Bindi Teaching ch 13

 

CHAPTER 13.

 

ARE WE THERE YET?

 

THE URBAN TRAVELLER.

 

As much as this book has concentrated on learning urban skills, at some time it will be desired or necessary to have pooch travel further than a walk around your local streets.

Whenever you or I leave our homes for an extended time we know it is probably a good idea to quickly visit the toilet prior to departure.  As owners we should also ensure pup has prepared for their journey too.

If the journey is either by car, bike, bus, train or cab the same thing applies. You want a calm travelling companion. Full bowels and bladders do not make for calm travellers.

Just like you should not get pup all excited jumpy and playful just before a walk and you shouldn't tease it by squealing ‘walkies’ repeatedly as you search for your hat, bag, coat or shoes, then go looking to find where you left the poo bags and lead...  You don’t do that do you?  You don’t get pup all bouncy and then wonder why it won’t behave on lead do you?  So.  Calm diffused preparation and,

WE’RE OFF!

There are three default positions for pup and travel when it comes to machines.  There is the calm desired position, then there are the pups who can’t contain their excitement to get into or onto any transport thing, or it’s the pup who will refuse all attempts of entry to the machine.

So let us understand and work to get the desired position.  What is desired is for the pooch to be willing but not excited to enter the ‘going somewhere good’ machine.  Calmly. 

Again, it is up to us not to prioritise this change in motion.  Entering the car should not be a major event but just another daily or frequent thing we do. 

I guess though I should cover the best way to reduce excitement or fear in pup if it develops into more than a passing issue. 

We simply have to start the process of entering and leaving the car without going anywhere.  Make this activity part of every day, get pup’s car equipment or harness on, get in car, strap in, praise, let pup settle. You can sit in the car for a while as pup settles, then un-strap, exit and go about normal daily activity.  Calmly repeat a few times a day.

Once you are both entering into the machine with no emotional excess, start the motor, pause, see that pup is settled, turn motor off, release pup, exit.  Continue this exercise over a few repeats. 

When pup is comfortable with the motor sounds, move on to making the machine move.  Maybe only to end of your driveway then reverse and exit, over a few days leave the driveway and work towards increasing the distance the car goes, but not allowing pup out of car anywhere until you get back home. 

Pup always stays in car until released and told to exit.  Given possible future adventures when you will never know what, where or when pup will be required to enter and exit the car, it is responsible of us to ensure pup is trained to be calm and acts on command at entry and exit.

What this elaborate process is trying to do is desensitise any excitement that getting into a car or transport may engender.  For example, pup should be in sit and must wait calmly for the command to enter and exit the transport.  This comes with practice and is best repeated to boredom without actually going on a trip.  In and out commands should not generate excitement or anticipation but we want to work towards them being a normal daily routine command with a pleasant consequence for pup.   I have mentioned having patience and persistence before, so I won’t again.

To help with the tedium of training consider if you will what any transport offers an urban pup. One, it’s a different and thrilling or fearful sensation of movement, speedy smells, new noises and seeing many things pass by very quickly. Second, and most likely the cause for future excitement, is every time pooch enters the transport it knows not what exciting sort of place it will end up at!   Anticipation of all this movement and destination can make future entries into the car a trigger for unwanted excitement.

Hence calm gradual introduction perhaps anchored with a settle command is best for urban pooch and a less stressed us.

 Travel is another time to observe your pup.  The solution to help your particular pup is going to be an adaptation of these advices.  It is going to be your choice from your observation of your pooch as to how you implement any training.  Always at the pup’s speed and ability.  

If pup is curious about the new thing you are directing it to enter, a car, bus, train, shopping trolley, whatever, then ensure you remain calm and show it the way in and again show it the way out of this contraption. We do this without any plan to go anywhere, it’s just about getting in and out, first without closing off the exit and then entering, closing, opening and exit.  We are ensuring pup does not associate the space with being trapped in a noisy moving box.

If pooch resists the new space then the use of tempting treats, actions or voice for entry and subsequent distraction by look or touch once inside, followed swiftly by a calm exit, reward and pause, then repeat.  Take a couple of days if necessary until entry is not subject to any stress markers being evident in pooch’s demeanour.

I am currently dealing with Bindi’s excitement when in transit.  She’s a clever girl and knows, from the myriad of micro signals we give off unintentionally, the type of trip we are going on and if the likelihood is we are going to the river walk, dog park or beach. Knowing this and being a gobby little bitch, she whines, yaps, yips and generally makes the journey a pain.

I am trying the following things to reduce this behaviour, I am still learning on a daily basis.

As well as doing the above things I ensure, as much as possible that there is not a toilet needed prior to a long trip. In fact it is not a bad idea to walk pup for a short time before any trip.  Some pups will understand and perform the necessary as a precursor to a trip, other pups will need to be distracted. 

I also make sure that if I am taking the car for a quick shopping journey for milk , bread or a few rapidly acquired necessities, maybe a refuel, then pup comes with in car, sits secured with windows open while I am in shop and comes home without getting out.  This is not teasing the pup, it is showing that being in a car is not a reason to get excited. 

It is critical again we don’t fall in to the trap of telling an excited pooch to shut-up in the car.   Ignoring bad behaviours or a very low-key response with a calm command is best.   Use of hand signal for quiet, stopping the journey until calm ensues, exiting car for a calming sniff walk or returning home without doing the planned dog outing event are all tools of differing impact we have at our disposal.

Of course, just because there has been a toilet opportunity prior to the journey, there may be another required due to stress or excitement, so provide that opportunity if pup is being irrational. 

From experience I know these tools are variously successful but your training armoury is extensive with diverse tools we can use when appropriate, calmly and with persistence.

It is also very likely that you and pup may just get in the car and go, you may experience no poor behaviour and travel will be a non issue.  To be honest, this is just as likely as having an issue so, as always, observe and respond to your pup with appropriate actions for your pup.

I have not yet covered too much about fear of travel as this has not been a common thing in my experience so I have only theory not experience to recommend.  Obviously you will know if pup is frightened of transport. 

My theory for getting an unsure pup into transport is again to use a very gentle and reward-focussed introduction to the process of getting entry into a vehicle.  Much like for the excited pup method above.  In as much as you will still calmly take the kind and gentle step-by-step progression towards a short happy journey away from and back to home.  You can use high value treats and encouragement to temp pup into the vehicle but do not rush the pup to enter.  You may choose to sit in the vehicle, on your phone or whatever until pup enquires or maybe wants to enter and join you. When pup eventually does enter, give proportionate calm praise and comfort and encourage it to stay inside the vehicle by giving some treats, toy or touch.

There is no hurry.  Getting pup over a fear may take many days until you see a change and understand what pup was fearful of. It may fear being tangled in a rug you have laid out for it, the gap between the machine and the pup is too great, the step too high, any number of things that will be evident if you observe. 

You don’t need to practice every day or even multiple times a day for a fearful pooch but you may include the entry game when doing other training or when play is going well and pup is happy, trusting and relaxed.  Timing can be as important as observation and persistence. Excited toy play could include getting pup to jump into machine to retrieve a toy or follow you or chase a treat.

Either way, controlling pup’s entry into transport is the issue, we want to stop enthusiastic entry at pace, and we are going to tempt entry with grace. 

Sometimes if pup checks on entry it is sufficient to calmly lead pup into the space with authority and firm resolve.  Pup will follow if it trusts and you are calm and a safe place to be.

For all urban pups some form of transport will be a part of their lives.

Not for one minute do I think transport is a problem for the majority of urban pooches, in most cases it will be just part of a normal day as that is how pup was introduced to travel from an early age.  When we first got her we put Bindi into a convertible sports car and drove 4 hours from breeder to our home.  She whined for the first hour on my wife’s lap then squirmed off and collapsed exhausted into the passenger foot well.  This was not the way she should have been introduced to her first machine obviously.  I do not claim to always have been informed, smart or even correct.

What I do know from experience though is calm travel behaviour is not the default and it is up to you as an owner to notice the signs of unease in your pup relating to travel and to gently implement these tools as appropriate.  I hope these tools will allow you to address behaviour before it becomes an issue for pup and a problem for you.