Mark's Top Dog behavioural training

05/01/2025

Extremely sad news of the passing of Karen Pryor today. Karen was a behavioural psychologist, introduced the world to clicker training and pioneered the use of force free training methods. What an influence she had in the world of dog training. Thank you, Karen!!

18/09/2023

XL bullies are due to be the 5th banned dog breed here in the UK along with the pit bull terrier, Japanese tosa, dogo Argentino and the fila Brasileiro.

If found to be in possession of a banned breed you may be arrested and then be charged. If found guilty, you can be given an unlimited fine or be sent to prison for up to six months and the dog may also be destroyed. The ban will work on an amnesty basis, you will have to declare that your dog is an XL bully (a banned breed).

Here is some information on what the process is if you are stopped and/or if your dog is seized by the police.

The police have 6 months from the date of seizure to bring a banned breed case before the magistrates court under the dangerous dogs act (section 4B). The owner has the right to obtain a second opinion on whether your dog is one of the breeds on the list. This must be done by an expert.

During this period the seized dog will be held in a licensed kennel. Having worked at one of these facilities myself they are just like any other kennels and the staff (should be) trained in dealing with dangerous or not so dangerous dogs. The owner may ask if their dog is able to stay with them at home during this period under the 'interim exemption scheme'. This may help with future kennel costs that are incurred.

The courts will decide if the owner is able to keep the dog. Back ground, home checks and character references may all be part of this process.

Once the dog is returned, the court will send a certificate of exemption to DEFRA who then send the owner paperwork to fill out and returned within 2 months.

The conditions of exemption are:

● Must be neutered.

● Must live and be registered at your home address (you must not be away for more than 30 days a year).

● Must wear a muzzle and be on a lead in all public places including in the car.

● Must be insured with Dogs Trust insurance as they are currently the only insurance company that offer insurance for banned breeds.

● Must have an identity tattoo.

There is no specific date for this but by the end of 2023 is what has been said.

29/08/2023

A welcome reply to my being in favour of the ban of electronic collars coming into force 1st February 2024.

Bizzarly some are still apposing the ban, believing that there is no other way of training some dogs. False!

Every little helps and the more people that continue to support the ban the higher likelihood that it will get pushed through early next year. Great news, and it's great that MPs continue with their support because ultimately that's who has the final decision. Dogs don't have a voice so it's up to us to give it to them ✌🏼

05/08/2023

Nature vs Nurture.
(instinct vs learned behaviours)

“No heredity. No environment. Only the interaction between the two.” researcher/science writer Robert Sapolsky

Is it nature vs nurture that dictates a dogs behaviour?

The environment has a huge impact and plays a big part of how a dog behaves in it. What is in that environment, who is in that environment and previous experiences within it. A dog's behaviour takes place not only as a result of it's experiences (learning) but also genetic material (instinct).

We differentiate the two by asking the question: Did the dog learn a particular behaviour as a result of being taught by us, other dogs or something else within the environment or did it come naturally as part of it's instinct? If the dog didn't learn it then it would be innate and therefore dictated by instinct (nature). If it had to learn the behaviour then that would be a result of nurturing.

Dogs will not have to learn to chase or hunt, eat or reproduce, these behaviours all come naturally to them. Nurturing is a result of what comes due to an experience. Your dog may chase the next door neighbours cat out of instinct (nature) but learn one day, when the cat turns and takes a swipe back, that maybe it shouldn't do that in future (nuture).

Learned behaviours are not passed down by genetics. Your dog may have learned not to chase cats but it's offspring will have to find out for itself. Nature wouldn't teach it that, nurturing through experience would.

As I've said above the environment plays a huge part in behaviour, we are all also a product of our environment, right? That being said genetics play a big role also, dogs that have been selectively bred for jobs over hundreds, if not thousands of years can't be expected not to be instinctive. Take lovely Rocco (below) for example, he's an Australian Cattle dog, bred for mustering and droving thousands of head of cattle across vast open plains in the Australian outback. Some cattle are incredibly head strong, so to get them from A-B safely, Rocco would need to keep them inline and keep individuals with the herd. They were bred to stand face to face with these cattle, nip at the heels and to move them quickly into line. These are all instinctive and not learnt behaviours after generations of selective breeding. We can't expect these instincts to be lost and a dog that's been bred to herd, attempt to nip and stand it's ground against anything that may resemble cattle to it. That being said, these behaviours can be worked with and new appropriate behaviours taught through nurturing.

Just as in humans, dogs come with their own personalities, which are the result of both their environment and genetics. The reality is that both nature and nuture play big roles in a dogs behaviour, both work simultaneously.

04/08/2023

Sometimes doing absolutely nothing is exactly what you should be rewarding for.

If a dog is doing nothing "wrong" then it's doing something right, right?

Rewarding for calm behaviours (see Gus below) is great in a variety of different environments and scenarios. It's great practice for when in a place where a more calm behaviour is favoured or around people who may be a little uneasy around dogs.

It's great practice prior to further training around stimulus (something that causes a behavioural response).

The best way to go about reinforcing these calm behaviours is a technique called "capturing". It's exactly what it says on the tin, it's capturing a behavior and reinforcing that behaviour. To do this we simply wait until the dog exhibits the behaviour of it's own accord and reward for this.

This will need to be practiced in a number of different environments. You can't expect a dog to be calm around familiar environments, such as the home and then expect to act exactly in this manner at the local pub where there is an awful lot more stimuli than in the previous locations practiced in.

Often a marker (whether it be a clicker or verbal marker) would be used to capture a behavior as precursor to a reward being given. We'd tend not to mark this behaviour when it's captured, as it will often arouse the dog and thus bring the dog out of the calm behaviour it's exhibiting. The marker may signal to the dog that it's time to train and become more alert, the exact opposite of the behaviour you're trying to capture.

04/08/2023

For learning to take place it's important that critrea, motivation, reinforcement and timing are all present.

Criteria in what you want to achieve from a particular behaviour. The criteria should always be achievable and it should be specific, with no grey areas.

Motivation is the reason for doing something. If a motive is present then any behavior is achievable if it's physically possible to do so. Each living being has it's own motivator, that can't be decided by others.

Reinforcement is a consequence that increases a behavior. If a behavior isn't reinforced or hasn't some benefit then how or why should we expect it to be repeated?

Timing of the reward while training is important. This differs depending on who you speak to but 3 seconds or ASAP should be the bench mark. A clicker or any marker buys you abit more time. Capturing the behavior in the present rather than the past is the aim.

The deciding factor on whether a behavior will be repeated or not is the consequence of that behavior.

Behavior is consequence driven.

04/08/2023

After a short hiatus we're crawling back onto your feed like...

28/07/2021

Facts 👇🏼

15/04/2021

This is a pretty cool article. Something we might not have considered, when they play we watch... when we watch they play 🙌🏼

We know that dogs care about people paying attention to them, and we know that dogs generally enjoy human attention. Even so, it’s intriguing to learn that being observed by people has a strong effect on one of their species-typical behaviors—in this case, play. Predictably, there’s great inte...

26/03/2021

Cue for zoomies 🏃💨

11/01/2021

Absolutely on the money this illustration 👌🏻

28/12/2020

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas day, the shops will have us believing Easter is nearly upon us in no time at all. Before they do, we have the little matter of new years day to contend with, so... Dogs and fireworks.

A large percentage of dogs can get very stressed at the sound of fireworks so i thought I'd share some tips on how to keep your dog safe and stress free during this period...

• Ideally your dog needs to be away from the loud bangs. Walk your dog during the day time when the fireworks are less likely to be set off. Bring your dog inside to the comfort of the house if they are outside. Apart from the inside of your home being a sound barrier for the loud bangs it also eradicates the chance of your dog trying to escape to find somewhere safe to hide.

• Close the windows and doors to mask the noise, even draw the curtains and play music. This may sound silly but dogs have exceptional hearing. What we may be able to hear from 20 feet away they can hear from 80. Dogs can hear higher pitched sounds than us humans. A dogs frequency range is 67-45,000 Hz, to put it in perspective our frequency range is 64-23,000 Hz. So those squealing fireworks that are loud for us are insanely loud for dogs. These loud noises going on aswell as not being able to understand what they are, as you can imagine must be incredibly stressful for a dog.

• Make sure your dog has somewhere to hide if they become frightened. Your dog needs a safe house, somewhere where they feel safe and secure from the loud noises. Open the crate door if you don't usually, create a space under the bed or in a cupboard for them to run to if they feel stressed.

• It's ok to comfort your dog if they need, but it's important not to make a fuss as this may just increase the anxiety. Just be as normal as possible so not to give your dog cause for concern. If your dog wants to be left alone just leave them alone.

• Never punish your dog for being scared, it's just not fair and will only increase the stress and anxiety.

• Get some toys out of the toy box, play with your dog to divert from the noises outside. If your dog doesn't want to play don't force them.

If you know that your dog gets very stressed maybe speak to your vet about a pheromone diffuser that emits a calming spray, it's a great option if you are going out and nobody is able to take care of your dog.

Please share with your friends with dogs to keep this next few nights as stress free as possible for our dogs.

Have fun, stay safe.

Mark 🐶