15 things to reduce 99% of problem behaviours P2

Hello, dog peeps. Jack here. Uh, 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, uh, 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. Uh, 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. Secretly, I decided to start this podcast for some free dog training advice. 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, a podcast hopefully giving you a no-nonsense approach to dog training so you never have to shout, it's okay, he's friendly. Jack Lawrence here, as well as Max O'Neill, the Down Under Dog Trainer. Of course, Max, we're brought to you by the legends at Knows, a multi-award-winning Australian pet insurance built to help pet parents stay informed and supported throughout their pet's life. You can get more details at knows.com.au. That's K-N-O-S-E.com.au, issued by Pacific International Insurance. Last episode, we were going through your 15 simple things you can do with your dog to reduce 99% of your behavioural problems. We did 7. We are on to number 8.

Yeah.

Home stretch. So number 8 is finding a way a couple of times a week, at least, to give your dog some off-leash freedom somewhere. And this can sound really tricky for a lot of people because they might go, well, my dog's reactive or my dog's got no recall. That's fine. There's ways around that. The amount of empty soccer fields that sit vacant all day long until kids go there to practise soccer at 5:00 PM. Go and buy a 30 or 40 metre piece of rope from Bunnings.

I've got a— I've got the biggest, like, long lead you've ever seen in your life. It's fantastic. And Kira spent the first 12 months of her life on it.

Yep, that's it.

Exactly.

And just give them so much freedom. They'll probably never even hit the end of it. And because you've got this wide open space is, you know, if anyone comes, cool, you can just reel your dog in. Also, every fenced-in dog park, wherever you're listening to us from, probably sits there completely empty between the hours of 10 and 2. Okay, there's ways you can do this, and it's so important for your dog to experience freedom. And in fact, we make it like a mandatory piece of our behaviour modification puzzle where we go, hey, at least twice a week your dog needs to do this because otherwise they're just so pent up and sick of being restricted and suppressed and told what to do. Like, they just gotta just blow some steam out. And it's one of— when we, you know, talk about our dog's biological needs, agency or freedom is such an overlooked and underrated one.

Because I mean, it's about just letting your dog be a dog, go around, sniff some bushes, you know, wee on things and just basically be a dog.

That's it. And it always goes back to that. There's such a strong relationship between natural and unnatural behaviours. Like the more natural behaviours we practise, let them practise, the fewer unnatural ones we do. Whereas when you see, you know, go to zoos and they're not able to practise natural behaviours, you see a lot of animals with behaviour problems. Same for our dog.

All right.

Number 9.

Number 9, having actual rules, boundaries, and limitations in your home. So again, it's crazy how many people's house I go to and I go, all right, what are the rules for your dog? And they might go, oh, well, they either say something like, we don't have any, or they say, oh, we've got this one where he's not allowed on the couch. And I go, well, he's on the couch right now.

Well, he doesn't always do what we want him to.

Yeah. And it's crazy. A lot of people think that that means a happy life for our dog, but it doesn't, it doesn't necessarily. Natural and healthy for them to live with boundaries. And when we don't instill them, again, they struggle to regulate and they struggle with moderation just because they have so many options available to them. It can either make them incredibly anxious or incredibly overstimulated. So slowing them down is why they benefit so strongly. And, you know, a few of our friends are, you know, obviously got lots of trainer friends. They do board and trains and things like that, and And part of the way the dogs make this really awesome 180 when they're with them is it's because they, for the first time, they've got a lot of clarity around what they are and are allowed to do and have got really clear boundaries. And the dogs are happiest and thriving when they're in those homes. And it's the same when we have dogs come and stay with us. People go like, oh wow, like he, he doesn't look like he wants to leave. And I'm like, yeah, well, I'm actually a lot firmer on him than you are, but he actually likes it and thrives in it. So just one of those things.

All right. Number 10.

Number 10 is giving them a sense of purpose by actually making them work for their food and not just giving it for free all the time.

That's— that just seems cruel, Max. Yeah.

How dare you?

Yeah.

But again, this ties into like the 2 examples we always give, right? Is let's just say if you won the lottery tomorrow and never had to work again, you might have a couple of weeks off and have a holiday, maybe even a few months off. And you— but at some stage would go, okay, I'm bored. I need a sense of purpose. And you might not spend 12 hours a day in the studio like you do, but you'd get back in here and go, okay, like I want to work towards something. I want to have a direction. Same. If I won the lottery tomorrow, very little of my day-to-day life would change other than just how long I spend doing it. I wouldn't work 6:00 AM till 6:00 PM every single day. I'd maybe just do a bit less, but I'd train dogs. The point being is we all want a sense of direction and purpose, and so too does our dog. One of the biggest things that, you know, zoos will do to help the animals there live a natural life is get them working for their food. Because at one stage, again, all the animal people thought the fairest thing to do was Go in the lion enclosure, stick a deer carcass on the ground. Go in the koala enclosure, throw a whole bunch of leaves on the ground. But then those behavior problems set in because these animals would not have to work for things, and they would really struggle to like, what will— but what do I do? And that's why they'd start to look for tasks like digging or chewing or howling, destruction or self-mutilation that we don't like. So it's the same for our dogs. They're no different. If you make them work for their food through some training every day, I don't just mean Sit, shake hands. Okay. Make them work on something new or hide that food in like an Amazon box or make them sniff it out, but give them a task that they have to go through in order to get their dinner. It's so good for their brains. It's not even funny.

What percentage would you say in regards to problem issues that you get when it comes to like digging? Because I think that feels like a really high one where a dog's going, I need something to do and I'm just going to just start digging a hole.

Yeah, that's it. Exactly. Digging's almost is You know, 80% of the time it's boredom, 20% of the time it's escape. Yeah, um, related. But yeah, it's just like they're just looking for anything to do and they pick the thing that's just so physically exertive. And yeah, they— some will dig to their paws bleed.

All right, number 11.

Number 11, ensuring that not all of your interactions with them are highly stimulating. So again, a lot of people have got a great relationship with their dog, the dog loves them, they're the center of the dog's world, but they spend so much time playing cuddling, training, doing stimulating things with their dog, talking to them, that their dog struggles to switch off around them. Again, the chocky lab I just came through, this particular lady is fantastic at getting her dog to do stuff. He's obedient outside, all this stuff, but he just sees his mum as this giant, you know, source of dopamine. Sorry, I don't mean giant, like she's a normal— yeah, anyway.

We get it.

Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, for her, the dog, he just struggles to switch off. And her housemate said When she's gone, he's really chill. The moment she's home, he's elevated and he's like, what are we doing? So we really got to balance it out. And that's something that a lot of us dog enthusiasts struggle with is because we love doing so much fun stuff with our dog. We're dog enthusiasts. But the one thing we generally struggle with is switching off around them. It's something I've struggled with in the past, and it's something that I've got right with Nelson this time because it's so important.

I obviously went through probably 2 years of Kira and I just intense and like always doing stuff. And I'm, I'm, I'm slowly trying to back it off a little bit. And you can tell she's just kind of like, what? What? Hold on.

What?

What? No, hold on a second.

Why are we not doing constant 24/7 activity?

Exactly.

If she could drink coffee like she would, hey, she would just stay up all night.

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, night 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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All right, number 12. Cool.

Giving them tasks that force them to problem solve in order to be successful. So again, using their brain is— we like giving your puppy things to do, you know, puppies, adults as well, but like giving your dog things to do for their brain that actually gives their brain a workout is so important in the same way that we know, like, all right, I better go to gym even if I don't enjoy it because it's a use it or lose it thing. The same with that dog's brain. There's some dogs I see who have just never really had to think, and sometimes like it puts a really low ceiling on them where I have to say to people like, hey, like, I'm not saying your dog is dumb, but they're not smart because their dogs has never had to do anything for their brain. Um, so giving them problem-solving tasks is a really natural part of their existence. Again, that's what our dogs do, is get somewhat scavengers as well, but It's again, use it or lose it. Get them to use their brain and problem solve. It's so incredibly healthy. And again, like Jack said earlier with digging, is it's when they're not doing things like this that problem barking and digging and chewing and ripping stuff and stealing stuff starts to happen because our dogs are just bored.

All right. Number 13.

Number 13, giving them things that they can chew, lick, and destroy. So again, our dogs are bred to do things like this, take apart bones, lick this, eat that. When they don't get to practice it, behaviour problems emerge. But I guess the deeper reason behind this is things like dig, uh, like chewing and licking and tearing at stuff is what we call a stress displacement behaviour. It's what our dogs do to like lower the cortisol in their system. And quite often we give them these things when we know our dogs will be stressed. Hey, I'm going out, I'm going to give you a licky mat or a Kong and help bring you back down. But if we actually routinely give them to our dogs as a part of their everyday life, Means their base level of stress sits far lower. Nelson's like the least stressed dog you've ever met because he gets to do this shit all day long. He's always got something he can chew, lick, destroy, whatever, which means like there's just no cortisol in his system, which means if he's sitting down here, if something does stressful happens, rather than going from a 5 or 6 to an 8, 9, 10, he goes from a 1 or 2 to like a 4 or 5. He never really has a bad day, if that makes sense.

We did obviously an episode on power chewers and what you recommend for power chewers. So if you're wanting any information on what you can get your dog to destroy and chew. Make sure you check out that episode. And just on the licking and stuff, I mean, people might go, I've got a licky mat.

Licky mats are definitely good. It's again, it's just how we use them. It's just, it's not the be-all end-all though. A lot of people think like, I walk him twice a week, but he gets a licky mat every day. Like that's not what it replaces. But it is just like a good little stress thing. Like think of it like a fidget spinner or a stress ball for your dog.

Fair enough. Number 14.

Cool. Hiding food, treats, or toys each day so they can use their nose constructively.

I mean, Kira, this is her jam. It's our mate, absolutely loves it. Hide a ball or some food and she will just go.

That's it.

So think of like a Where's Wally book, right, for kids, how much fun and how many hours they can spend doing that. For that, for our dogs, it's their version. They're, you know, where we use our eyes, they use their nose. And because their nose is our dog's main sense, and even if you've got a dog with a short nose like a pug, like It doesn't matter. It's just all dogs are, you know, bred and designed and were made to use their nose and getting them to use it in a constructive way is great for increasing their confidence, burning a heap of energy, making them feel super fulfilled and accomplished. And it keeps them super busy. It takes us maybe a minute to hide something, but it might take them 10, 20, 30 minutes to find it. So the ratio of how much effort you put in versus how much effort they have to put in is really optimal, especially if we've got a busy schedule.

It's a good one to start. If you think about hiding stuff, obviously, as always, when it comes to the dogs and this stuff, Start small, as in regarding like, don't make it too hard so they lose interest and then gradually build it. Because that's what I did with Kira and toys. Oh, I started with food and then it moved to toys, hit it sort of pretty easily. She found it and then just gradually increased it, increased it down now where I'll go to the park and I will just lob a tennis ball into some bushes and I'll just say, off you go. And she will just disappear and she will not stop until she found that ball.

Yeah.

And it's just honestly, it's so fantastic because you just get— I get a break too, because otherwise, you know, that's the thing. You don't want to go to a park and just stand there throwing a ball constantly back and forth, back and forth. It's boring for you. It's boring for the dog. It'll hurt your arm eventually. So teach them to search for things and you throw that ball once and then you sit back and let them go for 10 minutes.

That's way better for them.

All right. Number 15 and the final one.

Number 15 is giving them some intense exercise each week. So something that actually gets their heart rate up. You know, we love all this stuff we talk about, you know, licky mats and sniffing and walking, but it's all pretty low intensity. I do think it's important for your dog to really you know, blow the cobwebs out and get that heart rate up. Is for a while, like, people started to get this, like, oh, like, you know, I really should be exhausting my dog. And then people probably went too far with it and thought, like, okay, like, a tired dog is a happy dog. And not to say it isn't, but people didn't really look at their breed's needs and went, okay, if I just smash this dog with exercise and just, like, get them until they're physically exhausted, that's, that's all we need. And they would wonder why their dog gets fitter and fitter. and still does all the same problem behaviors. But I almost think we've gone too far from it now, um, as we tend to do with society. It's always a pendulum. But yeah, I think it's really important to a couple of times a week get your dog just physically exhausted. So, you know, same with the other— you know, up until very recently, because my skating career is over, but getting Nelson to tow me on the skateboard, like, it's somewhat breed fulfilling because Rottweilers were made to pull carts. But it was really just to smash him with exercise and let him sprint and get the heart rate up. I think it's Really, really good. Our dogs hit a runner's high far quicker and easier than us. So they hit that pretty early. So huge endorphin rush, and especially really important for anxious dogs. It's something that we recommend to our anxious dog owners quite a lot.

All right. Well, that's all 15 in 2 episodes. So there is plenty there for you to work on. Of course, if you are struggling with your dog and some behavioural issues, then you can start with those 15 things. And of course, If you're struggling still, don't forget we have the Dog People Podcast Facebook group. You can always jump in there and ask your questions, and we will get them answered from Max for you. 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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