Episode #116 Body Sensitivity with Michele Rielly

Michele Rielly joins Amy in studio to talk about dogs and body sensitivity. Do you notice your dog shying away from being touched, groomed or picked up? Today's episode talks about how to help your dog be less body sensitive and how to incorporate more cooperation in their care. 

Transcript

Amy: 0:00

This is the puppy training podcast episode number 116 body sensitivity This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the puppy training podcast. And I'm your host, Amy Jensen. Hey, everybody, welcome to the puppy training podcast. Thank you for listening. I appreciate you being here. Today we want to talk about dogs and body sensitivity. Sometimes you might notice that your dog is a little more sensitive. So today, I have my trainer Michelle Riley with me. Thanks, Michelle, for joining me to talk about this today.

Michele: 0:45

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Amy: 0:48

First of all, before we get into body sensitivity, I'm just curious what you've been up to lately. Yeah, so

Michele: 0:53

I've been very busy at my house. I am service dog trainer for good dog service canines. So I currently have three puppies that I'm training to become service dogs, which is pretty neat. But I've got a full house with three puppies under the age of one. So yeah, it can get it can get to be loud in my house on occasion. But thankfully, I live on an acre and a half. So they have plenty of room turned around.

Amy: 1:17

Okay, so I'm imagining these puppies all under a year old. I would just be curious. And maybe for our listeners that they might be curious. How do you manage the day,

Michele: 1:26

their baby gates everywhere, we have lots of structure where Thankfully I've had two of them since they were eight weeks old. So they kind of understood our routine and our schedule since I got them. And so thankfully, when we just added the third in, he kind of just had to learn to go with our routine and patterns, but lots of mental stimulation, lots of opportunities to take naps and focus on that. And then I constantly have treats on me around me if they start to get a little overstimulated in order to kind of break things up, settle everyone down, and then we let them play but calmly. So I like

Amy: 2:02

that you pointed out those two words routine and structure. Those are two very important concepts when it comes to raising puppies.

Michele: 2:08

Definitely, especially with adolescent age things, I find that a lot of the times I talk about going back to treating them like they're eight weeks old sometimes. And I feel like each one goes through a different pattern where I get out of adolescence was one of them, and then the other one starts teething or vice versa. So it's kind of a roller coaster with all of them to really practice some of those behaviors.

Amy: 2:29

Yeah, and that other word pattern is a big one puppies, you know, dogs love patterns, and they pick up on patterns quickly. So like you said, when you added your third puppy, they just had to learn the pattern, right? Yes, yep,

Michele: 2:39

they just kind of had to come in. And if he struggled with something, it was kind of nice, because the other two already knew what they were doing. So he just kind of followed suit. With I'm big on monkey see monkey do. So I've got a 13 year old lab who runs the whole house. She's the queen bee. And she knows the routines and patterns. And so she teaches the puppies and the puppy teaches the puppy. So it's nice to have that. As it kind of stated earlier, I work for a company called Good Dog service canines. We train service dogs, majority labs and golden retrievers and the occasional doodle. For kiddos who have autism, Down Syndrome and other similar diagnosis. So it's a really neat program that we work for where we train dogs from eight weeks old to about two to become service dogs for those kiddos. And so that's kind of why we have an influx of people who are fundraising right now that need dogs, we just don't have a lot of people to raise them. So that is why I decided to take arm a third instead of my normal two. But it's really neat program and something you should check out. It's good dog service. canines.org.

Amy: 3:45

Yeah, thank you. We we love that organization. And that's who I've worked for as well and train some doodles for them. And it's just a fun, rewarding opportunity. So if any of you are interested in getting started with that, or being a volunteer puppy raiser, if that sounds interesting to you reach out to us and we can get you connected with them.

Michele: 4:02

Yes, please.

Amy: 4:05

Okay, well, let's talk about body sensitivity. Will you explain first of all, Michelle, what it is.

Michele: 4:10

Yeah, so just like with some humans, dogs can be more sensitive to touch than others. This can kind of look like being avoiding being pet. You know, sometimes with the dogs that have pointy ears, they have a tendency to not like to be touched between their ears. This can be pulling their feet away when they touch them, nipping at us while we're trying to groom them or not necessarily being enjoying being picked up all the time. So more recently, I've actually at least once a week, I have a phone call with a client who's been really struggling with their pup, either just being regularly pet or pups that are being picked up. And I found that especially with the mini breeds, we have a tendency to just pick up our puppies a lot to stop them from doing behaviors we don't want them to or to kind of just control the outcome for ourselves. This can also be something when they're overstimulated We just want them to stop. And so this, I find that then dogs have a tendency if that's becomes the case to try to nip us when they want. When we try to move them try to grab, they'll growl at us, or yawn or lip lick or things like that, when they're uncomfortable, and people don't understand why. This also can come up with that time nail trimming and brushing and different grooming settings as well.

Amy: 5:24

Yeah, that's a good point to bring up. I think a lot of times we have a, the idea that this puppy is a stuffed animal, and I can just scoop it up whenever I want, and tote it around. I know, especially with kids, they tend to think that that will be the case. And so we do start to see some signs of the dogs trying to communicate to us right, those things you mentioned of the head turning or the the lick the licking, or the lip licking and the shake off the they're trying to calm themselves down. But they're also trying to tell us, hey, you know, I don't really want you to come any closer, you know, if you see those ears pinned, or they're starting to lean backwards in their posture, and that type of thing. So I think it's important to realize that you're not just trying to communicate something to us, we need to know what that means and to listen to them. So how do we help a dog Michelle, who is showing signs of body sensitivity? How do we help them overcome that?

Michele: 6:12

My first question I always ask is, if your puppy weighed 75 pounds? Would you pick them up? For the reasons you're picking your puppy up? Now? If the answer is no, what other ways can we help our pups make the right decision or give them an alternative behavior? For example, I get the question, my puppy is sleeping on the couch. And when it's time for him or her to go to bed, I go to pick them up and they growl or even tried to bite me when I moved them. My first thought is, can we train our puppies to give them an off cue? Can we show them a treat first and get them excited? Before we approach them? Can we work on letting them know we're going to pick them up by saying up or another option if they're too young to jump off the couch, different things like that. So we can really work on a consent opportunity and an opportunity to use our words instead of just moving them because it's easiest thing to do?

Amy: 7:00

Yeah, I always find when I give the dog a choice in the matter, that they're more cooperative.

Michele: 7:05

Definitely. And there's so many great opportunities nowadays with the idea of cooperative care and how to take things so slowly and nicely to really work on some of these behaviors, especially if you are struggling with grooming or that kind of thing that we can really kind of help you through those behaviors.

Amy: 7:22

Yeah, Baxter, the past couple of weeks has figured out his own cue when grooming so when I go to brush him or I pick up his paws are some of the things he's a little bit body sensitive about. If he I found brushing his back, for example, he'll just pick up his pie, like lift his paw. And so I started pausing when he lifts up his pie, just kind of pause and wait, let him sniff the brush a little bit. And then he'll set his foot back down, and we continue and then he'll pick up his paw a little bit like, I want you to slow down. So it's just interesting. If you take time, and maybe take a step backwards and just see what your dog's trying to communicate to you. If they know we're listening to them, I find that they are more cooperative.

Michele: 8:00

Definitely. And then I find do that we can make things more enjoyable for each other as well. So like, going to bed is so much fun for my dogs at nighttime because they get an awesome treat. I say the magic word. You know, they all go in their kennels, all these different things. And we can make it a routine again and part of a fun process where they get something good out of it as well.

Amy: 8:21

Yeah, they recognize that pattern of Oh, going to bed is this fun routine that we do?

Michele: 8:26

Yes, my oldest puppy. He's about to turn one next week, about 930. Usually we can't find them and he's already tucked in his kennel the door open and he's as soon as I let the other two young ones out. And he's waiting. They're ready first treat to go to bed.

Amy: 8:42

So that's awesome. Yeah, I've taught Baxter a few social cues as well. Just any little cue that you can teach or a word that you can teach your dog so they know what's about to happen. I can help. I mean, this isn't on the topic of body sensitivity. But Baxter alert barks when people come into my yard. And we have puppy playdates regularly. So I've just started coining the phrase, friends, your friends are coming. And he perks right up, like Oh, my friends are coming in, he gets excited and he's happy. And then he sees them arrive. And now instead of barking at them, like Oh, I'm on guard. He's like, it's my friends. They're here. So I love that idea of giving them some of these cues. You know, hey, it's time for bed or it's time to get off the sofa or it's time to do grooming that they can be prepped for that. Yeah,

Michele: 9:25

and that way we can pair it with something fun and exciting too. Yeah, I love that. Are there things Michelle we can do with young puppies to help prevent body sensitivity. Yeah, so slow introductions to all kinds of grooming things you know everything from the Dremel to the blow dryer to brushes to even asking your groomer if you can have some happy visits before their initial grooming. I think those are great options to kind of take it slowly in order to have our pups be successful with those items. And really, truly every day when I first get a puppy, I'll just show him the dog orell turn the noise on, I'll show them the brush, the toothbrush, all these different tools. So we can have them be excited about it because they get peanut butter every time they see it or they get an awesome treat with it. So we can just kind of make it something that is enjoyable for them. And for us,

Amy: 10:17

I think the hardest part of that is taking the time. And being patient enough to introduce it slowly to our dogs. I know that you know, I'm an impatient person at times, and I just want to get those nails trimmed or I just want to get you know, those teeth brushed, but I guarantee from experience that the more slowly you take it with these puppies, you know, one tooth a day, one meal a day, and making a super positive experience, you get to the point where Okay, they'll let you trim their nails or Okay, they'll let you brush their teeth.

Michele: 10:46

Yeah, in the other thing with you know, picking them up and carrying them too is if we can really work on showing them where the doors to go potty outside to showing them to, to go to a toy that they want to instead of picking them up and taking them away from biting us or giving them the options to make the right choices. They start to make those right choices and connect them with the things we want them to do instead of just being frustrated with each other.

Amy: 11:13

So good. Well, thank you, Michelle, for joining us today and talking about body sensitivity. I really appreciate it and your expertise. Thank you. All right, you guys have a good rest of your week. Thanks for joining us. Hopefully you picked up a little tidbit here or there or something that will help you with your own dog. And we'll talk to you soon happy training. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other Puppy Training question, visit my site Baxter & bella.com to contact me