Viewing entries tagged
dog training
Laidley, a spirited Australian Cattle Dog, began her training journey at Summit Dog Training as a nine-week-old pup with big goals: to become a hiking companion, a brewery buddy, and a future sport dog. Through positive reinforcement and consistent training, Laidley has transformed into a confident, well-mannered adventure partner. Her story is a testament to the power of patience, dedication, and the right support. Ready to start your dog’s adventure? Let Laidley’s journey inspire your own!
By: Hannah Barnes
Ever wonder what's going on in your dog's head? Dogs, just like us, experience a kaleidoscope of emotions – joy, fear, anxiety, and everything in between. And just like us, they need healthy ways to manage those emotions. That's where emotional regulation comes in!
Emotional regulation, simply put, is the ability to handle those big feelings effectively. It's not about suppressing emotions, but rather about experiencing them fully and having the tools to navigate them in a healthy way.
In this post, we’re diving into signs of stress in dogs and ways that you can easily support their ability to self-regulate.
Summit Dog Training offers positive reinforcement-based training classes to address a wide range of behavioral challenges. Our certified, professional dog trainers utilize known outlets for emotional regulation to help dogs work through their emotions and expand their world into the classroom and beyond. Get started today!
Think of it like this: good emotional regulation is like having a superpower for your dog. It helps them:
Conquer stress & anxiety: Life can be stressful! Emotional regulation helps dogs manage stress and anxiety, leading to a calmer, happier pup.
Build healthy, respectful relationships: It helps them communicate better with you and other furry friends, reducing conflict and strengthening bonds.
Make smart choices: A well-regulated dog is better equipped to make good decisions, even in challenging situations.
Boost overall well-being: Emotional regulation leads to a more balanced and content canine companion.
Your dog might already be a master of emotional regulation, using these techniques:
Licking: Licking naturally releases endorphins in your dog’s system, promoting relaxation.
Yawning: Not always a sign of tiredness, yawning can help regulate breathing and heart rate, reducing your dog’s stress.
Shaking off: Literally shaking off the stress!
Chewing: A classic stress reliever, chewing provides a positive outlet for anxious energy.
Sniffing: Deep sniffing for 10 or more seconds can lower heart rate and boost dopamine, helping your dog chill out.
Knowing the signs that your dog is dealing with stress is crucial to your ability to help them cope. In addition to the above signs of stress, keep an eye out for:
Lip licking (also called tongue flicking)
Whale eye (seeing the whites of their eyes)
Sudden stiffness in the body or individual body parts
Prolonged staring
Drooling
Become the expert on your dog’s body language: Learn to read your dog's subtle cues. They're talking to you, even without words!
Provide outlets: Giving your dog something to chew on, lick, or sniff provides them with an appropriate outlet for emotional regulation. Lick mats, snuffle boxes, and chewies from your local pet store are all wonderful options.
Create a safe space: Provide a designated safe space where your dog can retreat when feeling overwhelmed. This could be a crate, bed, or quiet corner in your home. This space should be accessible to your dog at any time.
Minimize stressors: Loud noises, unfamiliar people, or chaotic environments can trigger anxiety. Do your best to keep things calm and predictable.
Physical contact: Sometimes, a gentle touch can work wonders, but pay attention to your dog's response. Not all dogs find touch comforting in stressful situations. If they move away or lick your hand until you stop touching them, they may not find touch helpful in their current state.
Stay calm: Your dog is highly attuned to your emotions. If you're stressed, they'll feel it too. Practice your own emotional regulation techniques! Provide yourself with ways to manage your own stress, like fidget devices or breathing exercises.
Seek professional help when needed: When in doubt, it may be a good idea to consult a vet to rule out any underlying medical conditions that may be contributing to your dog's emotional challenges. If your dog's emotional issues are severe or persistent, seek professional help from a certified dog behaviorist and/or training professional.
By understanding and supporting your dog's emotional well-being, you're not just training a dog, you're nurturing a happy, healthy, and resilient member of your family.
Is your dog struggling with big feelings? Summit Dog Training offers positive, solutions-oriented classes led by certified professionals. We help dogs learn to regulate their emotions, build confidence and unlock their full potential both inside and outside the classroom. Contact us today!
By: Taylor Heid
Google Search bar image with commonly asked questions about training a dog listed below.
Whether you are bringing home a new pup or looking to train a current pet, these are some of the most frequently asked questions that might be running through your mind (and Google’s search bar!). While you may find some answers you are looking for on the internet, they may not always be the most accurate. There is no perfect answer AI can generate in 30 seconds for you, and the experts’ answer might not be the one you are expecting…
Let’s take a look at the most general question: “Can I train my dog?” You might have different variations of this question such as “How hard is it to train a dog?” or “How long will it take to train my dog?” and so on.
Well, it depends! Each training plan, session, and progress is going to depend on the dog themselves. Factors like the dog’s personality, their genetic breed, and their environment are all going to play a part in what their training looks like.
Your silly and goofy teenage dog might be eager to learn, happy to eat treats, and could thrive with a more structured training plan. Whereas a shy or nervous pup might need some time to open up and gain confidence to start building a stronger bond with their human first.
A border collie who was bred for herding and lives on the farm is going to need a significantly different training approach than your family’s toy poodle lap dog. Each of their humans are also going to have different goals for these pups.
Some dogs might do great in a group class and enjoy the socialization aspect of it, while others might need to utilize private lessons for more one-on-one time with less stimulation and distractions.
Not all humans learn the same and neither do dogs! While this isn’t the quickest and easiest answer to grasp, once you take the time to understand your dog’s needs I promise you will have more success in the long run.
All this to say - there is no one size fits all answer when it comes to training your dog. That’s why turning to the experts is a no brainer. At Summit® Dog Training, we always take a customized approach when creating our training programs. While the group class curriculum might be decided ahead of time, our trainers are always modifying the material and methods to best suit the needs of students in the class. In our private lessons program, we consider each owner’s input and goals, and our trainers bring their expertise in dog knowledge to find the best route to achieve the desired results.
It might not be the most satisfying answer, but when asking the right questions to get started on your dog training journey, it truly does depend!
Summit® Dog Training offers group dog training classes & private lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as online self-study courses & online private lessons for education on how to live the best life with your dog! If you are looking for more training support, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to help you and your dog get ready for any adventure.
By Taylor Heid
Have you heard the news? Summit Dog Training has a new home! We are ready to grow and continue to serve our community even better.
We have been a bit sentimental looking back at where we’ve been and where we’re going. Take a look with us!
Summit Dog Training’s history timeline from 2015 to 2024.
Summit’s new facility is located at 2906 E. Mulberry Street, Fort Collins, CO 80254
You can find more information and directions on our website to our new Adventure Base Camp!
Thank you to those who have followed us every step of the way. Whether you have been here since the beginning or are new to our community, we couldn’t have done this without your support!
Cheers to a new adventure!
Now that the leaves have turned, the bugs are gone, and the temperature is cooling, we’re all itching to get the dog, grab the tent and head up to the mountains! Camping with your dog is tons of fun and full of adventure. Many of the same skills that our dogs need to be successful while living in our homes also apply to camping, with the added difficulty of being out in an exciting environment with extra distractions and fewer management options than we have at our disposal in our homes. Below you will find tips to set your dog up for success as you enjoy all that nature has to offer this fall.
Teach a stationary “Settle” behavior! This behavior is useful in many different contexts, but especially in a camping setting. Having a reliable “Settle” cue helps to keep your dog out of the way of the camp stove while you’re cooking dinner, settle next to the fire, and gives them a clear spot to be in the tent while you get ready for bed at the end of the night. Check out this video playlist for instructions on how to get started on this skill with your dog! Remember to start in an easy environment and build up the difficulty from there.
Practice sleeping outside ahead of your first full camping trip. For dogs that are used to sleeping inside quiet houses, we have to remember that transitioning to sleeping outdoors in a tent or camper can come with a lot of extra little noises and smells. If you have the option to do so, try a test run close to home for your dog’s first outdoor sleeping experience. Make sure your dog has had plenty of exercise and is ready for bed before getting into the tent. When it’s time to get into the tent together, provide a designated sleeping space that is similar to where they might sleep inside your home (this is where you settle training comes in!). You may not always need to bring their big cushy dog bed along for your camping adventures, but especially for their first tent experience, we want to help them clearly understand that sleeping is the primary activity when inside the tent.
Teach your dog that people appearing suddenly is a cue to check in with you. Whether you are camping in a dispersed area or a busy campground, it’s important for your dog to calmly accept people and other dogs walking past your campsite. A barking dog can be an unpleasant surprise to anyone walking past, as well as yourself! With a little bit of proactive practice, you can help your dog be prepared for sudden visitors by teaching them that these are good experiences for them! Start by teaching your dog that when something happens in their environment, it is an opportunity to come and get a treat from you. Start this in an environment like the far end of a grocery store parking lot with your dog on-leash. When your dog sees someone walk into their field of view, give them a treat. Repeat this until your dog assumes that someone appearing suddenly is usually an opportunity to get something good from you! Then you can take this on the road and practice on hikes, at campsites, or any other environment you might find yourself in. Gradually build up the difficulty so that even if your dog is startled by a surprise hiker on an otherwise deserted backcountry campsite, they’re ready to reconnect with you quickly!
Ready to continue learning about camping with your dog? Click here for our Camping with Dogs Webinar! This webinar is taught by dog behavior and training experts who regularly camp with their dogs, and have coached many other teams to camping success. If you want additional support for you and your dog, we offer in-person Group Classes and Private Lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, and virtual coaching right in the comfort of your home.
By Benah Stiewing
Separation Anxiety is a brutal behavior to experience for both you and your dog. Separation anxiety refers to a group of behaviors a dog will exhibit when left alone, from panting and pacing to ripping holes in the walls. For some dogs, their stress is relatively mild and you may not even realize your dog has anxiety around you leaving. But for others, separation anxiety can make everyday practices extremely difficult, like grocery shopping and going to work.
From the mildest case to the most severe, separation anxiety as a disorder has one underlying commonality: Panic. Your dog isn’t acting out of spite, they aren’t annoyed about your absence, and they aren't trying to punish you for going shopping without them. They are so panicked about being left alone that they can't control themself.
Imagine this scenario. You are driving through a green light, as casually as you like, minding your own business. Suddenly a car comes flying through the opposing red light, right at you. You slam on your brakes. The car swerves, misses you by a hair's breadth, and then proceeds to speed away. Sitting there, gasping, you notice your heart racing; your hands shake a little. Now ask yourself this: In the moment the car hurled toward you, could you have willed yourself to relax? Could you have ordered your heart not to pound? Of course not. You don’t have control over the panic that overtakes your body in a situation like that, nobody does. The brain floods the body with adrenaline to trigger its emergency response.
If you have a dog with separation anxiety, this is what they go through each and every time they are left alone. However illogical, excessive and disconnected from the reality of the situation that response is. Like us, dogs form strong social bonds, which is why the typical symptoms displayed with separation anxiety are those a dog would use to avoid being separated from their family: vocalizing, pacing, scratching, and Houdini-type escape attempts. These symptoms can bring about numerous problems, like complaints from neighbors, costly bills for destroyed property and frightening phone calls about your dog being loose in the neighborhood.
Your dog can’t just “get a grip” on their separation anxiety, but they can get better. How? In time, through a type of training called desensitization, your dog will learn that absences need not be a reason to panic. Desensitization refers to the act of changing a learner’s emotional response to one stimulus by pairing it with the emotional response of a different stimulus. In order to do this, we need to break down the behavior of your dog being alone into much smaller steps. We call these steps the Pre-Departure Routine. We systematically change your dog’s emotional response to these behaviors and then slowly build them together to create the entire behavior chain of leaving your dog alone. This process takes lots of time and dedication, but most dogs are able to make a full recovery from their separation anxiety.
While we’ve provided a light introduction into separation anxiety training, there is so much more to learn! If you have a dog who doesn’t have separation anxiety but you want to be proactive, consider watching Separation Anxiety Prevention Training Starts Now! This pre-recorded webinar follows our CEO, Amber, as she raises her puppy with separation anxiety prevention in mind. If you want additional support for you and your dog, consider working with a Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer (CSAT). Trainers with the CSAT credential are highly trained to support your dog recover from separation anxiety. This training generally occurs virtually, since there is no added benefit to in-person work when focusing on separation anxiety. Our top CSAT referrals are Beth Friedman with Canine Companion Consulting & Jackie Johnston with Believe in Your Dog. If your dog is suffering from separation anxiety, we strongly recommend reaching out to one of these excellent professionals for private training. We don’t currently have a CSAT trainer on our training team, but if you’d like to meet with us first to get our perspective on your dog’s case before seeing a specialist, we’d be happy to support you in a virtual consultation - just email us at admin@summitdogtraining.com to set up!
Summit Dog Training offers group dog training classes & private lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as online self-study courses & online private lessons for education on how to live the best life with your dog! If you are looking for more training support, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to help you and your dog get ready for any adventure.
By Benah Stiewing
Just like us, there are certain activities your dog has to do even though they may be difficult, or sometimes painful. For humans, we may not enjoy going to the doctor but we can rationalize why it’s worth getting poked and prodded. For our dogs, going to the vet can be terribly confusing at best and traumatizing at worst. It’s not uncommon for your normally friendly and easy-going dog to develop fear or reactivity when they visit the veterinarian. As positive-reinforcement trainers, a trip to the vet can be especially destabilizing to our dogs who are used to feeling heard and advocated for. Enter, cooperative care!
Originally started in zoos and animal parks as a way to care for and treat large, often dangerous animals, cooperative care is the method of training an animal to not only tolerate physical actions and manipulations, but to actively consent to such behaviors. This method is rooted in autonomy and the positive effects of choice. We teach our dog that they have full control over what happens to their physical body in a certain context. There are times, like an emergency medical scenario, where your dog may need to be fully restrained and sedated for a medical procedure and does not experience any autonomy, but this is entirely separate from the context of cooperative care training. You can use cooperative care training for:
Blood draws
Vaccines
Physical inspections
Nail trims
Teeth brushing
And more!
Sounds great, right? Let’s get started! First, you need to build your context of choice. You need to teach your dog how they can opt in and opt out of training by teaching your dog a stationary behavior! If you aren’t familiar with teaching that behavior, click here for an instructional video. Once you have trained your stationary behavior, we are going to use being on the mat as a way to opt-in to the training goal at hand. If your dog is on the mat, they are consenting to the behavior you are practicing. When they leave the mat, they are saying no. If at any point your dog leaves the mat during a training session, you must respect that choice and not encourage them to come back on. Remember that cooperative care is about autonomy, so it’s imperative that you honor your dog’s choices and allow them autonomy.
After building an environment of choice, cooperative care breaks down a behavior (like nail trims) into many much smaller steps. Let’s explore nail trims as an example of how cooperative care works! Below we have broken down the act of trimming a dog’s nails. Please keep in mind that this is just an example and you may need to modify the steps/progression for your own dog.
Hand moves towards dog’s head
Hand touches dog’s foot
Hand grasps dog’s foot
Hand grasps dog’s foot for 3 seconds
Hand grasps dog’s foot for 5 seconds
Hand grasps dog’s foot for 10 seconds
Go back to step 1, with the clippers present in the space (at a distance where your dog notices them but isn’t in a state of fear).
Repeat steps 1-6 with the clippers in the space.
Continue repeating steps 1-6 at each stage of the clippers moving closer to you and your dog. Once the clippers are within reach of your body, move on to step 8.
While one hand is grasping foot, the other hand picks up clippers
Hand holding clippers moves dog’s foot
Clippers touch dog’s foot
Nail is placed in the clipper
Clipper is closed around the nail
This cycle continues for each toe.
That’s a fairly complex set of behaviors, and we need to desensitize our dog to each step in that process. The general rule is 15-20 successful repetitions per step before moving on to the next. Remember, this is a general outline and you may need more or less steps depending on your dog’s overall comfortability with nail trims.
While we’ve provided a deep dive into using cooperative care for nail trims, there are so many more possibilities for this training method, like baths and haircuts! If you want to start cooperative care with your dog but aren’t sure where to begin, consider enrolling in Cooperative Care for Better Veterinary & Grooming Visits! This 3-week virtual class is bursting with information, presented through recorded lectures, written instructions, and demonstration videos. If you want additional support for you and your dog, we offer in-person Private Lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado and Chatham, New York, and virtual coaching right in the comfort of your home.
Summit Dog Training offers group dog training classes & private lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as online self-study courses & online private lessons for education on how to live the best life with your dog! If you are looking for more training support, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to help you and your dog get ready for any adventure.
By Benah Stiewing
Counter surfing is so much fun... for your dog! Dogs typically counter-surf for two simple reasons - it's interesting, which enriches their daily life, AND it often pays off with some high value rewards! However fun this behavior is for our dogs, it's typically not something we want them to practice in our homes. Not only is this hazardous for your food and other objects on your counter-tops, it can also be dangerous for your dog if they were to find & consume something unsafe. Below you will find enrichment, management, and training tips to prevent counter surfing and provide your dog with alternative behaviors that are safe and simple.
Because dogs often choose counter-surfing as a fun activity when they are bored and don't have other, more positive outlets, we have to consider enrichment as a key part of our behavior modification plan for counter-surfing. When considering your dog's enrichment needs, you have to take into account your dog's age, breed, & preferred activity level. A dog with a high drive for hunting and working will be getting a lot of mental benefits from their counter-surfing routine, and we need to be ready to replace that with appropriate outlets instead!
Easy Enrichment Activities:
Do training games or food puzzles for many of your dog's regular meals.
Keep a freezer full of frozen Kongs & other stuffable toys for a regular mental exercise when your dog needs it!
Teach your dog sniffing games on the ground, like find the treat or the toy.
Add in some extra walks, runs, hikes, or other physical activities to your dog's weekly routine.
Click here to view our recommended enrichment items & food puzzles!
Management is an essential piece of resolving counter-surfing behavior. If your dog is able to regularly practice getting up on the counters, and subsequently receives reinforcement (even in the form of a tiny little crumb of food), then they are likely going to continue to exhibit this very functional behavior. While we are working on replacing counter-surfing with better behaviors, we need to restrict our dogs' access to areas that have counters when we aren't around to supervise and redirect.
Even when we are around to supervise, sometimes our attention can be divided (i.e. cooking
dinner) and our counter-surfers can use that opportunity to sneak a tasty snack. Having a good management plan in place can help prevent that from happening! In practice, this could look like:
Use baby gates or exercise pens to keep your dog out of the kitchen when unsupervised.
Keep food away in the pantry, cabinets, and/or refrigerator.
Avoid leaving food on the counter as much as possible.
When in the kitchen cooking, use tethering to keep your dog restricted to certain areas.
You can either tether your dog to your waist so you can supervise closely, or pick a nearby doorknob.
The training game below is as simple as it sounds! We want to teach your dog that it’s more reinforcing to have all four feet on the floor. Through the enrichment and management techniques we discuss above, we’ve already made sure that your dog won’t ever be reinforcing for jumping on the counter. Now, we want them to learn what is reinforcing!
Four Paws on the Floor:
In your kitchen or other counter-surfing area, watch your dog and look for times when they have four paws on the floor. Mark and reward, then keep watching. Do they raise their nose up towards the counter surface, but keep their paws on the floor? Mark and reward!
If your dog struggles to even keep all four feet on the floor, you can ask your dog for a sit when they approach the counter.
Remember, we want to prevent the behavior, so ask them for a sit before they have begun to jump on the counter.
You can add in mild distractions on the counter-top (think baby carrots or something else dog-safe) as your dog is ready!
Do you need extra support with your dog’s counter-surfing behavior? We’re here for you! If you want additional support for you and your dog, we offer in-person Group Classes and Private Lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado and Chatham, New York, and virtual coaching right in the comfort of your home. As you work through your dog’s counter-surfing, it’s vital to remember that your dog is simply being a dog and working to access what is reinforcing - the more we can understand this and pay our dogs well for desired behavior, the better we may serve our dogs.
Summit Dog Training offers group dog training classes & private lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as online self-study courses & online private lessons for education on how to live the best life with your dog! If you are looking for more training support, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to help you and your dog get ready for any adventure.
By Benah Stiewing
Just like people, not all dogs get along! Some people are your best friends, other people are your acquaintances, and some people you just don’t like - and that’s okay! Unfortunately, we can’t always predict which dogs are going to get along great and which ones won’t. Whether you’re visiting friends or have recently added a new dog to your family, experiencing conflict between dogs within a household is challenging and often exhausting. Worrying about preventing or breaking up a fight can leave you tense and constantly on alert. In this post, we’re going to talk about handling inter-household dog conflict, but if you’d like to learn more about preventing inter-household conflict, check out this podcast episode from Pawsitively Dog-Powered! Please note: if there are dogs in your household regularly experiencing conflict that escalates into lunging, snapping, or biting, we strongly recommend seeking professional help from a certified trainer.
In order to prevent conflict escalation, it’s important that you’re able to recognize the early warning signals your dog gives. These communication methods are called calming signals, or sometimes called cut-off signals because they embody the dog’s desire to de-escalate. The vast majority of dogs are not inherently aggressive and do not want to engage in violent behavior, so will do their best to diffuse a situation before it escalates. Below is a list of some common calming signs. When studying dog communication, it’s important to understand that just like us, dogs are nuanced and contextual. Your dog yawning doesn’t always mean they are stressed - they could also be tired! It’s important to look at the whole body and make an assessment of your dog’s emotional state based on the big picture.
Calming Signs:
Lip licking: dog licks their lips or flick their tongue out from their mouth.
Yawn: dog yawns, sometimes with their lips more curled back.
Turning away: dog turns their head away from the person/dog that is making them nervous.
Raised paw: dog slightly raises a front paw.
Stiff body: dog’s muscles tense and movement slows.
Tail raised: dog’s tail goes half-mast or slightly higher, maybe with a slow wag.
Shake off: dog shakes off entire body.
Pay attention to your dog’s body language over the next few days, and start to notice what calming signals they display. Once we understand how to read when our dog is becoming agitated, it’s easier to intervene earlier before behavior escalates. If you notice your dog yawning and lip licking when another dog comes close, ask your dog for a known behavior or say their name to help them create distance from the other dog. Reinforce your dog if they’re able to walk away and perform the behavior you asked for. We want your dog to know that they can create the distance they need to feel comfortable, and that we are their advocate and will help them create that distance when it’s needed. You want your dog to know that you hear, see, and will respond to their early warning signals that they’re feeling uncomfortable. If you’d like to learn more about calming signals, click here to watch a brief documentary from celebrated behaviorist, Turid Rugaas!
When handling inter-household dog conflict, we always want to focus on quality or quantity when it comes to time spent together. When you have multiple dogs, it’s quite normal for those dogs to spend 24/7 together. They eat together, exercise together, sleep together. Just like people, your dog is bound to get sick of spending that much time with someone! It’s critical that you create time and space for your dogs to do activities alone, like solo walks or solo cuddle time (if cuddling is something they enjoy). Have a dedicated activity that you all do together, like going for a walk with both dogs, or playing with toys out in the yard. When your dogs are spending time together, remember to look for signs of stress (as described above) and immediately end the experience if they start to arise. We want the stressed dog to know that those early warning signs will be noticed and responded to, so they don’t need to escalate to aggressive behavior to create the space they need. It’s critical that your dog trusts you to be their advocate, so they don’t have to.
We want to make sure your dogs always have the space to feel comfortable and secure, whether they’re with other dogs or alone. To ensure this, we want to bring in management! We can use objects like ex-pens, baby gates, crates, leashes, and muzzles to create a comfortable environment. We can use ex-pens, crates, and baby gates to provide separation and allow for each dog to have time apart. In the photos below, you’ll see one such separation! Cosmo is very selective when it comes to other dogs, so this was his set-up while visiting some friends who had dogs of their own. He has his crate, which is a safe and familiar space for him, surrounded by an ex-pen covered with a blanket. This way, Cosmo has three barriers of protection if he starts to feel unsafe - the blanket blocking his view, the ex-pen, and his crate. Keep in mind that this set-up is specific to Cosmo’s needs. For other dogs, we might have removed the chair and used a taller ex-pen.Your set-up is going to be specific to your dogs and what they need to feel comfortable.
Supporting you and your dogs is our passion! We understand how challenging conflict in your home can be, and we are here to help. Private lessons are an excellent way to work on the relationship between your dogs, with an individualized training program created for you and your specific situation. Private training is available in-person in Fort Collins, CO, Hudson, NY, and everywhere virtually! If private lessons aren’t an option for you on this set of behavior challenges, we highly recommend this online course by our colleague Katie at Wise Mind Canine, who specializes in multi-dog households!
Summit Dog Training offers group dog training classes & private lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as online self-study courses & online private lessons for education on how to live the best life with your dog! If you are looking for more training support, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to help you and your dog get ready for any adventure.
By Benah Stiewing
The Resilience Rainbow is a framework developed by Bobbie Bhambree and Dr. Kathy Murphy. Resilience is an animal’s ability to recover after experiencing a stressful event. Bhambree and Dr. Murphy created a system to build a dog’s overall resilience and increase their ability to reach their baseline. To learn more about the Resilience Rainbow, you can click here. In this piece, I am going to cover the application of this concept with one of my dogs, Osha the 2 year-old Border Collie.
Osha is a stable, friendly-neutral, and confident young dog. She was raised with careful attention to neutrality around other dogs because she lives with another Border Collie who is fearful of other dogs. In January 2023, Osha was attacked by another dog. I use the word “attacked” lightly, as there were no injuries and it was a friend’s dog who rushed Osha. We frequently go on group walks with friends and their dogs, and this was one such walk. A new friend was joining us that day, and her dog rushed Osha as soon as she noticed her. Osha started showing appeasement signals (ears back, low tucked tail wag, rolling over to expose her belly) which only escalated (growl deepened, flipped Osha onto her back, snarling with lips curled back into Osha’s neck) the other dog’s behavior. The entire interaction lasted about 8-10 seconds before they were separated. After they were separated, Osha was clearly extremely stressed. After that day, we went on a 2-week break from engaging with any other dogs as she recovered. During and after this initial decompression period, Osha did not show any signs of increased stress around other dogs. She did not develop any reactivity, and continued to practice lovely skills around unfamiliar dogs we encountered out in the world.
However, I had a gut feeling that something was off about Osha. As the weeks and months passed, I could not put my finger on it. By April, I finally had a realization that Osha no longer engaged in play with other dogs. Before the event, she was a moderately playful dog and would engage her dog friends in appropriate play both inside and outside of the home. I began to realize that while she was still neutral and appropriate with other dogs, there seemed to be a lack of joy and excitement. These are anthropomorphizing words, but there is no better way to describe it. She simply didn’t enjoy her interactions with other dogs anymore.
It’s important to state that this is not an odd or abnormal behavior for a mature Border Collie to develop. It’s very normal for a mature Border Collie to become less playful with other dogs, and interested in other activities. I wondered whether the event had simply coincided with a natural development, but I had this sneaking suspicion that it had not. I spoke to my friends who are also professional dog trainers and behavior consultants, and shared my thoughts. We discussed putting Osha on behavioral medication to explore whether the lack of play was natural or not. If a medication helped ease enough anxiety, would she engage in play again, or still be more interested in other pursuits? I ultimately did not use medication with Osha, simply because she started improving before it happened, but it’s definitely something I would have brought on board with the support of our veterinarian.
While I was considering these options, I started intentionally building Osha’s resilience. I had always been extremely particular about the dogs I allowed to interact with Osha, but I began being even more selective. I only had her around other completely neutral dogs who would not invite her to play or engage at all, beyond a friendly sniff. I didn’t want her to practice the behavior of turning down invitations to play, so I exclusively had her around dogs who wouldn’t ask. If another dog was present, my other Border Collie was always away in his crate or left at home. While he can safely co-exist around most dogs, it’s not something he enjoys and I didn’t want her to observe any stress around other dogs, even the most mild. While I make it a regular practice to play with my dogs everyday, I started incorporating new behaviors into our play routine together. Instead of mostly tugging, we would also play chase where Osha would run after me and catch me, and hide and seek where Osha would have to come find me. After our play sessions, we would lie on the ground together while I stroked her legs and feet, taking deep breaths.
After just a few weeks of implementing these changes, Osha engaged a Rhodesian Ridgeback friend in play. It lasted only about 15 seconds, but it was the first time I’d seen her play with another dog in months. A week later, she engaged a Border Collie friend in play, and it lasted a few minutes this time. Within weeks, she was back to her normal self, playing and having a ball with her dog friends. I was thrilled to see her happy around other dogs again. I can’t say for sure what exactly caused this shift in Osha. Perhaps my attempts to increase her security and stability around other dogs helped her feel safe enough to invite play, or maybe this was a natural progression she would have made anyway. However, I do believe that my integration of the Resilience Rainbow framework helped restore Osha’s trust in me to be her advocate and protector, and feel relaxed enough to once again let loose around other dogs.
I am thrilled that Osha has regained her confidence around other dogs, and is once again able to engage in play and enjoy social interactions. However, I am still extremely careful about her interactions with other dogs, and am cognisant that one brief moment of fear and/or conflict could really set her back. Just like human variances in resilience, some dogs can experience an event like the one described above and shake it off (literally and figuratively!), while dogs like Osha may be heavily impacted by a stressful event. Even though Osha’s symptoms of anxiety have shifted, I still take the same precautions to ensure she feels confident, secure, and relaxed around other dogs. I carefully select her canine friends, and structure the experiences to be what she needs to feel comfortable. Knowing that the steps I’ve taken to relieve Osha’s anxiety have been effective, I will continue to do them for the rest of Osha’s life so that - to the best of my ability - I can preserve her confidence and continue to build resiliency.
Summit Dog Training offers group dog training classes & private lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as online self-study courses & online private lessons for education on how to live the best life with your dog! If you are looking for more training support, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to help you and your dog get ready for any adventure.
