Myth Busters on Training and Dogs
Many people need to rethink dog behaviors and training. Also different breeds do require different training techniques. I’m going to start with some of the myths. The most important training technique I learnt and the one that has helped me the most in my life with dogs is you have to think like a dog. Do not prescribe human attributes to your dog, its false, it does not work that way and you will either have expectations that are too high or you will reinforce behaviours that you would rather not live with.
- You have to be alpha – show your dog who is boss
- Dogs are like children and behave like we expect humans too
- Discipline is important
- Some dogs are stubborn
- Some dogs do bad things when they are angry or annoyed with you
- Some dogs are bad or have bad temperments
- Some dogs don’t like people
- Some dogs don’t like other dogs
- Some dogs are protective and do not bond with people other than me
- Some dogs get high anxiety when I leave
- Some dogs can’t be trained
- Some dogs are fussy eaters
- Some dogs are neurotic and need to be medicated
OK let’s talk first about thinking like a Havanese. This is true for all dogs but there are differences, some breeds have high prey drive so their motivation and needs are different. Some breeds are working dogs, so their needs and rewards are around having a job. You are lucky if you have picked the Havanese breed as their needs are to be a companion. They do not have a prey instinct, they do not need a job, they love people above all else. So lets think like a havanese. They have slave mentality, they live to please, but they are also very intelligent, love to play, ideally would like to do what they want to do all day long. So you are a havanese, you want your people at home all the time, you don’t want to go out and get your feet wet to potty, you love walks and other dogs. You would like yummy treats, human food all day long, and you really have no boundaries, sleep on the bed, humans wake up when I want you up, heck climb up on the table and eat your dinner. Go everywhere with you always. Dogs don’t care about manners, what is socially expectable, being judged, they just want to be happy. You want to roam the house, have access to every room, potty whenever you have to, where ever you want, bark if you are unhappy, growl at people or dogs that are taking your attention and eat what you want, when you want.
Sorry that is the reality they are dogs, they don’t understand your logic, they don’t understand your desires they don’t think like that. Most often when people say my dog is so smart they were so easy to train it is because the owner took the time and the patience required to reinforce good behaviours.
I always tell owners, particularly with potty training that successes are the MOST important. The more successes the more reinforcement and repetition of learning. Failures have to be ignored so ultimately we want to avoid them.
First Rule:
Havanese are motivated by positive reinforcement. If they do something and you like that behaviour and reward it they will learn the behaviour has a positive outcome. They are not capable of logical complex thought such as I want to do this because my owner wants me to, or I won’t do this because I want to show my owner I’m not happy with them. Dogs are completely motivated and trainable by what makes them happy and only repetition will enforce this into standard repeatable behaviour.
Second Rule:
Negative or disciplinary reinforcement does absolutely nothing to train desired behaviour. At best it gives you relief when you are ticked off because fluffy peed on your bed but at worst it diminishes trust, causes confusion, makes a dog hide that behavior, and can cause fear anxiety or aggression. Understand they have no capacity to understand disciplinary training, they literally have no idea what they have done wrong. Coming home and seeing a accident on your rug and yelling at your dog, or putting their nose in the pee does not compute to your dogs brain that the pee on the carpet is not what you wanted and since you are angry they will never do it again. I know many will disagree and make comments like, they knew they did something wrong, they looked guilty, but believe me they are picking up on your body language, tone of voice and responding to that. Dogs can NOT take an incident that happened when you were not there and connect the dots to you being angry about that even 5 minutes after it happened. They don’t think that way.
This is not a bad thing you just have to accept and realize that they can be easily trained by gaining approval and attention when they do something right. Best thing for a Havanese attention by family, worse thing withdrawal of attention. That is how we train and reinforce behavioral change. This is why clicker training has such quick results, it focuses both on human attention and the Havanese’s natural sense of food motivation. Clicker training rewards behaviour instantly with a signal as soon as the behaviour happens (click) then praise and a treat.
Before talking about potty training, which does require dedication, consistency and planning on your part lets start with some easy basics to get you to visiably see how positive attention and reinforcement works. I should also point out that corrections are perfectly acceptable but just like rewards they need to be immediate. Just like yelling at your dog when you come home and they have torn up your couch cushings has no connection to the dog, it is the same as coming home and giving your dog a cookie has no connection that you might think you are rewarding him for having no accidents. Think about it you coming home and giving you dog a cookie is actually reinforcing something entirely different, it is telling your dog that when you are out and then come home your arrival is rewarded. One of the most common mistakes that can lead to separation anxiety.
. If If Teach your dog it’s Name
One of the easiest and most fun activities is to teach your dog its name. It’s also a great way to get your children involved. One important point is your dogs name is NOT your recall or come command, that needs to be different, which I’ll explain later.
The Name game is totally all about positive reinforcement and is a great first bonding activity for the whole family. When you take your puppy home, and after you have seen him potty place him in your family area and sit on the floor. Have some small treats in your hand or pocket. Call the dogs name, let’s say it is Fluffy. Use an uplifting cheerful voice, the puppy will not know its name but it will respond to a happy fun voice. As soon as the puppy looks at you give it a treat and say good fluffy. Repeat this a few times. You will be amazed at how quickly the puppy will be at your side looking at you consistently. Now you want to move farther away and this time the puppy needs to come to you, repeat the calling of name, but let the puppy come to you and then good Fluffy and treat. It takes very little time and you can play hide and seek with the puppy and it will track you down. The puppy does not say to itself, oh my owner wants me to learn that this is my name, the puppy is learning trust, and that when you say fluffy in that tone if it comes to you its a very positive experience.
Use high sing song voices for training and praise and lower deep voices for correction.
Next Training – Leave It
This is a great training exercise which uses positive reinforcement but also withdrawal of attention to target a behaviour. It’s also a great command to train to get puppies to leave socks, shoes, garbage on street, dog poop etc.
Take two treats that you that you would not normally give you dog, but are very tempting. Roast beef or chicken are what I use. Then have your regular training treats by your side or in your pocket.
Place the two tempting treats on the floor and have your hands ready to cover one in each hand. Place the puppy in your area, they will smell and see the treats and they will make a move towards them. When the puppy goes for the treat cover them and in your training voice (lower in range but not yelling) say leave it. The puppy may push at your hands and try to get the treats, do nothing just remain still until the puppy ignores your hands. Withdrawl of attention stops behaviour. Once the puppy ignores hands say good puppy and give the regular treat. Do not give the special covered treat. Repeat until the puppy begins to immediately ignore your hands once you say leave it. Then leave the treats uncovered and when the puppy starts to approach say leave it without having to cover your hands. You will be amazed at how quickly this works. The puppy has learnt that pushing at your hands trying to get the treat results in being ignored and that leaving the treat results in getting rewarded.
No Bite
This is a fairly similar exercise as leave it, a mix of positive reinforcement for positive behaviour and a withdrawal of attention for negative behaviour.
Puppies bite and sometimes play rough. Puppies sometimes even growl. This is all very normal. Remeber dogs are pack animals with a hierachry and it is natural to them to challenge that hierachry throughtout phases in their life. When they come to your home, they don’t have their pack, you are their pack and they will need to establish their place in it. We definetly need to teach puppies that biting, growling or any show of alpha behaviour is not acceptable.
So if you have purchased an alpha in the pack puppie, good for you. They are generally the smartest and make great puppies in confidence and independence but you will need to make sure you positivity reinforce you are the pack leader.
Keep in mind puppies are teething and they interact through their mouths with each other. A puppy that nibbles fingers, toes and ears is not being alpha its being a puppy . For example I can not walk into my kitchen when I have my puppies there without shoes on, it would be torture.
So you are going to teach your puppy that it might have been fine to mouth and bite your siblings and your mother but humans don’t really love it. You will do this by positive reinforcement and withdrawl of attention.
I like to do this by deliblertly making a nipping situation happen. I sit on the floor and play with the puupy and get them riled up and playful so they will likely nip. When they nip I plant my hands flat on the floor, say no bite in my deep training voice and stop all play and interaction until they stop nipping. They I reward them with play and affection until they nip again and I ignore them again with the same command. They associate very quickly your deep training voice with the total lack of attention and very quickly stop nipping as soon as they hear the command. With repition they stop nipping altogether.
I go through this with children who come to pick up their puppies with their parents. I ask them how tough are you, can you handle a few nibbles and pawing for a few minutes. It’s not a test some can some can’t and age is a huge factor. Some children who are new to dogs or even a bit tentative on how this is all going to work will panic when a puppy gets over excited and begins pawing jumping an nipping, they will wave their hands around, they may even drop or hit out at the puppy, this of course makes everything worse. Parents need to help their children cope, be comfortable and keep both them and the puppy safe. Children also will almost never be the pack leader and because their voices are naturally high. For older children teach them the difference between a positive voice and a corrective voice. When people ask me if Havanese get along with children I say definetly its not the child I’d worry about its the dog. Young children under the age of 8 should never be unsupervised with any dog.
Growling, biting as a reaction to something you are doing, such as grooming, moving the puppy or something you do that the puppy precieves as something he would rather you not. This is not puppy play this is bossy alpha behaviour. An attempt for the puppy to establish pack hierachy in his new house. This needs to be niped in the bud immediately. Again you never get agreesive with Havanese, it can actually cause fear agression and worse behaviour you just need to establish boundaries. With a chold who challenges you and mis behaves you can communicate and say something like in our family that lack of respect is not how we act. Maybe go into your room and think about that. They will get the message, with a dog sorry no such luck. Again its positive vs withdrawl but in this case also some correction.
When a puppy deliberty snaps at your or growls you immediate say No. Your voice will be deep but this time it will also have a tone of correction and reprimand. You will then continue with the behaviour that made the puppy growl in the first place, you will also escalate that a bit and handle the puppy in a dominant manner pick him up and hold him upside down. Check his ears, check his bite, brush him or comb him, trim his nails. If he repeats the behaviour you will again say no but this time you will add some corrective discipline. You will hold him under his head by his neck fur and look him in the eye and say NO that is not acceptable. You will then repeat handling him and praise him when the behavior does not repeat. Don’t forget to reward him a lot when the behaviour stops. The next escalation if it occurs again is to hold him by the chin hair, look him in the eye and give his head a shake as you say NO that is not acceptable. That is pretty much all you ever have to do with havanese because they are known to be a highly alpha breed and they do want to please. If the behaviour continues call me, there are other techniques you will need to use.
Havanese are not aggressive by breed type but there are factors that can make them so. Over discipline (fear) alpha behaviour they have gotten away with as puppies, high protection instincts, separation anxiety. All of these are correctable by owners. The myth about being the boss or showing the dog who is boss does not work, you do have to be confident, consistent and in charge. Pack animals will follow their leader. The good news is with a puppy even if they are really spunky and alpha and bite you, they are not really going to do damage, but you do not want them biting a child or visitors.
One of the worst breeds for aggressive protective behavior are Lhasa Apso’s. Breed type is that they were bred to be imperial watch palace dogs in Tibet. They may look like a Havanese but they are completely different in temperament. They are teritoria, they tend to be one person protective dogs and if not properly training can be tyrants. It was my first breed and I could not trust my dog to be around people, he was only good with me. I also had a friend who had two and they actually said they could not get out of bed until the Lhasas allowed it.
The important thing here to remember is stay calm. The dog is not deliberting trying to annoy you. They are not even trying to hurt you and they really don’t love you any less. They are dogs, the motivation is soley hey you brushed me and pulled on a matt so I’m going to let you kow that. It is easily and very quickly corrected if you accept the behaviour and calmly work with positive and unwanted motivation.
Not to panic you this is not frequent, and usually if your breeder sees it by the time they are 8 weeks they have already corrected it. I’ve had puppies growl a few times but its also been corrected in one encounter. I’ve had maybe 4 puppies in 18 years guve give me a warning snap, also unacceptable, and corrected it in one to 3 sessions. This has almost always happened when grooming. You should be able to do anything with a havanese, pull its tail, pinch its paws, clean ears, cut nails, hold it on back and it should never respond aggressively, this is the breed type.
If you purchase a Havanese that is aggressive and you can’t correct in one to three times, or feel that the puppy is still unpredictable talk to your breeder immediately. If they won’t help you call me.
Recall or Come
Teaching your dog to come on command is a very important command and one that can be life saving. Also great for off leash areas when you want to go home and your dog does not it is frustrating.
Remeber Hav’s may love you to death but they are also very smart and they also love to play. They will test you so if you want them to do something for you consistently, find the what’s in it for them.
OK very important you need a recall word that is NOT their name. When you want your dog to come it always needs to be associated with something positive. It can never be negative or corrective. So if your dog is running across a busy street because he slipped his lead and you call FLUFFY you are likely going to yell it and say it in a very excited panicky tone. Your dog will not be sure of what the outcome is if he comes. I use the word cooking for my recall and I always make sure the command and correct behaviour have a positive outcome. I learns a long time ago when I go and pick up my dog to come inside and then promptly put him in his crate he learns its better to stay out a bit longer. Always make the outcome a reward and positive. It is very hard to say cooking in a harsh tone. Practice and reward just like the name game and Fluffy will learn it quickly. If Fluffy also learns that when she comes she not only gets a cookie but a big belly rub or a walk with you or some ball throwing. This is all positive reinforcement never a touch of negative or discipline. If your dog does not come it could be because it is scared to cross the street, or there is a very appealing squill in the field. Yelling and getting angry will not help, try another command like sit or stay. Saying sit in a firm voice while you go and retrieve him often works. I have farm dogs, they are guardian dogs and when I call them to come in they sometimes do require 2 or 3 calls and my voice may drop into the training zone on the third call. Sometimes they don’t hear me, sometimes they are far away and sometimes they have not completed their job of a perimeter guard around the property. They still get rewarded when they come.
Sit, Down, Stay, Heel etc
These are all quickly and easily trained with treats and patience. I will take some videos for this training as it is primarily lure training and very visual.
In summary you can train your Havanese to do practically anything. It all depends how much you want to do it and your patience and consistency to train it. You have to remember it is never the dogs fault, i mean it. Never, Havanese do not want to displease, it is never they fault they just don’t know what you want. If you remember to think like a dog, be patient, look and analyze what works, remove failures as much as possible you can train them to do anything. Clicker training is highly effective.
I recently got a kitten and have clicker trained her to come when I call her name. Come to the spot I tap on the floor wherever that is. On someone’s lap, in her cat tree, off the counter etc. where I tap she goes. I have taught her to go through tunnels, up on steps and through obstacles in the order I want her to. It was surprising easy because she got rewarded instantly each time. I’m now teaching her not to bite me or grab me with her paws when she gets excited. I will tell you it is so much easier with a dog, but she gets it, a firm NO, a withdrawal of any attention and repeat repeat repeat. Cat’s though one day when I think I have it down she is just going to shrug and attack me because she feels like it.
Warning: If you apply for a Mylad Puppy I am going to quiz you big time on your approach to training. My puppies will not go to a home where any family member believes “you have to show them who’s boss”
Crate Training
I recently took a course at work on the new skills of Leaders. My boss asked me how was the course going and I said, you know it is the type of learning that you will only get out of it what you are willing to put in. That statement is completely true with puppy training. Those who are committed, have their dogs best interests at heart and do their research will be very successful at training Havanese. This breed is smart, completely people oriented and wants to please, and are food and praise motivated.
I often tell owners when we chat and they tell me how they live with their pets that I can’t tell them what is wrong or right but I can tell you that know what you want to put up with and live with and accept that. If you are OK with dogs on your bed, then by all means, if you are OK with a fussy eater, than by all means cave into the game of giving your dog something different when he snubs his nose at his food bowl. If you are OK with a dog that is dependant on your for security and get separation anxiety when you are not there, then its OK if you don’t enforce alone time in a safe and comfortable way. Honestly I’m not being sarcastic owners will need to decide what they are prepared to put up with and then train or reinforce accordingly.
What I want to convey in this section, as every action you take with your puppy is a learning experience for that puppy. So just be aware of what you are reinforcing you are always actually training into your dog.
I strongly strongly strongly advise crate training. It is not cruel, it is not abandonment, in fact it is quite the opposite. Dogs likes dens, they like security, they like a place to be alone and they like a place that is their own. Crate training has so many benefits that will ultimately help your relationship with your dog and foster a happy independent confident dog that can travel anywhere, it really is a must do.
Crate training is a critical part of house breaking. Crate training is important for separation anxiety, Crate training is important for travel and hotel stays, Crate training is critical for car safety. Crate training helps with anxiety for boarding and vet visits and keeping your pet safe when they need to be confined e.g people in and out of house,