what's up beautiful people
welcome back
to another episode of the Pack Leader Mentality podcast
this is episode twelve yeah
nice we got another Q&A day for you guys
yeah so thank you guys for being here
let's jump right in all right
let's do it what do we do
um I love these questions
feel like I always say that I love these questions
but these are really great questions and um
just wanted to say thank you guys for submitting them
and I hope that this resolves
the issues that you're having yeah
so pressures on I know better solve it now
question one
I have a 9 month old doodle that tolerates his crate
he eats and sleeps in it and spends time in his crate
if I need a break from him
while I'm at home or if I leave the house
my problem with him is that he demand barks
when he has had enough or has to go potty
but only been inside the crate less than an hour
and I think he should hold it
so I put on a bark collar from educator BP 5:00 0 4
he no longer barks
but does a swine that sounds like a bird chirping
how do I get him to stop this and relax in his crate
I guess it's worth mentioning that
I have two boxers that love their crate
so I have high expectations okay
so while I'm not opposed to the bar caller
I wouldn't necessarily call barking to go potty
demand barking
unless you're telling me that he's been barking
and you think he has to go potty
and then you let him out but he doesn't
and he learns to play and he learns that
that's how he can get you to let him out
as by barking so just wanna clarify that
cause barking to go to the bathroom is a good thing
and we shouldn't ever punish for that however
one thing that I would suggest
is that you provide mental stimulation toys
or I should say chew items
for the dog to enjoy
and sort of entertain himself with
if you're just putting the dog in the crate
and expecting them to just want to be in there uh
I would say that's a fault on your end
try to make it as enjoyable as possible
one thing that I always recommend for my clients
is to create a pretty consistent routine
and the way that you utilize the crate
so play and train
train and play like expel the dog's energy
get them physically tired
and then put them in the crate
and give them something to enjoy
like a stuffed Kong bully stick or something like that
and the idea with that is kind of like
giving a kid a coloring book
or I guess in today's age giving them a iPad
you know but it's just basically
like a form of self entertainment
so here's your thing enjoy that
and I think that'll help at least occupy the dog and
and and the other thing too is like
if they are getting a correction from the bar collar
then at least we're giving them something else to do
as opposed to just sit there and soak
with the collar on
which is what it sounds like he's doing so
no too he's 9 months old
so and it's a doodle and they tend to be high energy
yeah so I think for sure
like
expelling that energy out before you put him in there
yeah and I'm not like I said
I'm not opposed to the bar collar
but I would just make sure that you're
you're taking care of everything on your end
that you're responsible for
which is a good quality
amount of physical and mental stimulation
and so with that out of the way
then yeah you can have
the expectation for your dog to be in the crate
and be quiet and I would say that you're right
but if you're not giving the dog that
and then you're just putting him in there
and putting a bark collar on
I think that's a mistake and not really fair to the dog
uh and then lastly
with all that said if
if you're still running into that issue
and it is just a dog being whiny and
you know being persistent with that
then I would say I would use an e collar
and then this way you have control over it
because the bar collar is not gonna pick up whining
but you would just have to be consistent with that
and again this is
under the Assumption that you're doing everything
in your in your possible
I would say
everything right by the dog in terms of exercising
you know training and playing
physical stimulation
and then mental stimulation in the kennel
for what I like to call downtime
so I have a question to this though
now could the dog potentially
associate the corrections to the crate
because they're not
if they're not getting corrected anywhere else
but the second
you know they're barking throughout the house
whatever right um
but then when they go in the crate
they're getting corrected
wouldn't they associate the crate as a negative
do you mean from the e collar or from the bar collar
I guess we could start with oh
from both from bark collar
so the dogs barking outside of the crate
and they're wearing a bar collar
they're gonna get a correction of course
there won't be so there won't be that association
but if they're wearing the bar collar
when they go in the crate
because that's when you know
the problem is gonna survive
they're only wearing it in the crate yeah
yeah that's definitely a possibility for sure
which is why it's important to utilize the crate
so this way and make sure that
you're giving the dog the right physical
mental stimulation um
and using the crate in a way
and training the dog in such a way
that there's a positive association with this
and that would be just through rewarding the dog
making sure that going in the crate
has nothing to do with the corrections
and it's only happening when they're barking
but yet every time you put the dog in the crate
they immediately start barking then get corrected
it would it would be a high possibility
that they could associate the corrections
with being in the crate
so
which again is why like everything should be addressed
you know um
in a holistic manner like giving the dog what they need
and then layering in this expectation
not just randomly saying hey
you need to be in here be quiet
and we're gonna give you nothing else
throughout the day you know so that's not good
hope that helps
alright what's next question 2
haha sorry
I can't uh huh let's do it
okay let's go
you know what it was it was like the
how do I say this like yeah
obviously question 2 yeah
that's right right on track baby
do you want me not to
do you want me not to say question 2
no it's okay
I was just like very confident
sorry I don't know why that was so funny
but anyways let's keep going and we're back
thank you for being open to emails and questions
I've been listening to your podcast
and find the episodes very helpful
thank you
my question has to do with
my dog's reactivity to other dogs
our dog Araya oh
it's cute it's almost 2 years old and is a Rottweiler
she became part of our family at 5 months old
in September in Chicago we knew ahead of time
that she was a lot more spunky than other dogs
but we didn't think we would have any issues
as she is our fourth Roddy
and we had no problem training leathers
we immediately started to socialize her
but the Chicago weather changed at fairly quickly
the following spring when we took her out in public
she became very reactive when seeing any other dogs
we have taken her to training at two different places
and while she wasn't perfect
she was pretty good and only flipped out a few times
she just graduated from the last place last week
she even won two of the competitions they held
so she's a great learner
but when I took her out for a walk
a dog was about halfway block away and she went nuts
she lost total focus and wouldn't even take food
other dogs started barking as well
I'm not sure how to handle this
and I'm so confused on her bubble of comfort
socializing her even if she's acting this way
or what to use
to get her to feel better about seeing other dogs
please help
alright there's a few things I wanna unpack here
so you've taken her to training at two different places
and she was pretty good only flipped out a few times
so I won competitions yeah
but so I'm assuming that she was around other dogs
based on the way that you were to that
and there's a couple things to keep in mind um
I would want to know more information
about the history of your dog
before I would ever give you a concrete recommendation
so please take all this with a grain of salt but um
first thing is
I would suspect that it's possible
that she could be more reactive
when she's presented sort of out of the blue
I'll say with another person and or dog approaching
so like if out of if she looks up the street
and all of a sudden there's a person
person there that could be part of the reactivity um
I would also wanna know
where is the reactivity coming from
uh meaning is the dog nervous
is she trying to be a bully
like what's what's the deal
so I would want to ask you
if she's ever met any other dogs in person
how is she how does she interact with them
what does it seem like her intentions are
um have you brought her to dog parks
uh anything like that right
so have you gotten around dogs
what's the dog expect
what's her expectation of other dogs
so and just to clarify
not bring the dog park to see how she would do right
it's no I would want to know you bring the
your dog to the dog park and you know
how she been frequently visited there
maybe that's potentially the reason yeah gotcha yeah
um because then
there's an expectation from the dog
to have an interaction with other dog
so that yeah be where the reactivity comes from
so yeah it's difficult for me to give you specific
so I'll give you some general advice
and I hope this helps
there's three things that I tell my clients to do
when their dog is let's say hyper fixated on a dog um
try to make us
make a sound and try to get their attention
if they can look at you
you can engage with them through petting praise
food reward toy reward
you know and give them feedback for that
the idea is that whenever they look at a dog
you make that sound or say their name
you get their attention
and they get a reward for their ability to disengage
with them that thing the dog and then engage with you
if that doesn't work then I'll touch the dog
I tell my clients to touch the dog usually
like tell them do like an annoying touch
like put your finger in the dog's ear or
you know touch their head
you know kind of lightly pinch their ear
something like that and if that doesn't work
then we move away and we create space
uh but let me go back to the touch
if you touch the dog and they look at you reward that
so we wanna reward them again
for their ability to disengage with the dog
or the person or the whatever
and then engage with you then if that doesn't work
I'll move away from the dog
and allow the leash to get tight
and then just gradually continue to walk away
until they turn around once they turn around again
I get a little excited
I'm trying to encourage them to pay attention to me
and I'll put that on repeat
I'm not opposed to giving the dog a correction
but the first thing that I would have you work on is
trying to engage with the dog
and I I wouldn't necessarily like
recommend a strong correction right away to
to discourage it just because again
I'm not really quite sure why they're reacting that way
and that's important for me
in terms of when I use a correction for a dog
so because of that
I would recommend focus on engagement
um yeah
I know because I don't know more
uh I would really just leave it at that
like engagement is a big part of what I work on
when I work on reactivity
normalizing being around other dogs
creating positive associations
and then when it's appropriate
providing meaningful consequences to let the dog know
basically like that stuff doesn't work
knock it off it's not gonna work for you
it's not necessary and it's not accepted um
do this instead right but in most cases
if I don't know
or if it's like nervousness from the dog
I focus on the do this instead part
and then I add in don't do that right
the correction that says don't do that
so that's that's where I would leave it
um yeah
if I had more
maybe you wanna shoot back with some more information
and we'll revisit the question um
but I will say this though about Rody's
Rody's are some of the in my experience um
man they are like tenacious dogs
I I met a quite a few rotties that I said to my clients
I'm so glad your dog is friendly
because if you were contacting me for like aggression
human aggression I mean
I would take it
but I would still I would be like pretty nervous
well because I've given some rotties
like happy go lucky rotties
and rotties that have been a little bit more on the
I wanna eat you side
I given them some strong corrections and they
they eat those corrections
it's like nothing to them they're like
who cares so
you know this is also why I think and I'm not up again
I'm not opposed to the correction
but even still I would still want to lean towards hey
like pay attention to me
don't worry about the other dogs
yeah so well
I was just gonna add and I mean
you let me know what you think
um
I would say
don't be discouraged by the fact that she seemed like
she was doing well with this training program
and what she's doing with you
because often times
when dogs are placed in training programs
or are working with a different handler
the situation is completely different because they
you know there's a certain um dynamic
yeah dynamic
and like there's a tone that set with this new person
right off the get go like you
you know
you set a tone with a dog that you just meet versus
you know
the tone that their owners have set over and over again
and and so it's like a lack of handling
yes lack of confidence in handling yeah
so like with you know
this training program it's like
of course she did well right
because it's a new handler
there's a expectation that was set right in place um
versus now you have her and
you know she's used to behaving a certain way
so she might just be falling in line
to what she's used to potentially and
or maybe using the owner as
you know if this is a bullying type of reactivity
then she's using her owner as like yeah
she's got my back watch you know
type of situation
good point yeah
that could definitely be um
and then again
you know just a consistent exposure in that group class
could have been helping a lot
for your dog to normalize
being around other dogs and now like I said
out of nowhere somebody just pops up
and so it's just kind of catches her off guard
could be a territorial thing if it happening
if it's happening more around the neighborhood
um yeah
a lot of questions I would like to
to ask to be able to dive further into that
but thank you so much for your question
what's next
okay say question three
10 to ten
um
I hope you're both doing well
thank you I've been following you a while
and I've Learned so much about being a good guardian
to my 2 year old Australian labradoodle
my first ever pup
I wanted to ask you about flight instincts she's always
she's always been pretty noise sensitive and cautious
especially in new environments
I've implemented more structure in the house
she gets daily crate and place time
I do allow her on furniture
because
I don't think she has any major behavioral issues
no biting instant barking
chewing etc
and I'm able to tell her off as she gets off right away
we've come a long way with our loose leash walking now
there's hardly any pulling
in the past she would want to say
hi to every single dog on the leash
so I stopped that all together
which has helped tremendously
however she's very flighty even on the leash
are there things I can do to reassure her
that I'm here to keep her safe
a few months ago
we were hiking off leash and we walked by a fence
which three giant German ship German
that's like a tongue twister
which three giant German shepherds rush to
she bolted before I even noticed the dogs
luckily she has a tracker
so I caught up to her about point 15 miles away
Jeez ordinarily she has a really good recall
but the day it all happened so fast
she was gone before I could process what happened
I just got an e collar so I planned to train that next
unleash on our walks if there are any sudden sounds
I can see her flight instinct instincts kick in
I feel like she's constantly scanning the area
and always looking around and behind
my gut tells me this is a relationship issue
but I'm not sure if there's any specific things
I can do to reassure her thank you in advance
and I hope to hear your thoughts on that
I've been researching fight flight
freeze instincts
but haven't seen anything that addresses this yeah
so first and foremost don't use an e collar
don't even bother with that yet please
what I highly recommend you do is
put her on a long line
and even just walking around your neighborhood
give her the freedom to move around
and it's a lot easier said than done
as far as like leash handling goes
admittedly you're probably gonna feel like
the long line is overwhelming
cause it's a 20 or 30 foot leash
which I'd recommend something about that long
either 20 or 30 feet but
so there's a lot of maneuvering
you have to do with the leash
as the dog is kind of going around
but what I do with dogs like you're describing
is I play a little game like a little check in game
and there's a lot of things I'm looking for
when I do this
so I'm walking the dog around the neighborhood
I'm looking for opportunities where the dog is calm
where I can visibly see that they're calm
calmer right
then maybe they just were so that I can praise that
so I can say good boy good girl and then just you know
if if she'll take food for example
I would reward her with food um
if she'll take it and whether she takes it or not
is also something that I would be observing
if she takes the food then
I know that she's at least
comfortable enough to eat the food
if a dog is in a high stress scenario
one of the reasons why they wouldn't eat is because
No. 1 loss of apert to appetite
which a lot of us experience ourselves
and we're stressed as humans
but also because if your life is
if you feel like your life is being threatened
you're not gonna stop to eat
you know what I mean like now is not the time
like
we need all the blood going to our brain and our lungs
not our digestive system
so like instinctually we're not gonna do that
so it's a good gauge to see where the dog is at
and I would encourage
and just basically work on check ins
get your dog to come back to you
and feel like you're the safe place
when they're calm
and you're petting them and they're chill
and you're just allowing them to observe
you are you're literally just conditioning them
and walking them through this process um
I wouldn't use an e collar because you know
and I don't know you
in all offense to your handling or anything
but I don't
I wouldn't trust that you use it correctly right now
I think that there's
more things that are important for you to work on
like leash handling and just learning how to read
the dog
off leash should not be an option for her
obviously she runs she's a flight risk
so she should never be off leash
until you can get a real
good gauge on where the dog is at
and you know
I'm not opposed to ever putting a collar on the dog
but right now it's just not important engagement
um focusing on observation
getting a good
understanding of when you should be praising her
rather than sort of
trying to convince her that everything's okay
waiting for that window of opportunity
when she becomes calmer you might notice that she
she she backs away from things to get like
a better perspective or like an assessment
so she's like oh crap
what was that so she runs away 10 feet
20 feet and then she stops
turns around and looks at it
and then she's like working through it
that's a good time to go good girl
good girl everything's cool see right
and then come here she comes over to you good girl
pet her love honor will she take food
give it to her
encourage her to go back out and investigate something
she starts putting her nose down
she's sniffing things good girl
we like that sniff the environment become comfortable
those are the things that I'll be working on right now
and
that's also how you can help build your relationship
because you're literally walking her through it
you're step by step you're like
good job good job good job
good job
if she's nervous of something and tries to flight
all you're gonna do is pretty much
anchor down on the leash
so that she can't fully escape
and just kind of
if she needs to create a little bit more distance
like she's pulling away if you have the space
you can allow her to move away more and again
let her observe from a distance
yeah exactly
observe from a safe and comfortable distance
that she determines is safe and comfortable
and then guide her back over to that
to that thing if possible
and again just encouraging little
little bit pieces of curiosity
and you have to pay attention to the dog
you have to be going out there
with the intention of just watching the dog
the entire time and constantly giving feedback
learning when to keep your mouth shut
and not try to convince the dog that it's okay
and then learning when to speak up and say hey
you're doing amazing good girl
come here yeah
good job and getting a little playful
and just keeping things light hearted
the way that you carry yourself
and interact with the dog in those moments is like
of the utmost importance
so you really have to be on your
on your stuff on your toes and paying very
very deep attention and
um for clarification
when you talk about keeping your mouth shut
um you're referring to like not coddling the dog
not saying it's okay yep
you know
things like that to get them to be more comfortable
um how do you feel about
you know for
since she's afraid
kind of almost doing like a puppy intro approach
like taking her to Home Depot or Lowe's
because there's a lot of unexpected loud noises
you know somebody's like yeah
that's a great idea but I mean
just based on some of the things I'm hearing
I would say I don't know
looks like even in the neighborhood she's nervous
so somewhere like that like Home Depot
might be a little bit too confined for her
you know with the aisles
too much new stuff plus
I think
it's important for the owner to develop the skills
before bringing them into a more difficult situation
where there's a lot more potential for things to like
go off yeah gotcha
so yeah take it slow
first thing is observe the dog
get into the habit of knowing what you're looking at
and know when it's a good time to be quiet
and to encourage the behavior that you're looking for
which is again mostly gonna just be curiosity
anything that looks curious
stepping towards something that's new
all that stuff
go what else we got
that's it that's all the questions
what we have yeah
that was deep haha
alright cool
yeah that's all I got
that's incredible
I don't believe that that's a short episode
all right it is what it is cool well
that's that Apple MacBook charger
that thing is so stupid looking
it's a weird shape and then just falls out of outlets
anyway uh
we love your questions the remember
the more detail you give me about your situation
the more in depth I will go and I can go for you
so write a book
will summarize it on the show and then we'll
we'll let you know what's up
really appreciate you guys and your questions
don't forget if you want to send a question
send it to our email info at leader of the pack lv
com and then is it it's lead your pack
it's also lead your pack LV
com it's also leader of the pack LV
com Layla doesn't even know I have both
I have both websites
websites are emails big fail
no the website different
the website yes
leader of the Pack LV or Leader Pack LV huh
oh dang yet
never mind
don't don't email us a info at leader of the Pack LV
all right that's really funny okay
just to clarify so info at lead your pack LB
com yeah
you got that I do okay
that's really funny
but I just also want to add
thank you guys so much for following
supporting and listening to these episodes
and um yeah
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this is fun for us and you help us continue doing that
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cause that's a real big deal for you
feel like that was just so unorganized yeah
that's okay
whatever we're rolling with it
I mean this is this is life right
sometimes things happen
sometimes you forget your own email address
yeah yeah
you try to throw me under the bus
I see how it goes uh huh
yeah I did oh
I wasn't throwing you under the bus
I was just doubting doubting me
I was like what are you talking about
I have two yeah
two two websites
not two email issues so just one last time
yeah cause you're confused yeah
I'll say it I'll say it
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get an a sir
we'll see you guys for the next one
peace bye
