Learning under duress

I distinctly remember that day. I was in 2nd grade. The new frock that had been sitting in the closet, that I had coveted for months had been pulled out and I was allowed to wear it to school to celebrate my birthday. I sat in class, shaking in my new frock, terrified out of my wits and asked my friend, "What do you think? Will she take it easy on me today because it's my birthday?". My teacher was known to be one of the toughest. She used metal rulers and hit us on our knuckles till they split open. "What if I threatened her that I would complain to the principal if she hits me on my birthday? Will she leave me alone?", I asked my friend. My friend looked at me like I had lost my mind. "Nooooo! Don't do that. She will get angry and hit you harder!", she said. Despite my friend's wisdom, when my teacher approached me, I snapped and screamed "If you hit me on my birthday I will complain. My father loves me and he will hit you back!". Oh boy....did I regret that!

But here is the thing. Today I deal with many many dogs. Dogs just as scared as I was that day. Dogs who have tried to tell us, in every way possible, that they are terrified. And dogs who eventually snap. They don't have anyone to complain to. So they defend themselves. Instead of recognizing the hopeless corner we push them into, we label them as aggressive or dominant and push them further and further. One fine day they give up, go into a shell. They become completely apathetic and then we claim to have "cured" the aggression. To my mind there really cannot be a solution unless one gets to the bottom of the problem and address that, instead of merely dealing with the symptoms. At the basis of canine aggression is fear. To fix aggression, one needs to understand fear and stress - there are no two ways about that!

To understand fear and stress, we need to understand where it comes from - the brain. Somewhere, a long time ago, in biology class, I learnt of two parts of the nervous systems - Voluntary and Involuntary. The Involuntary nervous system was something that had a mind of it's own and there was little I could do to control what that system did. This involuntary part of the brain has two modes of functioning - an emergency  mode that's turned on during times of stress and a regular mode. (For those who like technical terms, it's the Sympathetic nervous system and Parasympathetic nervous system respectively) When one mode is on, the other mode is off. And considering all of this is part of the involuntary nervous system, there is not much point in telling a dog "NO! Bad Boy! Sympathetic system off!". No amount of training, no amount of dog whispering, no amount of leadership is going to teach a dog to turn off his Stress Response or the emergency mode. The only way is for the Stressor itself to go away. But with us, hovering there, trying to be dominant leaders, we ourselves become the stressors, constantly keeping our dog in emergency mode. What does this do to our dogs?

The Parasympathetic system or the regular mode of the body focuses on long term projects of the body - digestion, storage of nutrients, growth, immunity, learning, memory etc...When a dog is stressed all of this is turned off. The emergency mode kicks in. This system's focus is survival. So it puts all senses on high alert and gets the muscles pumped up and primed for a mad dash. That means that all nutrients in the body, that were being stored for learning and growth are now being poured out for the mad dash. The heart is beating hard and fast to get all of this to the muscles. The muscles are sucking up oxygen which was meant for the brain. The senses are focusing on the entries, exits, defense tools etc...and don't really care about learning.

At this point, we have some trainers who come in and insist on training the dog. There is talk of "obedience training". There is talk of leadership. There is talk about "manners classes". I remember once when I was being punished badly for botching up history classes. Between sobs I was trying to learn the dates of the damned battle of Panipat and who fought who. Looking through my tears I could see the letters and numbers floating around and doing an obscene dance in front of me that made no sense at all. Nothing made sense. All I could think of was "please don't beat me any more with that metal ruler". I tried so hard to get those sentences to make sense, but the numbers and letters just sniggered and continued their insane dance. "What are the dates Sindhoor?". I heard the question but the question did not make sense. I repeated the question in my head a few times. I looked at the dance. Nothing made sense. I sobbed and blurted out "Please don't beat me!" and I bolted across the room. Continuing to recount this story is just going to be hard to read. When trainers recommend manners classes for such dogs I relive that day. I look at the dogs eyes and I see the same sentiment in the dogs eyes. The feeling of helplessness, fear and complete inability to comprehend anything. Trainers are not always tuned into their dogs. But good pet parents are. I sincerely hope that they look into the eyes of their dogs and see what the trainers are asking these poor dogs to do and rescue their dogs from this impossible misson.

Off late, I have been dealing with many dogs who are under severe chronic stress and are being subjected to additional stress in the attempt to train them. My mind is filled with all of this, to a point where, a few nights ago I had a night mare - I heard my little sister crying. She was being punished for not learning well. She was sobbing. I often look at my dog and my sister similarly. So in my dream, they both were the same. It was a little girl of about 5 or so, sometimes representing my sister, sometimes representing my dog and sometimes representing the 5yr old me, terrified, being yelled at, sobbing and trying to learn. I ran out, called out to this little girl. When she came to me, I hugged her, wiped off her tears. Told her that she was OK and there was nothing to be afraid of. I asked her to take a break and that she could learn later. I told her I would come play with her in a bit. I went looking for the person who had hurt her and ensured that there would be no more punishments. If we think about it, dealing with our dogs should not be very different. The concepts are the same - ensure it does not happen again, a reassurance, a break from learning and some help to feel better again. So for a dog, this is what we would do:

1. Remove the stressors. Stop the scolding. Stop the yelling. Stop being dominant. Just be a loving pet parent
2. Provide reassurance to the little one that there will be no more of that. For a dog being left alone, calm reassuring voice and stop changing scenes on a dog. If a dog is guarding resources due to fear of lack of resources - just flood the dog with resources so that the dog is confident that there is no reason for fear
3. Give the little one time to recover and cope. For chronic stress, like in the case of dogs, nutrition and sleep are critical in this. Consistency in the home a dog is absolutely critical. So don't move the dog around from foster home to foster home. Stay. Let the dog recover. 
4. Build confidence in the little one that she can indeed cope and learn. In the case of a stressed dog, work with a good behaviourist on confidence building measures. When faced with potential stressors, reassured the dog that the dog has the choice to walk away and avoid the stressors, thus helping gain more confidence.

During the worst of her days, Nishi sought comfort in her toys. 
She took them to bed with her. 
Back then, I could not take pictures of all of her. It was too horrifying. 
So I took pictures of the best part of her - her coping spirit!

Love, patience and nurture are critical in helping a stressed dog. Leadership, obedience and manners are futile, counter productive and almost cruel on a stressed dog. I can relate to this and for those of us who were brought up in a culture of punishment, we don't need to understand the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous Systems to know how all of this works. We just know what works and what does not. And if the voice inside us is not something we want to rely on, then understand the functioning of the brain. Either way, the answer is the same - remove stressors, reassurance, recovery & confidence building. 

The trainer under the big pink dog

I just saw a dog that looked a lot like an Naaty! So what's so special about that? Well, I am in the Frankfurt airport. That's what! I am sitting here, waiting for someone very very special to turn up in the next 30 minutes. She is my idol and has been my inspiration and crutch for the last 3 years and like most leaders, she is not even aware of how much she has done for me, Nishi and our family. She is Turid Rugaas - leading canine behaviourist at the cutting edge of understanding dog-dog communication and dog-human communication.

When Nishi met with an accident almost 3 years ago, we fought tooth and nail to keep her alive. As soon as we realized she was going to live, we were relieved. But along with the relief came an immediate realization that she was going to bear scars more than skin deep. She was goign to bear emotional scars that could prove far more damaging. I head heard of dogs being hit by a bicycle who had gotten so aggressive that they had drawn blood from owners. So I started searching frantically for answers. That's when Turid entered my life without her knowledge.

Of all the canine experts in the world, her approach was very compassionate and grounded in the well being of the animal in it's natural state. It doe not insist on getting dogs to do something by coercion or wit. It spoke of how to just communicate with dogs - plain and simple. How to understand what they were saying. How to tell them what we need. And how to reach an gentlemans agreement, if you will (well, in our case a "ladys agreement"?). In any case, this approach was so appealing to us. It felt natural. It felt holistic. It just felt right.

The lady in the light blue shirt under the big pink dog
Turid Rugaas
Anything but a martinet dog trainer

With no expectation of a response, I emailed her asking for help with socializing Nishi. We had some special conditions in India that I needed help to tackle. And lo and behold she responded! With her help, I have been working with Nishi and I am rather proud to say that Nishi has come around tremendously in the last 2 years. She is no more a scared scarred dog. She is as close to normal as I ever expected her to get and she still shows promise.

Then I started using the knowledge I had gained in the process to help others. It was working wonderfully for friends. I wished I could do more. I wished I could learn directly from Turid. As fate might have it, I entered a sabbatical in my job. One of those idle evenings, I started looking at Turids newly revamped website. Her course spanned 30 days, stretched over 1.5 years. It was only offered in Norway. Her fees were far too beyond my affordability. But how I wished...

They say the idle mind is the devils workshop. If that's really true, the devil is perhaps not as bad as he is made out to be. After staring at her website for days and days I drafted a letter out to her. I saved the mail. I read it every day for a month. I finally sent it out. I just put my cards straight out on the table. And the most unexpected happened. She replied, completely willing to help me out. She made a program just for me. She arranged for everything. I was faced with road blocks all along the way. The visa process was excruciating. The visa was issued 2 days before I was to depart and that too in Delhi. Thanks to a wonderful network of angels, one angel called in a favor to expedite the visa, one angel in Delhi picked up the visa and delivered it to Gurgaon 10 minutes before another lovely angel flew down from Delhi to Bangalore, bringing my passport on the day I was to depart. I call all these women angels because it really feels like there have been several angels on my shoulders making this happen. And of course, my husband, pushing me all along, pulling me up when I felt it might not happen...just making it happen!

Something about the universe conspiring to make things happens comes to mind at this point. The number of people who have come together to make this happen is mind blowing. I have a long list of questions that several dog lovers have sent in. I have poured over several books and DVDs and helped several dogs in Bangalore, to identify issues specific to India. Everything has lined up for this. For this moment. In the next 15 minutes she should be here. I cannot wait. I cannot wait to see how this month pans out. But I am sure I will treasure the experience for life.

We like Dead Skunks and we cannot lie

Yeah! I know...we all want to think our dogs are posh dogs. We want to wash them in shampoos that smell of berries, put shiny collars on them and think that our dogs love the good things in life. Yes, they do love the good things in life. But their idea of good things and our idea of good things are perhaps a tad different.

All said and done, dogs adore half dead or fully dead rodent. Yeah...squeal all you want. But that's what it is. So, it does not take much to figure out that a toy that looks and feels like a half dead rodent is going to be popular with them.

Check out those eyes!

One toy that I found that comes very close to this is Skineez. These are squeaky toys, have little beady eyes, are limpid like half dead rodents. There are a few others who make squeaky toys with this structure. But what I like about these specific toys is that they have no stuffing! Yep. They are stuffing free.

Tigger is my true hunter dog! She likes to not just have a kill but actually dismember the kill! So she goes after all her toys and pulls all the stuffing out. Not that she likes eating it, but she loves pulling everything out. In the process, I fear that she might accidentally eat some. So a toy that does not have stuffing that she could eat is always very attractive to me.

Note the "No Stuffing" sticker. I like that a lot

Nishi is my gentle girl. She picks up the toy in her mouth, prances around the home, shaking her head side to side, swinging the toy. Again something dogs love to do with half dead animals rodents - playing with them till they die. So the toy is fun for her to play by herself. In addition, it is a good toy to play fetch with. I have also seen the girls play tug with the toy quite frequently.

So a tug, fetch, engaging toy that the girls can use to play with us, play with each other and play by themselves and not destroy it in the process or harm themselves by ingesting stuffing - That's why it's my pick of the day today.

Skineez makes this toy in 2 sizes, shaped like a few different rodents - squirrel, raccoon, skunk or meercat or something like that. I don't know. Not that I care much, neither do the girls. They have also introduced something called Crazy Critters. We have not used it. So this review does not apply to that toy yet.

Pros: No stuffing, squeaky, good fetch toy and tug toy, dead rodent like structure makes it very interesting for dogs to play with it by themselves.

Cons: Is a furry texture. So can get dirty and might be hard to clean. Not indestructible

Not sure if this is a pro or a con. You decide: It looks so much like a dead rodent that Uttam once saw it in the garden and jumped back thinking it was indeed a critter from our garden that had met an untimely death on our vegetable patch! :)

Where to buy: Dogspot, Paws (CALL:+91 80 41317297), Glenands Koramangala, Most leading pet stores

Note: All pictures are taken from Dogspot.in

How to stick tweezers into your dogs nostril!

Now now! Don't wince and dismiss this blog as some psycho's sick fetish. Bear with me a bit. I am now going to head back to Nishi's health and some coping strategies we used. As my earlier blogs indicate, Nishi's accident left the right side of her face completely damaged. Her right nostril does not produce any moisture resulting in crusting on the inside. We have to frequently clean it out (at least once a day) using tweezers for this purpose. How annoying and scary for a little dog like her. While few of you have perhaps had to stick something up your dogs nostril, I am sure you frequently encounter situations where your dog has some irrational fear of something and you want your dog to get over that fear and get comfortable with that object or situation, just the way I needed Nishi to get over her fear of tweezers and get comfortable with me putting it in her nostril. So, here's how dealt with this.

Picture taken 3 months after her accident showing the constant crusting in her right nostril

One afternoon, we found ourselves sitting on the floor and pinning Nishi baby down, trying to calm her down, wrestling with her and the tweezers and losing the battle, losing patience and the will to continue. Finally I gave up, stood up, threw the tweezers away and yelled out that I could not do this any more. What the hell were we doing? Here was a puppy who had just been through hell and we were making things worse. We are her parents. We had to be making things better! "Why won't she understand that this wont hurt and it's for her own good Uttam?" I yelled. He calmly said "How is she to know that?".  I huffed and walked away.

Finally when the frustration gave way to reason I kept turning that question in my head. "How is she to know that it won't hurt her?". I had to tell her. I had to somehow tell her. But how? I took a deep breath. I knew then that I had to learn to communicate with her. She was so good at telling when when she was afraid or happy or sad or hungry. Could I not tell her something? I went back out and found her sitting in a corner, feeling utterly miserable about this whole episode. My heart went out to her. I took a few cookies and went up to her, knelt in front of her, apoligized and gave her some cookies. She tentatively look a few then started slowly wagging her tail and licked my wrist. Bless her little soul for getting past it so fast. A tear dropped down my cheek and I was determined to make it all better.

I got up, shook myself the way she has taught me to shake myself [and fetched her ball. We started playing. We forgot all about the episode and we had a fun fun game. She finally collapsed after a tiring game of chase .(update: I no more recommend playing fetch with  dog).] I took a few more of her favorite treats and went up to her and started giving her the treats one at a time. I slowly pulled the tweezers our and put it on the floor, far away from her and continued giving her the treats. I don't think she noticed the tweezers. I kept the treats coming and slowly started moving the treats towards her, talking softly to her. At one point, she noticed it from the corner of her eye and froze. I stopped moving it and pulled it away. I continued talking softly. Wearily she moved her attention back to the treats. I slowly moved the tweezers closer again. She kept an eye on it, while she continued to take the treats. I stopped moving the tweezers. Just kept talking to her and treating her. Finally she lost interest in the tweezers and rolled on her back asking for a belly rub. I took the chance and moved the tweezers closer. After a 30 min long session of treating and conversation, the tweezers were right under her nose on the floor. She had examined it and decided that it was not worth thinking of. Battle 1: WON! "Tweezers are are not the enemy."

UPDATE:I now recommend different methods. If I had to do this now, I would just put the tweezers down and sit calmly around it and allow Nishi to examine it. I know she will take time and pretend like she is not interested in it. But eventually she would examine it. If I saw she was not nervous around it anymore, I would encourage her to examine it by leaving a few treats near it and just giving her time to examine it at her own pace, even if it took an hour 

Now I had to move to step 2:" Tweezers are friends!". For this, I went back again, picked up a few more treats, and everytime I dropped a treat on the floor, I dropped the tweezers with it. At first, she jumped back, looked at me confused, then slowly steered clear of the tweezers and picked up the treat and bolted! But as we continued doing it, she started to ignore the tweezers. After the 10th time, we moved to the next level. I'd drop the tweezers first, then drop the treat a few seconds later. By the time I had done that a few times, she got the idea. "Tweezers means Treats". Now the tweezers had become her friend. She started wagging her little stubby tail when she saw that small piece of metal.

This step was so successful that by the next day, when I pulled the tweezers out she would start prancing about. So we started playing a game. I would touch it to her little nose, make a little high pitched sound - "boop" - and then run. She would chase me and when she caught up to me I would pet her, treat her and repeat. She would stand look up and offering up her little black nose for the "boop" and ready to chase.

UPDATE:I now recommend different methods. If I had to do this now, I would tone down the excitement, slow down the process so that she had time to realize learn and process faster

After 2 days of this, on the 3rd day, I decided to go for the last and final step. I dreaded it! If just getting over the fear of the apparatus took so long, how long would it take to put it in her nostril and clean? I took a deep breath [and we started with a high energy game of ball.(update: I no more recommend playing fetch with  dog).] When she was exhausted, we collapsed under the fan and we started playing a mild version of the "boop" game. "Boop" and treat and pet. No running. After a few attempts, I tentatively put the tweezers a little into her nostril and quickly pulled it out and treated her, dreading that she was going to get up and bolt. To my utter surprise, she had no reaction at all. She just kept playing the "boop" game, slowly losing interest in it. She finally fell flat on her side and just wanted to be petted. I continued the "boop" game, petting her everytime I put the tweezers a little deeper into her nose. She seemed to have lost all interest by now. After a few seconds, she just shut her eyes. I am not sure if she was sleeping. I ventured trying to clean up a bit and no reaction! So I went ahead and cleaned it all up. No reaction at all! Hmm...perhaps she was tired. I had to try again to be sure. So later in the day, we tried the whole thing again. First ball play, then the "boop" game. This time, it was right after her meal. So she was not particularly interested in the treat and she had lost all interest in the "boop" game, but did not really care about the tweezers. It was as if she was telling me "Mommy! Please stop with that silly game. You want to clean my nostril? Just do that and get it done with. This boop game is no fun at all".

Today, we breeze through it. Before bed, we have a routiene. I have to brush her teeth, clean her eyes, put drops in them, clean her nose, put moisturizer inside her nostrils and on her snout. She is quite bored through all of it. But she is not scared. She tolerates the whole thing, waiting to be done. Then we start petting her profusely. If she is interested, she stays back and gets petted. Else she bolts after the toy that has been on her mind all along.

It's been two years since I managed to get Nishi over her fear of that dreaded metal object. Now, after a lot of reading, I realized that this technique has a name to it - Desensitization and Counter-Conditioning or DnC or D&C.  

Desensitization is what I did as Step 1 - teaching her The Strange Object is NOT THE ENEMY. So exposing her to the object at a distance or intensity that will not spook her and then slowly increasing intensity or decreasing distance. Till she finally is close enough and is realizing "This is not scary. It's not going to hurt me".

Counter-Conditioning is Step 2 of this process - teaching her that this non-enemy is actually HER FRIEND. So, basically, every time she is in the proximity of the object, treating her to something she loves. Eventually, as approaches the object, she starts expecting great things. In her mind "Tweezers are cool. They get me treats" and the very sight of this object makes her so happy.

We have since, used this method to deal with so many fears. We got her over her fear of water and taught her how to swim. In fact, we even taught the vet about it. When we took her to the vet and he had to clean her nostril, she started wriggling. We told him to slow down a bit and play the "boop" game and give her some treats. I had carried the treats with me that day. He was amused, but humored us. Now, he and Nishi are best of friends because she will let him do anything to her - Anything! The "boop" game is powerful :)

This is a video of Nishi swimming. 

Desensitization was achieved by us getting into the water.

We stood 2 feet apart and let her swim between the two of us.

We did this till she realized that she could swim then gradually increased distance

Since she loves to play, we used her favorite floating toy for Counter-Conditioning.

If anyone reading this has other suggestions on how they got their dog over irrational fears, please do leave comments. I would love to know.

I am Alpha Mommy

Here was a man telling that your dog spent most of his life trying to surreptitiously take over your life! As I watched the show, I looked at Nishi, sleeping with her head on my lap, snoring away to glory and wondered how that made any sense. I don't see her capable of any such sieges. All she wanted was her food, walk, petting and play and she was happy to do whatever she could in return.

Here was a man who would go visit a poor ol lady who loved her dog and  would make her feel terrible about herself by saying "You have no confidence. That's why your dog does not obey you"!

This reminds me of an eccentric teacher in school. We hand stringent rules in school about how we had to tie up our hair and she would pull us up even if a single strand was not in place. We would whine point out to the obvious that it just would not stay that way. My teacher would say "You are not obedient. That's why your hair does not obey you".

That is when I started looking around for reviews on this guy and other views and opinions on the subject. That opened up a world of training methods based on reason, logic and love. There was no chocking and shocking and scaring and dominating involved. The cause and effect was very clear in these training methods. It did not leave pet parents scratching their heads about how to become "more confident" or "how to behave like an alpha dog". I mean, I did a lot of preparation before getting my dog home. But I never thought someone would recommend that I learn how to BE a dog if I wanted to GET a dog. Cmon! There HAS to be another way right?

One American website articulates my thoughts so well that I am just going to quote from the site.

American Humane expressed dismay over the “numerous inhumane training techniques” advocated by Cesar Millan and several instances of cruel and dangerous treatment -- promoted by Millan as acceptable training methods -- including one in which a dog was partially asphyxiated. In this instance, the fractious dog was pinned to the ground by its neck after first being “hung” by a collar incrementally tightened by Millan. Millan’s goal -- of subduing a fractious animal -- was accomplished by partially cutting off the blood supply to its brain.

"The field's most respected behaviorists and trainers are concerned that many of Millan's ideas are unfounded and some of his methods are downright harmful. In Cesar’s world, physical corrections - such as snapping a dog's leash, finger jabs, and forcefully rolling the dog onto his back - are an effective way to garner compliance and good behavior. One technique often used by Millan is to overwhelm the dog with the very stimulus that terrifies him. Imagine treating your dog’s fear of thunder by locking him out in the yard in a severe thunderstorm. Many behaviorists argue that this technique, called "flooding," actually leads to further psychological trauma."

Over the years, I have poured over the works of several behaviourists and trainers. Gone through several DVDs and books. Contacted the trainers directly and done Q&A sessions with them. There are wonderful people in this area. Due to her loving relationship with the dogs that's based on mutual respect, I personally adore Turid Rugaas. So my own education has been with her. I highly recommend all of her books and DVDs.  This quick 5 minute preview of her DVD in itself is a great tool to start understanding the body language of dogs.

As I spent time learning the calming signals of dogs, watching Millan's videos was so revealing. In stressful situations, dogs express their desire to calm down or diffuse the situation down by licking their lips, yawning, pacing and looking away. Armed with this information, when I watched the videos again I was shocked to see how he was scaring the living daylights out of the dogs. I had earlier posted a clip here that demonstrated it. But that clip has been pulled down! :( Not cool!

For me, it boils down to just 2 things, when evaluating a trainers methods:

1. Is the trainer giving me a practical guide that is clear and concise with actionable items,
2. If there is a nicer way to communicate something to my dog, is my trainer using that method.

Why poke and prod and shock when a cookie might do the trick? Why punish my dog for doing something wrong, instead of praising her for doing something right?

Millan's methods fail on the first count with rather vague goals like "be the alpha". With his shock collars, choking methods, scare tactics etc sorely fails on the second. If someone with this approach  came anywhere close to my Nishi...perhaps then we can see what an Alpha Mommy looks like! Grrrrr! Step away from her and no sudden movements alright!

Leashes Unleashed!

Yeah! I am into retail therapy. The quirky part, however, is that I get my shopping fix at pet shops.  Consequently our household has tried dog foods of all kinds, treats of all kinds, leashes & collars of all kinds and toys of all kinds. So! here is a dump of the different kinds of leashes available in the market & their utility.

When I walk about leashes, I also need to talk about collars and harnesses at the same time. You might wonder why omit all other things like shampoos, dog foods etc... Well, to my mind, leashes are critical. The wrong leash and collar can be lethal. And with the right leash and collar and loads of love and some simple training techniques, even the strongest of dogs can walk well. Nishi is 40kgs of all muscle and excitement and energy. So, I have given this a lot thought. Hence, I can write something that could perhaps be useful.

Collars & Harnesses

Ok. So, let me start with one end of the leash...the dog. We have 2 options to fasten a leash to a dog - The Harness or The Collar. Nishi has both, each serving a distinctly different purpose. She has a thin metal collar that sports a pretty name tag and a bell. I have heard of too many cases of lost dogs and I'd like to believe that having that name tag, with our number on it is wise. I never want to take it off, ever. Hence the choice of metal, so that I don't have to take it off, even when it's wet.

But we NEVER use this to leash her. Choke chains, pinch chains and collars are known to damage a dogs trachea, neck & spinal chord. So we use a body belt or a harness. Turid Ragaas, one of my favorite trainers explains very well the kinds of harnesses and helped me decide to get a 2-stage harness for her. We have all these products available in pet stores in Bangalore.So, a good harness, in our experience, is a good investment, well worth it's money in gold. In Bangalore, I have found Puppia, Karlie and Rogz market 2-stage harnesses.  There are some specialty harnesses/collars too.

• One of them is the Halti. It is supposed to help reduce pulling. I personally prefer training her not to pull, rather than using a product like Halti. So, I never went for it. Hence, there is not much I can tell about a Halti. 
• There are pinch and choke collars. I personally despise these and NEVER use them to leash Nishi. It is inhumane to use this product - Read the PETA article. And if you want to use it, this blog is not going to be useful to you. I like to handle my Nishi with tender love and care. So I don't buy into any argument that says that "some dogs need it".
• There are also purely ornamental collars. I use these on Nishi frequently, as the function of leashing her is done by the harness. So the collar is used ornament-ally and to sport her name tag. 



Handmade Ornamental Collar

• I also found one with LED lights on it. I was tempted to buy it to put on her on vacations, when she runs away in the dark. But these were not water proof. So my opinion - thumbs down!
• One thing that I am on a look out for, but don't find frequently is collars with a reflective surface on it. These are occasionally available in the market and I am always on the look out for it. These are again useful to find her in the dark especially because she is so dark. Nishi, indeed (we named her Nishi, because Nishi means "the night" in sanskrit)

When Nishi goes out for a short walk to relieve herself, we sometimes put a collar on her. In this case, we get a collar that has padding on the inside, so that it does not cut into her neck. We also pick a collar with a strong quick-release buckle, instead of the metallic buckles seen on belts. This encourages us to remove the collar as soon as we get back, thus not leaving marks on her neck. The dog I had when I was growing up lost all his fur on his neck because he had a collar on at all times. Collars kept on at all times can also get damp. Damp collars harbor infections and fungus and have to be frequently changed and aired. So, I am quite keen not to keep a collar on at all times for Nishi.

Traditional Metallic Buckle	Quick Release Buckle

Leashes & Tethers 

Now, the leash. To determine the right kind of leash, what matters is the other end of the leash - which most times is me or my husband - the walker. So large part of picking the right leash is based on my comfort. Nishi does a good job of Loose Leash Walking. But she is an excitable girl and will lunge when she sees something exciting. So, the leash needs to be comfortable on my hands, strong, reliable and predictable. The other occasion when I use a leash is when we tether her to something. We frequently take her to restaurants, friends houses or on vacations. On several such occasions we need to tether her. So that is the other criteria. Here is the long and short of several of the products I have seen in the market.

Warnings from Flexi Website

Retractable Leashes 

These can be extremely convenient, especially for Indian city walking. When we take Nishi out, she decides to go into empty sites or go explore on top of sand piles and we don't have to go in with her. We can stand a safe distance away and let her explore. You know what I mean...no need to step on muck, leave that up to her :) Having said that, there are some things to remember.

1. The quality of the product matters a lot because there is a spring mechanism involved. So we have ended up buying a poor quality product, where the spring gets ruined in no time. Flexi is be best quality I have seen available in he market today.
2. These come in 2 types: tape and string. Both have their advantages. The Tape tends to get twisted, if you extend it too much. The String can cut or burn into skin quite easily. I have experienced both.
3. There is much debate on the safety of this product. Check out the warnings that are extracted from the Flexi website. This blog post discusses the Flexi pros and cons in a bit more detail: The Great Flexi Debate

So, bottom line: I am not a fan of this product. But my husband is. So we try to use it sparingly. I want to find a good leash to tie the flexi to my husbands waist, so that the device does not run after Nishi, if he accidentally drops it. Will update the post, if this works. As of now, I remain skeptical on this. 

String/Chord Retractable	Tape Retractable

 

Non-retractable leashes 

Ergonomic Leashes - easy on the hands

These come in chains or fabric. Obviously, I prefer fabric, because I am the one, who is going to be at the other end of the leash and I am no masochist to put my hand in chains. The fabric leashes too come as flat ribbons or rounded ropes. But what matters more to me is not the ribbon or rope, but the loop that I will be holding on to. Several leashes today come with a good amount of padding in that loop. That makes it very comfortable to hold. In fact, I recently saw an "ergonomic" leash. It's pricey. But if it works, it might be worth the money considering how strong Nishi is. At the end of the day, what matters is that it needs to be comfortable for the walker. Regarding the strength of the leash, obviously, strong dogs will need strong leashes. What is perhaps a bit less obvious is the weight of the leash. Tiny dogs and puppies will need light leashes. It's not just the weight of the rope or tape, but also the hook that hooks to the collar. That metallic piece could sometimes be heavy, even if the rope/tape is thin or weak.  So, I have learned to look specifically at that piece and get something light for the puppies I foster.

My favorite tether that is also a great leash,
with sufficient padding to offer a comfortable grip

Tether 

We have several tethers of different lengths. We use relatively shorter ones for restaurants and friends houses. We use longer ones for resorts and gardens, where we are ok with her running around, but don't want her to leave our sight entirely. One thing we have experienced is that having a hook at the tethering end is useful, especially if we want to tether her to cafe & restaurant tables.

Floor pegs 

My brother-in-law recently picked up this product that I thought was fabulous, particularly because we take Nishi everywhere with us, even to places that have nothing I can tether her to. It is a peg that screws into the ground. We are often at Airlines Hotel, getting ourselves a dosa and buying Nishi some idlis. We just screw this into the earth and tada! We are all sorted, we stand by the car, eat our dosas and idlis, get our filter coffee and are on our merry way.

We recently picked up a variation of this tether with a spring attached to it. Dogs on such a long leash can forget they are on it and bolt. A sprint in the tether can cushion the pull when the dog reaches the end of the leash and I love this product.

Portable screw-in peg along with a 15m tether - a must have for gardens and vacations

Where to Shop

I bet this is a lot of information. So here is a quick list on where you can find several of these products. For most of the products I visit one of 2 stores:

1. Paws, the pet store: This is off brigade road. The shop & collection of products is awesome, but the approach is poor and parking is hard. But good news is that they have a website and a good facebook page with product details AND they will deliver the product home - http://www.pawsthepetstore.com/ . Wonderful owners who will give you prompt responses on facebook, if you have product queries. Do check out their Puppia Harness. I swear by it.
2. Glenands, Koramangala: There are multiple Glenands stores. But I have only been to the one in Koramangala and I simply love it. I have seen the ergonomic leashes only here. Also, one very cool thing is that you can buy a nametag for your dog and get it etched then and there, in 2 minutes. I just love that. I gift nametags to all dogs I know :) GLENANDS PET SHOP # 475, 1st Cross, 5th Block, KHB COLONY, KORAMANGALA, BANGALORE 560098. Phone: 40927524. Mobile:9739000950
3. Shreenidhi Vet Pharma: This is the only place I have found the portable screw in peg. It's a good combination of a pet shop as well as a vet pharma. A good place to stop off for people in North Bangalore. Shreenidhi Vet Pharma, No. 49, Opposite to Veterinary College, Bellary Road, Ganganagar, Bangalore - 24. Ph: 23533238

There are other online shops. But for Collars & Leashes it is best done in person, as the fit and the feel has to be just right. So I always take Nishi while shopping for these and will try it on, pull and tug and see how it feels in my hand and how Nishi reacts to these, how easy it is to put on and take off etc...and only then pick them up. 

So, this is my take on collars, harness, leashes and tethers. If there is anything available in the market, worth mentioning, please do leave me a comment. I am very interested in knowing about all of them and trying out all of them. Meanwhile happy walking :)

Loose Leash Walking

Ok, so I am finally on my favorite topic - Loose Leash Walking or LLW. At the onset, let me remind you that I grew up in a household with a Doberman. The Dobbie was trained by a cop and did a remarkable job of heeling. He would walk beside you like he was in a military parade. Of course, we did not maintain the training and he lost all his Heel Skills. Oh yeah, that's another thing we did not know back then. Dog training is not a one off, like going through college and getting a certificate to hang up on a wall. Training is a life long process and what is learned can be un-learned just as easily and often when we least expect it. Anyways, I'll get to that topic of life-long training in a bit.

So, coming back to Heel Work, based on my previous experience, when I started walking Nishi, I expected the same results. But anyone who knows Nishi will know that she is so much of "stop and smell the flowers" kind of a puppy. I would walk briskly down the road, expecting her to follow. I would clap my hands, click away to glory, call her name and do all kinds of things to get her attention when she was busy sniffing at some interesting plant. The end result was me looking like a fool and being thoroughly frustrated and tired when I got home.

I would complain to Uttam only to be met with a quizzical look and his claim that she is perfectly well behaved when he walks her. I put that down to one of two explanations:

1. Playing into the popular myth that men show more dominance and hence dogs are more obedient around them, I shook my head in frustration and grumbled: "what's with men and dogs. Sexist dogs! Argh!"
2. I assumed that Nishi tugged and pulled when she was with Uttam too. But because he was stronger, he just did not feel it.

Then one day, I joined him on his walk and what I saw gave me the long overdue wake up call I needed. It was not Nishi who was different with us. It was us that was different around Nishi. Uttam saw that Nishi liked to sniff and explore.Instead of trying to get her attention away from it, he would actually try to find more spots that she might find interesting to sniff. He tried to find more mud piles that she liked to frolic in. He waited while she had fun and giggled when she looked up with her face full of sand. Obviously on the few rare occasions when he did not want her to sniff or smell, he would just walk up to her, put his hand on her face and gently get her attention and lead her away from that spot. And she did not mind at all, because her mind had already moved on to the next exciting spot that she knew she was going to get to stop at. And guess what, both came home absolutely happy at the end of each walk. Made all the difference!

So, that, in my opinion, is what LLW is all about. Now I keep Nishi's leash long enough for her to show me where she wants to go. The optimal length of a leash perhaps requires more discussion. But that can wait for another blog. For now, lets assume I am talking about 5 feet long leash. And as long she walks over calmly, I just let her go over, spend some time sniffing and frolicking. If I really really really don't want her to go somewhere, then I just walk over and gently move her head away from what she has her nose buried in. This is important because dogs' hearing almost gets shut down when their smelling is on hyper drive. We've noticed that no matter how loud we call Nishi's name she does not look up. But if we walk over and gently tap on her head, she suddenly looks up like she just got woken up from a trance. So, I have realized that there really is no point in yelling screaming and shouting her name. She just cannot hear and it's not her fault.

So what happens if she is not so polite in getting to this "interesting spot"? What if she pulls? While I don't have the strength to pull her back, I know I have the strength to just stand my ground. This method is sometimes referred to as the "Be a Tree" method. Imagine that when she pulls, I hook her leash to a tree. I try not to move, yell, scold...nothing at all. I use that time to just drift off to think about my to do list. If it's getting on my nerves, I take deep breaths and starting counting. Eventually the pulling stops and just for a second she will slacken the leash or sit. The walk resumes at that second. Sometimes I say "good girl". But most times, I don't have to do that either, coz resuming the walk is reward enough for her. Eventually the message Nishi gets is "when I pull, walk stops. When I stop pulling walk starts". And that's it. This has been most effective for me so far. But, it is work in progress and it will continue to be, because there are times when Nishi's "reasoning" has been masked by severe excitement. At those times, I just continue to do breathing exercises and switching between my roles of Nishi-mom and Tree!

I have read of many many techniques. A few things that I saw across most techniques:

1. When Nishi pulls, walk stops. Period!
2. I NEVER pull Nishi. If I want Nishi to come to me, I call her in a excited voice and pretend I have found something exciting and want us to check it out. The aim is to get her excited and come with me for more "exploring". If she is too distracted and my trick failed, then I just have to go over and move her head away from what she is finding so interesting. Sometimes, bits of chicken stashed away in my pocket help during this, where I promise a reward of herb chicken if she stops stuffing her face in the packet of Sambar and follows me.

But for me, in most cases, just going up to her, moving her face away from her "object of interest", then saying something in an exciting tone and breaking into a little jog helps. She gets thrilled and runs beside me. 

There are many other techniques that have some additional steps. One of my favorite is Turid Ragaas' technique. So, she asks you to start at home. That step went well. Then I moved the training to the garden in our apartment. Went ok. Finally moved to the street and everything fell through. It just was not working. Then I ordered the DVD to see what I was doing wrong. I watched it several times looking for the right technique. Eventually it hit me. ALL the training was being done in a completely isolated place with minimal distraction. Until the dog was trained fully, walking would happen in this isolated place. And that could take up to a month. Now where am I going to find a place like that for a month. That's when I realized that most of these techniques, while very effective in other parts of the world, might not be as effective in India. So, now I stick to the "Be a Tree" method and it's working well for us.

Of course, there are a few pit falls. Firstly, after Nishi's accident in february 2010, we had so much on our mind, that training stopped all together. BIG MISTAKE. So now we have to start all over again and she is so much bigger and stronger now. My learning here is to never stop training, EVER. The second is that when I have the leash in my hand, if Nishi pulls, I find it hard not to just let my arm move forward and let her pull. So I found an interesting alternative: tie the leash around my waist. Then, as soon as she pulls, it gets taught around my stomach and I react faster and stop instantly. I need to get a longer leash to try this. Let's see how that goes. Will post more on that.

But here is the most important lesson I have learned. Leash walking training is really a life long thing. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, it is possible to un-learn. My dobbie did, and he got so bad that it was hard to imagine that he was once so perfect with his heel work. So, if it's a life long activity, then it is important to figure out how to enjoy it. I feel that what might eventually determine success of our leash training is my ability to enjoy the training and allow Nishi to enjoy it too, so that we never see a need to stop or suspend training. Here is to many more happy walks :)

What kind of Leash Training is right for me?

In my previous post I explained why I find Leash Training so daunting & important. Given that,  I spared no expense in finding a trainer, who claimed to have been trained in Malaysia and would train my dog to pass the Canine Good Citizen Evaluation. Sounded fancy enough. "Ah! Now I am going to get my Walt Disney's Buster-like-doggie". What did I get instead? A verdict from the trainers that she had attitude issues, did not like to walk and was not really trainable! And in return, Nishi promptly disliked them. If I have learned anything at all from dogs, its this: if your dog dislikes someone, there is good reason for you to dislike them too.

So I looked deeper into their training technique. Their take on this: "walk with your dog next to you and everytime she leaves your side, yank her back hard". In my opinion, this is bad technique, for two reasons and I present my case below.

Firstly, this concept of "yanking her back hard", requires me to use my strength. Anyone who has had medium or big dogs, will be familiar with how strong they can get. Considering how pathetic my upper body strength is, the outcome of this battle of strength with the dog is a no-brainer: Dog Wins! And I am left with a battered ego at not being able to train my dog, a chaffed palm and pulled muscles. So, when I decided to get a boxer, I made up my mind that I was not going to use any training technique that required me to use my strength to overpower Nishi. If I found myself doing that, then I had to stop, and rethink my approach. Consequently, in our household, there is no yanking, beating or pulling. Even if there are stronger people around, who actually can overpower Nishi, I know that there will come a time, when I am alone with her and I don't want her to quickly realize "Ooh! Weak lady! Me wins this time...yaaaaay!".

The second discussion is about the "dog leaving your side". When training a dog to walk on a leash, there are two types of training: 1) Heel Work 2) Loose Leash Walking or LLW. Heel Work is what one sees in dog shows -the dog sticks close to your heel and walks almost in step with you. Impressive to watch! When I was growing up, I had a dobermann who was trained by a cop on Heel Work. So naturally, when I got Nishi, I started researching on Heel Work. I picked up Monks of New Skete, almost a cult classic. But soon I started running into a few dissenting voices on Heel Work and recommending LLW instead. The most compelling voice that reached me was that of Turid Ragaas. She has heavily influenced me and I have all of her material. Her website is also very handy. Her approach is one of give and take. You allow your dog to have some fun on his/her walks, who in-turn behaves well and asks "politely" for permissions to explore.

I think back at the times when I have not had a chance to step out all day. After about 10 - 12 hours, I am going nuts and just want to get out and do something. Wouldn't Nishi feel the same? She stays home all day, just waiting for the 5 PM walk. So when I finally take her out, I don't have the heart to insist that she focuses just on my heel. I like treating her to the smells and sounds of the great outdoors. She is a curious girl who want to sniff everything. And if it's a popular doggie-pee-spot, she wants sniff away for several minutes, gathering all of her doggie-social-information. If I am going to spend hours on facebook, I feel I owe her at least a few minutes at that popular street light post. She is not really the facebook type. She prefers pee-sniffing :) Of course, if she were a show dog, I might have required her to do Heel-Work. But she is not one, so why expect that out of her?

Given that I really want her to enjoy her walk, we walk with a leash loose enough for her to walk in the direction that she wants to go, and as long as she walks "politely", I follow her patiently. However, if she loses her manners and starts pulling, then I get adamant and stand still. Absolutely still. No movement in any direction at all, no matter how long it takes. She sits or releases the tension on the leash by taking a step back. We then resume our walk. This method is sometimes referred to as "Be a Tree". I'll write about my experiences with this technique a little later.

The other thing people talk about is training your dog to walk off-leash. But, given our past experience, my opinion is set in stone here: I have a zero risk appetite when it comes to taking my Nishi off the leash. If it is not an enclosed space, if there is ANY opportunity for a crazy cabbie or auto driver to zip up the road, then Nishi will not be risked an encounter with such driver. I have seen fully grown humans, take stupid decisions on roads and meet with accidents. How can I count on a dog to actually evaluate ramifications of running after a very interesting cat or squirrel when a car is zipping down the road? According to me, that evaluation is my responsibility and I will gladly shoulder it for her sake. Her safety is my duty!

I found it very useful to take a step back, before training and think about what's important for us. There are several techniques out there. I have at least 10 books and DVDs on this, each author with a different approach and opinion. This indicates to me that there is no one right way. But what I found useful, is to have a clear opinion on my priorities for Nishi and let that guide my training. For me, these rules are sacrosanct:

1. No causing Nishi ANY pain (exceptions might occur if every there was a human being hurt badly. I hope that day never comes)
2. No use of strength. If it comes down to it, take a break and rethink the whole strategy. I am not going to lose battles with my dog
3. Training should be fun for Nishi and I. Rules for the sake of rules don't benefit us.  

I will put down more details on LLW and "Be a Tree" in subsequent posts. But I leave my readers with a question. If you had to write down your own philosophy on training what would it be. Leave me comments. I would love to hear from you.

Walking Buster from Walt Disney

The first chapter of Nishi diaries has to be - Walking the dog. This topic is closest to my heart for reasons that will soon become obvious. I have read so much about it, ruminated so much and filled my head with so much on this topic that if you brought up this topic after I have had a few glasses of Chardonnay, you WILL regret it, irrespective of what you have been drinking all evening. I will go on and on and on and then some more.

The dogs I grew up with did not walk well at all. They were so bad that, one even dislocated my dad's shoulder. At this point we got dog walkers and considered the problem solved. Today, I spend hours everyday observing dog walkers closely. Most are not even dog-people and don't give a damn about the dog they are walking. The dog eats rubbish along the way, runs into oncoming traffic, gets into fight with strays...and they don't care. Most don't even walk; they just linger on the street, chatting with their friends. And the few, who do care, know so little about dogs that it's a pity watching them struggle with the dog. End result - an under exercised dog, with bad walking habits, frequent stomach upsets, complaints by neighbours of the dogs harassing them when he is on his walk, and in extreme unfortunate cases, accidents as well.

For those of you who don't know our story, one February evening, when Nishi was not yet one year old, we took her out on a walk. We made one critical mistake and a car ran over her face. Bless her brave little heart, she still fights it with such courage. While I know that beating myself up about what happened will not reverse the events of that evening, I also know it makes me so much more careful & thoughtful with Nishi. That is something I can never expect of any dog walker. So, really no dog walker can ever be good enough for my little puppy girl.

The Walt Disney dog has really created a warped image in our mind on what dog walking is. The freckled kid, Timmy, cheerfully calls out to Buster, Buster comes skipping along with leash in his mouth, they walk side-by-side - boy and dog, go to a park by the lake, Buster fetches a stick that Timmy throws at him, the lovely neighbourhood lady who has her baby in a stroller stops by to pat Buster on his head, they all laugh and walk back home, to the sound of birds chirping!

LIES! All lies. When was the last you heard birds chirp in Bangalore?

Most of my reading on dog training made me realize that walking a dog seems to be one of the biggest challenges dog owners and dog trainers face. And this is the one thing that dogs tend to take the longest to get trained. So, it's not just me who thinks this needs special attention, it seems to be quite a common issue. But, in India, the story gets more interesting, as always :)

I compared the Walt Disney set-up to what I was up against. So where do those serene streets exist in Bangalore, that are not infested by insane cab and auto rickshaw drivers who seem to be on a mission to kill? And where are those enclosed parks that prevents your dog from bolting on to the street in hot pursuit of a squirrel? And say you found that elusive park, but looked away for a second to smile at the cute neighbour (those do exist right?) , your pooch has his face buried deep in a gorgeously stale paneer dish from Nandini Palace or worse, in some "holy droppings". In fact, on one of our vacations, we found ourselves rather embarrassed to bring back a happy Nishi, whose face was covered in...ahem..., lets say, fresh manure! Our friends, all too familiar with this scenario saved us embarrassment by trying to "dignify" this taste of theirs, and christened it Grass Mousse :)

Anyways, after an evaluation of Disney's Rue de la Buster versus Koramangala, I abandoned the Walt Disney guide to dog training, and looked at other dog training books and manuals. Almost all of them said "start in a quiet place, with minimal distractions to start training". So I tried starting in my basement. Drivers were driving like F1 drivers, in and out of their parking spots. I tried the apartment gardens and children found Nishi too cute to let her train. I looked for a quiet street.; If there were no cars on the streets, there were stray dogs. If not strays, others were walking their dogs. Milkmen and newspaper guys during early mornings, crazy cabbies at night..so where could I start this training?

That's when I realized that I needed a training strategy and technique unique to India. I am still working out what works best for our conditions. I will share all of my experiences on this blog. I want to end this entry with some good & bad advice I have received on this topic of leash training:

Bad Advice 1: (this one was by our breeder) Don't put your dog on a leash or training till she is 6 months!

Has anyone seen how big a 6 month old dog is? How fast they can get? How am I supposed to take this dog for potty breaks without a leash? And how do I put a dog on a leash and not have the dog leash trained? A 6 month old boxer is a strong dog and when she pulls, I eat mud!

Bad Advice 2: (this has come from so many areas, it disgusts me) Put your dog on a choke collar, so that you can use her strength to deter her from bad walking habits

I did try this once. I heard Nishi choking on it & abandoned it. A quick internet search showed me the health risks of this inhumane contraption. It is apparently effective if used rightly. But it is so easy to use it incorrectly. As far as my Nishi is concerned, I don't see a need to risk using this thing incorrectly. If there is a more pleasant way, I think she deserves it. The number of times I have seen "experts" putting their dog on a choke chain and the dogs tongue turning purple, while on it! Looks cruel to me and nothing will convince me to do it. NEVER!

Good Advice along with some misguided information: (this one was by a friendly neighbour) Start training early and finish all training by 4 months. Dog's cannot learn after that

Initially I did freak out about the 4 month time limit. I felt I was doomed as my dog was "too old for new tricks". But to my relief, I learned that this saying is just a myth. Nishi learns so much faster and better today than when she was a puppy. She can concentrate much better.

However I did see some merit in starting early. Delayed training gives dogs room to pick up some bad habits that they need to unlearn. Unlearning is actually hard. Also, physically controlling an older dog is harder and having completed lessons, particularly leash training at a younger age, makes walks a lot easier. But, it is never too late and always worth the effort. Happy walking!