Dogs don't react because they "hate" other dogs.
They react because their survival alerts are going bananas.
And they are desperately asking for space.
That's why dogs bark, lunge, or growl.
It makes the scary thing go away.
And they do not have the capacity to learn to not react when they're already reacting.
It's like trying to give swimming lessons to a person who's already drowning.
They need relief so that they can learn the skills of:
⢠disengaging from distractions.
⢠regulating their arousal
⢠Optimistism and Confidence despite ambiguity
Bonus: it makes training a lot less painful for both of you.
Lemme guess...
đYou've been training your dog a counter-conditioner but they don't really respond and you can't get beyond the actual reacting part before the counterconditioner works, IF it works đŤ
đYou've been offering treats, but they're often turning their nose and too busy barking to eat it đ¤Śââď¸
đYou're attempting to distract them with something fun instead of reacting, but they're so strong you hardly have a hand free and you're slipping into anxiety yourself so being "fun" feels lame đĽ´
If any of the above sounds like you, here's what you need to know:
Training your dog to not be reactive isn't just about getting them to stop the unwanted behaviours.
It's about seeing what they're trying to achieve with their reactivity that will give you the inside scoop on how to actually resolve it.
I wish dog owners knew exercising their dog more won't solve their behaviour struggles.
It's feeding them.
Do dogs need exercise? Of course they do.
I'm talking to the dog owners who are exercising their dog 1hr + per day, and their dog is still full of beans, bouncing off furniture, barking at the delivery person, chasing the cat, or stealing your toddlers toys.
Let's use fetch for example.
It literally wires your dogs brain to go from 0-100.
Stillness to explosive chase.
What's happening when that delivery person knocks on the door, the cat crosses their path, or the child throws their toy?
The dog goes 0-100.
Explosively.
In fact most behaviour struggles have an element of explosive in them.
What these dogs need is to slow down, be thoughtful.
To come out of their emotional brain and into their problem solving brain.
And it can be done using tricks for brain and body fitness.
My next Tricks training 101 class is happening:
Feb 22nd & Mar 1
Vic West Community Center
9:30am - 10:20am
Comment TRICKS and I'll send you the linkđž
One of the biggest causes of leash pulling, stressful walks, and general "naughty dog" behaviour is sticking to a specific schedule.
Because expectations = anticipation > frustration.
I know, I know. We're told "dogs thrive on structure."
But how does your dog respond when:
⢠You're sick and can't get out for a walk?
⢠You're shoet on time and can't stop at the park?
⢠You have to walk a different route because of construction?
⢠The weather isn't appropriate?
Show me a dog on that lives in specific, human-controlled structure, and I'll point out all the ways that dog's behaviour is actually at the mercy of that structure.
Walking your dog as they pull isn't getting you any closer to loose lead walking.
Even if:
⢠you've trained a "heel" cue.
⢠stop walking as soon as they pull.
⢠turn around when they pull.
⢠tried popping the leash, or some special collar or harness that is supposed to prevent them from pulling.
You see the issue here?
They have to pull in order to be trained to not pull.
Which isn't efficient or effective. In fact, it's only training more pulling into your walks.
It becomes a behaviour loop.
Ready for loose leash training that doesn't involve pulling?
Hit the follow button.
Your dog will do calm greetings when you start confirming that keeping paws on the floor is what you want.
I get it. It's frustrating when our dogs keep jumping up, even when we've cued them not to.
This happens when you focus on them not doing the jumping up, instead of rewarding them when they make the right choice.
đŤ "sit!", "down!", or "off!" = stop doing what I don't want
â
ď¸ rewarding them for already having 4 paws on the floor at any given time = them defaulting to 4 paws on the floor
You see, it's about clarity.
Telling your dog to "sit!", "down!", or "off!" when they're jumping up is actually:
⢠Incompatible with the emotions and arousal they feel
⢠Too difficult for them
⢠Open to interpretation by them
Because even if they do manage to squeeze out a "sit!", "down!", or "off!" we're so ready to cue them again that we forget to reward them for that split second when they did the cue.
So they actually have no idea what the "sit!", "down!", or "off!" means in that moment.
So they go back to the action that is reinforcing, which is jumping up.
But if you were to start your dogs calm-greeting training by rewarding them for 4 paws on the floor at ANY given time (not just when they're greeting someone), that would be what they start to offer when they see humans standing around them.
There's nothing wrong with your dog not getting to greet people when they're over-excited.
Because here's the thing:
The absence of the unwanted behaviour is just as powerful as training them to stop the unwanted behaviour.
In other words, your dog not practicing jumping up is just as important as training them to do polite greetings.
Management comes first.
Skills trained second.
And polite calm greetings will be your result.
Giving you the step by step on training polite greetings without your dog jumping up in my 4 on the Floor Workshop.
Saturday Feb 1 & 8
Vic West Community Centre
521 Craigflower Rd. Victoria BC
Comment jumping for more details đž
The best day to start training your dog will always be today.
Have you read Atomic Habits by James Clear?
In a nutshell, if you can make a 1% improvement every day for a year, you'll have a 37 fold improvement after 365 days.
1.01^(365)
Now if you do a 3% improvement daily for a year, it's a 48,482x improvement.
1.03^(365)
And it goes both ways.
In other words, if you're not making effort in your desired direction, your results will shift in the unwanted direction.
Here's the BONUS:
⢠the efforts you do make don't need to be complicated
⢠You only need 3-10 mins per day of consistent effort applied to the individual.
And I can show you how.
Ready to start training your dog a reliable recall?
Comment RECALL and I'll send you my free Recall training ebookđž
Ya'll are letting your dog off leash and then trying to manage them when they're 50 feet away.
Which actually leaves a whole lot riding on that recall cue.
Making off leash freedom quite stressful for you.
And not a lot of fun for them.
In other words, nobody wins.
But when you train them to have the skills of:
⢠disengaging from distractions.
⢠valuing being close to you over being far away from you.
⢠emotional regulation to do both those things
Well, then you not only have a reliable recall cue, but you have true off leash freedom for them and you.
A place is a spot that your dog can easily identify as a space for them to anchor.
Not because we've disciplined them to do so.
But because they have a strong reward history and value for it.
And it doesn't need to be fancy.
Sure, you can buy a $200 bed.
Or you could use something you already have, like an old beach towel.
It's simply about having an identifiable target that gives your dog the, "if I fits, I sits" kinda vibe.
If you want to train your dog to love their "place" comment PLACE and I'll send you the link to my 3 Steps to Place Training ebook.
#placetraining #dogplacetraining #dogtrainingtips #dogtrainingonline
What if you didn't have to constantly tell your dog what to do? "Fido, COME!"
