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Training and Dog Behavior Videos on YouTube!

Just a quick blog tonight. I created a YouTube account to be able to post some videos on another dog site. Then I thought why not put some of my best training and dog behavior videos on YouTube for my Wayside peeps, Akita peeps and anyother peep that wants to watch.

www.youtube.com/user/kcdogguy

I have three videos posted right now. One is a corny video of Jade coming when called at the lake. The other two show two sets of dogs playing in slow mo. If you want to get really good at reading dog behavior watch it at 20-30% of it's normal speed, without the sound. Listen with your eyes, I'll say it again.
Listen with your eyes!
When I work with people and their dogs, they break up the good play and let the bad behaviors escalate into a fight. My rule of thumb is to stay about 3 feet away from a dog when I first bring them into a playgroup. It's close enough for me to read the behavior of the new dog, others in the group and intervene if I have to. This is Jade and Devito playing at Wayside a few weeks ago. Just prior to this shot, Devito was on Jade's neck going to town. Dog play should be a series of give and take from both dogs. As play goes on longer they discover what is appropriate with that particular dog (bite threshold and body movements). Devito and Jade played rough enough to draw blood on occassion, but I never heard a whimper from either one. I would take Jade from this situation and immediately toss her in with a passive dog. Her coping skills are so good now that she immediately changes her approach to the new dog. Once returned to Devito, she again changes and adapts to the new environment. I don't know any other dog trainers in town who will even attempt this with their clients dogs. They get hung up on the issues of alpha, dominance and being a pack leader. I could call both Devito and Jade to me from this play session. I also practiced interrupting the play with some Come to Me's combined with a few Look-Sits. If you can control and stop play (which to me is fighting without the intent) then you have a better chance of breaking up a fight between your dogs. I've had a chance to work with a few clients lately and I'm not sure what the current batch of trainers read anymore. Does everyone watch Cesar Milan? Few trainers talk about calming signals and really reading the dog. The answer for everything is dominance, alpha, jerk and yank. When I use a drag line and my clients dog walks right next to them, but if they leash the dog with the correction collar it pulls there is a big problem. It happened today!

Any trainer that reads my blog do me one big favor. Teach your clients how to READ canine body language. Not every paw up head over shoulder is a dominant move. Don't blame every problem on dominance and think about more than just one frigging way to train a dog!
Video tape your client's dogs, their actions and yours. Review at slow motion and really see what is going between the dog and the environment. I never realized my mistakes when I handle dogs until I watched my self one frame at a time with dogs. Or listened to my self run a dog training class. Sometimes we really sound like idiots!

My YouTube account will start to have more dog behavior videos and http://www.dogstardaily.com/ has a ton of short videos on some great dog behavior issues.

Comments

Shoshannah said…
Thank you for posting those videos- a great resource!
Too bad I can't watch life in super slow-mo :)

I'm curious- I taped a short video of my dog (3.5 y/o intact male mutt) and a min-pin foster puppy I had interacting at the dog park.

Even when watching in slow-mo (not sure how to do super slo-mo), I can't seem to keep up with all that's happening.

I will be very interested to read your analysis of the interaction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9lD6eQcbgc
October 21, 2009 at 10:20 AM
Shoshannah said…
In case I wasn't clear- the big black dog in the video is my dog (Goodman)
October 21, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Lili said…
Thank you for your videos! I linked to one of them on my dog's blog - http://boogiebt.wordpress.com

Your input would be much appreciated!
December 1, 2009 at 1:58 PM
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