07 AugEpisode 71 | Restaurant dining with your dog: How to train the perfect outdoor dinner date
It's a golden moment for those wanting to eat outdoors with their dogs. Just think: There's so much outdoor dining! And people are keeping their distance from each other! And tables are spaced at a nice distance from each other! Annie gives some tips about how you can help train your dog to be the perfect outdoor-dining companion. Also: Learn what 1950s superstar very nearly became the real Lassie's owner.
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Transcript:
Annie:
So I've been recording at my neighbor's apartment a lot because it's a lot quieter in his apartment than in my apartment, and he's been out of town. And as I've mentioned before, right next to where I've been sitting, while I record, there's been this dead cockroach for months. And, I didn't pick it up because, you know, it's not my dead cockroach. In a weird way, I kind of developed a fondness for the cockroach.
But today the cockroach is gone! And I can't explain it. Although, you know, maybe my neighbor has been in and out of town a few times and finally saw the cockroach and picked it up. Maybe he's listened to the podcast [laughs] or maybe a larger animal came through and ate it. Or maybe he turned into a zombie, and he had better places to be.
[Intro music]
Guys. It's a really difficult time to be alive, to be a human right now. There's so much that's wrong with the world. But there's one, one silver lining that I just wanted to point out to anyone here who has a dog, which is probably you, if you're listening.
This is an excellent time for dining out with your dog. I know different places have different rules, but I live in New York City and restaurants now have extended their outdoor seating areas into the streets and avenues, usually beyond the sidewalks. The tables are spaced at least six feet apart. People are generally pretty respectful about letting people have their space.
And because it's outside, your dog can be there with you in what is kind of an ideal situation. No one is going to get too close to you. People are going to be more prudent than they would have been before, most likely. Again, I don't know where you are, but in New York City where I am, I think people are doing a good job at social distancing. And in New York City, you are allowed to sit outside at a restaurant with your dog.
Now you might not want to bring your dog out with you when you go to a restaurant. But if it's something you'd like to try doing, this is an ideal moment to work on that. And I'm going to give you some tips and tricks to make dining out with your dog as easy as possible.
But before I get to the training part of this, I just wanted to mention that when people bring their dogs out with them to say a restaurant, I think that they can sometimes be labeled as silly or indulgent. I am pretty sure that members of my own family, probably behind my back, say that I should just leave my dog home alone more.
For me, it is a kind of luxury. I love spending time with my dog. I enjoy having all kinds of adventures with him and I've enjoyed it over our last 15 years together, watching him make so many friends, have fun in so many places. We've traveled all over the world together and had a lot of wonderful adventures that I think have benefited his life.
Could he have spent many of those moments home alone on the couch? Probably. Yeah, sure. But I think it's enriched his life and it's enriched my life that we've done so many things together. And by and large, I think I'm just a happier person when he's around, which is no small thing.
You know, people think often that they're getting away with something when they have a dog who has been officially deemed an Emotional Support Animal by a psychotherapist or doctor. But I really think that there are many, many, many more emotional support animals for humans than have letters that some professional has assigned.
So, you know, you might be like me and you are going to end up taking your dog to a restaurant sometimes if only because it's between the place that you are in the place that you are going. Maybe you're meeting someone. Maybe sometimes it's just more convenient to have your dog with you than to leave your dog in a car.
But there are other people who bring their dogs with them because their dogs really cannot be alone. When we're treating separation anxiety as dog trainers, the first thing that we suggest to our clients is to make sure that they are not going to have to leave their dog alone at all more than the dog can handle during the training period. Sometimes, however, that means people have to come up with really creative solutions to make sure that their dog isn't going to be alone and bringing the dog out with you to something like a restaurant might be one of those reasons.
And of course there are people who have service animals who bring their dogs to restaurants and service animals are a whole other topic for another day. But I think that one way that you can tell a real service dog from people who are trying to pass off their dog is a service dog so that they can do something like bring their dog into a restaurant. One way you can tell is that a service dog is going to behave beautifully in the restaurant because that animal has not only had to learn to do whatever service his or her human needs, but that dog should also have learned how to behave well when doing things with the owner. When doing things that the owner normally does in life, like perhaps go to a restaurant.
If you have a puppy, it's going to be a great idea for you to be bringing the dog with you wherever you go, wherever it's allowed during this moment where we can be eating outside so easily. It's a great time to both introduce the dog to lots of new stimuli that are each at a distance and a volume that we hope the puppy can handle. So it's a great way to do socialization exercises on the go incorporating them into real life.
It's also a good opportunity to practice some basic manners. And if your dog is with you, if your puppy is with you, then you can be out without worrying about getting back to the puppy or the puppy being home alone too long.
So of course the first step to dining out is going to the restaurant. If you're driving, worth mentioning that your dog should have a seatbelt. I usually recommend the Load Up Harness, which is by Ruffwear and is rated by the Center for Pet Safety.
Of course, you might be bringing your dog in a bag. It's actually kind of great if you have a dog who's comfortable in a bag to bring a bag with you, even if you're not going to and from the restaurant in the bag, because it can be like a little portable crate or a little portable dog house for your dog to chill out in during the meal.
And you're most likely going to be bringing a leash with you. I personally liked to have a long leash that I can loop around myself, or the table or both. Uh, I like using the, Found My Animal nylon leashes, which have fasteners on both ends making it really easy to tie. I usually tie it around my leg while I'm sitting with my dog. Or if I'm using a shorter leash, sometimes I will wear a belt, like a leash belt, so I can attach the dog to that.
The found my animal leash, like I normally just wear around my belt, but if there's something shorter you know, it's better to have the dog attached to you than to the table or a chair because it's going to be easier to get the dog untangled. And also you don't do not want to risk your dog pulling over a table or a chair. I also like the VirChewLy Industructable Leashes, which are metal leashes so a dog can’t bite through it. But, that one, the five and a half foot one is not quite long enough for me to wrap around myself. So if I use that, I'll usually use a leash belt.
Another key piece of equipment, perhaps the most important equipment is going to be a mat. If you're doing training on a mat with your dog at home, then you can bring that mat or some smaller version of it. You've probably heard me talk before on this show about how much I love inexpensive yoga mats for this kind of thing, because you can like cut them into quarters. We sell quarter cut School for the Dogs yoga mats in our shop.
But you know, any yoga mat will really do the job. And what's nice is you can use the yoga mat at its full length at home to do training exercises. You can shape your dog to the yoga mat. I will link in the show notes on the episode on how to shape your dog to go to a mat. Really easy, really fun shaping exercise to start out doing with your dog.
And then eventually you can be bringing just like a tiny piece of yoga mat with you, something small enough to, you know, fold up and shove in your back pocket for those times where you just want your dog to have a place to be, but you maybe don't have a lot of room.
Like maybe one day in the future when there won't be this forced six foot distance between tables outside, you want something smaller that you can just throw down and your dog is going to be like, “Oh, you know what, I know exactly what to do here. This is where I take direction from my human, or this is just where I chill out. either way. I am going to hang out on the spot and wait for further direction.”
If you've done a lot of training with your dog to get them comfortable on what I call like a sticky spot, then you might not even need the actual yoga mat. You might be able to just throw down a napkin on the ground and your dog is most likely going to generalize, “You know what? There's a spot on the ground right next to my human. Usually when I go hang out on the, on something like that, that's right near her, we have a pretty good time.”
My dog is very much like this. Like at this point I could pretty much throw down, you know, a tea packet next to me and he is gonna go there, sit like it's his job. We've built up a lot of reinforcement history for him being on some kind of specific spot on the floor near wherever I am.
So a couple other things that you're going to want to have on you when you are dining out with your dog, ideally you have treats with you. I suggest using something on the drier side, something not too slimy. It's funny, as a dog trainer, I feel like I have all kinds of thoughts about treats, even though I've never tasted pretty much any of the treats.
But I have lots of thoughts about treats and how they feel in my hand [laughs], and what they're like when they end up as crumbs in my pocket. And what's the texture, what's the smell. I know what treats will go stale. I know what can’t be out of the refrigerator for too long. I know which kinds of nut butter are going to be least likely to separate. Like some people know of a fine wine for every occasion, I know my dog treats.
Anyway, for this, I would probably suggest using the crunchy Tricky Trainers. When I'm doing a lot of training reps with the dog, I don't love things that are crunchy because they tend to take longer to swallow and crumbs get all over the place. But when you're dining out with a dog, there's going to be a lot of times where you just want your dog busy doing something, and chewing is something that is an okay behavior in most circumstances.
Lamb lung is certainly a great choice if you're picking out a treat for dining outside. And I would definitely suggest a peanut butter or cream cheese or something else like that in a liquid treat dispenser. We use the liquid treat dispenser constantly at School for the Dogs and on the go with a dog. They're just great because you can throw it in your bag. Nothing is going to get anywhere. It's totally self-contained. And dogs love to lick. It's super soothing for them.
So you can fill it with peanut butter, cream, cheese, liverwurst, cheese whiz, I mean, even different consistencies of wet dog food will work. But as you are delivering them treats, it can be a really easy thing to just kind of like hold down on the ground near you and, uh, let them lick, lick, lick. I'll even sometimes, you know, put a little tiny little bit on my ankle, if I'm wearing sandals. Or I'll use it with any number of toys.
But before I talk about toys, I just wanted to mention that if you don't have treats on you, the good news is restaurants have food. So you can always get something that you can give to your dog. And, you know, I've, I've given my dog bread from the table, ripped up into tiny pieces. Is it ideal for dogs to be eating bread? No, not really, but if you can get them into lots of very small bits, it's something. You can certainly ask the waiter for whatever your dog is into, uh, bacon, sausage, cheese, egg, I guess it's going to depend what kind of restaurant you're at.
Now, there are, I guess, three ways your dog could be eating the food, the treats or whatever you are going to be giving your dog. One is just in a bowl on the ground. And you could certainly bring your dogs home meal with you when you're eating out with your dog. You know, I've been talking about treats.
I might refrain from bringing your dogs food with you if it's going to be something really stinky. I don't know, I'd be pretty grossed out, I think, if someone had like a can of ALPO, they were opening up and putting in a dog bowl, even if it was six feet away from me just like the smell of it. But if you're giving your dog a kind of food that isn't so pungent, probably no one around you will even notice.
So first way you could be giving your dog the food, be it a meal or treats. (You know, we tend to think about treats and meals as if they're different things, but they all end up in the same place in the end.) One way would just be simply in a bowl, which I think would be a lost opportunity, but mentioning it because you might want to bring a kind of travel bowl with you if you're planning to do this. But you know, if you're going to be feeding your dog at all, I think you should be doing your best to be both creating good associations and rewarding good behavior. And also using the food to create good behavior, which is where the toys are going to come in.
The number two way that you could be feeding your dog is in some kind of work to eat toy. You're not just going to want any kind of work to eat toy for this kind of situation, because we're trying to encourage your dog to be in one spot. We don't want your dog moving around a whole lot if you're dining out.
So I suggest using something like a snuffle mat. There's one called the Wooly that I really like that has tendrils. It's basically like a really plush bathmat. We carry the Fleece Activity Mats, which are pretty cool. And you know, they're not that big. Some of them are just like a foot, foot and a half square. So pretty easy to shove that in your bag. And then you can, throughout your meal, be putting little bits of dry food or treats, or even crumbs from the bread basket into the little parts of the toy.
One I really like is called the Buster Activity Mat. It comes in this cute little travel duffle bag. So that's an easy one to bring out. It takes up a little bit more room, but hey, we have six feet of space that we're talking about here, right now at least.
If you find yourself out with your dog, when you weren't planning to go out, see if you can go by a CVS or a deli. See if they have an ice cube tray or a muffin tin, and those are great on-the-go, inexpensive slow food bowls. You can just dribble the dry food or whatever into the tray, either upside down or right side up.
And the whole idea of all of these toys is that we are eating up your dog's time and energy in a way that is not going to be disruptive to others. You are encouraging them to be in one spot because these are toys that don't move around a lot. Oh, also Licky Mat is great. That’s omething that you can just like to squeeze peanut butter indirectly. It's made from silicone, so easy also to just clean it off really easily. You know, you don't want to be dealing with your dog’s dirty dishes if you're out and about.
Another good toy for this kind of thing is the Toppl. These are these thimble-like rubber toys by West Paw that come in two different sizes. And they're great for lots of things, but they're particularly good, I think, for dining out because they can be stuffed with your dog's food. You could even freeze your dog's food in it. You could put peanut butter, cream cheese, whatever in it. Also, it has a hole in it, so you can stuff a bully stick in it to make it extra fun. Again, we're just trying to give your dog an edible project that he can work on while you are enjoying your meal.
And the third way that you can be delivering food to your dog is just throughout the meal. Either during moments, when you want your dog to creating a good association, when you want your doctor to be feeling good about X, Y, or Z, whether that's the waiter approaching the table or a kid running nearby, or somebody drops a glass, whenever something happens where you think I want my dog to feel good about this. I don't want my dog to be scared of this. That is a moment to deliver something delish to your dog.
Whenever your dog is just being calm and being chill, that's also a great moment to reward your dog. And reward near her face, reward by her nose, reward down on the ground, because that's where you're trying to encourage your dog to be. You know, we tend to think about, you know, “I'm going to reward the dog if he's sitting or if he's lying down,” or whatever, but you know, I don't even care if you're asking your dog to do something.
I just want you to be looking for really great behaviors that your dog is offering and reward those behaviors before your dog has a chance to be offering behaviors you don't like, especially if this is all very new to your dog, you want to keep that rate of reinforcement high.
Also something to think about is you want to work at rewarding your dog without giving your dog your full attention, if you know what I mean. I mean, most likely, you're eating out and you're focusing on your food, or you're out with a friend. These are moments where you might not want to be giving your dog 100% of your attention, and that's okay. That's part of the reason why I want your dog to have a great toy to work on — kind of like giving a kid a coloring book at the dinner table. Or iPad, I guess is the more modern equivalent.
But you can also literally teach your dog, “Hey, I'm here talking to Betty and you're just going to keep getting a treat from me and I'm going to be giving it in this sort of inconspicuous way, periodically. And me talking to my friend is actually a cue for you to just be chill and quiet. And you can learn that me talking to my friend, that this situation is something that actually predicts lots of yummies down here on my mat, on my sticky spot.”
A couple other quick things I wanted to mention. If this is new to your dog, if dining outside is new to your dog, especially if you have a high energy dog, probably a good idea to make sure that they get some good exercise first. And also, this is all stuff that you can practice at home. You can set up an outdoor restaurant-like situation, and get your dog used to what this is going to be like before you take it out on the town.
Another thing you can practice is having your dog rest under a chair. This is a cue that many service animals are taught. You can shape a dog to learn, to go hang out under a chair. If you're already working with a sticky spot, like a yoga mat, you can start out by putting that under a chair in your home, sit on that chair and then reward a whole bunch of times on that mat. It can start out being that simple and your dog is going to start developing an interest in hanging out under your chair.
The last thing I wanted to suggest is to keep your meal short, when you're just starting out. If your dog can't handle being outside at a restaurant with you, then either the experiment has gone on too long, or your rate of reinforcement hasn't been high enough, or it's just not going to be the right thing for your dog. For any number of reasons, some dogs may never be comfortable eating outside at a restaurant with you. However, if it's something you think you're dog could handle, if you're interested in trying it, if you have a puppy, I think that this is an excellent time to give it a go.
Thank you very much for listening. Of course, most of the products I've mentioned in this episode can be found at storeforthedogs.com. Thank you to everyone who has been shopping with us. We recently added over a hundred new items to the store. We really only recommend things that we use and like, so we appreciate everyone who has been a supporting School for the Dogs by shopping there. And we just added all of our new online courses to the online store. So go check it out, storeforthedogs.com.
This is the second season of the podcast, and the topic of Lassie keeps coming up this season. And I think I want to lean in. I interviewed Timmy who, I mean, I interviewed John Provost who played Timmy on Lassie, on the TV show. And I did kind of a deep dive into Rudd Weatherwax’s training methods a few weeks ago.
And I just wanted to end today's episode with this recording I found of the Hollywood animal trainer Frank Inn who died in 2002. He trained Benji, he trained the cat in Breakfast at Tiffany's, and he worked as an assistant for some time to Rudd Weatherwax, Lassie's trainer. And I found this recording from the Archive of American Television, of Frank Inn talking about an incident that happened after the movie of Lassie, but before the TV show of Lassie, the one that I grew up watching reruns of. An incident where John Wayne almost became the real Lassie's owner.
It took place on the set of Hondo, which was a 1953 Western starring John Wayne. And there was also a dog in the film, which Rudd Weatherwax trained:
[recording of Frank Inn:]
“Hondo is the name of the picture and the name of the dog. And they took this Collie that looked just like Lassie, but it was a little smaller. And they died yellow on all the white, and just made it a yellow dog. And during that time, Rudd got in a poker game, John Wayne, and a bunch of the people, and Rudd had a beautiful hand and he just knew he was going to win, but you'd have table stakes and he didn't have the money in his pocket.
“So they said, well, you could be in for what you've got there. And he said, no, he wanted to raise it. And what did he have? You know, he didn't have anything for security. And John Wayne said, ‘Well, look, just, you know, you know you're gonna win. Just put your dog up.’ So they wrote out a deal there about Lassie and all the dogs in his kennel. And this was a terrific bet, five or $6,000. And sure enough, John Wayne won and he never said anything about it.”
Links:
Tools, treats, and toys
Found My Animal Leashes with clips on both ends
Tricky Trainer Treats – Crunchy
Frank Inn on working as an animal trainer for Henry East and Rudd Weatherwax
Related Episodes:
Episode 33 | How to shape your dog to go to a mat (and to be a polite Thanksgiving guest)
