Let’s talk about engagement…
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Why do I focus so much on willing engagement?
Simply because I want to be the most rewarding thing to my dog - but not the ONLY rewarding thing to my dog.
I practice engagement in all environments with all distractions to create a dog who is conditioned to look to me when we come across other people, dogs or wildlife.
This engagement gives my dog the freedom to roam off leash in environments and make good choices that keep everyone safe.
This safe freedom also allows him to find his own rewards within his environment such as smells off the initial path I walk on, sticks and the release of physical energy at his own pace with no restriction.
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FIVE STEPS TO MAKE YOUR DOG PATIO READY THIS SUMMER
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The number one thing you need for this training is…
PATIENCE
The truth is this exercise is for more than just building a dog that can go on a lunch date. Teaching them to choose calm neutrality should be a staple in your training regardless of what your goals are.
All good things take time!
These videos are cropped and sped up they do NOT show how long the process really took.
Don’t practice this while you’re in a rush.
Wait until you are able to set your dog up for success!
Three things to NEVER do while crate training….. 1) Only putting your puppy in the crate when you leave - this will make the crate associated with the stressor of you leaving. Every nap your puppy takes should be in their crate, even when you are home with them! 2) keeping it in a secluded area - this keeps them separate from you which will make it very hard for them to settle down in the crate. Keep your pups crate in the most used room of the home! 3) Using it as punishment - we want our pup to like the crate. In emergency situations at vet clinics your puppy will NEED to be in a crate, having the crate associated with punishment will add even more stress to an already stressful situation.
Does it feel like your dog pays attention to anything BUT you while on walks?
Princess is the perfect example of this, helping her work through some anxiety and fixation by teaching her neutrality and rewarding engagement with the handler will help her learn to get through this crazy world.
Encouraging her to sniff by treat tossing, letting her get physical enrichment by tug, working her brain by letting her choose to disengage with possible triggers and asking for some simple commands made princess pretty tired after about an hour.
Princess has an extremely hard time settling in the home and her owner originally reached out after princess started using her owners arms as a tug toy! Proper fulfillment is one major step to helping princess learn to settle.
Impulse control is, in my opinion, the most important thing to work on with your dog for everyone’s safety. Hypothetically say your dog LOVES people and goes crazy wanting to say hello when you pass someone on walks. One day they somehow get loose, they pulled you over, collar mishap, or u accidentally dropped the leash. Now your dog is running over to a stranger that could be severely allergic to dogs, or had a bad experience and is terrified of them. Now say that person was across the street and your dog gets loose. Now your dog is running across the road as a car is coming. They normally have great recall, but not when they see a person they want to say hello to. Say your dog safely makes it across the street, the person they’re running to greet had been attacked by a loose dog before and now carries pepper spray. Your dog has now been put in multiple dangerous situations, and put others in them as well because they lack impulse control. If you don’t think your dog can do it, the dog in the sit had this exact problem but with other dogs!
11 month old poodle working on public leash manners
11 month old poodle working on public leash manners
