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Training your dog is akin to schooling your child, and is as vital to your dog’s upbringing as formal education is to your offspring. It will shape not only how he views the world but also how he interacts within it. From training, he will learn not only core skills such as to sit, to stay, or to settle, but he will also learn self-control and teamwork, as well as cementing the bond between him and his adoptive family.
The keys to good training are consistency, patience, and persistence. Or, at least, those are the things that you will need to bring to the training. What is required of the dog is engagement and a willingness to learn. To that end, you will need to not only motivate your dog during each of the training sessions but you will also have to sustain his interest.
It is important to remember that a dog will learn not only during formal training but also through his actions and interactions outside of those sessions, so the rules you establish during training really need to seep into all aspects of his life, be it at home, in the park, or out in public.
When it comes to training, not all breeds are born equal. Broadly speaking, those dogs bred from herding or retrieving lines tend to be more trainable, being somewhat more attentive than those from hunting or tracking breed-lines, who are more easily distracted. However, all dogs can be trained, and it will be your task (and perhaps that of your trainer) to figure out how best to engage your dog.
Consider all of your dog’s senses and sensitivities around sight, sound, smell, and touch, and reflect on how employing each one in training can either help or hinder your dog’s learning. Breeds with strong visual acuity may be more trainable to visual cues but equally can become distracted in a busy training environment. Dogs that respond well to audible cues may lose their focus in a noisy location. And those that are scent-oriented may work hard for a tasty treat but be diverted by the trail left by other animals. Dogs are also touch sensitive, so pushing, pulling, or prodding them into performing an action will only cause them to resist your efforts or submit without learning. Finally, dogs are also emotionally sensitive creatures. They are very quick to pick up on our cues, both subtle and unconscious. So how quickly will they pick up on your stress or frustration?
For all these reasons, it is best that training sessions:
Whether you choose to use a clicker, or target, or treat, your voice will remain a key part of any training, so it is best that you keep your tone calm, warm, and engaging. You want your dog to be focused not fearful, to be engaged not excited. Ramping up your dog’s emotion with an excitable pitch or scaring him into submission with a stressed tone will not aid his learning.
In canine communication, both tone and body language are far more important than a sound in and of itself. So remember: It’s not only what you say but how you say it, and whether your body language is in alignment with that message.
The Importance of Body Language:
Don’t be afraid to use your head and body to communicate. Use hand gestures instead of pointing with a finger. While your dog may learn to take notice of your finger, it’s not in his nature to communicate with fingers, for he has none!
© Luca Nichetti / courtesy of Shutterstock.com
Through the process of training, both you and your dog will have a shared mode of communication throughout your time together. But it is worth considering to train your dog in at least two modes, such as through both verbal and visual cues, so that if as he grows older one of his senses should fail him you will still have a means by which to communicate.
As noted above, all training should begin in a calm and quiet space with minimal distractions. For most, this will be indoors, possibly even at home. While people with their first puppy may think this can wait for puppy class, we would suggest that by at least establishing a basis of learning at home prior to attending a class, you will be setting your puppy up for success rather than failure.
Having your puppy or dog respond successfully to a training cue in an indoor environment, you can then move to somewhere a bit more challenging, such as your garden, followed by a quiet area of your local park, and finally a busier area that may contain many distractions. But be sure that your dog has mastered the training in each area before moving on, and if there are lapses, then simply take it one step back. Be sure to build on your dog’s success, not push him too quickly into failure.
The final step will then be to take your puppy or dog to some completely novel locations, places he has never been before, and to perform the exercise there. This is known as generalising the behaviour, ensuring that he has learnt that it applies to all spaces and not solely to the areas you have trained him in. You can then also gradually increase the level of distraction in each of these spaces, and by ensuring your dog still responds to your cue in spite of these added distractions you will have ‘proofed’ the learnt behaviour.
As with all animals, including humans, dogs learn through association. This takes three forms:
Classical Conditioning is a purely unconscious reflex to an external stimulus. Your dog sees food coming out of the fridge, and so he begins to drool. He hears a sound at the front door, and so he begins to bark.
Operant Conditioning occurs when the dog comes to understand that he can effect a stimulus response through his own actions. Your dog learns to sit, and some food is given to him. He barks at the front door, and he gets lots of attention (even if it’s just you shouting at him to be quiet).
Aversion Conditioning is where a negative association is made between an unpleasant stimulus and an unwanted type of behaviour. Your dog receives a sharp rebuke for stealing the cat food. Well, of course he will do it again, but only when you’re not around! Equally, it can come about through an unwarranted association between two completely separate things. For instance, if your dog takes fright from fireworks going off while he is in the garden, he may become fearful of venturing back out into the back yard.
These examples highlight the fact that conditioning can create both desired and undesired associations. Desired associations are created through training, while undesired associations require correction.
There are four essential tools employed for correction, but if used incorrectly can cause distress and possibly worsen the undesired association. It is therefore vital that a qualified behaviourist work with you to apply these tools:
Counter Conditioning is the act of changing an undesired response into a desired one. Just one way this can be achieved is through redirection. So for the dog that has become conditioned to barking at a sound from the front door, by training him to retrieve his favourite tug toy so that he will get rewarded with a quick game of tug will ensure that he stops barking (his mouth will be too full of tug toy!).
Desensitisation is the act of reducing an undesired emotional response or association. So for the dog that is too scared to go back out into the garden, it is about rebuilding his confidence in that space and bringing with it more positive associations. It is important to note here that this process needs to be undertaken gradually and with a qualified behaviourist. Forcing a dog to confront its fears too quickly is called flooding, and this can lead to a deepening of fear, a learned helplessness, as well as a new negative association to you for forcing him into that space.
Habituation is similar to desensitisation, but it implies no fear response on the part of the dog, purely an undesired response. So the dog drooling each time the fridge door is opened can become habituated to the sound of it opening without it producing a positive reward for him. He may not only stop drooling at the sound of the door opening, he may even stop hanging around the fridge!
Omission Training, or Distraction Technique, is preventing the undesired response from occurring, with the aim that over time the negative association will diminish, leading to what is called extinction. A dog that barks or lunges at joggers may be distracted with a game of tug each time a jogger passes by. In time that barking and lunging may be replaced with a positive association of tug each time he sees a jogger on his horizon!
Finally, it is worth remembering that no learning can take place without trust. The most essential tool in your arsenal is the establishment of trust between you and your dog, for all else that you establish and build on will flow from there.
Trust is especially important when employing habituation or desensitisation as a training or corrective tool. The reason for this is that while most effective learning takes place when one is challenged, invariably this will lead to a degree of stress, and it is essential that your dog trusts you to guide him through that process. Without trust, their stress can tip over into distress, and it is within that negative state that ingrained fear and learned helplessness can develop. This is why some mild stress is permissible when habituating your dog but is best avoided or kept to a minimum when desensitising him, for the latter implies that a negative fear-state already exists, and hence that tipping point can be more quickly reached.
This is the most basic form of training, in that it is purely informal. It also is the one that will take the longest time to achieve results, but is good for those dogs that are too fearful or aggressive, and where trust has not yet been earned.
Essentially it involves capturing the moment the dog performs the desired behaviour naturally, and rewarding it for doing so. If you are training a nervous dog to settle, then each time it settled of its own accord that would earn it a reward. In time it would come to understand that settling resulted in a positive outcome, and it would do so more readily. At this point you would then pair that action with a cue-word, and then reward. Eventually, you would have that nervous dog settling on cue.
Nearly all training will begin by guiding your dog into the position you want him to assume, using a toy or a treat as a lure. This form of training is known as luring, and it is best achieved by using something your dog really wants, what we call a high motivator.
Once your dog has learnt the behaviour you would then pair it with a verbal and/or visual cue, as in a word and/or gesture. It is important that this cue be both clear and concise. It’s no good teaching a dog named Don to settle by cuing him with the word: ‘Down!’ And if you’re gesturing with a finger, don’t change to gesturing with an open hand. Your cues have to be as consistent as your dog’s training.
Remember to praise your dog as you give him his reward. Both praise and encouragement go a long way, as it’s just as important to a dog that he knows what he has done right as when he does something wrong. Getting a response wrong should not earn him a reprimand. Save your ‘No!’s for when training through Negative Punishment (see below). Simply reissue your cue or take a step back in the training.
At the end of the day, we want our dogs to be focused on us, not on the treat dangling before their nose, so once the action is understood and paired to your cue, remove the lure from sight and move on to Positive Reinforcement Training. This is where you will provide the verbal or visual cue without luring the dog. As soon as the dog performs the associated behaviour, then treat and praise.
This method of teaching is also known as Positive Reward Training, and is the most popular form of dog training. But there are a few caveats to consider in order to make it a success:
Firstly, ensure treats are of a suitable size. If they are too large and chewy, your dog may become too focused on enjoying his tasty morsel than on the reason he was given it. It will also slow down your training. Equally, don’t provide treats that are too small. You want to provide him with a good value proposition, not something to turn his nose up at. A good average would be around fingernail in size, although this would also depend on the size of your dog.
Secondly, don’t treat every time. Once you have established the behaviour you want, you can begin to shape it. Initially, your dog’s response may not be as exact or as quick as you would like, so only reward those responses that are an improvement on what went before. He will soon learn to shape up in terms of both action and speed!
It has been shown that by not reinforcing every single good behaviour – only the better responses – the learning process moves more quickly and solidifies what is required in the dog’s mind. It also means that you are able to gradually phase out treats altogether, providing only praise, so that you aren’t reliant on having to carry bags of tasty morsels around with you whenever you are out with your dog.
Sadly, not all reinforcement training is positive. There is also Negative Reinforcement Training. This is where a trainer will remove something that the dog considers to be an aversive as soon as he performs the required action. It may be that he is choked on a choke chain while he pulls, but then the choke slackens as soon as he comes to heel. Such training is not only unethical but also ineffective, as it makes the dog focus more on what not to do than on what it is actually doing correctly.
Only impatient owners and trainers will physically prompt their dog to perform an action. As noted before, pushing or prodding a dog into a particular position can only be counterproductive. The animal will either resist your efforts or will submit without actually learning anything. This is particularly true of on-leash training.
If you listened to most Positive Reward advocates, they would have you believe there is no such thing as a good training technique that incorporates any form of punishment into its methodology. Well, we would agree that not all punishment is good. In fact, we maintain that Negative Punishment can be quite positive, and Positive Punishment is extremely negative! So how do we square this circle? Well, let’s first elaborate on what these terms actually mean.
Positive Punishment is taking punitive action against the dog for not responding in the manner we would want. This can be done by scolding the dog, jerking it on the lead, or even hitting it. This is not training, it is torture, and should not be tolerated. As with Negative Reinforcement, it can only be counterproductive to learning. All that it will teach the dog is to fear the trainer, and can lead to stress, anxiety, and learned helplessness. So much for the foundation of trust, which we maintain is the cornerstone to any good training regime.
Negative Punishment, on the other hand, is withholding something that the dog values, and can work in conjunction with Positive Reward Training to teach the dog not only what it is doing well but when it is going wrong. The withholding of a treat or of praise are examples of Negative Punishment in practice, and is the basis for teaching a dog the ‘No!’, ‘Leave!’, and ‘Off!’ commands.
Negative Punishment should immediately be followed with a Positive Reward once the dog has complied. The two approaches work best in tandem.
Shaping and chaining are not training techniques inasmuch as they are processes through which training can be achieved. Shaping allows a dog to learn a single behaviour through a series of incremental steps that permits it to perfect that behaviour over time. This can mean either better conformation toward a desired result, or a speedier response to a cue, or both.
The behaviour that is being trained will dictate whether one breaks that learning down into tiny increments or guide the action through what Karen Pryor, a founder and proponent of clicker training, describes as “successive approximations” to what is ultimately desired. Teaching a dog to sit, for instance, cannot easily be broken into incremental steps, but it can be guided through successive approximations, such as from when the dog’s rear-end nears the floor until it is finally touching, and then improving on the response rate. On the other hand, the stay cue can be broken down into incremental steps, quite literally as the owner moves a little further away from the dog each time as the lesson progresses until he can eventually walk around the dog while holding that command for longer.
Shaping a Behaviour:
Training a dog to perform a behaviour involves guiding it through successive stages toward that desired action. Here, Fido is being trained to crawl on command. Initially the poles are high enough so he only needs to duck to get under. Once he understands what is being asked of him, the poles are gradually lowered so eventually he learns to crawl on cue.
© Msgrafixx/ courtesy of Shutterstock.com
Shaping, therefore, pertains to a single distinct behaviour, whereas chaining is linking a series of separate behaviours into a continuous action to form a single new command-behaviour pairing. Ideally, you would train the final part of that chain first, and work backwards, so that the dog always ends on a learnt command that will yield a reward, and help foster in both trainer and dog a sense of accomplishment as they move through the various stages toward an outcome or state to which the dog is familiar. This process is known as backchaining.
Training your puppy should not wait for puppy classes. In fact, despite your best efforts to put off today what can begin tomorrow, said training will most certainly not wait once you discover your little furry monster has begun to toilet in inappropriate areas around your home! So the best course of action is to take action from the start. But make sure that it is consistent and fun for both you and the little one. And never scold or rebuke a puppy for when he gets things wrong. Mistakes will invariably happen, and when they do simply take stock, try figure out how you can better aid your puppy to understand what is expected of it, and persevere with training. It will all work out in the end!
What goes in will invariably come out, and you may be surprised how quickly, too! So it is best to have a strategy for toilet training before you even think of bringing your puppy home.
Knowing when your puppy will be needing to toilet will help you to plan accordingly. The most likely times are: upon waking, just before or after feeding, and during or just after a bout of play or moment of excitability. Initially, though, your puppy will need to pee at least eight to ten times a day, gradually reducing to approximately six times a day when he reaches three months of age, and finally around four times a day by the time he is six months old.
Select an area of your garden that you would be happy to be used as a toilet area, and take your puppy there at each of these times, or whenever you spot him sniffing at the floor or circling. As soon as your puppy begins to toilet, pair that action with a cue word or sound, such as ‘psshh’, and then praise and treat him as soon as he’s done. While it may take some time for him to build the association between the cue word or sound and his bladder emptying, in time you will be able to cue him to toilet should he need to empty his bladder.
While you should always take your puppy out for one final toilet before you go to sleep, you may still want to do so again at some point during the night, unless you’re happy to wake up to an accident. Puppies have small bladders, and their bladder reflex is still set to automatic. Giving him an opportunity to relieve himself during the night, at least for the first few weeks while he is settling in, will mean fewer accidents and setbacks to his learning.
It would help to know what type of surface he was using before you brought him home, and if you can match that, even temporarily, in the garden, it would help him acclimate to his new toilet spot. A puppy pad or section of newspaper can be weighted down with bricks, and will give him something familiar to toilet on. Gradually sprinkle earth and leaves over it to get him used to the feel of a more natural toilet environment.
While this may be practical when the environment is dry, it may prove less so when it is raining or damp. Nevertheless, you should still ensure that your puppy goes out to toilet in all weather conditions. Put on a rain coat and join him, don’t simply let him out. After all, you need to ensure that he has done the business, and then be on-hand to praise and treat him once he has done it.
While it may be tempting to leave the door to the garden open on good weather days, this can in fact be counterproductive. Not only will there be times when he goes out of his own volition and you won’t be there to praise him, but invariably there will be days when the weather will be bad, and you will not have given him the opportunity to learn to delay his bladder reflex.
Restricting your puppy’s access to different areas of your home will help to maintain cleanliness and contain accidents, but preparations should be made for the latter‘s inevitability. Puppy pads can initially be placed throughout the room, and gradually reduced in number as the puppy learns to use them and not to toilet elsewhere. Be sure that the last pad remaining is in the place that he has used most often, which will most likely be some distance away from his food and water bowl. Dogs are naturally clean animals, and will usually toilet away from their food area. The last puppy pad can finally be removed once he has gotten used to going outdoors and is better able to maintain urine retention.
Whatever you do, do not put your puppy in doggy diapers! You will not be training him to do anything: not where to toilet, nor when to toilet, let alone to control his own bladder function. It might seem a simple solution to accidents that will invariably happen, but it can only delay the inevitable and make it that much more harder to train him out of inappropriate toileting in the future.
A lot of owners decide to crate their puppy, and while this can be beneficial for a number of reasons, it really needs to be done correctly. Crating should not be viewed by the puppy as a form of punishment but be seen as a place of safety and security. In order to achieve this, never force a puppy into a crate nor lock it in until it has chosen to enter of its own volition.
To achieve this, ensure that the crate is warm and inviting. Create a cosy space for the puppy and include toys and treats for it to snack on. An ideal treat is a Kong half-filled with frozen puppy paste and topped up with unfrozen, aromatic snacks. Be sure to tie down all treats and toys so that he cannot simply remove it from the crate. Let him explore the area for himself, and if he needs a little incentive, toss a couple of treats inside for him to follow. As he enters, pair that action with a cue word, such as ‘bedtime’. In the future, you will be able to initiate his moving into the crate with this word.
While some might recommend leaving him inside the crate throughout the night to learn to hold his bladder, this is really unfair for a young puppy and can cause stress and unnecessary soiling of bedding material. As noted before, dogs are naturally clean animals and would prefer not to toilet in their own bed, let alone a space that is meant to feel secure. It’s really not his fault that his urethral sphincter hasn’t yet fully developed. Don’t worry, you needn’t have to get up every hour or two in the night to take him out, but you should not leave him any longer than three to four hours at a time.
The benefit of crating your puppy is that he will learn to have time-outs and time on his own. It also allows you to get on with whatever you need to get on with doing and not worry what trouble the little furry one is getting himself into! But always ensure that the puppy enters of his own accord, that he settles down, and that he is not left any longer than for three to four hours at a time.
Attending puppy classes is a great way not only to formalise your pet’s training (see ‘Foundational Exercises’ below), but also to socialise your little one. Most likely, when you’ve taken home your puppy he is still within his Socialisation Period, so this is the best time for him to have social interactions and build positive associations with other dogs of his age. Just as important is that he meet a variety of different breeds so that he can learn a range of doggy dialects, and hence broaden his repertoire of how to speak ‘woofish’. For more information on the Canine Socialisation Period, visit our page on ‘Dog Behaviour’. And to discover why in fact there are different doggy dialects, read our page on ‘Dog Body Language & Communication’.
Puppy classes are also a good way for your puppy to meet and mingle with other humans from a variety of backgrounds, which will broaden his experience of people outside of his immediate family circle.
While some vets may advise against socialising your puppy before he has had his full complement of vaccinations, this is a crucial phase in a young dog’s development and such classes can be immensely beneficial. Speak with your vet to see if they run any puppy parties with young dogs of a similar age and that have been vetted by them to ensure they are healthy and strong. But please ensure that such gatherings involve only puppies of a similar age and that there is sufficient supervision to ensure that each of the puppy’s interactions tend toward a positive experience. Even though these puppies would not be undertaking any training, as in a puppy class, it would be beneficial to have a professional trainer or dog behaviourist present to oversee their interactions.
Puppy training needn’t wait for puppy classes. In fact, you can start from day one! Or maybe wait for day two, and give the little tyke a chance to settle in to his new home! 4This training need not be formal but should certainly be engaging and fun for both you and the puppy. Never should you scold or reprimand a pup simply because he is not following your instruction.
Essential exercises, such as sit, settle, leave, and even recall training can all be done with a couple of puppy treats and one happy, playful pup. Simply engage with him to play and begin to entertain his mind.
Just remember what was said about shaping behaviour earlier on this page. If you use the luring technique to try get him to sit or to settle, and he doesn’t quite get there, reward him nonetheless. The purpose is to have fun, not frustrate the little one!
These are essential exercises that all dogs should learn, as they will teach the animal to be attentive to its owner while at the same time giving the owner the tools to both control and safeguard their pet.
As a general rule, if one is to use the dog’s name during an exercise, it is best if their name precede the cue, rather than to be stated afterward. So instead of saying: ‘Sit, Lana’, you would say: ‘Lana, sit’. The name cues the dog that it is being spoken to, and then the instruction should follow.
If your dog appears to have difficulty understanding what is expected of it, simply move back to the previous stage of training and reinforce instruction there. For some dogs, it may take some time,, but once they achieve that breakthrough, repeated action invariably follows. After all, there are treats to be had!
Always try to end a training session on a high note, so that both you and the dog can feel a sense of achievement. And then enjoy a serious bout of play together. You both will have earned it!
For a dog, learning to sit is the basis for many other exercises to come. It is also easier to control a dog that is in a sit position than in a stand position. Finally, achieving a sit means that the dog has learnt to pay attention to you.
This instruction works best when beginning with a highly motivational lure. Present the treat to your dog, and slowly raise it up above the nose and back until the dog naturally falls back into a sit position, and then treat and praise. Perform this action a number of times until the dog becomes used to assuming a seated position.
Next, incorporate the cue word ‘sit’ into the training. Issue this instruction as the dog begins to sit down, and treat when done. Practice this a number of times.
Finally, hold the treat in front of the dog, but don’t move it back, and give the ‘sit’ instruction. As your dog sits down, treat and praise.
Now begin to only treat those ‘sits’ that are quicker, and see how quickly you can make his rear-end hit the floor!
The final step, which may take some time to achieve, is to remove the treat from his sight. You may still need to hold your hand up as if you were still holding one. In time you will be able to drop your hand completely and issue only the verbal command, which would be good to do, as there may be occasions where you would wish him to sit but he is not facing your direction. Equally, as noted before, you will still want to be able to signal through two modes of communication, so see if you can get him to sit without the verbal cue but purely by holding your hand as you had it before when you held a treat. In each instance that he performs under these variable instructions, treat and praise!
Learning to go down, or to settle, is a logical follow-on from learning to sit, and means the dog is even more able to be controlled should a hazard present itself. It is also useful for dogs that jump up at people, and as lying down tends to be linked with a calm state for dogs, it is a good way to calm an over-active pet.
With the dog in a seated position, raise your hand with a high-motivator treat over your head and bring it down in front of the dog’s nose. As the dog sniffs at the treat, slowly lower it to the floor, then as the dog lowers its head, draw the treat slowly away from the dog so that it begins to extend its front legs and go down. As soon as it assumes the settle position, treat and praise.
Some dogs may try to ‘paw’ at the treat without going down, but persevere with them, and in time they will learn what is being asked of them. Just don’t surrender that treat, no matter how much they may paw or muzzle you for it !
Once you’ve established a good result, it is time to introduce your cue-word, and with that firmly cemented, you can again establish two modes of instruction: the verbal cue (being ‘settle’ or ‘down’) and the visual signal (being the movement of your hand from above your head to down by your side – hence why we included the exaggerated hand movement to begin with!).
Having achieved all this, the fun doesn’t stop there! You will still want to establish a ‘down-from-standing’ as well as a ‘down-at-distance’, where you are not up close waving your hand or a treat in front of your dog’s nose. For this you will need a fence or post to attach your dog to. Use the previous approach as outlined above, and then step back and throw the food low between your dog’s paws, so that the dog gets used to receiving the reward from you at a distance. Work all the way back until your dog cannot move forward any further (being attached to the fence of post). The dog invariably will end up standing at the end of it, unable to sit. But if you cue for the ‘down’ at this point, having cued it repeatedly all along up until then, the dog should assume a down position and you can then step further and further away, issuing the command and getting it used to going down immediately while you are at a distance.
It is always good to try and throw training into normal walks, so take with you some high motivator treats and building in a few ‘downs’ during a walk. Do so only when the dog is not distracted and is paying some attention to you. Doing so will help get it used to responding in a wide range of circumstances and not only in formal training sessions.
While the preceding two exercises are fundamental to a dog’s training, it is their learning to stay in either position that the benefits truly show themselves. There is little real value in a dog going down on cue only to jump back up again and continue its boisterous activity, or a dog sitting at the side of the road with its owner, only to immediately step forward into the traffic. Stay also means that the dog has learnt to keep its attention focused on the owner, awaiting the next command or a release.
In order to achieve this for either of the preceding two instructions, it is simply the case to execute a ‘stay’ instruction while holding your hand up, palm out facing the dog. Delay the reward for a few seconds, and then treat and praise. Gradually increase the time before dishing out the reward. Once you have achieved 30 seconds of your dog not budging, you’re doing pretty well! Now you can mix it up further by taking a step back, and then a couple of more steps. Always return to your dog to treat him, which is his cue for being released. You can proof his understanding of this instruction by not walking directly back to him, but instead move in an arc around him, and then move back directly to his side. Treat and praise him heavily, for he will have deserved it!
At times when the dog’s life may be in danger – for instance running toward a main road – it is essential to be able to control the dog from a distance. Being able to summon an immediate, or emergency, down could be the difference between life and death for the dog.
You already know how to train your dog to assume a settle position, as well as how to go down-at-distance. All you need to do now is to reward those downs that are quicker than preceding ones. Have your dog in a standing position, even if he still needs to be tethered to a fence or post for now, and practice, rewarding only those downs that are done swiftly.
Now that he has mastered this phase, introduce him to a treat that you can then cover with a cone or a container, something that he cannot gain access to himself. Instruct him to go down, and as he does release the treat. He will soon get the hang of going down for the tasty hidden morsel! With this result, you can place the cone or container elsewhere in the garden and have him run toward it. As soon as he reaches it, instruct him to go down. Remember that there will be a delay in him receiving his reward, so it is important that you pair his action of going down with a positive word, such as ‘Good!’, just so that he knows what it is that he is being rewarded for.
In time you will have your dog hitting the deck, not only from a standing position but whilst in mid-sprint, as well!
A good recall is as vital as an immediate down, whether it is to call your dog away from other dogs, from a hazard such as a road, or from people that may be scared of dogs. Being able to recall your pet from a wide variety of distractions and temptations is an absolute must, even if it is simply to get the lead back on so that you can go home!
Recall is best taught initially from a close distance in a secure environment. While the dog is on a lead, allow it to move away from you and then call out it’s name with the instruction: ‘Come!’ In a friendly, happy tone. As the dog turns, reward it with a praise-word, such as ‘Good!’, and treat it as soon as it reaches you. This process can be gradually extended outward with the aid of a long-line lead.
The more distance you put between yourself and the dog, the greater chance that the dog may choose not to respond. At this point, pair the cue word with the action of jogging back, away from the dog, to entice it with its instinct to chase. As the dog turns toward you, use the praise-word of ‘Good!’, and treat it and praise it once it reaches you.
For some dogs, treats are simply not enough. If the dog is rewarded more by playing, then incorporate a squeaky toy into the training, initially pairing the cue with a squeak, and then gradually phasing the squeak out once the dog has learnt the instruction.
Always remember to practice first in a low-distraction environment, moving on gradually to higher-distraction spaces, and proofing the instruction each step of the way.
It is equally important to teach a dog to leave something, be it food, a toy, or any other object it may be interested in. Not only is this safer for the dog, so too is it best for anything that the dog may have got hold of that is shouldn’t have! It is also a great way to teach the dog that the ultimate controller of resources is the owner, teaching the dog both respect and patience, and can prevent unwanted behaviour such as food aggression and toy guarding.
Start by holding a treat in your fist and letting the dog sniff and paw at it. The moment the dog pulls its head away from your hand, in effect giving up, reward it by providing it with another treat in your other hand, and praise it. Once you have established the behaviour of moving away from your fist, pair the behaviour with the word ‘Leave!’, so that the instruction is issued as the dog moves its head away from your fist. With this done, begin to delay giving the reward from your other hand, so that the dog learns to wait a bit longer.
The next stage is to have the dog sat beside you with a treat placed on the floor in front of it. When the dog lowers its head to get the treat, issue the instruction to ‘Leave!’, blocking the treat with a finger or hand if necessary, and then reward the dog with a treat from your hand. However, do not reward it with the treat on the floor!
Walking on a loose lead is considered a core training exercise because it shows that the dog is able to circumnavigate all the distractions out in public and yet still be aware of its owner, which means that the owner is able to have control over the dog. The dog has fully surrendered the leadership position, allowing for a calmer, more controllable dog, and hence the basis for a more positive and rewarding relationship. This is not to imply that the owner has dominated the dog, merely that the owner has taken proper responsibility for his role as guardian and caretaker.
It is during loose-lead training that most evidence of positive punishment techniques can be found, be it pulling, yanking, choking, or tugging the dog. All of these reactive responses to a dog that is clearly paying you no heed should be curtailed. They simply do not help the dog to learn, and in fact can be counterproductive. For every action there is a reaction, and yanking a dog will only make it pull away quicker. So what alternative tactics are there?
For one, you can simply stop walking and return your dog’s focus to you. Each time he pulls slightly ahead, stop and reset. Alternatively, you can keep reversing direction, or even be slightly less predictable with your movements. Whenever your dog presumes to know which direction you’re going, switch to another direction, with a joyful instruction for him to follow you. Keep your dog guessing, and every time he begins to pull in front, surprise him again! Before long, he will want to keep his eyes on you, because he might just think you had gone ever so slightly mad!
Finally, find something that he loves and hold it ever so close to your heart. And I mean literally! Even if it is his food bowl you decide to carry with you, place it up to your chest and have him trot beside you, gazing up ever lovingly… at his bowl. If you thought to put some of his food in it, then you can even treat and praise him at the same time!
So now you have your dog following not you but its bowl everywhere you go. Well, how does that help you? Will you need to carry its bowl everywhere you go? Not if you establish the ‘Look!’ cue!
In order to do this, have your dog sit beside you and place a treat on the floor as you would when training the ‘Leave!’ cue. And then wait. At some point your dog will expect that second treat from your hand as a reward, and he will look up at you. As he does so, cue him with the word ‘Look!’ and then reward him immediately. Do this a number of times, and eventually remove the treat from the floor. Cue him with the word ‘Look!’ and if he glances up, reward him. Now shape that response by rewarding only those times that he gazes up into your eyes and slowly delay the reward so that he holds his gaze for longer.
With the ‘Look!’ instruction, you should be able to regain your dog’s attention in a variety of environments and situations.
We’ve already established one Negative Reinforcement protocol with the ‘Leave!’ instruction, and you will note there how well it works when followed by a positive reward. As we said before, these two modes of learning work best when done in tandem.
‘No!’ is a rather general term, essentially telling your pooch to desist from whatever it is doing, or preferably only what it is about to do. When it comes to food, it’s best to only employ the ‘Leave!’ command to avoid confusion. So for this instruction, let us use other areas where such a command might prove useful. How about his dashing out the front door as soon as you open it? With your dog on your lead, have him sat beside you at the front door. As you begin to open the door, he might get up or begin to move toward it. Immediately swing the door closed again (without banging it!), and wait for your dog to settle again. Reward him for settling. Having established this process, now cue him with the word ‘No!’ as he begins to stand up or move toward it, and swing the door closed. Remember to reward and praise him for resuming his original position of being beside you.
Similarly, the ‘Off!’ cue can be established when you find your dog on your sofa, or some other place that you would he weren’t. With tasty treat in hand, let his nose follow your direction off that piece of furniture, issuing the instruction as he leaves. Now have him either sit or, better yet, settle down, and reward him accordingly.
In these instances, it is good to pair the negative behaviour with a positive one, so that you are not simply instructing what not to do but what you would prefer that he do instead. In the instances of ‘No!’, it may be to sit, and in the instances of ‘Off!’ it may be to settle down.
Clicker, whistle, and target-based training are all powerful tools that can be used in conjunction with both Positive Reinforcement and Negative Punishment training practices. The only reason we present them after, as opposed to before, the core exercises is to explain how you can still fulfill your dog’s training requirements without them. But what these two tools will give you, should you decide to employ them, is:
The way in which you apply these training techniques are similar, but we will cover each in turn.
For clicker training, all that you will require is a clicker – a device that emits a sharply defined and distinct sound when pressed – as well as a bag full of high motivator treats.
In order to prime the clicker, sit your dog in front of you and then simply click-and-treat. Click-and-treat, click-and-treat, click-and-treat. You don’t need to do or say anything else. All that you are doing is building an association between the sound of the click and the provision of reward, just as you would pair a cue-word to a behaviour. After ten or twelve click-and-treats, click and then withhold the treat. If your dog looks slightly confused, as if wondering why he has not been rewarded, you know that he has made the association.
Now it is time to use the clicker to conduct some training that your dog may already be familiar with. Instruct him to ‘sit’, and mark – or click – as he does so. Do not reward him just yet. Instruct him to ‘settle’, and again mark – or click – as he goes down. Tell him to ‘stay’, and then move away from him. After you have taken a few steps back, turn to face him and ‘click’, then rejoin him and give him a treat and heaps of praise!
You have just had your dog perform three instructions and only treated him once, at the end. Consider the clicker to be the conditional reinforcer, telling your dog when he is doing the right thing, and your treats and praise to be the unconditional reinforcer, simply congratulating him for a job well done!
Unlike clicker training, you will want to pair the whistle not to a response from the dog but to an instruction from you. In order to achieve this, the instruction and the ensuing behaviour needs to have been already paired and should happen in a relatively confined space so that the dog can hear your instruction.
Decide what types of sounds you would wish for each instruction, remembering that you can make a short ‘pip’ sound or elongated ‘peep’ sound. So for recall, you could decide on ‘Peep-Peep-Peep’, while for an instruction to sit you could have only a short ‘Pip’.
Now issue your instruction and immediately as your dog responds perform the whistle. Treat and praise your dog as soon he has has obeyed the instruction. Keep at it every time you issue that instruction, remember: Consistency and repetition are key. You’ll know when your dog gets the hang of it when he responds the whistle without the associated verbal instruction.
It is best not to overload your dog with this new ‘language’ straight away, so practice and cement only one instruction-cue at a time. And save it only for your home or garden, and when you have your dog’s undivided attention. You want to set him up to succeed, and there’s nothing more sure to make him fail if he learns to disregard this new form of instruction because there is something else better to do. So for now, keep the whistling for the home environment and rely on your traditional cues for the park and public spaces.
Only once you have cemented the whistle training at home should you then take it out into the more distractible park environment. Choose a time when it is less busy and when there are minimal distractions, give your dog a chance to run around and burn off energy, and then practice the cues on him while he is close to hand. It might even help if you’ve delayed his morning meal to make him that little bit more hungry and willing to work with you on this new form of communication!
Target-based training entails getting your dog to focus on a single object or item to the exclusion of all else, whether it is to press his muzzle against it or to settle on it. It can take the form of a ball, a toy, or a towel.
The basis for this training is the Touch Cue. In order to establish this, place a treat in your left hand and make a fist, while keeping your right hand empty and open, then hold both hands out, but apart. Your dog will immediately nuzzle your left fist, wanting to get the treat that you’re holding inside, but don’t allow it.
Eventually, he will glance over to your right, open hand, just to make sure there isn’t anything there. As soon as he does this, offer him the treat you have been hiding all this time within your left hand.
Perform this action again, but now only reward your dog when he touches your open right hand with his muzzle. Immediately reward him with the treat in your left hand. Very quickly your dog will understand that he needs to touch your right hand in order to get the treat from your left hand. You can now pair this action by issuing the cue-word, ‘Touch!’, each time your dog nuzzles your right hand. Initially, he may only brush your right hand, but by delaying the treat and rewarding only those touches that are firm and deliberate, you will achieve a longer contact. If you have trained your dog with Negative Punishment Training, you can even give a ‘No!’ instruction should he break away too quickly. Eventually, all you will need to do is hold out your hand and instruct: ‘Touch!’, and your dog will happily trot over to nuzzle your hand. You have now cemented in him the Touch Cue.
So, how does this aid in target-based training? Well, you can now use the same approach to get him to nuzzle a target-object such as a ball or toy. Simply hold this object in your right hand while making a fist with a treat in your left, and follow the same process. Cue him with a unique instruction, such as ‘Touch-ball!’ or ‘Touch-toy!’
Instead of touching an object, how about having him stand or sit on something such as a blanket or towel? The principle for achieving this is again similar to Touch Cue training, but in this instance you will have some food in a bowel placed a short distance away and have the towel placed on a surface that had a distinctly different feel and colour. Gently ward him off or block his path to the food, and leave him to wander around. Do not direct him to the towel. But the moment he passes over it or touches it, reward him with another high motivator treat by tossing it onto the towel for him. Most likely he will happily come over to you for more, but ignore him and let him re-explore the off-limits bowl. Block him or ward him off, and again reward him for stepping on the towel. At some point things will begin to click for him, and he will start to venture onto the towel. At this point, issue him with the cue-word: ‘Blanket!’. Once he begins to move there more readily with the cue-word, you can tell him to stay on the towel, praise him heavily, and bring over to him the bowl that was on the floor.
All of these foundational lessons need to be trained frequently and repeatedly but in short sessions. Do not let your dog get bored or frustrated. He needs to find it both fun and rewarding if he is to persevere. The benefits and rewards for you, however, can be immense if you can make him succeed. Clicker, whistle, and target-based training can be immensely helpful in teaching your dog certain life skills, as we shall reveal next.
There is a lot that a young dog has to learn in a relatively short space of time, certainly a great deal that will seem completely alien to him, but that is required in order for him to adjust to human society.
Whereas by canine custom it is accepted conduct to splash around in muddy puddles and roll in carrion, now they are expected to endure hot baths with shampoo that leaves them smelling of baby powder. And while among the pooch population four paws are all that is required to travel, now they get slung into the back of giant metal boxes that roll around at great speed on four wheels. And let’s not even talk about going to the vets! Let’s, in fact, not go there at all!
So what is your mutt to do, but to have you help him to make sense of this brave new world.
Training Tools: Habituation, Positive Reinforcement
At some point in his life, your dog will invariably need to swallow some medication. Without proper training, this may turn into a battle of wills as you fight not only through clenched jaws and spittle, but even possible regurgitation. So how would it be if your dog were willing to swallow that ‘bitter pill’? With just a little bit of training, actually not that difficult!
The trick is to train him early on to receive a small-sized item toward the back of his throat. So why not start with a tablet-sized portion of chicken? But don’t ram it down his throat from the off, simply offer it to him. The trick here is that he not take that portion from between your fingers but that he lets you gently part his teeth and drop it quickly onto the tip of his tongue, and that you then praise him accordingly.
As he realises all that is required is to relax his jaw muscles that he will then get a treat, he will be unclenching his teeth in no time! Gradually open his jaws wider so that you can drop the tiny little morsel further toward the back of his throat, and praise him each time.
When it comes to giving him medication, wrap the first few tablets in a similarly tasty morsel, like a piece of chicken, and then guide it quickly toward the back of his throat, and let him swallow.
Training Tools: Habituation, Positive Reinforcement
A first outing to the pet grooming parlor, or even having their claws trimmed at home for the first time, can be a quite a scary experience for any pooch, and one they may not wish to revisit if not handled well. Even bath time can become a complete washout for a pet that normally loves to dive into water. So how can you set your dog up to succeed? Well, just a little bit of habituation blended with a dash of positive association can go a long way!
You will first want to get your dog used to being touched on all parts of his body. This will also be vital for preparing him for visits to the vet. Get him to sit and then gently touch each of his ears, and reward him, either with a treat or marking his good behaviour with a click from your clicker. Gently raise each of his ears if they are floppy and let them drop again. Do the same for his lips, gently raising them so the gums are visible on either side, before raising each of his paws and pressing gently on each of the pads to extend each of his claws. Gently praise and treat him at each step of the way.
Second, you will want to habituate him to both the tools and the environment that will be involved in the grooming process. In terms of bathing, if you will be using your bathroom, then make sure it is a space of positive associations. Let him visit the room while there is no water in the bath. Praise and treat him for exploring the space. Place a favourite toy into the empty tub and help him to climb in to get it and then immediately help him back out again. If you are planning to use your own bathtub, be aware that dogs generally do not like standing on porcelain. Place a rubber mat in the bath before letting him climb in. When it comes time for him to have his bath, ensure that the tub is already filled with sufficient lukewarm water, as gushing water from taps or shower heads may frighten him. Use a pitcher, not a shower hose, to gently pour water over him, keeping both water and soap well away from his face.
Regarding other aspects of grooming, introduce your dog to each of the tools that you will be using, allowing him to sniff each in turn. Treat him for doing so or, if you are using a clicker, click to mark the good behaviour. Having given him the opportunity to sniff the tools, place each one against his body as if they were to be used, but do not turn them on or use them. Raise his paw gently and place the pet nail clipper against each of his claws in turn. If using clippers place them against his body while still turned off. Do so for each implement you will be using, and treat and praise him.
If your dog has reacted well thus far, it’s time to move on to the next stage. For nail clippers, that means applying a bit of pressure to each of the claws without actually cutting them. For ear cleaners, that means tipping the bottle against the ear without actually pouring. For teeth cleaning, that means holding the brush against the gums without brushing.
Electric clippers pose a unique problem, as some dogs find the feel of a clipper’s vibrations against their body somewhat unnerving. If your dog has accepted the switched-off clipper, then turn it on well away from him and let him hear the sound it makes and discern where it is coming from. Hold the vibrating clipper lower than your dog’s head and draw it slowly toward his side, all the while treating and praising him. Pay careful attention to your dog, turning them off if he shows any sign of stress or anxiety. Gently hold it against his body without actually trimming, then turn off the clippers and treat and praise him.
The next step is to perform the actual grooming, be that brushing, ear cleaning, fur or claw trimming. Have someone with you to praise and treat your dog throughout. Try and keep the first session short, so don’t do all at once. Perhaps for now just focus on one thing. You can always give him a bit of a break and do the rest over the course of the week.
Training Tools: Counter Conditioning, Desensitisation, Target-based Training
Not all dogs react badly to thunderstorms, but for those that do it can be quite a traumatic experience that can easily lead to phobic responses at the onset of further storms. While training a dog to better cope during such weather events, through target-based training, counter conditioning and desensitisation, may ameliorate their response to some of the more obvious factors – those being the noise and the bright flashes – there are other, less perceptible (at least to us) reasons for a dog’s reaction at these times.
A dog that ducks under a sofa to hide is not simply responding to the sound of the thunderclap but also to the drop in barometric pressure that accompanies a storm. In addition, such storms can result in an electrostatic buildup in their fur coats, which can result in them getting a mild shock. This is most likely to occur in dogs with long or double coats.
To an extent, one can desensitise a dog to the clap of thunder and the strong wind by playing audio recordings of such a weather event, starting off low and gradually increasing in volume. Target train your dog to to lie down on linen throw and moisten his fur by wiping his coat with pet wipes. These should help reduce the chance of static charge developing on his coat. If your dog has metal bowls for food and water, switch them to porcelain. You can then begin counter conditioning him by providing him with a favourite treat.
Even then, your dog may still wish to hide when the storm comes. Don’t mollycoddle him, but reassure him with a calm and pleasant tone. Close all windows and curtains, turn the lights up and the TV on, and try spend the duration of the storm in his company.
There are a number of products available to help get your dog through a storm, from calming diffusers that can be plugged into a plug socket to anxiety jackets that snuggly fit your pooch and applies pressure to his torso, which can create a calming effect in your dog.
Similar protocols should be put into place for fireworks. And while it may seem quite apparent that no one can summon a storm, it should be made equally clear that if you do have a dog at home you should seriously reconsider setting off any fireworks in your own garden.
Training Tools: Habituation, Positive Reinforcement, Target-based Training
The first visit to the vet has all the potential for stress and anxiety in a grown dog, let alone a little puppy, and his reaction to that first outing can inform his response to all future visits. So how can you mitigate the stress whilst building positive associations to such an experience?
It might be worth considering a first visit from your puppy’s point of view.
Upon entering reception, he may find himself approached by all manner of beast, varying in size, age, and temperament. And by that we’re referring to the both the receptionist and nursing staff. So be sure to have socialised your puppy to a range of people by this point, including both men and women, young and old, of all shapes and sizes, so that his understanding of what falls into the category of ‘person’ is as broad as possible. Bring some of your own treats that your puppy likes, so that you can offer them to the nurses and receptionist, who no doubt would love to say hello.
A reception room full of more familiar ‘beasts’ – namely that of the canid family – can still be quite daunting to a young pup, especially if some are either excitable and barking while others are timid and scared (their owners not having set their dog up to succeed, as you are about to do). For this reason, it is best to book an appointment in advance and at a time when the veterinary practice is seeing fewer clients.
From reception, your pup will be shown through to a consultation room, where a veterinary surgeon will want to have them stand on a table to be palpated, prodded, poked, and injected. And even if the room has a calming diffuser, the overwhelming smell of cleaning agent and disinfectant can be quite off-putting to a sensitive canine nose.
You can habituate your puppy to such procedures through a blend of positive reinforcement and target-based training.
Firstly, lets take being lifted up onto a table. Target-train your pup to settle onto a towel or blanket by rewarding him each time he goes there to settle of his own volition. You can direct him to it, and each time he lies down, treat and praise. As he learns to associate that towel or blanket with being in a calm state, you can transfer it to the car and have him settle on it there for fifteen minutes, extending up to half an hour, under supervision. By training him to be calm in the car prior to the journey to the vet, you are less likely to arrive at the veterinary practice with an already stressed animal.
If you have crate trained your puppy, you can follow the same procedure as above with the crate.
Now place that towel or blanket onto a table top or kitchen counter, and raise your puppy up onto it, keeping a gentle hold of him so that he doesn’t wander off, and treat and praise him. Keep him up there for thirty seconds or so, and then place him gently back down. Practice this a couple of times each day, picking him up and placing him on the table with the towel or blanket, treating and praising him, and gradually increase the duration that he is up there while you gently restrain him before setting him back down.
Once your puppy seems relaxed on the table top, you can begin to habituate him to how he will be handled by a vet. Gently lift each of his ears in turn, pull back his lips to expose his teeth and gums, touch and then hold up each of his paws. Treat and praise him during each of these exercises.
No doubt during the visit to the vet, your puppy will feel cold metal against his body as the vet will want to listen to his chest with a stethoscope. This can best be replicated by holding a metal spoon flat against his chest, initially at room temperature, and, once he has accepted this, moving on to a spoon that’s been chilled in the fridge. As before, gradually increase the duration it is held against your puppy, and provide him, with treats and praise for his patience and good behaviour.
Muzzling at the Vets:
Many vets have to resort to muzzling to ensure they do not get bitten by a dog whilst administering care. While this becomes an unfortunate necessity for the welfare of staff, it does little to desensitise the dog to what is undoubtedly for them a scary and stressful experience. Preparing your dog through habituation and positive reinforcement will make the entire process much calmer for all concerned.
For further suggestions as to how you can prepare for vet visits, view our page on ‘Training on Visits to the Vet’.
Training Tools: Habituation / Counter Conditioning, Desensitisation
Most likely your dog’s first foray in a car was when he was rudely removed from his mother and litter mates, placed in a box on the back seat, and driven away from the only home he’s ever known. Not exactly a positive beginning!
But then it got worse.
His next venture in a car was to be taken to a place that smelled of the fear of other dogs, where he got picked up by strangers, pawed at around his eyes and muzzle, poked in his ears and bum, and then pricked with a needle. No wonder he’s come to associate that strange metal box on four wheels with all manner of evil!
And even if he hasn’t been filled with such negative associations – perhaps you rehomed your dog and followed the tips below for preparing him for the visit to the vet – he may still be prone to motion sickness, which can lead to both fear and anxiety.
Or, in fact, perhaps the associations have become so positive, with all those frequent journeys to the park, that he can barely contain himself when he is placed inside, becoming excitable and rowdy to the degree that it affects your driving.
So be it fear borne out of negative associations, or excitation prompted by positive experiences, how can you ever hope that your dog will reach a state of measured calm within your car?
The first step is to associate the car with both positive and calming things, namely food and sleep.
Walk your dog around the car without putting him inside. Next open both back doors and guide your dog through one of the doors, across the back seat, and immediately out the other side. As he becomes accustomed to being able to exit immediately, his reticence to enter the car in the first place will begin to diminish.
Next, place his food bowl beside the car, and feed him there. The next day place his food bowl inside the car, and feed him there. If he has suffered from nausea in the past, he may not wish to eat immediately, but if you include some tasty morsels like shredded chicken, you may just win him over, especially as the car will not be moving.
Have him lie down for fifteen minutes while you sit in the driver’s seat. You can read a book or listen to the radio, but for now you’re going nowhere! Repeat this process for a week, extending his stay inside for up to half an hour. But please do not leave your dog unattended in the car, especially in hot weather.
Your first journey should be to nowhere but back home, so perhaps take your dog for a drive around the block. After doing this for a few days, take him slightly further out, such as to the post office and back. Wherever you decide to take him, let it be a neutral experience, filled with neither negative nor positive associations. In fact, you may only let him out on occasion to sniff the ground before placing him back in to be driven home.
After a week of this, your dog will be enjoying the pleasure of your company but little else. There isn’t really anything else in this for him to fear or to get excited about. And when you finally do drive him somewhere to go for a walk, take him somewhere nearby but that he hasn’t been to before. For him, it will come as a pleasant surprise after all those uneventful car journeys, and he won’t have been able to ramp up his excitement by spotting recognisable landmarks en route to a familiar park.
Dogs that are motion sensitive may still feel a bit queasy while being driven around, and for those dogs it is best that they not be driven immediately after having eaten. Through target-based training, you can associate a towel or blanket with a sense of relaxed calm by guiding your dog to that blanket and then having him settle there. Reward him for doing so, and then begin to follow this routine every evening when your dog seems to be winding down for the night. Having had him associate that towel or blanket with a calm state, now place that item in the back of your car and have your dog lie down on it there, and follow the process as established above – in which he simply stays there for fifteen minutes, extending up to half an hour, without being driven anywhere; to you driving him around the block and then returning home; to you driving him to the post office and back; to you finally taking him somewhere nearby for a pleasant walk.
For further pet travel tips, feel free to check out our page: ‘Traveling With Your Pet’.
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