The Abcs of Living with Dogs

The ABCs of Living with Dogs Care and training resources About Best Friends Animal Society Best Friends Animal Society is a leading national animal welfare orga- nization dedicated to ending the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters. In addition to running lifesaving programs in partnership with more than 2,500 animal welfare groups across the country, Best Friends has regional centers in New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Salt Lake City, and operates the nation’s largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals. Founded in 1984, Best Friends is a pioneer in the no-kill movement and has helped reduce the number of animals killed in shelters nationwide from 17 million per year to about 800,000. That means there are still nearly 2,200 dogs and cats killed every day in shelters, just because they don’t have safe places to call home. We are determined to bring the country to no-kill by the year 2025. Working collabora- tively with shelters, rescue groups, other organizations and you, we will end the killing and Save Them All. For more information, visit bestfriends.org. About Sherry Woodard Sherry Woodard, Best Friends’ resident animal behavior consultant, wrote many of the resources in this manual. As an expert in animal training, behavior and care, she develops resources, provides consulting ser- vices, leads workshops and speaks nationwide to promote animal welfare. Before joining Best Friends, Sherry, a nationally certified professional dog trainer, worked with dogs, cats, horses, and a variety of other animals. She also worked in veterinary clinics, where she gained valuable experience in companion-animal medical care and dentistry. Sherry was initially employed by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in 1996 as a dog caregiver. Her understanding of animals and insights into their behavior were quickly recognized and, in 1997, she was promoted to Dogtown manager. As manager, she oversaw the daily care and medical needs of 600 dogs. Sherry was also responsible for the intake of new dogs to the Sanctuary, the placement of dogs in appropriate social groups, dog adoption programs, student and volun- teer group visits, the foster care program, supply orders, and all matters relating to personnel. Today, representatives from humane organizations and shelters across the country seek out Sherry for advice. Sherry assists individuals and shelter and rescue personnel with animal behavior, management and enrichment. She offers workshop presentations on animal care, animal behavior, training and adoptions at national conferences as well as shelters. Sherry has been certified by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT) as a certified professional dog trainer – knowledge assessed (CPDT-KA). In March 2008, Sherry’s week-long Dog Behavior and Handling Workshop was approved for continuing education credit by CCPDT. Sherry has written over 100 animal care, behavior, and training documents for Best Friends Animal Society that are used across the U.S., as well as by groups Best Friends Animal Society • 435-644-2001 • bestfriends.org/resources internationally. She has created two training CDs with video, a basic and an ad- vanced version. Sherry has also been featured in the National Geographic Chan- nel’s TV series “DogTown,” which chronicles the physical and emotional lives of dogs at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Sherry has developed canine and feline behavior assessments to help read their body language and assess their needs. Widely regarded as an expert on animal behavior, Sherry has consulted on and assisted with the investigation of animal cases in litigation, testified in cases of cruelty and breed discrimination, and worked with law enforcement on a fatal dog attack case. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Sherry gained on-the-ground leadership experience in disaster response and management of ongoing emergency relief projects when she spent eight months in Tylertown, Mississippi. She helped with rescue, assessment and socialization of dogs; supervised staff and volunteers; and worked with all types of animals, including exotics. In 2007, Sherry spent six months working with Best Friends’ Great Kitty Rescue in Pahrump, Nevada, where over 800 cats were discovered living in horrible con- ditions. To prepare these traumatized cats for new lives as house cats, she and several colleagues developed a process for socializing fearful cats. As a result, hundreds of cats from the Pahrump compound were adopted into good homes. In 2009, Sherry was instrumental in developing Best Friends’ Canines with Careers program. Sherry is helping rescue groups, dog trainers and shelters to start training and placing qualified shelter dogs as career dogs in loving homes. The dog careers vary and can include therapy, different types of service and detection. Since 2009, Sherry has personally screened, selected, trained and placed more than 90 dogs for various careers. These dogs work with law enforcement officers, with professional dog handlers on search dog teams, in therapy/crisis response, and as service dogs helping people with a variety of disabilities. Canines with Careers continues to grow. In 2018, 579 rescued dogs were placed in conjunc- tion with this program. Best Friends Animal Society • 435-644-2001 • bestfriends.org/resources Why We Use Relationship-Based Training By Best Friends’ behavior consultants The behavior consultants at Best Friends have found that animal training built on a trusting relationship is the most kind — and also the most effective — method of training. When you have a trusting, cooperative relationship with an animal (whether it’s a dog, cat, parrot, horse or other animal), you have his respect, and he’ll want to spend time with you and work with you. Best Friends does not stand behind training methods that use excessive force, threats, fear, intimidation, pain or dominance. Training based on such aversive methods damages any sort of trusting relationship you might develop with the animal. Relationship-based training is effective for either teaching new behaviors or changing current behavior for any physically and mentally healthy animal. By reinforcing behaviors you like and want to continue seeing, you set the animal up for success. Regardless of an animal’s age and past experiences, such ethical training methods give the animal the best chance for living happily and comfortably in our hectic human world. It is also important to understand that every interaction is a learning experience, so every time you interact with your pets you are training them, whether or not you intend to. Relationship-based training is a lifestyle — a constant dialog with your pets, rather than a one-way issuing of commands that only occurs in structured training sessions. So instead of waiting for the occasional chance to work on modifying the animal’s behavior, it’s better to be aware of every opportunity to arrange your pet’s environment to reinforce the behaviors you want. Animal training tips What exactly do we mean when we say “relationship-based training”? It is a method of training that uses the cooperative relationship between the trainer and the animal to achieve mutually benefcial results, while at the same time enhancing and strengthening their relationship. Here are some of the basic principles: • Put the animal’s immediate needs frst. Is your pet injured, ill, fearful, frustrated, hungry, thirsty, needing to eliminate? Put off training until the animal’s immediate needs have been met and he or she can concentrate on the training exercise. Best Friends Animal Society • 435-644-2001 • bestfriends.org/resources • Learn to accurately interpret animals’ body language. There are a lot of common misconceptions about animal body language, especially for dogs, due to the prevailing myth of dominance-based social structures. These misconceptions frequently lead to human misinterpretation of the animal’s emotional state and intentions. For this reason, it is important to get sound, science-based information about the body language of the species you are working with. All species exhibit telltale signs that let you know how the animal is feeling, whether it’s joy, anger, fear, frustration or some other emotion. Understanding body language improves communication between people and animals, and helps keep all involved safe. • Find out what motivates the animal (e.g., treats, affection, verbal praise, toys) and use it to your advantage. It’s also important to frst make sure the animal is motivated to work with you. We tend to assume that pets should automatically adore us, but that isn’t always the case. So the frst step is to build a relationship with the animal by spending time with him and creating an association between your presence and things he really likes. • Use positive reinforcement to encourage behavior you want. You can elicit and reinforce desired behavior through the techniques of capturing, luring, shaping or cueing. (See the sidebar on page 3 for a brief explanation of these techniques.) • Avoid aversive methods. Aversive methods such as force, threats, fear, pain, intimidation and dominance are not necessary for eliminating undesirable behaviors. In fact, aversive methods often have many damaging side effects. Instead, ignore the unwanted behavior and/or teach incompatible behaviors. For example, you can teach a dog to sit and stay for a greeting rather than jumping up; it’s impossible for him to do both simultaneously. To reinforce the desired behavior, reward the dog with whatever motivates him, whether it’s treats, affection, verbal praise, toys or something else. In contrast to aversive-based training, this approach supports the trusting and cooperative relationship between you and the animal. • Prevent the animal’s ability to continue practicing unwanted behaviors by controlling the environment and controlling the animal’s exposure. For example, distract a reactive dog or limit access to a window, door or fence line if the inappropriate behaviors are happening there.

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