Teaching any skill can be easy - if we start it at home, in a distraction-free environment, and advance it gradually enough!
The reason why so many dogs struggle with off-leash focus is that many dog owners start the training in the busy park, on a hiking trail, or at an open space … but that is NOT where the training should start at all - it is the “master level”!
You cannot teach your dog by training where they are already failing. You need to start the training where they are succeeding 🫶🏼 this is how you build solid behaviors!
If you try this and your dog is good inside, that’s not a sign that it’s too basic - it’s a sign that the training is WORKING. If we cannot give our dog at least an 80% success rate, they won’t learn well … they will get demotivated, frustrated and go and seek their fun elsewhere ( = the environment).
Did you know that you have to start building off-leash skills inside?
A lot of well-meaning dog owners use food in situations where they really shouldn’t!
This is especially a problem with food-driven dogs, as they will allow you to use food to mask worry/fear/discomfort. But it will quickly backfire … as simply masking fear is not the same as helping the dog process and get comfortable with their trigger!
If your dog is afraid of something, do NOT lure them closer. It’s pointless and it can actually make the dog concerned about taking food from you in general. Plus … there are so many better ways to help them become comfortable.
In a safe, predictable situation like the one shown it is totally fine to just let the dog process and handle the situation themselves (if they are not overwhelmed). After a few minutes my dog was completely fine.
If you are using food for fear-related behaviors, always do so smartly: without pushing the dog too far, with a plan (such as counterconditioning) and NEVER to simply overwrite their fear temporarily with a treat.
Did you know that you should NOT be using food to lure your dog close to scary things?
This is one of my favorite ways to teach walking by my side - through circle work ⭕️
Unless you have a very small dog, your dog actually has to significantly reduce their speed to walk nicely on leash. They would rather walk/trot much faster. Being a slowpoke like us 🤭 can be hard for them!
It is actually much easier for your dog to cover more ground - have a bit higher speed than you. We can make it happen by walking in circles at first. They will be more successful and it gives you something to reward!
Over time, you can make your circle longer and longer until your dog can also stay by your side while walking in a straight line.
Have you tried this before?
If there is one thing every puppy owner should do (no matter how busy they are, no matter what breed the puppy is, no matter what lifestyle they have) … it is noise desensitization at home!
Noise sensitivity is so easily prevented in many cases by simply exposing the puppy to sounds early on. And we don’t even need to do anything special to “train” this. Simply look online for desensitization sounds, put them on in the background - and the puppy will basically train themselves while just doing fun puppy things 😁
If you have not yet done this, definitely incorporate it into your daily routine. It’s such a small change that will yield BIG results!
Are you using (or have you used) desensitization sounds for your puppy training?
“Shaking it off” is the most pronounced early stress (relief) signal that we can observe in dogs!
We will often see dogs show this AFTER a tense or slightly stressful situation had passed.
You can think of “shaking it off” as a sort of reset button - like the dog is literally shaking off what happened and is ready to move on.
Dogs who play wildly with each other will also “shake it off” after an intense round of chasing or wrestling.
If you observe this behavior in situations where you didn’t think your dog was stressed or tense - it can give you a lot of insight into how they might perceive certain scenarios!
(Eg if your dog shakes it off after a stranger pets them - they might not completely enjoy it!)
Do you notice your dog shaking it off regularly?
Many reactive dogs experience so much chronic stress that they have “forgotten” how to do one of the most natural canine behaviors: SNIFFING!
Sniffing is not only the main way that dogs experience the world around them … but it is also very relaxing (like a deep breathing exercise).
Sniffing is at the core of our reactivity training approach.
But even without targeted training around triggers, you can already help your dog a LOT by incorporating daily sniffing time 👃
This is the fastest - and most FUN - way to teach amazing retrieves to your dog!
Turn the entire game into a chasing party. Not just the part where the dog runs after the toy - but also, and ESPECIALLY, the part where they return to you with it!
If you have ever struggled with your dog coming back too slowly … or taking a break along the way … or only coming halfway … try this out and see how it goes 😀
Note 📝
You can see me pushing Kix away a bit, she likes this extra bit of challenge 💪🏻 if you try to do this with your dog, start very carefully and of course make sure to not push too hard!
The dog should always win in the end. We are just building some more power 💥
Let’s make a super fun Halloween-themed enrichment toy for your dog together!
We like to use pumpkin year-round in our enrichment toys (in the form of pumpkin purée) … but only this time of the year we get the chance to work with an entire pumpkin!
This DIY toy is a super fun way to satisfy your dog’s natural shredding and chewing needs, while teaching them problem solving skills and providing much-needed mental stimulation.
If your dog is not motivated enough to shred the pumpkin with regular food, you can try using some really smelly treats to get them interested (such as fish or liver treats).
If you give this a go, tag us! We would love to see your dog try this out 🎃
Can we talk about how much effort “regular things” take with a reactive dog?
If someone doesn’t live with a reactive dog, they won’t understand this. They’ll go:
What’s the big deal about going for a walk?
What’s the big deal about having people over?
What’s the big deal about a friendly off-leash dog running up?
If you live with a reactive dog, EVERY ONE OF THESE is a HUGE deal.
You put so much more effort, thought, energy and time into “basic daily tasks” … it’s no wonder you feel exhausted.
We see you 🫶🏼 we understand you 🫶🏼 and we know you are doing your very best!
By the way … on Thursday we are releasing our 30 Day Reactivity Bootcamp Challenge 👀 if you are interested in attending, let us know in the comments 💬
It’s impossible to train two dogs well at the same time. That’s why waiting turns is an incredibly important skill for multi dog households!
While this takes some time (if you train daily, expect a couple weeks until your dogs can wait well), it is a skill that will come in handy maaaaany times in the future.
It is very important to go gradually and reward the dogs a lot of staying on their place. Don’t increase duration too quickly, or they may self-reward by leaving their station.
And yes, every dog can learn this - even the impatient, high-drive ones! We just have to teach them well 🙂
If you want to see this broken down into many small steps, we have an entire online course on this topic 💻
Who doesn’t love to go and get ice cream? While we do not want to feed sweets to our dogs, getting them some berries of their own will make their day!
Dogs love to be included and do things with us. This is a great activity for dogs who may not be able to participate in a lot of physical activity (due to age … health … the weather … your own health etc.)
And of course, also for active dogs who just enjoy going places 😀
Of course, be respectful of rules regarding whether or not you can bring your dog inside/on the patio (do NOT pretend they are a service dog if they are in fact not).
If you give this a try - let me know how your dog liked it!
Getting our dog to line up nicely next to us can be challenging! They have such a long reinforcement history of standing in front of us and looking at us … so being parallel next to us can be tricky.
A platform is a great way to teach this, because platforms make it very clear for dogs where to go! (We can use them for teaching many other behaviors as well by the way)
So we FIRST build value for going to and standing on the platform … then we add ourselves into the picture … and finally, we can remove the platform!
This may seem like an unnecessary extra step, but in fact training often is FASTER and CLEARER by adding extra steps that explain exactly what we want.
And if we can be clear - the dog makes fewer mistakes - has more fun - gets rewarded more often - is an enthusiastic and successful learner 😀
Have you ever used a platform for teaching any behaviors?
