Counter Conditioning and Baby Steps

🙋🏿‍♂️🙋🏽Who here is trying to counter condition their dog to something, and isn't seeing success?

If that's the case, it's user error (those pesky humans again!). Repeat - USER ERROR. Counter conditioning always works. It's how brains work!

Understanding the process of Counter Conditioning/Desensitization will make you a better owner, whether it's nails, dogs, people, skateboards or thunderstorms. If you are trying to work on your dog's nails, please join Nail Maintenance for Dogs on Facebook!

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When counter conditioning, it is imperative that the process is broken down into as many baby steps as possible. What we might see as 10 total steps, a dog might see as 100, especially if they have a very negative association with you, the room they are in, the clippers or file in your hand, the facility you bring them to, or all the above.

Counter conditioning is NOT about rewarding good behavior, it is freely giving food for your dog being exposed to the ______ (dremel, file, clippers, handling, etc), REGARDLESS of behavior. It is about creating an association. "When this happens, I get food, every time".

Once you begin breaking down your steps, you may notice that one step is harder for your dog, so you just break that one down further. The better you break it down, the faster your dog will make progress because you are not inadvertently raising the challenge before they are ready. It should feel smooth, as if each criteria rolls into the next without a hitch.

Things to keep in mind of steps you may need to break down:
*sound of equipment
*location of dog
*positioning of dog
*angle of arms/body/equipment/head/body
*duration
*distractions
*other dogs being around
*distance
*current stress level and pain/soreness

Rather than start at the criteria that your dog doesn't do well with; make each repetition one that your dog can win. You don't want them to practice pulling away or moving away. That breaks trust, because you are repeatedly doing something uncomfortable. Let them win by always staying where they are comfortable. Go at their pace - they should feel like a million bucks on nail day! Make them look forward to the next trim!!

Here is my breakdown that I used to condition my dog. Keep in mind that many of these steps happened quickly in a single session. But, some were a session all by themselves. Some steps took multiple sessions. Read your dog and adjust with them! Create your own steps by looking first at your goal behavior (ie standing still on the mat while I lift a paw and file one nail), and then breaking it into as many parts as possible to build to that goal.

VISUAL OF EQUIPMENT/HANDLING:
-Dremel in sight (off). (From a distance of 10, 9, 8 feet... if necessary)

-Dremel in sight presented from different angles

-Dremel in sight moving (starting with a slight movement, and moving to large ones)

-Dremel in sight + other hand briefly touching shoulder

-Dremel in sight + other hand progressively touching body in different spots, making sure there were no parts that she pulled away

-Dremel in sight + touching paws

-Dremel in sight + picking up paws (I start at shoulder and then slide down to paw)

-Dremel in sight + holding paws for duration

-Dremel in sight + holding paw + separating the toes

-Dremel in sight + holding paw + separating toes + leaning over as if to concentrate

-Dremel in sight + holding paw + separating toes + leaning over as if to concentrate + moving the Dremel toward the nail in increments until can touch/hold to nail

-^doing above with all nails, and switching up your body position to mimic a real trimming, just no sound or vibration yet.

SOUND/HANDLING:
-on for 3-5 second spurts

-building incrementally to 30 second spurts

-on for 3-5 second spurts, moving from side to side

-on for 3-5 second spurts, moving along sides of body (incrementally)

-on for 3-5 second spurts, moving over head/body (including there they can't see)

-on for 5-30 second spurts, moving anywhere around body and between legs

-Dremel on (about a foot away - in my lap) with other hand touching body briefly

-Dremel on with other hand working the body the same way as when it was off

-Dremel on, short spurts, running hands down legs

-Dremel on, running hands down legs +lingering on feet

-Dremel on, running down legs + duration on touching feet

-Dremel on, running down legs + picking up feet

-Dremel on, running down legs + picking up feet, holding feet with duration/height of foot

-Dremel on, picking up feet, separating toes

-Dremel on, holding feet, separating toes, leaning over closely to "concentrate"

-Dremel on, holding feet, separating toes, "concentrating", moving Dremel small incremental distances toward nail until it is within a hair of the nail.

VIBRATION/HANDLING:
-Touch running dremel to nail for a split second, give dog heavy amounts of high value food (even if they run away! No matter what!)

-If vibration is too hard, begin with touching the back end of a running Dremel to the dog's elbow and condition THAT vibration first.

-Continue touching running dremel to each toe, and jackpotting each time. You may need to stabilize the toe with your fingers to minimize vibration.

-Begin adding in your other pieces one by one: holding feet, separating toes, concentrating, duration, etc. Remember: this is teaching, not worrying about actually getting the nail done.

-Keep on, keepin' on!! Once the pieces are all being done together, then it is continuous heavy reinforcement and you can actually begin to trim nails while you teach them how to do nails! It will be less teaching, and more trimming. But, patience, young grasshopper!! Building trust is most important, so watch your dog and listen to them if they start to feel uncomfortable.

TROUBLESHOOTING:
**if my dog freaks at any time, and moves away or jerks or is otherwise having a hard time, go back a few steps and make it easier. Once they are back on board, you can raise your criteria again. If they can't get back on board, end your session. We all have bad days!

**if my dog jumps when the dremel touches, I would alter the way I was holding the nail (either holding the nail bed more firmly, less firmly, pulled up paw vs bent back paw, less pressure of dremel, etc), changed the angle of the Dremel, change it to low vs high speed, etc.

Happy counter conditioning!!!

Check out www.positivedoghusbandry.com for more videos, tips and files on proper Counter Conditioning and Desensitization!

Good Rescues, Bad Training Choices

Recently, a rehabilitation facility was in the news because a dog they had just adopted out viciously attacked and killed a 90 year old woman.  This dog had a bite record, was highly aroused by movement and had spent 3 months being shock collar trained, in an attempt to "train out" the aggression.  The older woman fell, and despite repeated shocks, the dog continued to attack. It is proven that shocks actually create and increase aggression.

Aggression is a natural part of an animal's behavior.  We will never train it out of an animal. By shocking a dog repeatedly for doing small snippets of aggressive-type behaviors, staring, licking lips, leaning forward, barking, etc, what we actually do is suppress the aggressive display.  To our feeble human eyes and brains, "hey look! It's gone!".  But, it isn't, at all. And it will come back to bite you. Unfortunately, pun intended.

When working with dogs with unknown backgrounds, it becomes even more important and critical that we look at the dog's true temperament, not a suppressed, fabricated one using training collars.  In order for a rescue to properly place a dog, they need to know how the dog truly feels, not a suppressed version.

Without fosters and donations, a rescue cannot survive. YOU are the voice of the dogs. Support rescues that use reward-based training and science-based behavior modification techniques.

Rescues should provide or be willing to fund:

an adoption application that explicitly asks about equipment, methodology and discipline

no-pull harnesses

information and guidelines about how to integrate a new dog and teach house manners without the use of punishment. These guidelines should be clear about what is and is NOT allowed.

training with a modern science-based trainer if a foster is struggling

foster education through digital files, webinars, Skype sessions or in-person seminars with a fear-free trainer

new adopter information that follows these same guidelines

When Good Rescue Groups Make Bad Dog Training Decisions: https://positively.com/…/when-good-rescue-groups-make-bad-…/

Be the catalyst for change you wish to see in your rescue, or find a rescue that uses modern methods with dogs, and foster, support and fund their initiative. #bethechange

My dog jumps! Help!

Fan Question:

"Do you have any suggestions for getting a dog to stop jumping? On Memorial Day, a blue heeler wandered into our yard and we think he's about a year old and he has no training of any sort, so trying to train a dog with very hyper behavior. His biggest flaw is his jumping. I have 4 small kids and my oldest is scared of him because of his jumping."

Answer:

The purpose of jumping is either:
A. Energy release (it feels good)
B. Reinforcing (people pay attention to me)
C. Confusion (I don't know how else to say hi)
D. A mixture of all of the above.

To combat each of these is a multi step approach:

A. Energy release:
Give proper physical exercise, not just letting your dog in the backyard (dogs don't exercise themselves) or taking them for walks (human speed, straight line walks are not sufficient exercise). Foraging for food, flirt pole, agility, fetch/Frisbee, chasing, swimming are all great outlets for energy. If you do not deplete a dog's energy in ways acceptable to you, they WILL find other outlets, and it will probably not be something you like.

B. Reinforcement:
Teach your kids and guests, and anyone who goes anywhere close to your dog - absolutely zero attention for jumping. Don't talk to him, don't look at him, don't push him off, don't move away. Zero things happen. Turn head to the side, avert gaze, and fold arms up if the dog is nibbly. Kids like to hear this as turning a robot "off" (See "Go Crazy Freeze" below). The moment that the dog gets bored and puts four feet on the floor, you "turn on". Say, "Yes!", bend down and say a quiet hello, toss a toy or sprinkle kibble on the ground. Helping the dog be successful by turning your body to the side and only saying hello with one hand, keeping it brief and ending the interaction before the dog jumps will all help.  Management can also prevent the dog from being reinforced by people who don't know the rules or small children (or a stubborn family member). Baby gates, crates, closed doors, tethers and leashes can all help someone get in the door and after the dog settles down a bit and you've briefed them on the rules, you let your dog out.

C. Confusion:
Teach a different behavior. Doing only A and B still leaves a dog wondering, "so what am I supposed to do then to say hi to my people?" Practice when things are pretty boring around the house, and heavily reinforce (with food) a sit at your feet, or even just standing. Progress to being able to walk out and walk back in. Make staying on the ground FAR MORE LUCRATIVE than jumping is. Imagine that jumping gets $5 (because it feels good to the dog) and keeping four on the floor gets $500. The dog will quickly choose the $500 option because it makes sense to do so! Currently, you have jumping getting $500 reinforcement and the floor getting $5. Switch that! You can also ask for a "sit" if the dog is an excessive jumper, and then heavily reward that with 10-15 back to back treats!

With any breed dog, but especially a working breed, working WITH them, rather than against them is much faster. Take what they need/want and allow them to have it AFTER they do the thing you want. Don't address mistakes, just adjust to help your dog be successful. They have lots of real estate in their brain to get the things they want ... trying to stop that is an exhausting task, and it's like two steps forward, one step back. Instead, use it to your advantage:

Instead of trying to stop jumping, think of it like this:

"You love movement? Great! Sit first, and then I'll tug with you!"

"You love food? Great! Sit first and then I'll toss a handful of kibble into the living room!"

"You love love? Great! Sit first and then I'll sit on the floor and you can give me all the kisses in the world!"

Here are some links, as well as a video of my first session teaching a dog (who has super bad habits of launching herself into people). Many sessions of quick repetition of success, while making it increasingly harder while still building with food rewards: different people, number of people, strangers, different objects, carrying groceries, children crying/screaming, etc), will get you a solid four on the floor behavior. Enjoy!

Resources:
GO CRAZY FREEZE: https://youtu.be/DNr3VV1tRBQ

JUMPING: https://youtu.be/lC_OKgQFgzw

IMPULSE CONTROL:
DOGGIE ZEN: https://youtu.be/k1QX4iQO7IM
IT'S YER CHOICE: https://youtu.be/k9KULy1JSzs
ON/OFF GAMES WITH DROP: http://www.dogtrainergames.com/drop-it/

KIDS AND DOGS:
Body language: https://youtu.be/PNYM5lwaLmI
Activities: www.familypaws.com

It's Hard to Train a Dog Without Beating Them

Gracie and I went on a walk the other night. Her heeling was spot on, even though she was wearing her harness that she typically is allowed to go sniff every sniff that she ever did sniff.  When I would stop, she automatically sat, and when we passed a group of children and a stroller, or barking dogs behind fences, she acted like they didn't exist.  To her, the only thing that mattered was me. Not every day is like this, and she wasn't born like this -- but it still amazes me to watch a dog choose to be with me when the entire world is in front of them.

Shortly into our walk, we passed an older man. He had been watching us for about 3 minutes as we got closer. As we got within talking distance, we had some small talk about how well behaved Gracie was and that she was beautiful. And, just as we passed, with sincerity in his voice and a nod of approval, he said,

"It's hard to train a dog without beatin' 'em".

Stunned, a familiar twitch and raise of my left eyebrow alerted me to my ever-present, obvious facial expressions, so I diverted my gaze to my dog, who had her eyes trained on me, with her giant pitty tongue flopping out of her mouth.  I dropped a piece of chicken into her mouth as a dog barked to our left. 

I looked back at the man, my expression now smoothed out.  He meant it as a compliment. A compliment. I tried to take it as such.  He didn’t know I was a dog trainer.  A half-hearted chuckle and head nod as my response, we continued on our separate ways.  Within seconds, the moment had passed. The wind blew, and Gracie sniffed the air while keeping one eye on me. The words stuck with me. They resounded in my brain over and over, and before my brain could gain it's footing, we came upon an owner with a dog on a bright neon yellow shock collar. This dog's head hung so low toward the ground, it's shoulders protruded from its back. His owner told him to sit; her tone, scathing, even though he was doing just as she asked.  His sit was odd and tense, with his parts tucked in under himself so tightly, I couldn't see his tail or back feet.  His hanging head sunk a little lower and turned away from his owner and us ever so slightly as we passed. It was like I could feel him wincing in anticipation.  When she began walking again, she did so with no warning, causing him to be jerked for ward by his neck with the slip lead noose.  I wondered, almost out loud, how many times he had been corrected as we walked by. For what, I wouldn't know.

Dog training isn't always easy. If you have a dog, you are a trainer - like it or not. Some people can get by without really teaching their dogs much of anything, and some can't.  Some love to work at it, some have to work at it, and a lot don't want to work at it. They just want the dog to not act like a dog. 

Stop sniffing.

Stop barking.

Stop digging.

Stop jumping.

Stop chewing.
Stop pacing.

Stop chasing.

Stop trying to be social with every dog you see.
Stop being uncomfortable.

Stop moving.

Stop licking me.
Stop getting on the couch near me.

Stop eating table crumbs.

Stop pulling.

Just stop.

Their world is filled with humans wanting Stops, all day, everyday. And with Stops, come human correction, usually involving pain. And anger. And frustration that they won't stop doing what comes naturally to them.  But unless you teach a different behavior to replace the old behavior, all you teach your dog when you teach them to Stop is avoidance of you or a situation, which turns into learned helplessness.  Both of these owners were only teaching their dogs through pain and punishment, probably because they don't know any other way.

And when you don't know better, your options for the Stops are so limited that the only thing you feel like you have left in your toolbox is pain and correction.  Like an uneducated parent, uneducated dog owners tend to lash out and punish. A lot. Because they don't know how else to get good behavior, they feel as if they don't have other options. 

But, there are always more options. Just because you don't know them right now doesn't mean they aren't there. Imagine what you don't know.  Imagine how many things you could be doing differently, better, in an easier fashion, if only you knew more.  

Research and find a trainer who knows how to show you the multitude of ways to get behavior without hurting your dog, or find the right Facebook group to motivate you, or the right friend, or read an article or book. Ask questions.  Constantly.  Each time, you gain a little more knowledge, and suddenly, your box of options begins to have a few more compartments. It gets a little fuller, and with that, you realize that you don't have to use pain or fear as your go-to, because you have so many other things to try before going that route.

Suddenly, instead of kneeing your dog in the face for jumping, you have 3 or 4 different techniques that all work.

Suddenly, instead of shouting and smacking your dogs when they play too rough, you know how to reinforce polite play and ask for your "enough" cue before things get nutty. 

The worst consequence that I could think of as a child was my mother finding out that I did something wrong. Did I fear her? No. Did I fear how she would react? Absolutely. I was terrified that I would disappoint her, because I respected her and wanted to make her proud.

Did she need to hit me, hurt me, threaten me, beat me, to get proper behavior or to punish a mistake? No. In fact, she didn't even yell. Doing those things probably would have led to defiance and more misbehavior.  The more you yell and punish, the more you are ignored, and the more problems arise.  It's science. 

By using positive reinforcement with children and dogs, you don't need to rely on scaring them into good behavior, and you give yourself more options. Do you know how many times I have heard, "Man, I wish I knew this with my other dog..."?  Your toolbox opens up exponentially because you know more, so you understand how to teach the way dogs/toddlers learn, and they actually WANT to do what you want.  Ask any toddler parent - isn't it more enjoyable when your toddler happily does want you want, rather than you threatening or forcing them to?  It's easier to have a teammate than an adversary. It is the same with your dog.  

And the best part is: they will no longer make those mistakes, because you've helped show them how to make better choices. Without fear. Without intimidation. Without pain. With rewards. With your relationship. With mutual respect.  If you have to ask for respect, you don't have it.  Respect comes from mutual respect, safety, security and love.  Not from punishment. 

When knowledge ends, violence begins.
Keep learning, every day.
Improve your relationship with your dog, every day.
When your brain tells you that you need to punish or hurt a child or dog for something, that should be a red flag that your knowledge has run out. 
Don't let your knowledge run out.

When you know better, you do better. ~Maya Angelou

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There are always situations going on where discipline is needed, and it never involves anger, frustration, pain or violence. If you don't know any better, you might teach these things with punishment and corrections ("eh, eh!", "NO!", shock collar or finger poking). Instead, take a peek at discipline:

EXAMPLE #1:
--->I set down a plate of chicken on the coffee table.  Dog moves in to sniff it, too close for my comfort.  I ask the dog to go on her bed.  She does. After a few moments/minutes, I toss her some chicken to reward her for being on her bed. 

Result 1 - Moving toward the food = being asked to move far away from the food, getting no food.

Result 2 - Moving to and staying on her bed = better option, better result, got rewarded.

I helped her make a better choice, and rewarded that choice for future repeats of this behavior.

EXAMPLE #2:

--->Dogs are getting too rowdy in play.  I interrupt their play by using a kissy noise, and ask them to sit.  I reward them with praise and then ask them to go lay down on the couch.  They do. After a few minutes, I give them the "Go Play" cue, and they begin wrestling again, but this time, with significantly less intensity.

Result: Focused on the good behavior that they had done. Helped them settle and rewarded them with continued play.  Encouraged good behavior, and next time, dogs will be more willing to break at that time, vs amp up.

EXAMPLE #3:

--->Dogs rush the door to get outside, knocking into me, the door and each other.  I begin opening the door only when they sit, and if they stand or move to leave, I say nothing and close the door.  They learn that access outside is only awarded when butts are on the ground.  Result: they learn self-control at the door, and then I release them to go outside (reward). No punishment or corrections necessary.

Anything can be taught without pain, fear or intimidation.
Check out the following trainers for more information:Patricia McConnell
Zak George
Sophia Yin
Patricia McConnell
Kikopup (Emily Larlham)
Suzanne Clothier
Diane Garrod
Ian Dunbar
B.F. Skinner
^that last one is kind of a joke,
but TOTALLY relevant :)

Alexander's Law of Stacked Bad Luck

How many of you remember this book? Now, keep it mind while you read...

I woke up one morning, around 7, and as I stumbled to the bathroom, I stubbed my little pinky toe on the metal bed post. %*&#! You know how bad that hurts, right? Especially when it’s the little one, because it gets bent all sideways and feels like it snapped off ‘cause there is no toe on its one side?  Anyway, I finish peeing and inspecting my pseudo broken toe and I walk out, and freeze, staring at a giant pee spot on the carpet. HUH? What’s that all about? Gracie never has accidents…? So, I walk around the spot, downstairs and I’m looking under the sink for carpet cleaner. First, I can’t find it, so I’m knocking everything over in the meantime, getting angrier and angrier and then I finally find it in the wayyyy back and there are two. One’s almost empty and one’s full. Being that my toe is throbbing and I just want to hurry up and clean the pee so I can get in the shower, I grab the full one so I don’t have to pull the trigger 317 times to get a half-ass foamy squirt out.  I am pretty much at the end of my rope. So, I stand up and my legs are all achey from squatting for so long and I walk three steps and the bottom to the freaking bottle crashes to the floor, leaving me with the stupid trigger in my hand and a gallon of cleaner E V E R Y W H E R E.

UUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I violently clean up the spilled liquid and am holding back tears because I’m so mad at all the stupid things that have happened in like 7 minutes and then I kinda clean up the pee and without another word, I got in bed, covered up, reset my alarm and decided I needed to start my day over in about a half hour. I was way over my threshold.

"I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and
when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake
I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could
tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day."

Read this blog before continuing:
 http://reactivechampion.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-stress-bathtub.html

No, really, go read it.  

If you're a big jerk, and said, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll read it later” and skipped it, then here’s a summary of the analogy:  
Each dog has a bathtub in which their stress fills or drains.  Some dogs start with an empty bathtub and some dogs that are more anxious or unstable start with a partially filled bathtub. As stressors occur (dogs walking by, a loud noise, being yelled at, hurting yourself, anything perceived as upsetting), the bathtub fills a little bit more.  If a dog has no pre-existing stress in his bathtub, then he can handle a lot of stressors before his stress runs over the top and he goes over threshold.  If he is already starting with a half-filled bathtub, it only takes a few things to send that dog over threshold.  Now, the greatest thing about this analogy is a bathtub isn’t like a bucket. You can’t just dump it out and start again. All dog’s stress drains differently. Some drain slow, some drain quicker, but for all dogs, once threshold has been reached, learning stops occurring and it’s going to take a good 24 hours or more for that dog’s stress levels to recede back to normal.  Amazing, right?

Thinking back to my terrible morning – had all of these things occurred in the afternoon, after I had been awake for awhile, it probably wouldn’t have had such a pronounced effect on me. But, the timing of when all of those stressors occurred, back to back to back and so early in the morning, was a perfect recipe for going over threshold. As a human, I can say, “WOAH. I need a break.” As a dog, they try to tell us in the only way they know how; barking, reacting, whining, whimpering, running away, mouthing, shaking, etc.

Here's an example of a typical walk with stacked stressors: Unbeknownst to you, your dog stepped on a pinecone on your daily walk so keeps leaning into your leg 'cause his foot hurts, but you fuss at him to stop, so he does, but his foot still hurts.  Then, a dog runs up to his face and wasn't being nice at all, but he kept his cool and when you started walking again, he had to poop, but you kept walking, cause you thought he was just sniffing again, so he had to keep walking, too.  And then, when he couldn't hold it any longer, he stopped to poop but it was on the sidewalk and he got choked cause you kept walking and then when you turned around, he got scared you'd be mad, and then a flock of geese flew overhead right as a dog walked by and looked in his direction, and he suddenly goes ballistic.  Lots of stressors, not one of them is a huge deal, but allllll stacked up - BAM. Over threshold.

If your dog goes over threshold, have the courage to say, “Ok, we’ll try again some other time” and go home.  Forcing your dog to cope is unfair to your dog and can have drastic side effects, as well as some redirected behavior onto you.   

Listen to your dog. If you don’t know how, find a local trainer who can help you. Your dog is trying to communicate with you - are you listening?

"Well, what do you do when they're bad?"

I was talking to a friend from college recently and she said, “I know you are all about positive reinforcement to encourage the behaviors you want, but what if they do something bad? Like something they know they shouldn’t do? Do you yell at them?”

I realized at that moment, that in all my passion to post all of these ideas of how to teach your dog what TO DO, instead of punishing for what you don’t, I neglected to state what I do in the interim: like when my dog chases my cats or jumps up on the counter. Those are things that I’m not willing to ignore. Nor, do I. 
 

I have yelled at Gracie, I have smacked her butt a time or two, but what I use most often is the equivalent of when your Mom would say, “You’ve really disappointed me” and I say, “No, ma’am, that is SO SAD.” I say it in the same tone every time and each time, she goes to her bed or the couch and puts her head down on her paws and stares at me. I didn’t explicitly teach her that, but she’s learned over time that I won’t fuss at her anymore if she does that.  After a few minutes, I say, “Ok” and she runs over to me for hugs and love. 

Dogs do bad things. Sometimes, they do really bad things like eat an entire couch, or tear down the blinds in every window in the house, but harboring those emotions will only hurt the relationship between you and your dog.  Allow yourself to act like a 3 year old for a minute and stomp around huffing and puffing as you pick up the minuscule beads from the now-shredded bean bag you just bought your child yesterday.  Your dog knows that you’re unhappy. THAT is why they are cowering, or in Gracie’s case – putting her head down on her paws. It’s not the behavior they did an hour ago or even five minutes ago.  So, after your toddler tantrum, don’t shun your dog.  Think hard about WHY they did it:

Is she bored? Is she not getting enough attention? Did anyone exercise her today? Have we taught her that the bean bag is not a dog toy? Is it anxiety? Who was supervising?

Once you figure out the "Why?", situations like this will happen less and less.  Focus on your dog’s positive attributes and expand on those as much as you can. By strengthening them, you form a better bond with your dog and you’ll find that many of their flaws will shrivel up, and eventually, be a thing of the past.