15 things to reduce 99% of problem behaviours.

Hello, dog peeps. Jack here. Just a quick one before we get into this episode. You may or may not be aware that when I'm not talking dog stuff with Max, I in fact interview people who are incarcerated in prisons across the United States on a show called One Minute Remaining Stories from the Inmates. And that show has been nominated for an award in America. And I would love your support if you've got 60 seconds to click the link in the show notes of this episode and just vote for my show. That would be amazing if you could. Thank you very much indeed. Oh, and don't forget to verify your email address. Otherwise, the vote does not count. Thank you.

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It's the Dog People Podcast with your host Jack Lawrence. You know, Malinois seem to be like the dog at the moment. Like, I think people see them on Instagram doing these incredible things. Yeah, go, oh my God, that's awesome. And then I get one like, oh my God, what the fuck? And Max O'Neill.

You would not believe how many people I meet And I go, what made you want to get, say, an Aussie Shepherd? They go, I don't know. I go, had you met one before? They go, no.

It's the Dog People Podcast, the podcast hopefully giving you a no-nonsense approach to dog training so you never have to shout. It's okay, it's friendly. My name's Jack Lawrence. Of course, Max O'Neill, the Down Under Dog Trainer. We are proudly brought to you by the legends at Knows, a multi-award-winning Australian pet insurance. You can check out more at knows.com.au. That's K-N-O-S-E.com.au, issued by Pacific International Insurance. Max, you could certainly do with some insurance because you've hurt yourself.

Yeah, broke my arm skating with Nelson.

I don't think Nose can help you out. Did poor Nelson get hurt?

No, he was actually fine. He was good as gold. But tell you what, could have done with some Nose insurance on my hand because I royally smashed it.

He's had a few. He's a bit of a breakage, old Maxi, but he's fronting up like a champion. We've got a great episode for you today. In fact, sort of inspired off a social post you did the other day which went, Boonta. 15 simple things you can do with your dog to reduce 99% of behavioural problems.

Yeah. So I just thought we'd expand on that and go through some things a little bit more in depth. I know it sparked a lot of conversation and question, and I thought we'd just go through now, give you guys this little sort of action plan. And if you implement these things, you'll probably never need a dog trainer. So, um, let's get stuck into it.

So this episode will put Max out of a job. Part 1, actually the first one will probably surprise a lot of people.

Yeah, it's not something people expect to start with, especially during our consults, but it's just feeding them a high-quality diet. Um, you wouldn't think so, but I think, you know, we're as a society, for humans as well, understanding more and more each year that the gut and the brain are so linked, and it's crazy. You know, shit diet, you end up foggy, cloudy, moody, you know, mate. And, you know, maybe that can affect things like your decision-making. And our dogs, or if anything, are probably more sensitive to that because they've got far less brain power than we do. So It's a pretty good starting place.

So when you say feeding them a high quality diet, okay, so this is one thing I didn't realise. Now, not all kibbles are created equal. As we know, there are some, some good quality kibbles, but if you, the best way that I've heard, and you'll obviously be able to correct me if I'm wrong, but the best way I've heard to find out what's in the kibble is obviously read the ingredients. But a lot of these things are jam-packed with the ingredient cereal.

Yeah, big time. Yes.

Sorghum cereal, wheat, barley, rice, which has just got no benefit for your dog whatsoever.

Virtually no benefit to our dog. No, they just don't need it. It's just cheap filler instead of you know, upping the protein and having more meat in it. They simply swap out a bunch of protein and meats, which might be $10 a kilo and put a bunch of this stuff in, which might be 50 cents a kilo. So it's just like a cheap filler really.

And what you'll probably find is, I'm probably gonna maybe get in trouble here, but I would suggest, well, some of your more well-known brands are probably the ones that are the biggest culprits with this stuff.

Yeah, exactly. We won't name any brands. We won't upset the Dog People Podcast legal team. Basically, or if you think of it this way, is the brands that your vets are pushing down your throat are probably not the ones you want to go with that way.

What?

Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. There is a very—

John from legal is at the door now waving frantically saying, don't stop him, stop him.

There's a bit of a commission rort going on. So there's a kickback scheme. And look, like, I think in their heart of hearts, they genuinely believe that's the healthiest. But like, you know, some of my friends are vets and they said the, you know, the amount of nutrition they go through at vet school is very, very, very limited. And then, you know, actual proper nutrition that I've spoke to, like as in canine and animal nutritionists, have said like they're some of the worst of the worst. And especially when you get familiar with those ingredients, a lot of those ones are some of the main ingredients in some of these kibbles. That's all I'll say.

We've certainly started this episode off in a very highly controversial manner. Not quite a Karl Stefanovic controversy, but number 2.

Number 2 is ensure they're actually resting and properly sleeping. So again, sounds crazy, but sometimes we need to treat our dogs like toddlers. And the reason I say this is if ever any of you have ever had young kids, babies, toddlers, and they've skipped a nap, we know how feral they can be for the rest of the day. And imagine if that was something that you were skipping day in, day out, because with kids, we plan whole sleep routines and nap schedules around it to ensure that their mood's regulated. With dogs, people overlook this and assume that, oh no, they'll figure it out. But like—

Yeah, they'll just lie down and go to sleep when they're tired.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's it. And some dogs like your calmer breeds might naturally do this, but If you've got a hyperactive working line or working breed puppy or dog, they might not choose to do this. They have to be forced rest upon them. So a lot of people, it's still crazy to me if you, you know, that people have a breed like a Border Collie or a Kelpie but won't do crate training because that dog is almost never choosing to switch off. And then you might think that the more exercise and more stimulation they get, the better, but you almost just end up just aggravating their nervous system. They end up overtired and then they really struggle to calm down because The longer they're awake, the more cortisol or stress that's in their system, and the more stress that's in their system, the more they stay awake. Ends up a very vicious cycle.

Of course, we've had the old crate debate, so we won't go back over that. You can find that episode. But, you know, there are those people out there that say, look, I really don't want to put my dog in quote unquote a cage. For those people listening, for someone who might be listening right now going, I really don't like the idea of putting my dog in a crate or a cage, is there some other way of ensuring the dogs can—

100%. So I'll give you like 3 or 4 different options. So number one is tethering, just tying them up, something heavy. They've got room to move. move. So they've got more square meterage than a crate. But again, the, the whole idea being is we want to start to put them in a low stimulation environment, which means taking away their access to a lot of things that would stimulate them— their toys, interacting with people, the other dog, a busy area of the house, shoes— just things where they can go, all right, there's not much else to do, my brain's winding down, and then the only really thing really left is sleep. You can also do really solid place training. It's the same, like, you know, We don't always pop Nelson in his crate. Quite often we'll just go, right, on your bed. And then they can eventually learn to do that themselves too. It can be popping them just in their own, in a room by themselves, like a laundry or a study or something where it's just a bit dark, away from the main traffic of the house, no toys, not much else to do other than sleep. Or it can even just be shutting them outside in the yard and just be like, hey, just for a bit, like you need some alone time. You need to bring it back down and just have them chill. But it's a really important part of owning any dog is regulating their nervous system through sleep and rest.

Obviously, before I did all the, you know, the learning on dogs and that sort of stuff, and I knew nothing, you know, I had no idea about the sleep stuff. But now I know about it, you suddenly go, oh my God, it makes so much sense. Because again, you know, people say you shouldn't compare dogs with babies, but at the end of the day, it is so similar. Like, what do you do when a baby's tired? You put it down for a nap. Where do you put that baby down for a nap? You don't just put it on the floor or just let it crawl around and say, well, it'll tire itself at some point and it'll fall asleep. It'll tire itself. No, you take it into its cot and you lie it down. You make sure it's nice and quiet and calm.

Dark room, no squeaky toys.

And they go to sleep and they wake up far happier. When they're not sleeping, they're grumbly, they're tired, they're crying. And dogs exhibit, you know, they'll maybe start barking, whining, chewing, doing all those sorts of things. So yeah, so sleep is such a huge important thing. And it's one thing that I, it was a steep learning curve for me with that. But once you know, you suddenly get, it makes so much sense.

Yeah, that's it. They just need that forced rest upon them. And it's something to include in your daily structure is be like, all right, like, you know, a time of day where you really don't need your dog being crazy. If you've got, A regular 2-hour meeting every day, 12 to 2, perfect time to crate them.

All right, number 3.

Meeting their breed-specific needs. So again, I see a lot of people who go, look, we're doing 2 walks a day, we're throwing the ball, but you know, a lot of our dog's unwanted behaviours that we don't like are really tied into their breed. For example, I just came then from a chocky lab, and his biggest thing was, you know, like stealing and just, you know, nicking stuff and running off with it, wanting to be chased. And again, he's a retriever, he wants to have something high value in his mouth and run around with it. So We came up with a behaviour modification plan that reduces that behaviour while— and suppresses that behaviour in that context, but gives him a chance to express it in another context. Because if you're meeting your dog's needs, you know, especially their breed-specific needs, you're not going to see these unwanted behaviours. For example, Nelson doesn't bail anyone up, bite anything, or resource guard because he gets enough time and opportunity to practise those aggressive sort of confrontational behaviours In another setting so the last thing he feels like doing at home is practicing them when he doesn't need to. Same with Kira.

Yeah, if I, if I didn't do the things that we do with her, she would just— and we've spoken about it before— high prey drive, just wants to chase things. So if I didn't give her that outlet, which I do every single day, to do that, to bite, to do all that sort of stuff, then yeah, we've seen what happens in the past. She chases things that she's not supposed to, like motorbikes.

100%.

One quick question, was the chocolate lab overweight?

This one actually wasn't, no. First one in a while.

Amazing.

99% of them are.

Okay. Number 4.

Spending some time away from them every day, both in another room and by leaving the house. So again, another one that popped up from the case I was just at was there's some pretty severe separation issues. Interestingly, this dog was fine if you left the home, but if you were in another room behind a door, it would absolutely lose its marbles. So from, you know, as soon as you get your dog, whether they're a puppy or you've just rescued them, show them that a normal part of their day and a normal part of your relationship is having some separation. Same like right now, Jack and I are in the studio. Kira could be chilling here at our feet, but she's outside. You know, she might have been here this morning, but it's just a way of balancing out a day and showing them, hey, we don't want to get to— we don't want you to get used to something that's maybe not sustainable or healthy. That ultra high level of contact where they're with us all day just isn't good for anyone.

Yeah. I mean, look, she's, she's never far away, but I always make sure that it's not just constantly in here with me or she's constantly inside with, with Becky. Like, it's got— she has to have some time where, hey, You've got to be by yourself. I guarantee she's probably sitting outside the office on her mat right now. Yeah. But yeah, that little bit of separation. And I know sometimes people think, oh, you know, but I want to be near my dog. Yes, we do want to be near our dogs, but it's the same again, going back to children. We all need our space. Everyone needs a bit of time to themselves to just do their own thing and learn to be by yourself and that it's okay that you're by yourself.

Yeah, that's it. Because if you let your dog around you 24/7, inevitably at some point you will get over it. And then if you've let them get used to that for the last three, four, five years, and now you're suddenly telling them one day, "Hey, I don't like

this dynamic of our relationship," that's pretty unfair if you ask

me.

Yeah. Well, I mean, my poor my mother-in-law's dog is a is the perfect example of that. Like you literally tripping over the dog constantly because it's right under your feet, and then you get because you stepped on the poor thing. Number five,

slowing down on how often you give them affection, not always giving in to them when they ask for it. So. Again, it's just setting up an unhealthy dynamic. If your dog gets used to this crazy high amount of affection, it just means you're going to create a very, very clingy dog. It's not sustainable because you're not going to be able to pat them all day, every day, forever. And it's just not healthy. It's the sort of thing again where our dogs struggle with, what's the word I'm looking for, moderation with resources. So things like food, some dogs even for water. toys and affection because they're essentially a wild animal that we've domesticated. Their instincts tell them, hey, if you see food, eat as much as you can because we don't know when we're going to see food again.

Yeah.

If you see water, same thing. And same thing if you find something that makes you feel pleasurable, take as much of it as you can get. So our dogs don't understand moderation where we can go, you know what, I've had half a block of Cadbury, I'm going to put it down tomorrow and finish off the rest. Shout out to Cadbury if you want to sponsor us. Mm-hmm. Is our dogs go, hey, I'm loving this pat. I want more and more and more and more and more. And they can get kind of addicted to it. Um, and then when that addiction sets in, that's when they can start to resource guard us. It's not your dog being protective. They're literally guarding you and can get really anxious when you're gone because it's like when you take, you know, a kid who's on their phone 24/7, again, they can't deal with moderation. If that phone goes flat, you look at like antsy and, you know, twitchy they get. They don't know what else to do. It's kind of how dogs feel when we stop patting them. So Slow down. You don't have to give in every time they ask you. And just, you know, oftentimes just go, all right, we've done a bit, ending it now.

Like, we're done. They don't need to always be doing it.

Therapy's biggest impact doesn't show up in some dramatic breakthrough. It shows up in the smallest moments. You bite your tongue instead of escalating. You put your phone down instead of firing off that text. You say what you actually mean instead of what would hurt someone else the most. Nobody applauds those moments, but they quietly change your life. That's what growing feels like, and that's exactly what Grow Therapy is here for. Grow is therapy that works, covered by insurance. Sessions average $21 with insurance, and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. You just pay per session. Grow connects you with thousands of high-quality licensed therapists across the US, offering both virtual and in-person sessions nights and weekends. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, or availability. And you can book a therapy session in minutes and begin in as little as 2 days, not the national 48-day average. See if you could pay as little as $0 for therapy in seconds at growtherapy.com/startnow. That's growtherapy.com/startnow. growtherapy.com/startnow. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.

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Okay, next one. I like this one because a lot of people I think are guilty of this one. Number 6.

Yeah, so not making a big deal when you leave the house and when you arrive home. So again, a lot of people make it this huge big thing, and your dog might be like, all right, cool, mum's going, like, not a big deal. But then we make it a big deal and your dog goes, oh shit, like, are we about to do something pretty serious? And then they sit there the whole time like we've just razzed them up, we've just like shaken the bottle of Pepsi and then screwed the lid on. And a lot of our dogs, again, as we know, can struggle to bring themselves down. So you razzing them

up just

puts them in this high

state of arousal and we want them to be calm when we're gone. So why would you elevate them up?

And when you're talking, we're talking about razzing up, a simple case of, okay, bye-bye, I'll see you later. Like, I'll be home soon. Like that, just that excited. And they're just like, well, what's going on? Because they don't understand a word you're saying. All they're just hearing is this high-pitched voice and you're just like, okay, what are we doing? And then you shut the door and they're like, wait, hold on, what? And then the barking starts and the overexcitement. And then when you get home, you take the lid off that bottle.

Spot on. And

the big reunion party. So again, you should come home and just be like, Oh hey, like not a big deal. You don't have to flat out ignore them if you don't want to, but not making a big deal and not giving them affection because it starts this vicious cycle, right? We get home, we elevate them through our big excited reunion. Oh my God, I missed you, all this stuff. Our dog then gets excited, we give them more affection, your dog starts to go, ah, I get the most amount of affection when I behave like this. And then it starts to permeate every other part. But it also means like if your dog's expecting this big reunion Think of how like we, you feel in the moment when you might go to the international airport, you're picking up a relative, you haven't seen them in ages, you're waiting at the doors for them to come out and you're like, oh my God. And you're excited, right? And that excitement is like, even though they're not there yet, you're feeling it. We don't want your dog feeling that when you're nearly home, because they'll sit there all day like, oh my God, it's nearly time. It's nearly time. Because they'll just struggle.

And again, the whining starts, the barking starts. They could start chewing because they're feeling a little bit anxious. Yeah.

They'll

displace that stress how we really don't want them to. And it's just not fair on them. We want them to Practice that rest.

Yes. I mean, I've watched a lot about this. I can't remember where I saw it now, but you know, this person I was watching was talking about, you know, maybe 15, 20 minutes before you're about to leave the house, just stop interacting with the dog. I mean, you're not being mean. You're just, you know, everything's calm. You make no fuss about going out. You know, you grab your keys, you walk out the door and shut the door and that's it. Come home similar. You know, don't just walk in, as you said, and be like super hyperactive. Maybe just give them a little pat on the head and then just go about your business. They're like, oh. Oh, okay.

Yeah. And if you think of like, oh, that's cruel. No, it's not. Like when Nelson comes here every Thursday to see Kira, they walk in the door, they give each other a quick sniff, and then Nelson walks right past her and pisses on Jack's studio. And then same when they leave.

He starts to urinate everywhere.

Yeah. When I start to get ready. Oh yeah. When I start to get ready and go, all right, like, and he knows we're leaving, he doesn't then go to Kira and spend the next 5 minutes licking and kissing her. They just go about their thing and then he goes, all right, see ya. He just walks out the gate and they go. Cool. Like, it's us projecting on them.

Number 7, and the last one for this episode.

Number 7 is teaching them a really solid place training and training it to a good level. So like we touched on before, it's a good way of getting them to settle. And if you can get your dog to do a really solid place training, uh, it's going to sort a whole heap of behaviour problems. Reason being, it's a method we call teaching an incompatible behaviour. So if you've got a problem behaviour like jumping on guests, uh, barking at the window, stealing food from the table. One way you can get rid of this behaviour is teaching them an incompatible behaviour. By that I mean you teach them some, like, something where they, they can't do those problem behaviours while they're doing the task you've assigned to them. For example, if your dog is on their bed, they can't jump on a guest, they can't bark at the window, they can't steal food, things like that. So teaching them a really solid place training is going to solve a lot of your problems because We don't even have to address them correctly. You can just go, cool, my dog's really well place trained, makes things easier. But also, like I said, it massively regulates their nervous system. And every dog should also have a safe place at the house where they're not bothered. So when they're on their bed, kids don't touch them, your friends don't bother them, the other dog doesn't go near them. They should have a crate and a bed or, or one of them where just they're left alone.

Yeah. I mean, I think we're well aware of my crate training situation within this house. It's still even now. It's like most of the time in the house, you know, when we eat dinner, I've sent her to a mat. She'll stay there. She won't move. Her biggest, like her kryptonite is people. I mean, even when you come in today, like, you know, I've sent her to a mat and she's just like, her whole body vibrates because she just wants to get off the mat and she wants to be near a person and be touched.

Yeah.

So it's not an easy— I mean, I, I would hazard to say that for, for me at least, place training has been the toughest of all the things I've taught that dog. And she, she can do some great things. But place training and teaching her that impulse control when it comes to people coming to the house.

Yeah.

God, it's difficult. It's so difficult. But it has been great with things like, you know, where the kids eat or where we eat or whatever it is, or where, you know, I can send her to her mat and she will sit there and out of the way. And as we've said before, you know, things like around the house, you drop a glass, send them to their mat and they won't move and those sorts of things. So it has so many different You know, great aspects to teaching a good place training.

And generally the things that are toughest for our dogs to pick up means are the ones we need to work on the most. Kira struggles with it because, you know, A, impulse control, B, can't sit still, which shows, all right, well, place training addresses both of those things.

So

yeah,

something I need to keep working on.

That's it.

I'm surprised we passed that element of the ultimate obedience. I must admit what we did. All right. Those are the first 7. There are another 7 to go or another 8 to go.

To

go halfway through, which we'll do in the, uh, the next episode. So, uh, if you want any, uh, if you've got any questions about any of that, make sure you jump on the Dog People Podcast Facebook group, uh, and, uh, and ask your questions there. The Dog People Podcast is a Mashed Pumpkin production hosted by Jack Lawrence and Max O'Neill, edited, produced, and audio production by Jack Lawrence.

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