy!

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Miss M's Conundrum

We all know Miss M is a diva.
Oftentimes, it feels like this is Miss M's world and we just live in it.
To this truth, she proposes challenges and it is up to us to rise up and accept those challenges.

The current conundrum that she poses should be known as the Urine-try Conundrum. Miss M is very particular about her urination in terms of who may see, what may happen, where it will happen and when it will happen.

Miss M enjoys roaming around her kingdom when her servants are present and even more so when they are away gathering funds to support her extravagant lifestyle.
While roaming her kingdom, she enjoys the finer things in life: laying in supabed, laying on her pillow: Mr. B, scrounging for crumbs and urinating wherever she pleases (but only under specific circumstances).

If her servants leave by a certain time, then it is the perfect opportunity to urinate around her kingdom.
If her servants leave later, then she cannot grace the carpet garden, even if her servants are away several hours longer than usual.

On her afternoon and evening diva walks, she cannot perform her business if a stranger is around. In addition, she must be able to find a corner of grass or hide behind a tree to complete her business.

To make it more interesting, she will not perform her business if she can see that her servant is observing her do her business. If any of these conditions are not to her liking, she will choose to head back into her kingdom, because at night when her servants and pillow are asleep, it is the perfect time to skip to her loo.

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Pooches: Our Dog Training Essentials for a Polite Dog

While I always had dogs growing up, Miss M was the first dog I ever had on my own. I was a bit nervous to have my own dog, especially after being led towards a misguided Wiki-article predicting 

all types of dire traits. While these types of blanket statements are never true, it did scare me into becoming over-prepared and developing a solid training plan once Miss M came into my apartment. 

Vintage Miss M came to me as an excited, stubborn pup who knew what she wanted...and she wanted it now. While she will always have an over-the-top personality, we were able to develop some routines to help her make better decisions and become a polite dog.

We know all dogs are different, but these are some things that worked for us:

Start out Hard Because There's No Going Back

A friend of mine used to joke that I treated Miss M like she was in boot camp. Sure she had a lot of rules, but I also knew it was easier to set up a lot of rules up front because it would be harder to go back and have her un-learn a behavior. One of my biggest things was not letting Miss M on the sofa. I knew I could one day choose to allow her on the furniture in the future, but if I started out by letting her sit on the furniture I could never change my mind since it would be that much harder to train her to stay off.

We were also very strict about following the 'Nothing in Life is Free' principle. Miss M learned to work for every privilege. She wasn't allowed to just eat dinner, but she had to go to her bed, lay and wait as the food was placed before her. She wasn't allowed to eat until I gave her the command. She also learned to be in a down-stay before putting the collar on for walks, and she would never just get a treat but she would have to perform some kind of trick for it. (When she was newer it would start with just a sit, but it would work up to a wave, and eventually this!)
I can see how this looks intense to an on-looker, but Miss M could get very excited and these rules helped her learn patience, self-discipline, and understanding our routine. Now it has become automatic where sit has become the pups' default behavior.

Be Consistent

While Miss M was learning all of these routines, the biggest thing I needed to do was to be consistent. Sure, it was tempting to save time by just giving her dinner, throwing a leash on her if I was in a hurry, and giving her a treat just because she looked cute, but having a familiar routine is extremely important for dogs and not following the pattern could cause set-backs. 

We also make sure to consistently practice their training in new situations.

Using "Wait Time"

This is one of the biggest things I learned from teaching that I'm able to use on the pups. The idea behind wait time in the classroom is that after you ask a question you need to stop and wait to allow students to process what is being asked. Sometimes it seems like an uncomfortable amount of time and it's so tempting to just ask the question again, or rephrase it. Though I've learned if I do wait, even if it seems like a long time, I will always have a student answer or at least ask for clarification.
I started doing this with the pups when I give them commands. If they aren't responding immediately, it can be so tempting to repeat the command which will actually teach the pups not to listen to me the first time. So if I wait, it may seem like a long time but they will process, make a decision, and learn what I'm asking from them.
Notice how this video would have turned out differently if Mr. B was allowed wait time.

Having Role-Models

When we adopted Mr. B he was already 5 years old. We joke that he just came to us this way, but when we first met the big guy he was devouring baseball mitts in a single sitting and barking at anything that moved. We know dogs learn from each other and if they see a dog being rewarded for a behavior they may learn to do that behavior also. Seeing how Miss M would go to her bed when it was time for dinner and how she would wait nicely before walks, Mr. B learned these same behaviors. It has also worked with some of our foster dogs. Here is our very first foster dog, Wilma, during one of her first weeks with us. I never taught her this directly--and I don't think she would even stay on her own--but she would follow the behavior of both of our pups. (The pups are so close because none of the dogs are resource guarders).
What are some other things you consider essential in your training?

Also:
The command that changed our lives
Crowd Pleasers!
Living with a Circus Dog

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City Dog: Focusing with Check-in's

We have found that the best part of being out and about in the city is that we get to use the skills we've learned in our training classes in real life. One skill that our pups have been over-using lately is the check-in.
The idea is that our pups remember to voluntarily check back with us, giving eye-contact, to communicate and get directions from us.

During our class, we would bring high-value treats and as we walked each time they would check back with us we would treat them. At first it was like an ATM machine, where they would immediately get fed a treat each time they made eye contact. Then we would stretch the time out between treating so it wasn't immediate. As the behavior became more automatic, we were able to increase the amount of check-ins before getting treated and eventually work on eliminating treats overall. We still bring treats on our walks as a reminder because our pups are so treat-motivated and we work on our other training.
This is why it has become one of our most used skills:

Keeping Pace

With so many interesting things going on, it can be so easy for our pups to get ahead of us or to fall behind. Check-in's remind them that we are working as a team and we all need to walk at the same pace. This is especially important when we are walking both of our dogs at the same time.
Our friends also wrote about using check-in's to walk two dogs, here. 


Avoiding Triggers (and Chicken Bones!)

We have been using this eye contact as a way to keep their attention as we navigate around some of the obstacles on our daily walks. If we spot skateboards, an overly-excited dog, a grumpy cat behind a fence, or the ubiquitous chicken bone, we can capture their attention long enough to navigate around the obstacle. Just the other day we had a young, large dog lunging at them trying to play but our pups didn't even notice because they were too busy focusing.

Navigating the City

In the city, so many things can happen at a moment's notice...like that time we were caught in a zombie flash mob. With check ins we know pups have learned to check back with us for guidance and direction if things get uncomfortable. Mr. B especially gets nervous when he hears dogs barking in cars like they're trapped. While he used to get excited and spring in the air on all fours, now he will look back at us for direction.

The funny thing is our pups take it very literally, and oftentimes they will spend an city block without breaking eye contact for the chance to get a sliver of a treat. Especially Miss M who has fallen off of curbs and walked into parked bicycles as she lets me know she is watching me so intently. She has become quite the source of comedy for people we pass. While it's hard to explain unless you see it, here is a video (with accompanying music!) showing Miss M's crazy eyes and bowlegged stance as she walks trying to keep eye-contact. Plus, a cameo by a bouncing Mr. B who is a bit more jovial:

Has anyone else been using this on their walks?

Also:
The training command that changed our life.
Who knew we would use this simple skill so much?
Parlor Tricks!

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CityDog: The Two-on-One Walking Date

Perhaps I've been watching too many episodes of the Bachelorette, but after we wrote about how dog-walking is like dating we realized how much our own walks are like the 2-on-1 date. On the show it is the dreaded episode where the two suitors are pitted against one another on a single date to win the Bachelorette's attention. The stakes are raised because they know that she only has one rose and the other contestant is heading home in the mini-van.
This is exactly like our morning walks where I'm walking our two pups at the same time. They each have separate needs and I need to figure out how to give them both attention for different reasons. Though I have plenty of treats and no one is going home in the mini-van.

It has become a bit of a delicate balance as we spend the time working on each of their different needs.
The funny thing is that each pup is a 'savant' in the area that the other pup is working on.
On our walks, we are working on getting Miss M to pee and poo on command. She has a problem where she has to over deliberate, and she can often spend an entire walk without peeing. Each time she pees or poos, we mark the behavior with a treat so she learns to do it more often. And each time Mr. B pees or poos, we will also mark that so Miss M can learn from his example. The only problem is that Mr. B is an expert pee-er lifting his leg for every weed, corner, branch, piece of trash, or blade of grass that we pass.

At the same time, Mr. B is working on focus. He is afraid of small dogs, tall dogs, dogs barking behind windows and the feral cat colony on our street, and he tries to bolt with the speed of Scooby-doo cartoon legs whenever we encounter them. We have been focusing on getting him to do check-in's so when we do see any of his phobias, he won't notice because he is too busy focusing on us. Every time he makes eye contact and checks back with us, he gets a treat. The only problem is there is a certain someone else who has an over-attention problem and every 'look at me' intended for Mr. B involves the ever-widened eyes of a certain someone who does not need to work on focus and takes it all a bit too literally. 

It involves a lot of balance and the hope that they are actually improving in their deficit and not over-improving in their savant skill.
How do other people manage the needs of walking multiple pups at the same time?

Also:
Learning to walk two dogs at the same time.
Dog Speed dating
Did you know a certain 2 familiar pups are going to be Mr. and Miss July in the Unexpected Pitbull calendar? All proceeds go to rescue and you can get 15% with pre-order (and see our calendar page!) here.
Stay tuned tomorrow where we will announce the winner of our Ruffwear Swamp Cooler Vest Giveaway.

Pooches: How Do you Balance Discipline with Pet Happiness?

When it comes to our pooches, A and I have completely different styles.
A is all about routine and enforcing rules. She gets to be the 'bad cop'.
But I really believe it's important for the pups to always be happy. And as the 'good cop' I'm the most fun to be around.

A always keeps strict rules and is consistent about not letting the pups on the furniture. She believes that letting them on the outdoor furniture is a 'gateway drug' for the pooches to start laying on our sofas and eventually onto our beds without permission.
But in the summer, I love laying with the pups on the outdoor furniture. I think it makes us all happier, and they wouldn't possibly abuse this privilege at a later time.

Miss M is very treat motivated, which makes her fairly easy to train, but since she is so treat motivated, she gets too excited and becomes pushy and mouthy when taking treats from people.
For these reasons, A will not let Miss M receive treats from anyone. I, on the other hand, love to make Miss M the happiest princess around and let anyone and everyone shower her with treats, which probably reinforces her bad behavior.

In the past I bought the pooches antlers to chew on because they enjoy them. Though on our last vet visit we realized it wasn't the best idea because the pooches chipped several of their teeth. Ever since the antlers, A is against giving the pooches anything to chew on, including beef knuckle bones that our pooches love so much.

Much to A's dismay, I let the pooches chew on a beef knuckle bone for a few minutes here and there when A isn't around...well not anymore since I will be found out in this post...

I think the issue is at what point does our pooches' happiness outweigh the detrimental effects of something, especially in senior dogs. 
Also, do most homes have a good cop and a bad cop?

Also:
Remember this "controversy"?
But can she ever be happy?
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City Dogs: How to Exercise your Dog When you Can't go Outside

We know how important walks and exercise are for our dogs, though when it gets like this, even they don't want to be outside. This last rainy weekend reminded us of some things we do to keep our pups from going stir-crazy indoors. Though maybe I'm the one who's going stir crazy?

Hide-and-Seek

This was always my favorite thing to do with Miss M when we were bachelorettes together. I put her in a sit stay, pick a hiding spot, and yell "Come"! When she finds me she gets a really good treat. The funny thing is our dogs are really bad at finding us, and it's funny to hide behind doors and watch how they can't figure it out. Predictably, Miss M will always immediately go look in the place I was hiding the last time. Maybe she's not so clever?

Dog Puzzles

We had always been curious about dog puzzles, so someone gave us this Nina Ottosson Dog Miracle Interactive Toy. Our puzzle has tiers and you can hide pieces of food under each bit. You can make it harder by interlocking the pieces, or requiring the pups to lift up a piece to get to the food. Mr. B doesn't quite understand and he thinks the idea is to grab each piece and bring it back to his tepee. I think you can probably get the same type of mental stimulation from a food dispensing device.

Mental Games (While Watching the Game!)

We wrote before about how practicing sit-stays on benches and elevated boxes helps them work on willpower and it can be mentally exhausting. At least some of us can 'exercise' while watching afternoon football.

We know our dogs are a bit older and don't have the endless amounts of energy that some other pups have.
We are curious to hear what other people do when you can't go outside. 

PS. One of our friends who loves going outside on walks will be recovering from a double ACL surgery. If you have any ideas about keeping an energetic dog calm and exercised while recovering, let them know here.

Also:
Miss M's Scavenger Hunt
How to Fully Exercise your Dog with Shorter Walks
Our Favorite Winter Ritual