Speaking for the dogs
Dear Val,
I love taking my dog places with me that are dog friendly and have outdoor dining areas, but sometimes she growls at people and tries to protect me and I don’t want her to do that. What is your suggestion?
— More Grub Less Growl
Dear MGLG,
There could be some more information that I could gather from you to truly evaluate this situation. But, more commonly then not, your dog is not actually trying to protect you, but she could be guarding her space or your space, or have some fear based issues.
This means she does not want dogs or people in her space, or she is uncomfortable and is offering a nice warning of a growl in attempts to keep other dogs or people out of her safety bubble. In either case, the treatment is the same.
The process of desensitizing and counter conditioning is what you want to do. This means, reducing your dogs discomfort and increasing her positive thoughts and confidence about being in situations such as outdoor diners. This process does take time, patience, and chicken. One of the ways you can desensitize your dog is to sit at a distance from the main seating area and out of the flow of traffic. Choose your seating wisely. Face yourself in a position that you can see guests and dogs approaching you. Sit at a location that you can leave or escape if necessary. Your focus should be on your dog and not your food. So maybe for the first few times, order just a beverage and make your dog exercises a priority while still continuing to contribute to the business revenue. When another dog or person comes near your area, offer your dog a little pea size piece of chicken. The chicken needs to be offered to your dog in a timely manner and before any feathers are ruffled
Kanzo, the daily dog. or growling begins. How this works is two fold. First, your dog begins to feel more comfortable at a distance from the crowd, and second, when your dog is approached by dogs and people, chicken happens. She will soon be conditioned to think that the presence of people and dogs makes good things happen. Food is usually the number one motivator for dogs and also creates endorphins or happy hormones in the brain.
This is just a very, very, short instructional of how the behaviors should be managed and I suggest chicken because people often do not choose a high value enough treat to train their dog with. You can use other meats or even dog treats that come in a sausage log.
One other thing that I like to suggest for dogs that do well in public but have a few minor quirks, is to get them a vest to wear out in public. It can say something like “yes I’m cute, but please don’t pet me.”
If you have a question about training or behavior, please email me at HappyLabLady77@Yahoo. com
Make it a Pawsitive Day!
— Val S. Elliott, CPDT Behavior Coach
Wags of Wisdom
If you don’t know what to say, just sit close and say nothing.
The Daily Dog
Ironically the daily dog just happens to be a dog that I met at a local pet friendly diner, The Howling Dog Café, which coincides with the canine question of the day. Meet Kanzo. Kanzo means licorice in Japanese. Kanzo was politely joining his dog dad at a local dog friendly diner and caught my eye. Kanzo’s dad was nice enough to allow me to get a great smiling photo of Kanzo and a little history about him. Kanzo was rescued from a local shelter almost 2 years ago. Although a little more then 2 years old, Kanzo is still very puppy like, being Lab and Mastiff. This handsome combination of dogs is called a Mastador. Kanzos dad Tom says he takes him everywhere and it shows by his well-mannered behavior in public.
Thank you for socializing your dog so that he can be a welcome guest at dog friendly establishments.
If you would like to send a cute photo with a description or short story about your favorite furry friend, please send it to HappyLabLady77@yahoo.com.