See. Mark. Reward.

It's been almost three weeks since MJ arrived at Morris Animal Inn from FOWA Rescue. One of her biggest achievements so far has been her attention span and her willingness to listen to commands. Last week we discussed working with MJ on replacement behaviors and she has also made great strides in understanding that she must behave appropriately to get what she wants!

Adorable MJ is politely offering a
sit for a treat!

Our Trainers have been implementing "See, Mark and Reward Training" with MJ which will greatly help her understand what is expected of her in her forever home. When the Trainers see a good behavior they like from MJ (sitting nicely, walking politely on the leash, etc.), they mark it with a "yes!" or a clicker. They then reward MJ with her favorite treats. As we mentioned in our Training Tip on Tuesday, every interaction you have with your dog is a training session, whether it's planned or not! Our Training Staff spends a lot of time with MJ, so her new family or foster must be willing to stay persistent in order to help her transition and know what's expected of her in her new home.

Three weeks into working with MJ, we understand how important it is to stay consistent in order to help her improve! MJ has started to recognize that she must offer a behavior such as sitting, lying down, giving eye contact, etc., in order to get what she wants.

Sometimes she still just wants to do whatever she wants. So what happens then? Our trainers implement two options: They ignore the behavior or they redirect it.

MJ pulls on the leash.  To change this
behavior, Allie ignores until MJ offers
something different. 

For instance, if MJ plays "tug of war" with her leash (as pictured), Allie will let go and ignore the behavior. It takes two to tug! Paying any attention to the behavior is a rewarding experience for MJ. Play is fun! Allie may even walk away until MJ stops and becomes interested in something else. If ignoring the behavior doesn't work or if Allie can't let go of the leash because they are going for a walk, MJ's attention may be redirected to a treat! If MJ takes the treat and drops the leash, Allie marks and rewards her actions.

MJ has been responding very well to this method of training! Her willingness to learn and pay attention will continue to help her make more strides. We are so honored to have the opportunity to make a difference in this sweet girl's life. She is so loving and will be a great companion. If you are interested in adopting MJ, please contact FOWA. We are looking forward to the next chapter in MJ's life: a place to call home!

Replacing Unwanted Behaviors

Happy Training Tip Tuesday! We thought we would combine our training tips with an update on miss MJ in action. When training a dog like MJ, who previously learned some undesirable behaviors, it is important to replace her behaviors with positive new ones! This is a multi-step process that takes a lot of time, a lot of patience and a lot of treats!

Replacement behaviors require consistency. A tip to help your pup know exactly what to do is to use hand signals. Dogs are great at reading body language! Hand signals that request a desired behavior are a great way to build communication, understanding and trust with your dog. Our trainers use three primary hand signals for MJ to better understand "sit," "down" and "wait."

Sit. A common hand signal for sit is a palm facing towards the ceiling, parallel with the ground. As you can see, our trainer is also holding a treat. MJ knows how to sit for treats and now by incorporating the hand signal, MJ will associate the two. Eventually, you want your dog to respond solely to your hand signals or verbal commands without using treats! 

Down. A common signal for down is a palm facing the floor, parallel with the ground.  Just like sit, MJ has mastered "down" very well! In this instance, she might be saying something like, "O.K. I will go down, as long as I can stick my tongue out while doing it!" She is a silly girl, which is one of the many things we love about her!

Wait. This is a useful command that can keep your dog from bolting through the door, running into the street or picking up that piece of dinner you just dropped from the table. A common hand signal for wait is much like a crossing guard's "stop."

MJ’s initial response when she is excited is to jump and mouth either her leash or the person closest to her. Our goal is to replace this less than desirable response with a polite sit. We do this through tons of repetition of rewarding sit and ignoring jumping.

Often this process gets harder before it gets better because MJ has gotten what she wants with this behavior for a long time so she is really committed to it! When this happens, our trainers have stuck to their responses to this behavior as well; they will accept nothing but a sit! 

The more MJ is rewarded for sitting and isn’t rewarded for jumping the more she will sit. When she is offering sit in an exciting situation you have successfully created a replacement behavior!

Thank you for continuing to follow MJ's journey here at Morris Animal Inn. She is working hard every day to be the best dog she can be! We can't wait to see what beautiful things MJ's second chance at life has in store for her! Thank you again to FOWA for giving us this wonderful opportunity. Stay tuned for more updates! 

Learning Leash Manners

If you've been following MJ's journey, you know that she's been working a lot on her leash manners! In the video above, Kasey, one of our trainers, discusses the benefits to the Freedom No-Pull harness. When you first saw MJ at Morris Animal Inn she was working with a gentle leader, but actually seems to be making better progress with the harness!

As you can see in video, MJ is sitting well for what she wants and responds well to her name! Each day MJ is working hard to perfect even the little things like taking treats nicely. The Morris Animal Inn Trainers are helping her work on her attention span so she can listen well to commands and instructions when she's with her new family!

Yesterday, MJ had her first bath in our Grooming Salon & Spa and it went smoothly! Having her get acquainted with baths will be helpful with this playful girl who might find herself a little dirty after a good play time outside!  If you thought she couldn't be any cuter, you should see her soaking wet with soap suds!  

Thank you for continuing to follow MJ's journey! We can't wait to see what she will do next.  Stay tuned! 

She Knows Her Name!

It's been four days since little MJ arrived at Morris Animal Inn, and she is making great progress with our trainers! We are happy to share that MJ now knows her name! She will come when called, even with a few distractions. The trainers will continue to add distractions to improve her recall skills.

MJ has almost mastered "sit," and her manners are improving every day. MJ's foster mom taught her to sit for meals, and we are thankful for that! It has been a great step to help MJ learn to sit for other things.

We've learned that when MJ gets frustrated, she likes to use her mouth. By understanding that she must use other methods to get what she wants, MJ is learning to politely sit instead. The trainers are also working on her impulse control which will help with important behaviors like "leave it."

MJ likes to jump when she's excited, but is slowly learning that in order to greet people, she must remain calm with all four paws on the floor. One of our staff members who witnessed MJ while in her foster home was amazed at the positive change in her demeanor. Even though she still gets excited at times, MJ is much calmer!

MJ is such a snuggler! She is more than happy to climb up on your lap with her favorite toy. She loves to play and really enjoys treats.  She is a wiggly girl and is always wagging her tail! All of the staff are in love with her. We think by now she might be sick of hearing how cute she is!

As part of working on her leash manners, MJ has been using a Freedom No-Pull Harness which helps her learn to not pull and pay more attention to her walker! This type of harness is fairly new in the training community. The leash clips from the front and allows the trainers to have much more control than a regular harness. It is a dog's natural instinct to pull when on a harness, and with the pulling sensation removed, the dog must now rely on their walker to guide them.

We've also been documenting MJ's progress with pictures and video so stay tuned for updates! Thank you for following MJ's journey!

Morris Animal Inn Welcomes MJ

Meet Mary Jane, also known as MJ. She's our newest guest at Morris Animal Inn and will be staying with us to learn how to be the best she can be! A stray who was in danger of being euthanized in Tennessee, MJ was rescued by Friends of Wayne Animal Rescue (FOWA) and brought to New Jersey. Due to the fact that MJ was not in the best situation for a learning puppy, she has some manners to catch up on during her stay at Morris Animal Inn!

MJ was a little nervous when she first arrived today, but quickly warmed up to all the staff! Estimated to be less than one-year-old, MJ is undeniably sweet! She is very people friendly, loves to give kisses and enjoys toys and treats.

MJ wearing her pink gentle leader

She is incredibly smart and has almost mastered "sit" on her first day! Throughout the course of the next few weeks, our trainers will help her learn her name and work on basic manners such as sit, stay, come, and no jumping. She will be practicing her leash manners with the help of a gentle leader (which she is still getting used to!). This equipment allows the trainers to guide MJ through proper leash walking and helps with distractions! She will also be working on her communication skills.

After MJ learns the ropes, she will be up for adoption through FOWA. We will continue to follow her journey very closely, and can't wait to watch her grow into her best self!

Please follow our Facebook and this blog for the latest updates on this wonderful girl!  We are so honored to have the chance to help MJ find her forever home!