January 2023 Client Spotlight: Bailey

Bailey is a 9-month-old, male Aussie Doodle. I worked with him and his Dad on a few issues that came up since his rescue. As most owners with herding breeds have experienced, Bailey had a tendency to mouth when over-excited, to grab their attention, or to try and keep them playing. It was cute at first but, then lead to some pretty painful interactions. They were also working on getting Bailey to drop things that he’d steal around the house as well as jumping/mouthing on guests and counters which he found to be especially rewarding.

Another behavior, that was the most intriguing to me, was every now and then on walks, he’d drop to the grass and refuse to get up. At first, I thought it was a marking behavior because when it happened, he’d slide his entire body across the grass and stay there, sprawled out, until somebody came over and got him. Once I started working with Bailey though, I realized that marking wasn’t always the cause.

The main issue that Bailey had was a lack of impulse control and frustration tolerance. Throughout my time training Bailey and his owners, we incorporated more exercises to require Bailey to wait for things he desired. Leave it, stay, wait, and “trade” were the main behaviors we strengthened. We started inside with low-valued items (treats, toys, etc.) and eventually worked up to Bailey understanding the value of re-direction and focus. This not only helped us on walks but in and around the house as well.

What many owners don’t realize is the skills that we desire our dogs to learn (fetch, polite greetings, coming when called, etc.) are actually behaviors that are broken down and trained individually. If we try and do it all at once, and then expose our dog to unrealistic environments, the training becomes poisoned and your dog learns to distrust you. Training takes a long time (or at least it shouldn’t look instantaneous) and it should be trained over a period of weeks, keeping it light and fun.

Dogs also don’t generalize well meaning, if you master “heel” and “polite walking” upstairs, you’ll probably have to go back a step or two once you’re out on a patio. Therefore, when it comes to creating a training plan, it’s important to go through the entire four stages (acquisition, fluency, generalization, and maintenance) for each behavior before living out the skill in the way you intended. Getting back to Bailey, learning to “leave it” took six levels of understanding that good things come to those that wait.

After the initial week, it still took the owner time to continue practicing as holding back doesn’t come naturally to dogs. Training is lifelong, not just for the weeks of the class. I enjoyed working with this family and learned a few new things along the way. I look forward to seeing Bailey around town and I hope he enjoys his new life in his new forever home.