Practical dog training with positive results. Pet behavior, tricks, canine freestyle, rally-obedience, AKC obedience, and more.
I am creating a lot of free resources for clients because in my perfect world, they would know all of this stuff before even coming to me! Even with the foundations in place, there is usually still plenty to work on. Check out these articles and let me know if you have any requests:
Dog training and canine behavior tips, thoughts, unique ideas, how-to guides, blogs & vlogs - all from a certified professional trainer.
Big news! Venus and Mars K9 is officially reopening in Chicago.
Check out our website: venusandmarsk9.com 🐾
Reminiscing about puphood. I actually lost a lot of Cupid's puppy pictures due to a phone dying. (Rookie mistake.)
Special Mars addition
I guess I have officially decided to fix Mars's heel. Her issue was going flat in the ring, only during heeling. I learned about heeling from the trainers that worked in my first daycare in brief snippets, before I was a trainer, and Mars had to soldier through a LOT of mistakes. I learned about engagement ring prep probably at the END of all that, and that fact combined with her inconsistent understanding of focus/head position criteria lead to a dog that checked out in the middle of our CDX attempts - where heeling comes before all the "fun stuff." Anyway I'm training her to be crazy and pushy now. This is like session 10.
Wow, sports medicine is so cool!? Cupid was a super good boy and therefore got to have a super thorough exam this morning. He even got a chiropractic adjustment at the end. We used chin rest, stand-stay's, and side-lay/down-stays on and off for almost 3 hours. He is looking pretty good, and we are still thinking his issue was a neck nerve thing. After today we will be slowly reintegrating exercise, and hopefully he will be on the straight and righteous forever and ever.
I introduced handler discrimination over the last couple of weeks. One card in the pile of cards is heavily scented like me (from rubbing it against my skin). I am just starting to wait for a little bit more of a pause before I reward him.
Rally is a competition obedience dog sport that is fun for newbies and seasoned trainers alike. You can even now play the sport from home by submitting videos to the AKC. Learn everything you need to know about Rally, from basic foundations to finishing touches, in my comprehensive self-paced course, Rockin' Rally-O. 🐶🥇
venusandmarsk9.com/online-rally-obedience
Have questions? Ask away!
Bessie is my favorite 💫 gorgeous super model of a dog 💫 and let’s be real, I know a lot of you feel the same way. But did you know that she’s got the BRAINS as well as the BEAUTY? Her and her mom Candice have been putting in the w o r k! The focus, the thoughtfulness, the steadiness, the distance skills, the timing and mechanics, the fading out the lures - I am so proud of this team. 💕 It’s not always easy training a fast, smart, drivey dog, but Candice steps up to the plate again and again. 💪🏼 I share this with the hope of inspiring more pet owners to do as much as Candice has done, turning her backyard into an agility course for her lucky dogs during quarantine, and regularly attending training classes to keep everyone sharp and happy. Bessie & Candice are absolutely rocking it. 🎉 Let them know how awesome they are! 🎉
Luna & Lauren come to me by way of my beloved former workplace See Spot Run - Chicago! Lauren & Luna have dropped into some virtual tricks classes, and now they are having a blast in the Rockin’ Rally-O Group! 1,800 miles does not get in the way of me helping this spectacular team soar. 💫🌟 They’re working diligently through the Rally curriculum, and I’m excited to watch them progress even more. 🎉 Let these guys know how awesome they are! 🎉
It’s officially the phase of quarantine where I am FULL ON VLOGGING. I wanted my first vlog to be spicy because I’m just that kind of dog trainer. 💁🏼♀️ So, behold, the semi-controversial: Why I Don’t Let My Puppy Interact with Random Dogs - and What I Do Instead. 🐾 Let me know if you have questions, agree, hate it... This is a pretty big topic that I could go on about for much longer than I did - and the video’s pretty long! Also, I’m aware that people feel differently about this, and I am not offended by people disagreeing on this particular subject. 🙈🥳
Vlogs & blogs: https://www.venusandmarsk9.com/blog
Yay Rally!
I’M SO EXCITED to officially announce my brand new program! The Rockin’ Rally-O Group was designed for curious pet owners with a basic training foundation, as well as those who have been training for Rally but need some additional help. Work through a comprehensive curriculum at your own pace, post videos of your training for feedback from the instructor, join discussion groups of other students, and more. Take a deeper dive into motivating your dog for the high-level work that is required to enthusiastically perform for minutes straight at a trial. This new program will be capped at 20 students. These first 20 students will receive the limited-time price of 95/month (less than one private lesson) and will be grandfathered into that price forever. Sign up or read more at venusandmarsk9.com!
The other day, I posted in passing that the dog training industry is very white. This might be news to some of my followers who are not professional trainers themselves. I would like to explain just a little bit about why this is particularly messed up. Compared to other careers, the dog training profession is extremely accessible. There are no regulations so no licensing fees, no expectation of a college degree, and more free/cheap information about dog training and learning theory available than anyone could ever read and watch in a lifetime. And there is MONEY in this industry. An average month-long board & train runs about $3k. That means that if a trainer has 2 client dogs in their house at all times, they could potentially make about $72k annually doing board & trains alone. This should be the career of underdogs - and it is, for many. But mostly white ones. Why is that? Do you think it is for lack of trying from POC, lack of interest? (No.) Or do you think that there is something standing in their way? The bias of clients and employers/contractors is still relevant in our industry. With minimal tangible qualifications required to be a trainer, employers or clients hiring a trainer are mostly going off of liking how they seem as a person. Sure, dog training is a skill, but it is also a “touch” that people have to trust that the trainer has. And what races are more likely to be thought of as “trustworthy”? The fact that statistically speaking, people with Black-sounding names are less likely to be called back for job interviews is still relevant in our industry. And what if you “sound very Black” on the phone, in this career where talking to clients is imperative to selling your services? What if the color of your skin makes you look “out of place” in the affluent neighborhoods that should be your target audience as a trainer selling luxury dog training services? Thank you to for writing about his firsthand experience with racism as a dog trainer. I hope everyone is thinking about how we can all prioritize lifting up the people who have deserved so much more for a long time.
Don’t skip leg day! These exercises are mostly inspired by working Mars’ thighs & b***y etc., plus some random tricks! 🍑🐾🐾🐾
Hello, virtual group classes! I just wrote this curriculum with a fun, mix-and-match, drop-in structure, with the human and dog who are perhaps stuck at home at the forefront of my mind. Please let me know if you are interested in these classes but have finances affected by Covid-19. I hope to see you soon - even if only digitally!
https://www.venusandmarsk9.com/virtual-dog-class
My favorite puppy video! Here is 11 week old Brus demonstrating sitting for attention, trading objects for food (foundation of "drop it"), coming when called (with object in mouth), sitting (and not biting) while playing a chase game with the handler (aka red light green light or the stop/go game), heeling/loose leash walking, touch, and place!
More ideas for enrichment (focusing on activities you can do at home!) - I already have a post of basic enrichment info & ideas that can be found in my story highlights. Summary of previous post’s enrichment inspo: Train basic skills & manners, train tricks, train structured toy play, scent stuff (long line walks, hiding a kong or toy for them to find, kibble scatters, formal nosework training), structured play with other dogs, strength training, and chewing. Behold! New ideas 🐾🐾🐾
Train sequences of behavior: Does your dog know a handful of skills? Try doing them back to back! Even just a dance of sit, stand, lie down, sit, stay, place, come, touch, touch, place, come can be a fun game. If you have always given 1 reward per behavior performed, build up to asking for more work gradually. Do your best to stop the sequence and reward your dog before they get tired or frustrated. Try having your dog chase a treat out of your hand or chase a cookie you throw for them to award a bigger paycheck for that harder work. 🐾🐾🐾
Train complicated tricks - which are also sequences of behaviors! Most “fancy” dog tricks - like doing a handstand again a wall, the dog lying on a blanket and then rolling themselves up like a burrito, opening the fridge and bringing you a beer, putting their own toys away - are just sequences of foundation tricks that your dog might already know. Burrito blanket = “place” on blanket + hold an object (blanket) + roll over. While I generally do not recommend getting your dog training advice from a random online source, looking up tricks tutorials on Youtube is usually a pretty safe move. 🐾🐾🐾
Train tricks with at-home obstacles: Repurpose your exercise ball for your dog. Teach them to jump through your child’s hula hoop. Set up a jump with chairs and a broomstick. Teach them to “go around” a chair or tree. Make an agility course in your living room! (Be careful about sliding on hardwood floors!) 🐾🐾🐾
Practice tricks that build strength: Sit pretty, bow, stand on hind legs, jump up, jump on and off something. 🐾🐾🐾
Practice CUE DISCRETION: A surefire way to mentally exhaust their brain is to work their ability to really tell the difference between when you ask them to do one thing versus another, with minimal prompting and guidance. You may need to first work on your dog reliably understanding ONLY a word or hand signal for a behavior, given 1 single time. Then work on them telling the difference between 2+ cues. For example, spinning 1 way versus the other way. Another example is sending them to go to/around 2 different objects, with just a gesture of your hand, while you stand in between the 2 objects. 🐾🐾🐾
Train your dog to use their nose to find your keys, phone, etc.: Teach a “nose touch” to an object of your choice. Toss treats far away in between reps. Then, continue the session, but start moving the object slightly out of sight in between resets. Pretty soon the dog will be using their nose to find the thing again. After a few sessions, you can start really hiding it. 🐾🐾🐾
Hide and seek: With 2+ people, you can all hide in different spots in your house and alternate between each person calling the dog. With 1 person, you can put your dog in a stay, hide, and then call them. (A good excuse to work on out-of-sight stays.) 🐾🐾🐾
Hardcore kibble scatters: This my FAVORITE lazy enrichment method. When I lived in an apartment in Chicago, I would pretty religiously hide small piles of kibble all over the house, in every single room, for my dog to find. (You can have them in a stay, put them in a crate, or shut them in 1 room while you do this.) Start small and then get more elaborate with your hiding. 🐾🐾🐾
Are you stuck at home with your dog? Make sure you don’t get lax with confinement & separation training! (Especially if you have a puppy or young dog!) This can mean a couple of different things: You want your dog to be able to calmly cope with being confined while still being able to see & hear you nearby (“My human is in a different room than me, but that’s okay!”). And you want your dog to be able to calmly cope with being completely alone. Different confinement systems include crates, x-pens, baby gates, being behind a door, and tethering. Can’t think of a reason your dog would ever need this? Here’s some scenarios: You have a guest over who does not like dogs. You have your house painted. You have a new baby. You have a new dog who needs extra solo time! Your dog is sick and throwing up everywhere. Your dog just rolled in deer guts but you need to do something before you can bathe them. You need to board your dog at a trainer’s house, but they aren’t allowed to come if they’re not crate trained (me lol). Dogs without any confinement & isolation skills can end up restless with “no off switch” around the house, and they can easily develop a pathological level of separation anxiety. 🐾🐾🐾
Have an idea of your dog’s schedule, and try to utilize their “natural rest times” for confinement training. Puppies should be sleeping A LOT, so this should be pretty easy! If your dog doesn’t have too much of a hard time being confined, using your confinement system of choice overnight can also be an easy way to squeeze in that confinement training. (Even if you love sleeping with your pup, you can sacrifice a couple of nights per week to the cause. C’mon, you’re sleeping. You won’t even notice that much.) 🐾🐾🐾
Exercising your dog beforehand can be a great way to encourage resting while confined, too. If you want to help transition your dog gracefully from excitement to resting in confinement, you can do a calming exercise like practicing a long, boring down stay/place, or another calming training skill. 🐾🐾🐾
Build positive associations by having all or most meals & chews in the confinement spot. Make meals last longer by using puzzle toys, interactive feeders, or by soaking your kibble in hot water and stuffing it in a kong. 🐾🐾🐾
Don’t let your dog out for fussing! Unless you have a very young puppy or dog that has a history of pottying themselves in the crate, your dog can hold it. Wait until they settle down, and then take them outside, if you’re worried they need to go. If your dog has an absolute meltdown/panicked reaction to the confinement space, you might want to reassess your training plan with a professional. But if your dog barks, cries, or digs at the crate, and then you let them out, they learn that throwing a tantrum is exactly what they should do to get what they want. And they will throw that tantrum even more passionately next time. 🐾🐾🐾
For dogs who find confinement training very challenging, you might not benefit from simply tossing them in there and “waiting them out.” You can make this training easier by starting with very small sessions where you toss treats in the spot. Training can start with the door open and the dog allowed to leave, and then you can gradually work up to briefly closing the door, then leaving is closed for longer and longer. Slowly incorporate you retreating and returning, then retreating for longer and longer. Remote-controlled treat dispenser are great for this exercise. 🐾🐾🐾
PRODUCTIVE NOISE EXPOSURE FOR PUPPIES AND ADULT DOGS 🐾🐾🐾 An easy at-home activity! 🐾🐾🐾
Part 1 - For Puppies: Especially before 16 weeks (about the end of their first “critical learning period”), it’s imperative to expose your puppy, in age-appropriate ways, to anything you expect them to cope with for the rest of their adult lives. But what if there is no thunderstorm or fireworks show near you during your pup’s puphood? Using sound playlists from Youtube is a perfect & easy way to expose them to all the noises they need to hear. Crowds of people, traffic, sirens, thunderstorms, fireworks, construction, machine noises - try it all! Search “puppy desensitization” on Youtube. Longer videos are best so that you don’t have to keep restarting them. Play the video at a volume that your pup notices the sound - maybe tilts their head - and then goes back to whatever they were doing. (It’s a good idea to do this exercise when the puppy is occupied with a chew or in general “chill mode.”) Over many sessions, gradually raise the volume to it’s real level - being careful not to rush to a too-high volume that worries or over-excites your pup. Utilize a speaker. Don’t want to listen to a construction site yourself? Put the puppy in a far room and play music in the room you are in; do this exercise when you were going to leave the puppy home alone anyway; or maybe even use a crate in your car if it’s safe to do so. (Hopefully you are also crate training or otherwise training your puppy to calmly be alone so that they do not develop separation anxiety! Check out my post on confinement training if you need help with that.)
Part 2 - For Any Age: Do certain sounds elicit a reaction in your dog? Maybe the vacuum cleaner, doorbell, knocking, or other dogs barking? If certain noises cause or contribute to a problematic reaction with your dog, such as becoming fearful or over-excited (and/or barking), you probably would benefit from doing some exercises that change your dog’s feelings and reactions to these sounds. You can use Youtube videos, or you can record the sound yourself on your phone. Play at a volume that the dog notices the sound, but does not react much to the sound. Play for 1 or 2 seconds. Then, say “yes” (or click your clicker), feed your dog a treat, and pause the video. Repeat. If your dog begins to look at you in anticipation of food when you play the sound, you’re on the right track. Gradually work on increasing the volume to it’s real level + work on having it play for longer before stopping it. This exercise can also be done as a distraction for a certain skill, like coming when called or a sit-stay. Maybe you’re even working on your dog staying on a cot when guests come over - in which case it wouldn’t be a bad idea to practice sending them to the cot and then playing the sound of someone knocking on the door. Feel free to get creative!
Exercise #1: Automatic attention around other dogs. 🐾🐾🐾
I do 2 things in these sessions. I prompt the dog for attention when they look at a dog, and then reward them for looking back to me. When I can tell things are going in our favor (utilizing distance and good distraction dogs), I let the training dog look at the distraction dog, and I wait for them to “give up looking,” or look at me, and I click & treat for that. If I stand still and wait for good behavior, and the dog’s looking turns into staring (or pulling, or lunging...), I absolutely interrupt that with prompting and (if necessary) physical guidance. A foundation of eye contact, loose leash walking/heeling, sit-stays, or “place” are not necessary to begin this training, but foundation skills are IMMENSELY helpful with this stuff. 🐾🐾🐾 In this exercise, the dogs never meet. Eliminating anticipation of interaction helps reduce arousal. For reactive dogs, I recommend stopping ALL greetings on leash. Greetings should only be introduced in a formal, structured system - and the utility of such an exercise should be critically assessed. 🐾🐾🐾
Exercise #1.5: The perfect sit-stay. 🐾🐾🐾
This maneuver can be very helpful with keeping your dog calm and collected under distraction. As long as they have some familiarity with sit-stays and are not overly stressed, giving your dog a specific task to perform can put a dog’s mind at ease. Standing directly in front of them keeps you present in their mind - it is physically most comfortable to look at you instead of around them. Setting yourself up at a 90 degree angle allows them to still assess the distraction. The idea is not for you to be body-blocking the dog (eliciting a game of peekaboo), and you do not want them twisting around and popping out of their sit because the distraction is behind them. Ideally, the dog should be set up so that they can glance at the distraction, and then check back in with you. This is another great way of reinforcing eye contact around the trigger. 🐾🐾🐾 Make sure when the dog looks back at you, they see a happy, engaging face!
Exercise #2: Go say hi. 🐾🐾🐾
This exercise is great for assessing matches between dogs by slowing down the introduction. It is great for reducing overall arousal by getting initial investigation and novelty over with before allowing full contact. It can be used for rehabbing on-leash greetings/teaching “say hi and move on.” BUT this exercise may not be a good idea for dogs that are triggered by leash pressure and/or barriers. Additionally, a calm and social helper dog is imperative. 🐾🐾🐾 This should be done only when your dog is fluent in the first exercises. I like the first exercises to be a larger proportion of the dog’s overall training plan, even if you are working on direct interaction/dog-dog socialization. I prefer my dogs to assume that (especially while they’re on leash) any dog they see is to be ignored, and for greetings to only be initiated by the handler. Putting greeting on cue is helpful for this. 🐾🐾🐾 I start the dog in a sit-stay (see previous post) and return to the sit-stay for breaks in between greetings. I reward with food for looking at the dog and back at me. Then I release from the sit with “go say hi” and a gesture towards the dog. I allow a few seconds of greeting, call/verbally
prompt the dog, use the leash if necessary, and jackpot reward while also walking away again. Rinse and repeat! (This is Oona’s very first time with this exercise.) 🐾🐾🐾
Exercise #3: Appropriate play skills & taking breaks, plus recall out of play. 🐾🐾🐾
Disclaimer: Dogs who display leash reactivity can sometimes benefit from improving their social skills through direct interaction with other dogs. That being said, the extreme emotions associated with other dogs can make direct interactions dangerous. Thoughtful set-ups are a must. This is something that should be done with the help of a professional, and you should NEVER try to “re-socialize” a reactive dog by letting them figure it out with strange dogs, or in a dog park, etc. 🐾🐾🐾
Social interactions can be nuanced, and “meanings” of certain behaviors can be multifaceted and vary between different kinds of dogs. That being said, regulating stress and taking pauses/breaks is an imperative part of dog-dog play. I use helper dogs that model stress-reducing behavior like turning away, sniffing, drinking water, and probably way more nuanced communication than I can see. I practice recalls periodically to reinforce obedience skills and keep myself in the picture of play, but I also use recalls to back up stress-reducing and break-taking behavior. As I have written about before, I love using a helper dog that models recall for my training dog! 🐾🐾🐾 I think these two can be good play mates after some more time together. But Pearl had reservations in this session. Oona was doing a lot of silly, over-excited moves, like pawing her directly in the face. Learning how to regulate herself to win the hearts of more reluctant dogs will be a good lesson for Oona.
Training for leash reactivity and stress/over-arousal during dog-dog interactions: Troubleshooting. Behavior can be complicated, but these are common things that COULD be inhibiting the success of your training.
1. Your dog is desensitized to your voice (or your body language, or leash pressure...). You routinely talk to your dog or try to give your dog a command, without success, and now they think your voice is irrelevant and inconsequential. If you have ever seen a trainer take a dog, and the dog magically responds, this is the simple reason why: The dog is desensitized to the owner’s voice, but not the trainer’s. Solution: Good, thoughtful, and CONSISTENT training that is integrated throughout the dog’s entire day.
2. Related to #1: You are not a facilitator of your dog’s resources. If your dog is overweight with a bowl of untouched kibble on the floor, has access to any toy he could ever want from the toy bin, busts through your door without looking back at you when they go outside, and maybe even goes to daycare or a dog park where they go crazy with other dogs and never once think of a human - guess what! Your dog has little reason to give you the time of day. Maybe you’re their buddy, but they certainly don’t see you as in charge of any executive decisions. Solution: Establish a relationship where your dog does work for the good stuff in their life.
3. Your dog doesn’t trust you to protect them. Maybe you have “let them figure it out” when they meet other dogs. If an off leash dog charges you in a park, you maybe laugh it off instead of body blocking them and telling the owner to call their dog. Now your dog has taken matters into their own hands by lunging, barking, and snapping to create space for themselves. Solution: Advocate for your dog and show them that you will help them when they need it.
4. You put your dog in situations that are too challenging. Maybe you just don’t know what to do about this leash reactivity, and you have resigned to pulling to the side during walks as your dog barks their head off. Rehearsing the habit has made the problem behavior stronger. Solution: Move AWAY from triggers that are coming towards you, until you have enough distance to control your dog. If this does not sound feasible, you need the help of a trainer.
5. Your dog is bored, and going crazy on a walk is the most exciting part of their day. Adrenaline can be addicting, especially if you don’t have much else going on in your life. See my highlighted post about enrichment ideas to physically and mentally satisfy your dog.
In this video, Bru shows off coming when called and heeling while on a hike, holding "place" while outside distractions pass by, as well as appropriate play skills with an older dog.
Robert the Brus is in his fourth week of The Puppy Nanny Program, and I think it's safe to say he has been having a blast -- not to mention learning some mad...
Too cute! Kersey shows off holding her "place" position for all kinds of distractions. Also included is ringing a bell, understanding the word "off," sitting for attention, moving away from a sniffy spot on a walk, and coming when called.
This is a video of Mars and Coralyn competing in AKC Rally-Obedience. Mars earned her Rally Excellent title, and this was her first run of the class. Coralyn currently teaches Rally 101: Intro to Dog Sports at Doggy Business in NE Portland.
Little bit of AKC Rally promotion. :-) This was Mars's first leg of Rally Excellent. It was a tight course, but we made it!
Here is an instructional video about teaching a dog to pivot their rear end. This is a critical skill for teaching rear end awareness, a key component of technical, formal heeling. Whether you have competition goals or just want a fun trick, many dogs seem to love learning how to target objects with their feet!
How to teach rear end awareness, rear isolation, pivots, finding heel, left finish, swing finish... You know, this thing!!!
This is Mars' application for the Do More With Your Dog's trick titling program. She got the titles! Coralyn loves teaching tricks and is always excited when a client wants to play on the extra fun side of training.
All done in 1 session!
There are a LOT of ways to teach "place." This method is currently my favorite for clients to do themselves. This video focuses on the skill of targeting the "place" object, and then works through down-stay exercises. You can get an "automatic" down by giving the dog a verbal or hand signal once they reach the mat, and repeating until the dog anticipates the signal. Then, you reward when they beat you to the punch. Or, you simply wait until they "offer" the behavior of lying down on their own.
This is 1 way to teach your dog "go to place." Music by Keel Her.
Here is a video about shaping tug with food. This is a method not necessary for many dogs to play tug, but it is useful for dogs who are uncertain about tugging, or dogs who are distracted by food when they tug. Skip to 2:32 for actual training video. Follow up video coming soon!
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Big news! Venus and Mars K9 is officially reopening in Chicago. Check out our website: venusandmarsk9.com 🐾
I guess I have officially decided to fix Mars's heel. Her issue was going flat in the ring, only during heeling. I learned about heeling from the trainers that worked in my first daycare in brief snippets, before I was a trainer, and Mars had to soldier through a LOT of mistakes. I learned about engagement ring prep probably at the END of all that, and that fact combined with her inconsistent understanding of focus/head position criteria lead to a dog that checked out in the middle of our CDX attempts - where heeling comes before all the "fun stuff." Anyway I'm training her to be crazy and pushy now. This is like session 10.
I introduced handler discrimination over the last couple of weeks. One card in the pile of cards is heavily scented like me (from rubbing it against my skin). I am just starting to wait for a little bit more of a pause before I reward him.
Rally is a competition obedience dog sport that is fun for newbies and seasoned trainers alike. You can even now play the sport from home by submitting videos to the AKC. Learn everything you need to know about Rally, from basic foundations to finishing touches, in my comprehensive self-paced course, Rockin' Rally-O. 🐶🥇 venusandmarsk9.com/online-rally-obedience Have questions? Ask away!
It’s officially the phase of quarantine where I am FULL ON VLOGGING. I wanted my first vlog to be spicy because I’m just that kind of dog trainer. 💁🏼♀️ So, behold, the semi-controversial: Why I Don’t Let My Puppy Interact with Random Dogs - and What I Do Instead. 🐾 Let me know if you have questions, agree, hate it... This is a pretty big topic that I could go on about for much longer than I did - and the video’s pretty long! Also, I’m aware that people feel differently about this, and I am not offended by people disagreeing on this particular subject. 🙈🥳 Vlogs & blogs: https://www.venusandmarsk9.com/blog #virtualdog #virtualdogclass #virtualdogtraining #virtualdogtrainer #onlinedogtraining #dogclass #obedienceclass #reactivedog #reactivedogtraining #leashreactivity #puppysocialization #dogtraining #dogtrainingtips #dogobedience #dogobediencetraining #dogtricks #gooddog #portlanddogtraining #pdxdog #pdxdogtraining
Exercise #1: Automatic attention around other dogs. 🐾🐾🐾 I do 2 things in these sessions. I prompt the dog for attention when they look at a dog, and then reward them for looking back to me. When I can tell things are going in our favor (utilizing distance and good distraction dogs), I let the training dog look at the distraction dog, and I wait for them to “give up looking,” or look at me, and I click & treat for that. If I stand still and wait for good behavior, and the dog’s looking turns into staring (or pulling, or lunging...), I absolutely interrupt that with prompting and (if necessary) physical guidance. A foundation of eye contact, loose leash walking/heeling, sit-stays, or “place” are not necessary to begin this training, but foundation skills are IMMENSELY helpful with this stuff. 🐾🐾🐾 In this exercise, the dogs never meet. Eliminating anticipation of interaction helps reduce arousal. For reactive dogs, I recommend stopping ALL greetings on leash. Greetings should only be introduced in a formal, structured system - and the utility of such an exercise should be critically assessed. 🐾🐾🐾 Exercise #1.5: The perfect sit-stay. 🐾🐾🐾 This maneuver can be very helpful with keeping your dog calm and collected under distraction. As long as they have some familiarity with sit-stays and are not overly stressed, giving your dog a specific task to perform can put a dog’s mind at ease. Standing directly in front of them keeps you present in their mind - it is physically most comfortable to look at you instead of around them. Setting yourself up at a 90 degree angle allows them to still assess the distraction. The idea is not for you to be body-blocking the dog (eliciting a game of peekaboo), and you do not want them twisting around and popping out of their sit because the distraction is behind them. Ideally, the dog should be set up so that they can glance at the distraction, and then check back in with you. This is another
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