Hello everyone! This video is on the topic of predation, my own story of my dog cloud
that I wanted to share with you all. The issue is now solved but I did want to share with
you my insights about it because I do think it's very interesting. Now he looks like a
cute little fluffy boy but my management and prevention plan of keeping the squirrels out
of my yard failed this spring when the baby squirrels were coming out of the ground and
I thought I had the whole area secured but they found ways to get into the dog area and
come in unexpectedly. I do use management and prevention to prevent the squirrels coming
into the yard as well as gophers and rats. As you can see here there is some of the metal
that i've laid out metal underneath the ground epic is going to help me reveal it with cloth
and then I put dirt or wood chips over it so that it makes a nice flat surface for the
dogs to move on without squirrels and gophers coming up which is not only great for preventing
the squirrels and gophers from getting surprised of being suddenly in a large quantity of dogs
but also that the dogs don't put their feet into the gopher holes and then or squirrel
holes and then break their legs which can happen or at least injure themselves. So one
thing is is that where i've planted things or where the trees are that's where the squirrels
have come up unexpectedly and sadly that is how cloud has killed them. So I was really
not expecting it. I wish it hadn't happened but I’m wanting to be honest with you that
yeah he's killed some squirrels. I also put up pest proof fencing to keep the rabbits
and squirrels out of my yard but of course nature finds a way so they found ways to get
in that I hadn't thought of being around trees and things like that this fencing is great
also for keeping snakes out so keeping my dog safe and giving me peace of mind. So I
had not worked on recall proofing with cloud when he was six months old and so I wasn't
even noticing I was on my computer outside doing work and suddenly there's this little
terrier with a dead squirrel in his mouth. So sadly it took five squirrels for me to
realize that that this wasn't going stop that it wasn't a freak occurrence. And as a vegan
I sometimes, you know slip into vegetarianism, I don't particularly want to use dogs to keep
to keep animals off my property. I have no need for that I understand that in the past
and in already all over the world how useful these dogs are to maintain things like food
for livestock and prevent it getting spoiled by
Other animals. So I understand the function of the behavior and why for thousands of years
we bred it into dogs. But I don't particularly need it here. I did see it in action actually
the squirrel came out of the bottom of the tree cloud happened to be there he grabbed
the squirrel instantaneously killed it and then went about his day in the most calm relaxed
manner. Cloud you're a murderer. Look what you've done you killed a squirrel on my on
my field.
Everyone else didn't even notice… and it was so odd to me because I you know had been
living with sight hounds before and after chasing or seeing prey they could spend days
excited and looking for more so these little guys terriers, that's what I think is driving
clouds instinct to want to kill, their function what they've been bred for is 24 7 making
sure that there's not little animals in say for example an area where food is stored or
crops or whatever and so… bliss! Bliss is going to block the view.. So it would make
sense that that a dog could do their job and then not be stressed by it the whole day if
their job was to function the whole day long and night to sadly to kill things. So it really
made sense so there was this interesting quality of of seeing his calmness after what he did
he had no interest in the squirrel he had this instinct to see it kill it and then the
job it was of no interest to play or do anything with the squirrel. When the issue first started
occurring in the spring I was very concerned thinking oh my goodness uh you know it's so
instinctual that if he sees a squirrel and it's you know available, he knows that there's
no fence in between, I’m not going to be able to call him back what if he runs across
the road and goes after the squirrel because he's gone you know into a predation mode.
What am I going to do? His recall is going to be ruined! Oh no! I haven't proved the
recall so because I got the two puppies at the same time and they're just happy go easy
dogs i've just been really enjoying them and not doing that much training. So they're two
they're two aspects of this story. One all dogs are different. So some dogs are easier
than others and uh the fact that his predation issue he killed five squirrels and then suddenly
with just a tiny bit of training you know a day or two of calling him away from wildlife
The issue is gone. I can call them away from prey so that can be personality based. All
dogs are different. So if someone says “oh this technique worked for my dog you should
use it”. All dogs are different. You have litter mates someone has one littermate and
you have the other they did this the problem went away you have an extreme problem. No
matter what technique your dog's got a different personality and genetics than the sibling.
So that's a really important part of this story but also the part that I wanted to talk
about is that I hadn't done much proofing of the recall or training I was just enjoying
my puppies. Cloud and bliss, i've just been enjoying having them around. I suffered a
lot from a lot three of my dogs died within the same year. Sadly kiko it was recent, but
so I haven't done that much training i've just been enjoying… bliss bliss blissy come
here. I've just been enjoying the presence of them in my life. It's been wonderful I
they're they're very healing beautiful creatures and there's a squirrel at the moment.. But
uh, so the point of this story is that I hadn't done any training and suddenly I was getting
results and I was like how is this even possible and then I was like ah this is what it is,
it's the relationship and trust. It's like a scientific experiment. If I you know, I’m
a dog trainer so I always get told “it's easy with your dogs because you're training
them all the time” but in this case I wasn't! Well now the trash has arrived so you might
hear my trash being picked up.. But in this case it wasn't! I'd done very little training
but what I had worked on unconsciously because I use positive reinforcement, I don't use
any forms of intimidation I build trust and confidence and and build my relationship with
my dogs through positive interactions. It was easy to solve the problem because I had
that relationship and trust. So you know I always say it (that you need a relationship
and trust) but the scientific part for me was about the reinforcement, so it was all
about training and reinforcement and of course you need a relationship and trust first, but
to see such results with just the relationship and trust that i'd built in my dogs. So instead
of working on a recall with these guys, what I had been doing was just simply every time
they went out to the bathroom and came back in i'd give them a treat. So everyone would
go out they'd be milling around then i'd need to call them back in, so i'd call them back
in and give them a treat. That's really the only training that I did and then I just added
on that. So really having a dog that trusts you wants to be with you and you've really
built that caring trusting relationship with them that's really going to help your training.
So that's really the moral of the story for this video and I actually do have footage
of the of the moment that uh a rabbit got into my property and I was in shock because
I didn't think you could call a dog off in the middle of trying to kill an animal. So
i'd seen him kill five squirrels and then I just tried to recall, i'd never even proofed
and he came back he didn't want the food but he came back anyway because of relationship
and trust.
‘cloud! Cloud! Good boy good boy good boy” so it's a really really powerful thing that
you can build with your dog and it takes time the same with people. There was a time where
our trust was broken and I was very worried I had taken him to have his rabies shot. He'd
been great at the vet before and something happened I wasn't allowed to go in to get
the rabies shot because of covid. They said that the the first shot went well and the
rabies he didn't do well. I didn't even ask. I didn't want to know because that was in
the past but a few days later, I went to pick him up and as I picked him up he got very
scared and most likely it could be the pain in his body from the shot or remembering being
grabbed or restrained and so I saw him be scared of me for the first time and it took
a few months. He even didn't want to train with me because at the time that I was picking
him up I had the treat bags. I was working on taking a picture a group picture of the
dogs so anytime I tried to group the dogs together he would look at me and get scared
and want to go away and it broke my heart. So I worked on that! And I think that is the
one key to why I gained his trust again and now he wants to listen to me and finds it
reinforcing besides doing a little bit of proofing with calling him away from seeing
squirrels while on leash or behind a fence, this one incident of when our trust was broken
and really my focus uh on building it back, you know in in small steps really helped with
gaining his trust again, gaining his confidence in me and his interest in wanting to be with
me. So that's the moral of the story I hope you guys found it interesting. I do have a
video on demand on called “harnessing the hunter” that goes over working with dogs
that that have issues with being either over aroused or excited about prey and getting
them to calm down so they can so they can function around prey and listen to you so
for safety and also to prevent them killing animals. So you know some people want to hunt
and use their dogs for hunting and I’m not saying that you shouldn't… that that's your
own thing you can do that but this type of training would be beneficial where you could
ask your dog to do it and then also tell them when it's not appropriate, say for example
like the neighbor's cat or something like that so with cloud the training that I did
was interrupt it when it was happening by using a recall and then also teaching him
a default leave it, so when you see prey it's not for eating, it's not for killing, it's
just for looking. So they can be loose they can see prey but it's not it's not something
that they need to run and grab and kill. The other thing I worked on with him is playing
tug and fetch so he got to have a fun time and one of his favorite things is the hose
with a one of those guns so that it makes a nice that's why it makes a nice spray of
water and then having him chase the water and bite it he loves doing that. So he gets
to do fun chasing games killing games with this is super gross but like toys like this
and we play together and he gets to practice his skills at killing but without actually
killing real animals. So another thing that I thought oh my goodness what if I had someone
with a really tiny chihuahua visit and he thinks it's a squirrel like the speed at which
he killed the squirrel was shocking! I was like whoa I have a stone cold murderer in
my house this is slightly weird for me. And I had thought to myself i'll never get a terrier
again after tug but I love them. I think they're amazing. They're so smart and so talented.
So that's the story I hope you found it interesting and see you later!
other animals so so i understand the function of the behavior and why for thousands of years
we we bred it into dogs but i don't particularly need it here i did see it in action actually
the squirrel came out of the bottom of the tree cloud happened to be there he grabbed
the squirrel instantaneously killed it and then went about his day in the most calm relaxed
manner cloud you're a murderer look what you've done you killed a squirrel on my on my field
everyone else didn't even notice and it was so odd to me because i you know had been living
with sight hounds before and after chasing or seeing prey they could spend days excited
and looking for more so these little guys terriers that's what i think is is is driving
clouds instinct to want to kill their their function what they've been bred for is 24
7 making sure that there's not little animals in say for example an area where food is stored
or crops or or whatever and so bliss bliss is going to block the view so so it would
make sense that that a dog could do their job and then not be stressed by it the whole
day if their job was to to function the whole day long and night to to get to sadly to kill
things so it really made sense so there was this interesting quality of of seeing his
calmness after what he did he had no interest in the squirrel he knew he he had this instinct
to see it kill it and then the job it was of no interest to play or or do anything with
the squirrel when the issue first started occurring in the spring um i was very concerned
thinking oh my goodness uh you know it's so instinctual that if he sees a squirrel and
it's you know available he knows that there's no fence in between i'm not going to be able
to call him back what if he runs across the road and goes after the squirrel because he's
gone you know into a predation mode what am i going to do his recall is going to be ruined
oh no i haven't proved the recall so because i got the two puppies at the same time i really
just and they're just happy go easy dogs i've just been really enjoying them and not doing
that much training uh so they're two they're two aspects of this story one all dogs are
different so um some dogs are easier than others and uh the fact that his predation
issue he killed five squirrels and then suddenly with just a tiny bit of training you know
a day or two of calling him away from from wildlife
the issue is gone i can call them away from prey so that can't that can be personality
based all dogs are different so if someone says oh this technique worked for my dog you
should use it all dogs are different you have litter mates someone has one littermate and
you have the other they did this the problem went away you have an extreme problem no matter
what technique your dog's got a different personality and genetics than the sibling
so that's a really important part of this story but also the part that i wanted to talk
about is that i hadn't done i hadn't done much proofing of the recall or training i
just enjoying my puppies these cloud and bliss i've just been enjoying having them around
i i suffered a lot from a lot three of my dogs died within the same year sadly kiko
it was recent but so i haven't done that much training i've just been enjoying bliss bliss
blissy come here i've just been enjoying the presence of them in my life it's been wonderful
i they're they're very healing beautiful creatures and there's a squirrel at the moment but uh
so the the the point of this story is that um i hadn't done any training and suddenly
i was getting results and i was like how is this even possible and then i was like ah
this is what it is uh it's the relationship and trust it's like a scientific experiment
if i you know i'm a dog trainer so i always get told you know your dog's it's easy with
your dogs because you're training them all the time but in this case i wasn't well now
the trash has arrived so you might hear my trash being picked up but in this case it
wasn't i'd done very little training but what i had worked on unconsciously because i use
positive reinforcement i don't use any forms of intimidation i build trust and confidence
and and build my relationship with my dogs through positive interactions all of it was
easy to solve the problem because i had that relationship and trust so that you know i
always really i would say it but the scientific part for me in my brain was the the reinforcement
so it was all about training and reinforcement and of course you need a relationship and
trust first but to see such results with just the relationship and trust that i'd built
in my dogs so instead of working on a recall with these guys what i had been doing was
just simply every time they went out to the bathroom and came back in i'd give them a
treat so everyone would go out they'd be milling around then i'd need to call them back in
so i'd call them back in and give them a treat that's really the only training that i did
and then i just added on that so um really having a dog that trusts you wants to be with
you and you've really built that caring trusting relationship with them that's really going
to help your training so that's really uh the moral of the story for for this video
and um i actually do have footage of the of the moment that uh a rabbit got into my property
and i was in shock because i didn't think you could call a dog off in the middle of
trying to kill an animal so i'd seen him kill five squirrels and then i just tried to recall
i'd never even proved and he came back he didn't want the food but he came back anyway
because of relationship and trust
crowd crowd good boy good boy good boy so it's a really really powerful thing that you
can build with your dog and it takes time the same with people uh there was a time where
our trust was broken and and i was very worried uh i i had taken him to have his rabies shot
he'd been great at the vet before and something happened i i wasn't allowed to go in to get
the to get the rabies shot uh and uh but they said that the the first shot went well and
the rabies he he he he didn't do well i didn't even ask i didn't want to know because that
was in the past but uh a few days later i went to pick him up and as i picked him up
he got very scared and most likely it could be the pain in his body from the shot or remembering
being grabbed or restrained and so i saw him be scared of me for the first time and it
took a few months he even didn't want to train with me because at the time that i was picking
him up i had the treat bags i was working on taking a picture a group picture of the
dogs so anytime i tried to group the dogs together he would look at me and get scared
and want to go away and it broke my heart so i worked on that and i think that is the
one key to why i gained his trust again uh and and and and now he wants to listen to
me uh and finds it reinforcing besides doing a little bit of proofing uh with calling him
away from seeing squirrels while on leash or behind a fence um this one incident of
when our trust was broken and really my focus uh on building it back uh you know in in small
steps really helped with gaining his trust again gaining his confidence in me and his
interest in wanting to be with me so so that's the moral of the story i hope you guys found
it interesting i do have a video on demand on called harnessing the hunter that goes
over working with dogs that that have issues with being either over aroused or excited
about prey and getting them to calm down so they can so they can function around pray
and listen to you so for safety and also to prevent them killing animals uh so you know
some people want to hunt and use their dogs for hunting and i'm not saying that you shouldn't
that that's your own thing you can do that but this type of training would be beneficial
where you could ask your dog to do it and then also tell them when it's not appropriate
say for example like the neighbor's cat or or something like that so with cloud the training
that i did was interrupt it when it was happening by using a recall uh and then also teaching
him a default leave it so when you see prey it's not for eating it's not for killing it's
just for looking so they can be loose they can see prey but it's not it's not something
that they need to run and grab and kill the other thing i worked on with him is playing
tug and fetch so he got to have a fun time and one of his favorite things is the i don't
know why i did that but but like turning on a hose with a one of those guns so that it
makes a nice that's why it makes a nice spray of water and then having him chase the water
and bite it he loves doing that so he gets to do fun fun chasing games killing games
with this is super gross but like toys like this and we play together and he gets to practice
his skills at killing but without kill actually killing real animals so another thing that
i thought oh my goodness what if i had someone with a really tiny chihuahua visit and he
thinks it's a squirrel like the speed at which he killed the squirrel was shocking i was
like whoa i have a stone cold murderer in my house this is slightly weird for me and
i had thought to myself i'll never get a terrier again after tug but i love them i think they're
amazing they're so smart and so talented so that's the story i hope you found it interesting
and see you later