5 Trainers, NO WAITING!
Question:
To whom it may concern, My name is Crystal Arcidy and I am the proud owner of a beautiful 3 year old white German Shepherd named Starr. I am writing to inform you of a training method that is truly amazing. Starr is by nature very cautious and fearful and because of this and my not knowing how to handle it she became environmentally shy as well. Before Starr came into my life I never would have believed that a dog could be the way she was unless it had been badly abused or trained to be aggressive. Now I’m finding out more and more that there are lots of dogs with serious behavior problems who were never abused, but mishandled. Before I tell you about my experience with Jerry Howe, Doggy Do Right, and the Wits End Dog Training Technique I would like to relate to you Starr’s story so you’ll have a better understanding as to what I was dealing with: Starr was three months old when I brought her home from a local pet shop. A few days later a friend came by to see her and that was when I first saw that Starr was by no means friendly. She was so shy she tried to pull away and hide. I was told that dogs go through a "fear stage" and thought that was all I was dealing with. But after a week or two Starr began barking protectively at guests and neighbors from inside the house. The only way I could stop the barking, and later howling, was if I picked her up and held her. Outside Starr’s behavior was not protective it was horribly fearful. It got to the point that when I would ask, "You want to go outside?" Starr would run the other way and dodge me so I would make her go. She went out only to relieve herself and then she’d dash back to the house. I could not take her for walks and she wouldn’t even sit on my back deck without crying. Starr was afraid of other dogs, people, cars, loud noises, open spaces….everything. I was sure that she had the potential of becoming a fear biter and that worried me. I spoke with an amateur dog trainer who said that shepherd’s are sometimes fearful as puppies, especially females, and that training and socializing would help. She said I could bring Starr to the vet and just sit with her so she could watch the other dogs. But Starr was a nervous wreck in the vets. She would get in a corner and shake terribly. It didn’t seem like it was helping at all with my dog’s anxiety and I asked the vet what to do to get her over her fears.The doctor recommended a trainer/behaviorist and we called and set up a meeting. And so I took Starr to her first trainer at six months old. She was terrified. The trainer assured me that he could ‘get her through’ her fears. He explained to me how training would lessen Starr’s anxiety and build confidence. Because Starr was so timid he wanted to start out with clicker training. He said it was the best form of training for shy dogs. He instructed me to get a thin three foot stick to be the focus, the object being Starr would learn to follow the stick. Every time she touched it with her nose she got a click and a treat. After I got Starr home it only took about a minute for Starr to get the idea. But these results were restricted to inside my house. When I took Starr outside or to her lessons she was just too nervous to care about eating. The reward was not worth it. All Starr wanted was to get back to the house, where she felt safe. When the trainer realized that Starr was too uncomfortable at his place he suggested we meet and work at my house. It was then that he saw that Starr was not going to progress using the clicker training. [Forcing food into her mouth didn't make her want to eat it] So he reverted to conventional methods. *(The "BALANCED TRAINER" IOW, knows WHEN to HURT… jh.) We started using a flat collar but with all the pulling Starr would do the trainer quickly advised me to purchase a choke chain. I did so and he showed me how to use it. I was very hesitant but he assured me that I could not hurt the dog. We continued working in an area Starr was pretty comfortable in, then proceeded out to the street. Starr was very scared and would bolt, whine, shake horribly and grind her teeth. All of which got corrected by a quick, sharp jerk on the chain and a firm "No!" Of course now I know that these firm corrections were just creating more anxiety for my dog. But at the time it seemed to make sense. After seeing how afraid Starr actually was on the street the trainer told me to get some Serene-um, an herbal product that would calm her down. It took the edge off her fear, but I had to give her beyond the dosage recommended for her weight. The trainer said that was fine. He also told me that putting her on adult food would help. That way she wouldn’t have as much energy that was just being turned into nervous energy and making her worse. I changed her food and he later recommended senior food. I decided against that. The trainer told me not to speak reassuringly when Starr was scared because she would think she was being praised for being afraid, that I wanted that behavior. He told me never to praise her for barking because it would encourage aggression. When Starr would bark at the neighbors dog aggressively I was to force her into a submissive down, the Alpha Rollover, which I was never able to maneuver. I told the trainer that Starr was still uncontrollable even with the choker. Her fear seemed more important than the pain she experienced from the collar. He suggested getting her a Gentle Leader. Its worn around the dog’s head. I’m sure you’re familiar with the product. This gave me more control over her bolting but when she got spooked by something she would pull away and reared up like a wild horse. It was very difficult to get her to calm down even a little after she had gone to this extreme. I later found out that I was misdirected on how to use the Gentle Leader. After about seven months of this Starr had made very little progress. She knew all the commands and would do them perfect when calm, but the fear and anxiety were still there and still very much in control of her. The trainer thought she was all right and told me he was happy with the results. At that point I was hardly listening to anything he said. I knew he was trying to help but I also knew that Starr was beyond him and I had already set up a meeting with another trainer, one that came highly recommended. The second trainer referred to her place as doggy boot camp and said that kind of discipline and structure is what dogs, especially dogs like Starr, really needed. She was a breeder of German Shepherds and several of her dogs were used in movies and as therapy and protection dogs. *(Our "ETHICAL" breeders… jh.) She told me that Starr needed to get away from me, her ’security blanket’ and learn to be on her own. She told me that when I got Starr back she would be a totally different dog. I left Starr for eleven days with this trainer. When I went to pick her up I was informed that Starr had been hiding for the first three days of her stay. But the trainer was happy with her progress. When Starr was brought out I was told to ignore her until the trainer said it was okay and even then I couldn’t pet her or kneel down to see her. [I still don't know why.] My formerly 65 lb. German Shepherd looked like a Greyhound she was so thin. But she did look much more confident. Her face seemed relaxed, but her tail was tucked up under her. When I asked about that the trainer said it was nothing. She said her tail was not suppose to curl up the way it did. I was then informed that I needed to buy a pinch collar and leather leash. Starr was too strong and determined in her pulling for me to get by with just the choker. [ This trainer laughed at the Gentle Leader and said it was not a training tool.] The trainer showed me how to use the collar and I flinched as she did and Starr let out a sharp cry. The trainer noticed my reaction and insisted that she wasn’t hurting my dog, saying that I have to stop treating Starr like a ‘piece of china’, saying that she was a strong dog and needed to be told who was boss. I accepted what she said and she proceeded to teach me all that she had taught Starr. She used the word ‘Here’ instead of ‘Come’ saying that it sounded nicer to the dog and more inviting. I was told that its best if when called Starr comes right up close, attaining physical contact. Everything seemed to be going well, though I wouldn’t have said she seemed like a different dog, until the trainer left to get Starr’s old collar for me. When she returned Starr lunged and barked aggressively. It took me completely by surprise. I did not know why she was acting so aggressive. The trainer took the leash and gave Starr a strong reproof for that and explained to me that some dogs [big nasty ones, she said] acted like that when the owners came to get them because they were afraid, on seeing the trainer, that she would take them away from their owners again. This trainer also instructed me to ‘punish’ Starr by ignoring her for a half hour or so after she had been corrected for something very bad or if she did not do good working for me one day. She said that dogs remember when they do bad and that she’d learn to try harder to please me. So I took my skinny little shepherd home and for two months worked with her everyday exactly as I was told. Starr’s anxiety was still profound and she still was not happy to go for a walk or to stay outside. She was more confident, but only in areas of aggression, territorialism, and being possessive of me. [She did not like it when my cat came into my room.] I called the trainer to ask about barking collars and she told me which one to buy. After I got it she showed me how to use it saying it must be tight. She said it would help with Starr’s aggression as well as the barking. And for a while it was much quieter in my house. I did not like the way the collar sometimes made Starr cry and I … read more »
Response:
Anyone reading this letter is familiar with my white shepherd Starr and her problems with fear and anxiety. Starr has made a lot of progress since my last letter and continues to make progress almost daily. For a while Starr was going through a transition period where she was expecting me to go back to the old ways of training and discipline. She would refuse to perform the commands right and just not want to work. With a ton of self-control I kept the exercises simple during this time, spending most of our training session doing the "hot and cold exercise." Starr soon bounced out of her unsure sliding-back-and- forth stage and is stable now. The reason for this letter is to talk about crates and the emotional state they can put a dog in. Only after I dealt with the crate situation I’ll be explaining was Starr able to make real progress. After that the back sliding mentioned above was only a matter of time, patients and being consistent. First let me just say that I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use a crate. Only that you make sure to use it right for the emotional state of your dog. Ever since Starr was a pup whenever I left her alone I put her in her crate. If we had company Starr went in her crate because she was not friendly and would bark and hide. Nights she also spent in her crate which seemed like a retreat to her, a comfort zone. But that false sense of security made the world outside her crate seem all the more scary. Starr was unintentionally "taught" that whenever something was unusual in the house that she was to go to her "safe place" and then everything would be all right. The problem became evident when we got Starr home after her training in FL. Starr was so much more confident in herself. But her fear was triggered by all her past feelings associated with her familiar surroundings. Mr. Howe told me to expect Starr might back-slide and to simply keep working her until she came around. I worked with my dog but at night I put her in her crate. The next morning all the work I had been through the day before, and whatever progress she had made seemed to have disappeared. I spoke to Mr. Howe about what was going on and he explained that the false sense of security Starr got from the crate was making her fear the outside world. When she got in the crate she felt safe, after all that was where I put her whenever something was unstable [if I left, company etc..] When she came out she was leaving behind that security. At first I was going to try to recondition her to being in the crate but I was so afraid of all the training and confidence she got in FL being lost that I decided to just stop using the crate. So I left her in my bed room instead. She was not comfortable with this at first. It seemed like she felt she didn’t know where she belonged and that made her anxious. But using the "surrogate toy" technique and sound distraction and praise cured her of this anxiety in less then a half hour. Now Starr is comfortable and content to hang out alone in my room. She’s not emotionally confined to just my bed or to her doggy bed and she is not at all destructive. I am lucky that Starr’s separation anxiety was never expressed in messing or chewing, though once she took my violin shoulder rest from my closet and kept it with her on my bed. She did, however tip over my waste basket twice. Both times I addressed the expression as it says in Jerry’s manual and that’s no longer a problem. Crystal Arcidy
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