Going Back to the Basics As Luck Would Have It Vestibular Disease
February 1, 2019
Volume 1, Issue 6
letter from the editor Hopefully by the time this gets to all of you, the groundhog has not been scared back into his den, and that spring is on its way. This issue brings you some training advice, a story of a dog and his owner who worked towards making a distant goal a reality, and information about "Old Dog Disease".
PUBLISHER Laurie Kirkpatrick EDITOR Laurie Kirkpatrick
Laurie Kirkpatrick
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Hazel, owned by Heidi Mina, keeps fit so she can run agility.
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inside
Hazel, owned by Heidi Mina, is one fit Pug!
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Vestibular Disease By Laurie Kirkpatrick
Going Back to the Basics By Laurie Kirkpatrick
As Luck Would Have It Invited Ourselves By Lori Hebert
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Vestibular Disease
By Laurie Kirkpatrick
A few months ago, I woke up to my 13-year-old Pug, Arnie, having what I thought was a seizure. He was thrashing about violently, trying to stand up, but unable to. I quickly turned on the light, and saw that his eyes were darting side to side, and that his thrashings were because every time he tried to stand up, he fell over on his side. As terrifying as it was, I was relieved after realizing that this was not a seizure, but most likely Vestibuler Disease. A friend's dog had just had that same disease, so the symptoms were luckily fresh in my mind. I helped him outside, where I had to steady him so that he could potty, but he managed to do his business with some help. He did need to be seen by a veterinarian, to confirm what I suspected, or to rule out another cause for his symptoms, so I called work to say I was going to be late, then called my vet and got an immediate opening (luckily, they open very early). The veterinarian examined him, and confirmed the diagnosis of Vestibular, and suspected that it could be related to an ear issue. He has chronic ear problems, which get worse in rainy weather. She sent us home with anti-nausea and ear meds, and scheduled a followup. But what exactly is Vestibular Disease, what causes it, what are the symptoms, and how can it be treated?
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What is it?
Technically it is called Canine Idiopathic Vestibular Disease. It's also know as "Old Dog Disease", as it is more common in older dogs. VCA Animal Hospitals1 define vestibular disease as a sudden, non-progressive disturbance of balance. All breeds can be affected.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms of Vestibular may include: • A head tilt • Dizziness, loss of balance, and falling down • Disorientation • Nausea and/or vomiting • Jerking eye movements, side to side There is no slow progression of the symptoms - symptoms appear all of a sudden.
How is it diagnosed?
It is important that you get your dog in to see a veterinarian immediately, to rule out other causes of the above symptoms, such as seizure, stroke or a brain tumor. There is no test to confirm the diagnosis, since it is technically a collection of symptoms, but your vet may run other tests, such as bloodwork or an MRI, to rule out other causes for the symptoms.
How is it treated?
Typically, your dog can be treated at home. If they are vomiting, and there is a risk of dehydration, your vet may wish to administer IV fluids. If an ear infection is suspected as the possible cause (as was in Arnie's case) they will be sent home on antibiotics and ear medication. Your vet will also typically send your dog home with anti-nausea medication, to help combat their dizziness.
How long is the recovery?
The most severe symptoms usually subside in the first 2-3 days (sometimes sooner). Keeping your dog safe and hydrated is the primary concern in those first few days. Because of nausea, they may not want, or be able to, eat or drink. Making sure they do not become dehydrated is critical. Just as important is keeping them from becoming injured, due to their loss of balance. You should keep them confined to a safe area, and not allow them access to stairs or furniture, where there is a potential of falling off. They will probably also need some help going to potty. In Arnie's case, a harness allowed me to assist him in keeping his balance while he did his business the first few days.
What is the long term prognosis?
It's important that you take your dog in for a recheck with their veterinarian, to make sure that the symptoms are indeed improving and that they are on the road to recovery. Most symptoms subside in a couple of weeks, and most dogs completely recover, although some do end up with lifelong mild symptoms, such as slight unsteadiness or a mild head tilt. Arnie's symptoms improved, going from "not being able to stand", to "could stand with some assistance" in 48 hours. He was still unsteady going up and down the step into the house for about a week, but now months after his episode, he is 98% recovered. He still has a very slight list to the side, and stumbles sometimes when walking over barriers or down the stairs to the couch, but overall he has fully recovered. 1Ward, Ernest, DVM. “Vestibular Disease in Dogs” VCAHospitals.com, 2009.
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Going Back to the
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e Basics All learning has to start somewhere. You crawl before you learn to walk. You learn the alphabet before you can read. Dog training is no different. To train our dogs in the complex behaviors necessary for agility, obedience, conformation and life, we need to understand the most basic principles of learning. Sadly, as dog sports become more complicated and competitive, some trainers seem to have let the basics slide in favor of the most current “system” that will make their dog perform better. The fallout from this are dogs that are stressed at shows, because they are “managed” instead of trained. Dogs that don’t have the most fundamental behavior skills. Dogs that behave inappropriately, and sometimes dangerously, around other dogs and people because they have not been trained. It’s not entirely their owner’s fault. When I started training dogs, there was a multitude of seminars, books and videos that dealt with behavior. Obedience had been around a very long time, but at the time it relied on harsh and punitive methods to get dogs to perform. Luckily, positive training and my getting into dog sports happened around the same time. Since most traditional trainers weren’t familiar with positive methods, there were seminars, books and videos that explained the fundamentals of dog behavior in the simplest terms. So I’d like to take a step back, and go back to the basics of dog training.
By Laurie Kirkpatrick
Drive Theory Drive theory is the theory that all living things have needs, and living beings strive to satisfy that need. Jack and Wendy Volhard brought Drive Theory to dog training many years ago. Their method of training relied on the thinking that all dogs have different drives, or motivations, and training methods should take that into consideration. The Volhards identified four different drives in dogs:
PREY
A dog with a high prey drive loves to hunt. They chase objects that move, stalk other animals or humans, and pounce and kill their toys.
PACK
A dog with a high pack drive is very social. Interaction with other dogs or humans are what they crave. They bark or carry on when left alone, insist on being pet, are constantly touching other dogs or humans, and get excited when they hear their owner’s voice.
FIGHT
A dog with a high fight drive is very confident. They stand their ground when challenged, guard their resources, and likes to play tug of war with toys.
FLIGHT
A dog with flight drive is not confident in new situations, stresses out when alone, hides behind their owner when faced with new situations, and will bolt when challenged.
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How Drives “drive” our training So what does all of this have to do with dog training? Most of us know instinctively what sort of drive our dogs have. We can recognize a dog that loves to be pet, or chase a ball, or mix it up with other dogs. But beyond knowing what our dog likes to do, knowing what sort of drive is strongest in our dog can show us how to train and reward them. It can also tell us what sort of games to play with them to get them ready to engage. Getting a dog into “drive” is an important part of training, and knowing how to do that will improve your training sessions and performance in the show ring.
PREY
A dog with strong prey drive may be motivated by either toys, food, or a combination of both. A dog with strong toy prey drive would find a thrown toy (frisbee, tug or ball) the ultimate reward. This type of dog should be trained with a lot of movement. Warming up this dog to work would involve a lot of chase games, such as chasing their owner or chasing a toy dragged along the ground. A dog with a strong food prey drive should be trained with a lot of tasty treats. Warming this dog up to work would involve treats being doled out generously. Some dogs have equal toy and food prey drive. For this dog, a thrown toy that has food is the ultimate reward. A food pouch on the end of a rope gives this dog everything they need to get into drive. If a more calm learning environment is needed, then another, less stimulating, motivator might need to be used as a reward. A dog that is so in “drive” that they can’t think or process is not productive. In that case, praise only, or a small value food reward, would be needed.
PACK
A dog with a strong pack drive is motivated by interaction with humans or other animals. This dog will work for praise or a good rub down as much as they will for food or a toy. Eye contact is a strong reward for this dog, as is the sound of their owner’s voice. Warming this dog up would involve touching, talking and holding them, with lots of eye contact.
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FIGHT
A dog with a strong fight drive is often not motivated by toys, treats or humans. And since letting them intimidate or bully another dog or human isn’t something we can let them do, finding what motivates this dog can be tough. They do need a firm hand, although never a cruel hand. And their world must be black and white. They are the ultimate “give them an inch and they’ll take a mile” dogs, and are confident that they are right most of the time. Because of that, they will constantly test their owner. The trick to training these dogs is to find out what other drives they have, and use that when training, always being mindful of consistency and clarity. When warming this dog up, this dog will need to be watched carefully, because when they get into drive, they will be looking around for trouble. This dog will often stare down another dog, and should never be allowed to exhibit that behavior.
FLIGHT
The flip side to fight is flight. A dog with a strong flight drive is also not often motivated by toys, treats or humans. This is the dog often described as “shutting down” since all they want to do is leave the current stressful situation and hide. This dog needs constant boosts to its confidence, and initial training should take place in locations where they are comfortable. As they get more confident in whatever behavior they are learning, they can progress to less comfortable situations. But initially, this dog needs quiet and calm. Warming this dog up should take place far from the chaos of the show environment. And like their counterpart the fight dog, they need to be watched carefully, in case they are spooked by something in their immediate area. The more in flight drive these dogs get, the more likely they are to bolt. Games that keep their attention away from their surroundings, and onto their person, are the most productive. So now we have an idea of what motivates our dog, so it’s time to find out how our dogs learn.
The Operant Conditioning Quadrant All animals (humans included) learn through cause and effect. Consequences to actions determine if that action will increase or decrease in frequency. And that learning is never stagnant. Every minute of every day involves situations where learning takes place. And those interactions and consequences can be plugged into four scenarios, called the Operant Conditioning Quadrant. To understand the Operant Conditioning Quadrant, there first needs to be a clear definition of the terms that will be used. As trainers, we throw around the terms “negative”, “positive”, “reinforcement” and “punishment” a lot, but often these terms are not used correctly. Positive: To add or give something as a consequence. Most people equate “positive” with giving a treat or toy after a behavior, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be something good. A leash jerk is considered a “positive”, since it is adding something as a consequence.
Negative: To remove or take away something as a consequence. Taking away a promised treat, toy or an owner’s attention would be an example of a negative. Also, taking away the pressure on a collar would be, as well.
Reinforcement: A behavior more likely to be repeated or that will occur more frequently.
Punishment: A behavior less likely to be repeated or that will occur less frequently.
On to the quadrant
Four squares make up the learning quadrant Positive Reinforcement: Adding something pleasant (treat, toy or attention) that causes the behavior to occur more frequently. Negative Punishment: Taking away something pleasant (an expected treat, toy or attention) that causes the behavior to occur less frequently.
Positive Punishment: Adding something unpleasant (collar correction, verbal reprimand or pushing a dog down) that causes the behavior to occur less frequently. Negative Reinforcement: Taking away something unpleasant (pressure on a collar, or pushing them into a sit) that causes the behavior to occur more frequently.
Personally, I stay away from punitive training methods. In my own training practices, I've settled on the squares that are “alike”. Those are Positive Reinforcement and Negative Punishment, which involve a pleasant consequence (whether adding or removal of one) over a square that involves an unpleasant consequence.
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Positive Reinforcement
Almost all agility trainers, and many obedience and rally trainers, use this square exclusively. We add something, such as a food or toy, after the behavior occurs (such as taking a jump, going through a tunnel, or tipping the teeter) which causes the behavior to occur more frequently. Unfortunately, some trainers don’t understand that we can also train unwanted behaviors when we fail to truly understand this square in the quadrant. Our attention, verbal interaction and eye contact in some dogs is a very strong motivator. Remember, all behaviors occur more frequently or less frequently because of consequences. By adding rewards (attention, eye contact, ect.) after a behavior, either accidentally or lazily, we can encourage behaviors that we don’t want. For example, we’ve all seen the dog that mopes through a course while their owner cheerleads, claps and jumps up and down the entire time. If we think of this in its purest form on the quadrant, the addition of something the pack driven dog finds rewarding is taking place. Therefore, the behavior will increase. By cheerleading, the handler just created a slower dog.
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Negative Punishment
As the other “like” square in the quadrant, this also trains our dogs without using harsh methods. If we take away an expected reward (a target that has a treat on it that is snatched away by a handler) after a behavior occurs (such as going around a jump, missing the yellow part of a contact, or breaking a start line stay) the behavior should occur less frequently. Unfortunately, some of the things we are teaching our dogs are so self rewarding that the removal of a treat or toy isn’t a deterrent. If your dog loves jumping more than a treat or toy, taking away that treat or toy is not going to have a big impact, since they are getting a reward for a behavior we don’t want to occur more often. It’s important to know your dog in cases like this, and to prevent them from the true reward (being able to jump). How many times have we seen a dog break their stay, run over a few pieces of equipment, through a tunnel, and over some jumps, before their owner stops them and carries them off of the course? That is not Negative Punishment, since they were actually rewarded for breaking their stay. Well, technically, they rewarded themselves. Their owner thinks it’s a negative (taking away being able to run), but in reality it was a positive, so the behavior will continue. For dogs that crave human interaction, this can be a very effective way to discourage behaviors we don’t want. If our dog is barking and carrying on because they want out of their crate, walking away (taking away an expected reward) will cause the behavior (barking) to occur less frequently. Paired with Positive Reinforcement (letting them out of their crate when they are quiet), we can create a dog that has learned to quietly wait in their crate. But again, this can be inadvertently flipped if we aren’t consistent. Some owners walk closer to their dogs crate when they’re barking, thinking this will quiet them. Just the opposite happens. They have just had a reward added (owner gives them attention) instead of taken away (owner walks away or gives attention to another dog). So they will continue to bark in their crate. Understanding your dog and what "drives" them is the first step to having a dog that is well-trained and consistent in their behavior. This, in addition to a clear understanding of Operant Conditioning, will make you a better trainer, and your dog a much happier companion.
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As Luck Would Have It
Part 1: Invited Ourselves By Lori Hebert
For Heaux (4/16/03 - 7/25/18), the luckiest charm of all. I'm sure most of you reading this have seen the movie "Best in Show." It's a dog world must see if you compete in any aspect at all of dog sports/activities. I'm also positive that most of you said "oh, that's so and so" as the various characters unfolded. I know, I've talked about this before, and thought I was cured, but apparently I was just in remission. I am a Bizzy Bee person. No where has this been more evident than this run to Orlando. I grew up playing sports. Superstitions run rampant in sports. Tap the bat 3 times on the far back corner for an opposite field hit. Smack glove once, then twice, then once for a strike out. Wear yellow jacket at home and black jacket on the road. 75 sunflower seeds in each pocket and eat the ones on the right first. You know, normal things. Until this run for Orlando, I thought I was doing pretty good being reformed. Yeah...uh no. Apparently once a Bizzy Bee, always a Bizzy Bee.
1. Clothes:
You cannot possibly trial in a shirt regularly until you determine if it's a lucky shirt. While I stuck to my regular Saturday and Sunday known lucky shirts, occasionally I would branch out on Fridays. Sometimes those shirts were allowed to reappear. Sometimes they ended up in Good Will depending on whether it was a QQ, single Q or no Q at all kinda day. Clothes come with rules though. If you have a lot of QQs with a shirt, then it's ok to have a day with no Qs. Every talisman has an off day occasionally, right? The same 3 pairs of socks every weekend. If it was a 4 day trial, I had to sneak the odd pair of socks with the maybe not lucky shirt and hope for the best. Whew, livin' on the edge there. Luckily there were only a couple of those.
Continued Next Page This isn't about a pug, and Lori doesn't own a pug. But her story about making the AKC Invitational a goal for 2018 is an inspiring one humorous one. And while she doesn't have a pug herself, she does share a special bond with Gracie, my 12-year-old retired agility pug. Lori is one of the few people that Gracie has let into her circle of friends. Mostly because Lori understand Gracie's love of popcorn, and indulges her completely. Lori lives and shows in Texas with her 2 Labradors, Decoy and Touxtie, and her Border Collie Teezie.
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2. My Stuff and things Along the way, as the Qs and points accumulated, I ended up with stuff that had to come with us and things I had to do. The list is exhausting and, quite honestly, I don't think I remembered everything every time but as long as I didn't know I didn't have my stuff, it was all good! Lavender soaps - I mean really, how can you expect to QQ and make points if you don't sleep at night? Hotel soaps are notorious for not allowing you to sleep at night. To insure I had my best rest, I had to have my lavender soaps from Whole Foods (no where else would do). Starbucks - Venti Americano. There were times when I had to have McDonald's and tell myself it was the best I could do because for whatever reason, not every town has a Starbucks next to the trial venue. Lame, I know, but it was more important at that point that I just be caffinated, for the good of all human and animal-kind, than I have specific caffination. Batman quilty thing - some time around December, it appeared on my chair from a friend. We QQ'd that day. Batman quilty thing now must go every single place we go.
And, oh please, let's not even talk about Decoy's stuff. A boy cannot possibly do agility without:
Special treats - every Labrador's world revolves around food, agility be damned. We had to have the exact same treats after every run we ran. I ordered in bulk and restocked our bag every week. To the ring cookies - yup, same cookie. Every run. Treat container - this one got a bit dicey around Octoberish. Our original treat container was falling to pieces. The duct tape holding it together had duct tape holding it together. I finally took a deep breath and got a new one out of the box. It was fine, but let's not do that again, OK? Because I had these things, I cannot tell you what would have happened without them! Maybe we would be in the same place. Maybe not. There was so much more to this year than what people saw. I know most people couldn't see a lot of this (and we won't even talk about the complete list), and that's my point. You saw the runs. You saw the points. You didn't see the boy who curled up by my head to sleep. You didn't see the talks we had that were nothing about agility. Before you make an assumption on what you see, stop. You see 30 seconds, 4 times a day of a dog/person interaction. You do not see the other 23 hours and 58 minutes. You have no idea what is going on in that person's life the rest of the time. Agility is not life. Agility is a thing we do....but we do it better when we have all of our lucky stuff....Just saying...
Stinky - stinky is his tug toy. We lost stinky once because we left it at a trial site. Luckily, the chairman of the Wichita Falls trial did not toss stinky away!! Ms Linda packed it up and sent it to us with Candy and Dolly. Whew....crisis averted. From then on out, the rule was that I must lay hands on stinky before the Whale drove off the grounds. ***sad note: after June 30th, I must have relaxed on stinky patrol and we did leave stinky some place. We ordered a new stinky and promptly ran off a streak of 18 QQs in a row. New stinky can stay.
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