반려견이 정말로 앙심을 품고 있는 것일까요? #321

vengefulness play out in movies and sometimes in real life. And by believing that it is spite or vengefulness, it allows us to find an answer quick. It gives us closure to the solution. There is a blame and the situation is closed. Now we have to stop the dog from being defiant or vengeful or spiteful. But here's the thing with blame. Blame always ends curiosity. And curiosity is the most beautiful gift we all can give ourselves because curiosity builds bridges. Curiosity creates conversation, even if it's just in our own head. So, let's get curious about what's happening to this student of mine. Of course, you can ask yourself simple questions like, why is this happening? What has changed in the last little while? Well, it's obvious we've added the introduction of a new dog. And so, you can just say, and so what? What difference does that make? This dog knows they should not poop in the house. I'm going to give you two examples of when stress causes a change in physiology. This past summer, I was training my young dog Prophet in Germany and it was so hot. It was 40 degrees Celsius. That's like a quadrillion degrees Fahrenheit. And after he worked a short, we had very short, short work sessions. He would immediately come out and have a massive poop. The stress to his physiology. Luckily he never pooped while he was working, but also very luckily I intentionally only allowed him to work for a very short period of time, only a matter of a couple of minutes. But three times in a row, he came out and had a massive poop. Would he ever poop that much in that short period of time in his life? Never. But that stress causing a physiological reaction. In this case, it was actually a physical stress. It was heat stress. But even the change of gut biome, maybe changing new food could cause that same kind of stress. That stress happened to me once I had a medical procedure, which caused my calcium to drop. And all of a sudden, shortly after that medical procedure, I started sweating profusely. I started shaking and I had to get to a bathroom. And yes, the same thing happened to me. Luckily, I was able to get to the bathroom. And so, stress causes physiological changes to us and to our dogs. And so, the first thing I would always ask everybody is make sure there's no medical condition. Make sure that there isn't a medical reason for that dog. Maybe they have a GI upset, but I think there would have been signs before. And the connection of every time I go outside to train my puppy, this is what happens, often can be a rule out of medical conditions. But even something as simple

as a change in their diet can cause a GI upset, which caused the housebreaking to kind of fall to pieces. But if we've ruled all that out, now let's look at potential stressors. Have you moved? Like even you might be going on an extended stay somewhere and your dog is staying in a hotel and they've never stayed in a hotel. That can cause some problems where the dog might stress. Your dog may be fine alone at home, but maybe not so much in a hotel. So, beware if you're taking your dog on the road. Be prepared for this. The solution I have for my student is going to be the same solution or very similar solution you can use if you're taking your dog into a new environment. Maybe going to your families for Christmas and your dog's never been there before. Maybe they have another dog. All of this compounding stress may have a physiological effect on the dog that they absolutely have no control over. So, what might be happening with this adult dog? Now, it could be something as simple as, I hear dad having fun. Dad always has fun with me. I should be out there having fun. Why am I not out there? It could be something even more intense than that. My dad is training. My dad needs me. I'm always out there helping my dad training. How do I get to my dad? He needs me. I've got to be there. That's my job as a dog. I can't let my dad down. I've got to be doing my job. So, it could be the stress of not being able to train. It could be the stress of, I know good things happen out there and I need to be there. It could be my dad needs me. What's going on? It also could be an attachment to the new puppy that I love being out with my puppy friend and why can't I be there? What we've done is change a routine. It's always been you that's been out there training with me. And when I get a new puppy, the transition is real for all of my adult dogs. And so, I am very intentional about how I make that transition. So, I don't have any dogs unnecessarily stressing themselves. So, how do I go about making this transition? Hey, if this episode is helping you to see your dog a little differently, well, that's what we do here every week. So, subscribe and let's keep that relationship growing. I got to tell you, it's one of the biggest reasons I am slow to add a new puppy to my home because it breaks my heart to put my dog into that situation where they aren't going to be the focus of every single training session. And so, let's always go back to the three E's, exercise, engagement, and enrichment. So, I'm going to number one, make sure

that that dog gets a full complement of exercise prior to me ever going out to train the other dog. Number two, I'm going to make sure that the adult dog gets engaged and involved in the training of the young dog. And I talk about this on Shaped by Dog episode number 181, where I share my strategy is first, before I separate those dogs and tell my dog, you just have to suck it up because I'm training another dog, I allow them to be together. So, that's where I take full advantage of what we call hot zones, where one dog stays in a station. It could be the crate in the case of a puppy. And the focus of that training is just, you stay there, you stay there, and I can reward either of you at any time. It's not about fun, high-level engaging training. It's just about, this is what's going to happen. My goal is for both the new puppy and my adult dog, it should be a reminder of my adult dog, to be completely calm and relaxed when they're around other dogs being trained. That just makes my life so much happier, so much easier. And I make it a priority when I get a new puppy. But maybe you haven't done that and it's okay. You can do it now. You can go to Shaped by Dog podcast episode number 191 and do the relaxation protocol. And that is one thing that will take you one step closer. So, let me fast forward to what I have today. I can bring multiple dogs out to train and have them all stay on hot zones. And I can take one dog at a time and train. I can also have one of those dogs go in a crate while I train the other dog. Now I will tell you up front, that is difficult to get to with the crate closed. It's much easier for the dogs if the crate door is open. It's like they're in control. But I like to get to a place where the crate will be closed. I can also put one of my dogs in this training area. We have a small bedroom right off of the turf. And I can just let one of my dogs hang out there. All of my dogs are completely fine relaxing in the bedroom, relaxing in a crate, or hanging out and watching. Most of the time it's hanging out and watching. But if it's going to be a long session, I will put them in the bedroom because I really don't need them watching because if they're watching, they're generally a little bit more engaged. So, there's the ultimate goal. Have options for yourself. Crate Games is an amazing start to teach a dog. You can just chill here until it's your turn. Episode number 181 will give you the strategy to get to that place. But what else can we do? First step, you're going to work the two dogs

together. Second step is you're going to help the adult dog be comfortable with you leaving the house with the young puppy. And so, it might be, I'm going to give you a food puzzle. I'm going to walk out the door into the backyard for 30 to 45 seconds. Hopefully it's an easy food puzzle so the dog will be done just as you're coming back in the door. You want to give that dog enrichment while you're going out. Now, you're not going to do any loud training in the backyard yet. That's adding complexity and intensity to the distraction that we're giving this adult dog. Where first we need to grow the adult dog's comfort level with being in a different room where they can still hear the training. And so, that will grow to, I'm going to go out there for a minute. I'm going to come back and the dog would have been given some sort of enrichment activity. And we've got lots of them here on Shaped by Dog. Just go to Shaped by Dog episode number 314 and 315 to get the full complement of ideas for enrichment. You're going to build this up until you can go in the backyard. Now, you can do something that's quieter, maybe work some fitness with the dog, but nothing that's loud and exciting and tugging and yahoo. We want that dog in the house to have a calm environment working through an engagement activity. Ideally, you're going to work up to three minutes. At three minutes or longer, I like to leave the dog in the house with something like a big meaty bone or a stuffed topple. And you're going to go out for two to three minutes, come back and trade. This is a good point. We're going to trade the dog with a big meaty bone for something that's equal value, maybe higher value, but it's just a treat. Oh, here, I'll take the topple and you can have this big hunk of roast beef. Why do I do that? Because I want the adult dog to know me leaving with the puppy means you get a very reinforcing activity alone. So that instead of the dog going, where are you going? Why am I not there? The dog's going, okay, can you leave? I'd like you to leave now. Good things are going to happen when you leave. So, get out. And that's how we're going to change the comfort level of the dog being left alone. When you've got that now, you can go back to a 30 second training session, but have some yee-haw and yahoos out there. Come on back in and reward the dog for not pacing, stressing, pooping, or barking. Remember, calm dogs aren't at the window screaming their heads off, watching you train another dog. I would hope you wouldn't want that. I know your neighbors

probably don't want that. And it's not good for anybody. So, strategy, exercise, engagement, enrichment. Work so that you can have dogs out there together, calm, waiting your turn. At first, you're not doing any training that's going to be of any value, nothing high activity. And then work to leaving the adult dog alone while you go out and do something passive with the puppy, or just sit out on the steps for 30 seconds, building up to three minutes, big meaty bone time, or overstuffed topple. Whatever it is, you want to go to a higher value enrichment activity for that dog so that the dog left alone gets the sense that, oh, this is different. It always used to be me going out with my dad, but sometimes it's not me going out with my dad. This is different. And right now it's okay. Does this mean that every time you want to train the puppy for the next three years, you have to give the adult dog something amazing? No. We're just helping with the transition. Remember I said right off the top, when we are bringing a puppy into an environment where the older dog has been used to being the dog that gets all the training, there's a transition period. And during that transition period, you have to be intentional about reducing the stress for the older dog so that they get used to this new normal that still includes training for them, but also includes an enrichment activity while the other puppy gets trained. Remember when we choose curiosity over instantly assuming the worst and assigning blame, we open the bridge of communication, which deepens the trust that our dogs have in us. Our dogs are communicating through their behavior every day. And when we listen to that communication, well, that's when everything changes. Thanks for joining me today. And until next time, stay humble, stay curious, keep working to make life better at both ends of the leash. And I'll see you next time here on Shaped by Dog.