EduCare for Dogs

06/20/2024

06/18/2024

The students get started with 4th of July projects🎇

06/18/2024

**The Magic Carpet:** This is a “free-shaping” activity where you use a clicker to “shape” your dog to do the things you want him to do. Remember, with enrichment, your dog can do it however he chooses and he also has veto rights to NOT engage or to stop when he wants. This is a simple game that activates your dog’s problem solving skills, improves his focus, as well as bolstering his confidence.

For this activity, you will need a towel, a small rug, or a blanket – you’ll get the idea when you get through the specifics for the activity. You will also need a clicker which can be purchased at any pet supply store including Amazon and WalMart. It is best to use a clicker for this activity instead of your voice. The clicker will be the consistent feedback telling your dog that he is doing it correctly so no praise will be needed. In fact, we don’t want to use praise at all for this activity including a “yes” that is often used with other training activities. We want to bypass the social component of most training activities and keep your dog’s focus just on the activity. Our voice is variable and often, stimulating which can muddy the water for learning. Here is a video to show how to do this activity: https://youtu.be/VpagQ9bcf0s

- This activity involves you waiting patiently while not giving any cues for your dog at all. You will be manipulating the environment to increase the likelihood of your dog interacting with or getting on the towel.
- Place the towel on the floor and stand in front of it. Have treats in one hand and the clicker in the other hand. This activity rewards your dog for interacting with the towel in any way. This includes looking at it, sniffing it, stepping or standing on it, walking across it, etc. ANY interaction with the towel is exactly what we are looking for. It doesn’t matter whether your dog was even aware of what he did, that will come later.
- At the very first interaction by your dog that has ANYTHING to do with the towel, click the clicker, put the treat up to your dog’s mouth, and then drop it away from the towel so he has to go get it off the floor. We want your dog to move away from the towel to get the treat so he can approach the towel again. Soon, your dog will expect the treat when he hears the click and you should be able to roll or gently toss the treat away from the towel consistently.
- In the beginning, this will be super easy because your dog will likely easily step on the towel simply because it is on the floor. Do this around fifteen times before progressing to the next step.
- For this step, you want to take a large step to your right or left so the towel isn’t right in front of you anymore. This will decrease the likelihood of accidental interactions and move to more purposeful interactions where your dog learns to do something with the towel in order to hear the click and get the treat.
- If he just stares at you or doesn’t interact with the towel in any way, you can walk away from the activity area and then right back to it to reset the game. Your dog will learn that by interacting with the towel, he can control when and how quickly he gets the click and the treat. We want him to find out how to control the game by thinking and choosing behaviors.
- Once your dog begins to understand the game, then move a few more steps away from the towel so he has to move away from you to go to the towel.
- Once your dog is comfortable leaving you to go to the towel, even when it is a few feet away from you, then you can start working it in different locations such as another room or even the back yard.
- You can also work it when another situation competes with the activity such as when there is a lot going on, specific distractions, or when he has FOMO (i.e., fear of missing out on something). This is about helping your dog to organize his brain and focus on the activity even when his environment may be more distracting or stressful. Remember, he can choose to stop or move away when he wants to. Your job is to motivate him to continue to play, not to demand it.

This is a fantastic enrichment activity and is a wonderful foundation for place training.

06/14/2024

Welcome to Educare Pax! Ready for summer fun!

06/11/2024

This week we are working on a very challenging, evolving technique with the students. We are working on getting the students to be very calm and relaxed without engaging in an active pursuit to get a treat. They also cannot appease or sociably connect with us in any way, nor can they fidget and run through their resume of the things they know. Finally , they must do this without any social feedback from their teachers. So what the heck is this, you ask? The goal for this activity is for the dog to direct and maintain his/her focus on a bucket full of treats that will be placed on the floor in front of him/her.

This has a whole lot of challenges for the students. The students have been entrenched in the problem solving skill set which means if what you are doing doesn’t produce the result you are looking for, try something else. This requires active engagement and this time we are looking for passive engagement. Phew!! A hard shift in how their brain solves problems! With this activity, we will be focusing on impulse control with trust and confidence building. Very little problem solving in the way they are accustomed.

The first goal will be to work impulse control because the dog must leave the bucket of treat alone while it sits on the floor, but he/she must still focus on it. The dog can be in any position (i.e., stand, sit, down) though a down is optimal. We will not be commanding the dog in any way - at all. This is a feedback only activity. We will be giving the dog a treat from the bucket if he/she focuses his/her attention on the bucket without actively trying to do anything else to get the treat from the bucket.

Passive engagement: https://youtu.be/qSqjoKriooc?si=bFJGPoBd1Zht1Q7V

The second goal is to get the dog to maintain his/her focus on the bucket of treats for a duration of 5 to 10 seconds, despite distractions. Once we accomplish these goals, we can build in many applications for this foundational activity.

06/05/2024

Dolly is still getting used to art class techniques while working on her Father’s Day project.

06/04/2024

**Pedestal, Balance Disk**

This week will be extra fun and extra challenging for some. We will be working primarily on body control which will tap into problem-solving, confidence-building, as well as focus and relevance. Generally speaking, dogs want to just do physical activity the fastest and easiest way. They use power moves which their body is specially designed for!

But with **body control** activities, we are working on fine motor skills, balance, and spacial awareness so we must slow things down. These activities are not only beneficial from a strength and fitness standpoint but it is also therapeutic for overstimulated or over active dogs by helping them to slow down.

For this week we will be working on pedestal training and stepping on a balance disk. Pedestal work involves hind end awareness. The dog must place their front feet only on the stool and then take small steps with their back feet to slowly pivot around the stool. Walking through tires requires a little risk-taking and slow, purposeful steps. Placing feet on a balance disk is quite challenging because it is unstable under the dog’s feet so it requires risk-taking with balance.

These activities are not only beneficial from a strength and fitness standpoint but it is also a wonderful exercise in helping to slow down busy dogs. This sort of “brain training” will tire a dog more quickly than aerobic exercise!

06/01/2024

Hi Dad! I’m next up to bat for your Father’s Day art! - Sedona ⚾️🧢

05/31/2024

The official start of summer. When the principal throws out the rules!

05/31/2024

Lap time!!

05/30/2024

Nap time with The Principal and Rosie the Riveter.

05/30/2024

Father’s Day projects are rounding 3rd base🧢⚾️

05/29/2024

More home runs for Father’s Day projects. ⚾️🧢

05/28/2024

The students are very proud of their efforts for their Father’s Day projects⚾️🧢❤️

05/28/2024

The students feel that they have put together a home run with their Father’s Day projects ⚾️🧢

05/28/2024

In the Show Ring
This week we will continue working with the dog “stacker”, focusing on having the students put their rear paws on the pads of the stacker while continuing to guide them to put their front paws on it as well.

The stack is the term for the static pose a dog holds when the judge is watching. This is where the dogs learn to put each of their paws on a platform and hold that pose. This will be a brand new challenge. The dogs will first have to learn to put their front paws on the platform, then their back paws, and then maintain that position for a duration of time. While this certainly isn’t a skill that our pet dogs will need, it is a great new challenge for their learning repertoire. This activity taps into a bunch of skills including trust, handling tolerance, impulse control, confidence building, focus, conflict resolution, problem solving, body control, and cognitive flexibility. We will find the best way to work with the dogs based on their learning style. This may include shaping, luring, capturing, and compulsion. Shaping is what the dogs learn with the clicker, like their recent activity of learning to close the mailbox. We reward any behavior that relates to the stacker and then increase our criteria to placing paws on the platform. Luring is where we have a treat in front of the dog’s nose/mouth and lure them onto the platforms. As with shaping, we will mark the correct behavior with a click or a “yes”. Capturing is when the dog “accidentally on purpose” ends up on the platform. We then mark and reward. Compulsion is where we gently place the dog’s paws onto each platform, most likely one at a time, and then mark and reward for keeping their paw on the platform. We may be giving them a steady jackpot of rewards to get the duration necessary once their paw is on the platform. We will work on this for the next two weeks so you have a chance to see their individual learning processes along with their personalities with regard to this activity. We’re not looking for perfection, remember, we are looking to challenge their brain.

05/24/2024

And the staff gets on the stacker just for fun! The students were not impressed. 🤣

05/24/2024

Um excuse me. I wasn’t finished with my turn. - Maggie

05/24/2024

Um. Excuse me. I wasn’t finished with my turn! - Maggie

05/24/2024

Father’s Day projects are on full swing! 🧢⚾️

05/24/2024

Father’s Day projects are in full swing. ⚾️🧢

05/24/2024

Father’s Day projects on track for a grand slam ❤️🐶

05/22/2024

Father’s Day projects are in full swing! ⚾️🧢

05/22/2024

Father’s Day projects have begun! 🧢⚾️

05/22/2024

05/21/2024

Educare presents Marlow center stage!