Slowly Slowly Catchee Monkey

Some dogs are as bright as a new pin and pick things up in a flash. They're an absolute joy to train because they're so keen to please and so ultra-responsive.

Others take an awful lot of slow patient coaxing.

There can be a lot of frustration and disappointment involved in the training process.

But when you look back in hindsight at what you've achieved with a dog like that you can justly be proud of yourself. Those are the sorts of dogs that sort the men from the boys.

I once interviewed an incredibly talented dog trainer who runs a training centre for assistance dogs. She said that when she's looking for new trainers to work at the centre she regularly gets applications from people who really 'reckon themmselves' as good dog trainers. And to prove their point they have an absolutely impeccably trained German shepherd or border collie. But give them a comparatively unresponsive dog like a terrier or a hound and they're completely clueless.

What she meant by that was that pretty much any idiot can train an intelligent, responsive dog like a border collie or GSD; they are just itching to please and you've got to be completely clueless if you miss all the signals they're sending out. But to her mind you couldn't call yourself a dog trainer unless you were able to get the very best out of *every* dog - that's a different thing entirely.

Do you remember in the last issue I spoke about Molly's unusual night time toilet habits? This is what I said -

"There was one aspect of her toilet habits I found very disconcerting at first. I've always been in the habit of putting the dogs out into the garden last thing at night. I leave them out for about 5 minutes while I get ready for bed. When I get a new puppy I always go out with it, but after it's into the routine of things and I'm confident it knows what it's being taken out for, I get to the point where I no longer physically accompany it - instead I just open the door and let it out on its own.

Initially I treated Molly the same as I would if she was a puppy, going out with her. She was very reluctant to go out. I had to put her on the lead to take her outside. I waited and waited but nothing happened. Eventually I gave up, reluctantly bringing her back in, convinced it meant I'd come down in the morning to an unwanted present or two. But no - she was fine.

Over the next few evenings I tried repeatedly to take her out or put her out at bedtime. Always without success. She absolutely refuses point blank to go out by herself at that time - it's almost as if she's afraid of the dark! The only way I can get her outside at bedtime is to take her out on the lead. And if I then go back indoors and leave her on her own all she does is come straight to the door and wait to be let in. Never once has she been to the toilet at that time, so I've now given up bothering to try - it just seems a complete waste of time.

And every morning I come down and the dog room's clean as a whistle. Not only that but she's obviously in no particular hurry to go to the toilet even then. She lies very calmly on her bed just waiting until I'm ready to take her out.

I've come to the conclusion that it's because of her background; there's no way kennel staff are still going to be working at 11pm. Their day probably finishes somewhere between 5pm - 6pm. So she's probably used to having a 'bedtime' toilet break around then, and having to wait until the following morning before next being taken outside.

So she's consistently lasting for at least 12 hours at night, and seems completely untroubled about it all."

Although she seemed to be completely unconcerned about going out at night I wasn't really happy to continue that routine. Although during the week I'm usually downstairs and ready to take the dogs out at about 6.30am, at weekends (children permitting!) I like to have a bit of a lie-in. Usually it's somewhere between 7.30 - 8.30 when I get up, but occasionally I might be really decadent and not emerge from my pit until 9.00 or even later.

If she's not been to the toilet since about 5pm the previous evening, that would mean on those occasions Molly would have been waiting 16 hours! I just don't think that's fair on the dog, even if it has been kind of self-imposed by her refusal to go out last thing at night.

So I resolved to change that particular habit. It's taken me the whole month since the last newsletter went out but I've got there. But it was a slow, gradual process.

Initially the only way I could get her out was to put her on the lead inside and walk out to the garden with her. And it was no good just getting her out the door - I had to lead her all the way to the one specific spot in the garden that she, of her own volition, has chosen to use as a toilet spot. At that point I let her off the lead and stayed out with her.

For the first few evenings nothing happened, nor did it look likely to, so we came back in. But on about the fourth evening she went to the toilet. I made a big fuss of her then back inside we went. From that moment on she seemed to realise what this last-thing-at-night thing was all about. For the next few evenings I continued as before to lead her out to the chosen spot.

Then I lead her partway, let her off the lead, and we ambled over together to the chosen spot.

Once she was happy with that I tried dispensing with the lead. For the most part that was ok, though we did have one or two evenings when she was a bit reluctant to come out (I wasn't trying to send her out on her own at this point, but was still always going with her.)

By a combination of encouragement and, when necessary, briefly putting on the lead then taking it straight off as soon as we were out the door, we managed to overcome that hurdle in the space of about 4 or 5 days. So we found ourselves at the point where I could call her up, open the door and walk out with her with no need for the lead. I would wander over towards her chosen spot, but would try to let her take the initiative. So if she made a beeline for her toilet place I'd hang back and quietly praise her. On some evenings she'd be a lot less decisive so on those occasions I'd take more of a lead, but as soon as she twigged what was going on and made as if to overtake me, I'd again drop back and let her go on ahead, praising quietly as before.

I then started to progressively hang back more and more. So I would only go partway and then I'd stop and wait. The first couple of evenings she took a little while before it occurred to her to go on ahead by herself, but as soon as she made the move I quietly praised her.

Soon we were at the stage where we'd go out together, I'd walk about 5 paces then stop and wait. She'd go past, head for her toilet spot and disappear into the darkness. I'd just wait for her to reappear. As soon as she did I'd praise, and turn back to the house.

Once she was happy with that I then let her out, went out with her, but immediately came back in and closed the door. That confused her, and she stood looking back at me.

I turned off the inside lights and turned on the outside one in order to make it harder for her to see me, and easy for me to see her. I stood back from the window in the shadows and watched. After hanging around by the door for a bit she quite happily disappeared off towards her toilet spot. I remained were I was so that I would see her the moment she returned. At that point I went straight to the door and brought her in, making a quiet fuss of her.

Next stage was just to open the door for her asking her to go out (I should add that I'd been using that 'ask her to go out' command all along). As soon as she went out I'd praise, close the door and take up position in the shadows where I could watch what she did. From about the second or third night of this she neither hung around the door waiting for me nor even gave a backward glance - she just headed straight off to her toilet spot.

I continued doing this for a few more nights until I was absolutely certain the penny had dropped. And then about 4 nights ago we got to the point I've been aiming for all along - I open the door and send her out, close the door and go upstairs to get ready for bed. I come back down to let her back in and hey presto, we're both ready for bed - perfect!

You might think my description of all this night time behaviour is a bit over the top and unnecessarily detailed but there's an important principle here that you need to understand. If you take the time and effort to break things down into tiny steps you can achieve all sorts of things with your dog you wouldn't have thought possible. Remember just over a month ago Molly refused point blank to go out last thing at night. No amount of cajoling would get her off her bed and she actually seemed afraid of the dark. But by reducing the whole process into a series of small, achievable steps and taking it at a gradual pace that she was comfortable with, I've managed to turn the situation around completely.

She's an adult dog with what was clearly an ingrained behaviour pattern. But patience and understanding have totally eradicated that behaviour pattern.

You can do exactly the same with your own dog. Just apply the same principles - whatever it is you're trying to teach, just break it down into small bite sized chunks. Only move on to step 2 once step 1 has been accomplished. Do this one simple thing and you can achieve wonders.

Go for it!

Recommended reading - "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".

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