Disengagement
Disengagement Pattern
This is a very useful training game to prepare for so many situations.
First of all it helps the dog improve their ability to disengage from something or some situation. Has your dog ever become fixated on something? You can tell that they’re worried or scared by it, but you just can’t get them to move away. Disengagement skills need a boost!
How does it work?
You toss a “low value” piece of food (Kibble?) towards an object. Then, when the dog looks up (to see if you will do it again), Mark it (with a “Yes” or other marker word) and THEN drop around you, (or on their bed or behind you) a steady flow of several high value treats. Repeat a couple of times. This helps the dog realize that the value is around you (or their bed, etc.)
NOTE – first you train this in a calm environment so that it becomes “muscle memory” for your dog.
Some scenarios where I have used Disengagement Pattern:
• Delivery person coming to the front door – I would toss one bit of kibble towards the window (where Bailey can see the delivery person) and then rain a bunch of treats on her bed – away from the window. Repeat.
• Visitors – Bailey gets VERY excited to see visitors. I will usually keep her in her exercise pen until everyone is seated and she has calmed down a bit. Then I will bring her out (on her leash) and toss a piece of kibble towards the visitor and then a series of treats on her bed (or beside me). Repeat.
• Strange noises – Toss a kibble towards where the noise is coming from, etc.
• On walks – towards children in a playground or a dog behind a fence or a neighbour that you wish to chat with…
This game is re-wiring your dog’s brain to enable it to disengage from exciting or frightening things. It takes a bit of time, but once it happens for one scenario you will suddenly see that disengagement from many other situations just happen.
Disengagement is a needed skill for so many things – interactions with st
Vehicle Training
Traveling in a vehicle!
Will the holiday season (or any other time) involve car trips?
Does your dog get anxious or refuse to enter a car?
This can be resolved.
Take it slowly and give yourself time to get your dog comfortable.
First of all practice when you are not in a rush. Plan how you will transport your dog safely. (I use a crate. There are dog seat belt products also.)
In the video you can see several steps condensed into one session. However, depending on your dog, you may spend a week practicing each step. Don't rush it. Find a safe place to practice. Some of the steps:
1. Scatter / toss some food around the vehicle. Reward approaching the car with some food / treats.
2. Have the dog interact with the car - for example Two Paws Up on parts of the car and treat.
3. Ask the dog to jump into the car. (If your dog is large enough to jump in.) If this is a big step for your dog, do not ask them to stay in the vehicle. Immediately release and build duration to the release over time.
4. Train the dog to wait for the release. (You do not want your dog jumping out as soon as you open the vehicle door. This might not always be safe. To reinforce this, you can spend time sitting beside the dog. You can open the vehicle door, feed the dog and then close the door again, without ever going out.
5. Incorporate the crate / seat belt. This one is hard for Bailey. She will often just do Two Paws Up and want me to boost her up. Perhaps the inside of the car is too dark for her to properly judge the opening of the crate. We're still working on this.
6. Build duration in the crate / seat belt and work on waiting for the release cue before leaving.
7. Incorporate you sitting in the drivers seat. Start the car. Don't drive initially. Let the dog out.
8. Next step drive a short distance. How is your dog handling it? Can they eat a treat or are they too anxious?
9. At any point go back a step or two to increase the dog's comfort level.
10. Gradually build duration, length of the dr
Cardboard Chaos!
Optimism Game #1 - Cardboard Chaos
Start small if you think your dog will be anxious. Perhaps one box on its side with treats mostly outside of it. If your dog is pretty confident, you can step it up to more of a challenge.
This game teaches the dog that they have some control over the environment, teaches them independence as they are doing things on their own.
If your dog has problems being away from you, then sniffing around boxes on their own can lead to them going behind visual barriers without pressure.
This is a great game with the lead up to Christmas decorating and boxes being unpacked!
Leg Weaves!
With dark, rainy weather I wanted a new project, so we're working on leg weaves. Still definitely a work in progress!
Who wants to join me in training a leg weave? Share your videos!
Here's my latest. (might be easier with a slightly smaller dog...) I'm trying "walking leg weaves" here. Standing ones are easier to start (I think).
Instant Down
Instant Down!
Having a trained Instant Down is really useful in a variety of situations. I've started training Bailey and I am pleased with her initial response (in a quiet training venue).
How did I train it?
- first I trained "Stop" - this was really easy!
- I tossed a treat away and when she had eaten it and was returning to me I tossed another treat behind her so that she paused and turned back to get it.
- After a couple of tries, I would add the cue "stop". You can use any cue - sit or whatever. By this time she was predicting the second treat toss anyway and was stopping and waiting! :)
- I repeated this training game off and on. Once it was really reliable, I moved on to the Instant Down.
- I started with the Stop Game, but then, instead of tossing the treat, I asked for a Down and then tossed a series of treats to Bailey as she was in her Down.
Note - you will need to have a reliable Down trained with a verbal cue first. Also, I have added the hand signal (holding my hand up - which would be handy if Bailey were a distance away, possibly with low shrubs obscuring her view.)
Here's a video of our training session.
Loose leash walking
More loose leash walking!
Bailey used to pull on her leash to the point that I was worried that she could damage her trachea and switched to a harness. She's a "sniffy Spaniel" and would drag me to bushes, patches of grass, etc. to sniff them, even lying down so that I couldn't get her to move on. We're not at 100% - this is filmed in familiar territory without too many distractions - but huge improvement! Progress, not perfection.
How did we get this far?
1. We ditched the walks for a while, to avoid rehearsing bad behaviour and trained in the house and the yard - for calmness, disengagement, optimism (and more).
2. We changed the trigger picture by switching to the harness for a while.
3. I trained an "attention noise" to help her to disengage from things.
4. I trained "go sniff" on command and rewarded her for turning back to me.
5. I practiced giving her a loose leash! :) It is instinctive to anticipate and tighten the leash, but that just causes reflexive pulling by the dog. Giving the loose leash helps both dog and handler relax.
6. I practiced "training walks" - just short successful "wins" and gradually added distance to the walks. If the walk wasn't going well - too many distractions, etc. I would stop and just walk around the yard.
7. I reduced the excitement at the beginning of the walk, beginning with putting the leash on, my shoes on, etc. I might do that but then just sit down for a drink of water. Walk to the door and end it there. When we got outside, we might walk zig zags or figure 8s on the driveway until she relaxed (they do get boring!)
8. I practiced pace changes - to teach her how to "come down" from an excited pace to a calm walk.
It takes time but builds a trusting, happy relationship at the same time and has so many "spill-over" results in other day to day life!
Training is fun! My focus with Bailey was mostly on household manners - with the move to working from home. She can still be nervous with novelty / novel environments, so this summer we've been doing more out and about and working on her confidence and optimism with novel situations. Here she is, eager to check out the newest set up in the yard.
Confidence Games
Confidence!
Is your dog nervous in new environments or with a lot of activity happening nearby?
You can grow confidence AND you don't have to stress your dog by exposing them to those situations. You can train FOR the situation, not IN the situation.
There are many training games that help your dog become more confident. An adventure circuit to explore is just one. I gathered up various items in the yard and scattered food around the items while Bailey waited on the picnic table (she's hard to see in the shade). Then she went off to find the kibble scattered around the objects. She thought it was great fun.
#Trainingworks #CalmnessIsKing
I'm so pleased with Bailey's behaviour this afternoon - lots of activity just a few feet on the other side of our fence with two tractors and other equipment and lots of noise from haying activity.
Transitions
Transitions
Do you have a dog or a puppy that has not gone out too much or been socialized well due to COVID? To build flexibility in our dogs and to enable them to take their training out and about, we need to help them with transitions.
Discover a favourite behaviour that they like - for some dogs this is Middle or Two Paws Up or Touch. Practice this (and other games, but especially these favourites) in different places, gradually building the locations to more distracting environments. For example:
- 1. in the kitchen (or living room)
- 2. in the back yard
- 3. in the front yard
- 4. in an empty parking lot
- 5. in a quiet park
Observe your dog. If they get too excited, back track and add more locations similar to the level that they were last comfortable with.
Here's Bailey doing a short scent game behaviour in the garage. (Please excuse the mess. It's a work in progress.)
This is a new training location for her. She's been in the garage before, of course, but not with her bed and other things set up, and we haven't really done training there. Also, both doors are open, which is new for her, so she has her long line on.
Thinking in Arousal
Can your dog get really excited and still follow verbal cues / instructions? If not, this can be trained through games. This concept is called "Thinking in Arousal" in dog-training terms. In the video, we're playing an exciting game and Bailey is pretty excited, but can listen to her "out" command to let go of the toy and pause to respond to a few verbal / hand signal commands. This is the second time that we've tried this game outside. (The first time did not go as well!) :) Better. Not Perfection! We'll gradually move this game to more exciting environments and see if she can still listen to cues. The idea is to start in a very calm, contained area, then incrementally move to more exciting places, helping the dog generalize the learning.
Training your dog to pivot.
Once your dog is steady with Two Paws Up (see earlier training tip), you can start to train them to pivot. If they reliably come directly to you to stand on the object in front of you, you can gradually move to the left or the right and they should adjust their position to still face you. In the video I was trying to only give Bailey a treat at the end and she was a bit confused at one point but carried on nicely.
Training Chin Target
Many dogs don't like their face being touched. However, sometimes we have to. Often vets will handle a dog's face to check their teeth or we might have to to clean around their eyes or if we need to train them to wear a muzzle or a head collar or for many other reasons.
The Chin Target game asks the dog to rest their head on our open hand. As they get used to it, they will press on your hand more firmly and you can start to wrap your hand around their muzzle or restrain a bit.
To start with - you will place your hand under their chin and (with the other hand) feed some treats. Reset by tossing a treat away or putting both hands behind your back. Repeat.
Eventually, you will be able to hold your open hand out and the dog will rest their chin on your hand.
Try it in different places and different positions. You can kneel or sit on the floor. Sit on a chair or stand - depending upon the size of your dog.
A short video of Bailey doing Chin Target:
Figure 8 walking (or zig zags or circles) is a great technique for relaxing your dog at the beginning of a walk. It has been a while since Bailey had been out for a walk and you can see that her movement is quite jerky and she is easily distracted at the beginning. As we do the circuits she becomes more fluid in her movement and her focus on me improves.
