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CALMNESS AS A FOUNDATION SKILL
I’m working with a client now who has three dogs. One is a lab named Ski and he has a lot of trouble regulating his own arousal levels, including when it’s time to go for a walk. Taking him out the front door was quite risky for his petite handler as he pulls mightily and there are a bunch of steps to navigate shortly after exiting the door.
Although walking on a loose leash is an important goal for his person, his behavior well before the actual walk needed to be addressed first. For instance, Ski displayed the following:
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Wild excitement any time his leash was removed from a hook
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Dancing around and getting mouthy when the harness needed to be put on his body
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Grabbing and tugging on the leash when it was attached to him
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Lunging out the door and then scanning vigilantly for wildlife as soon as he steps outside
We’ve been working our way through this list of issues with the primary goal of Ski learning to RELAX during each step, and he has improved dramatically. Honestly, if his excitable behavior pops up anywhere in this list of activities, he’s sure to fail at the next step. So a calm and methodical approach to handling him at every step has been really important.
Where do you prioritize calmness in your training exercises?
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8 Replies
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This is a fascinating topic! My mind goes two places…
1. What are the enrichment activities you’re recommending to help this dog get his needs met? My assumption is that this boy needs… a lot! haha. These guys can be tough to live with.
2. Can you share one of the ways you are working on Relax in a specific situation?
My Magic pup is very “leapy”, especially when excited. OMD she’s at risk of breaking someone’s nose, and I hope it’s not mine! So I’ve gone very “puppy please” with her, in that I’ve trained a default Sit. Now if I freeze in place, she just sits. Then I can bend to greet her (I’m still holding her collar!) So I’m curious if you’re using something like this or have another plan?
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Ski has a live-in doggie playmate and a very large property for enrichment, plus we’ve added training and food puzzles to his daily routine. He is a ‘nervous’ and sensitive dog and has been practicing and being rewarded for his hyper behavior for years. The other dogs all feed in to a collective crazy energy which really, really complicates this situation.
Previously, Ski would go ballistic if someone even picked up his leash. So they began leaving leashes all around the house and, as they passed one, they’d lift it and then put it back down. 99% of the time, the sight of a leash no longer led to a walk, so Ski began to quickly settle. They then began reaching the leash clip in his direction if he was holding still and then treated him for calm behavior. Lots of repeats of this until they could clip the leash on while he remained calm.They then had to practice just walking calmly around the house with him on leash so he could learn to do that nicely and without grabbing the leash. He earned plenty of treats for this.
Separately, he’s learning to be calm and give eye contact when at a door that leads to the outside. If he’s spazzy at the door, the start of a walk is doomed before it even can begin! And he’s also learning how to settle calmly on a dog bed, separated from his dog pal. Even that is a big ask for Ski, but he’s moving along.
The good thing about all this training is that I believe Ski will ultimately feel so much better as a result, i.e., imagine how much nicer it will feel to be in a calmer state!
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I love this leash-desensitizing protocol, @virginiad . I’m currently working with a black Lab mix with similar associations to the leash (they can’t even spell W-A-L-K, backwards! ????). Do you mind me using this sequence to settle him more?
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Use away, @bernerlabreclectus ! Glad if it will be helpful.
Keep us posted on how it goes. ????
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Hi there!
I am a big fan of scatter feeding for calm in all sorts of environments, with an added “check in” component. I like this activity for slowing and calming everything down for a bit prior sessions, then slowly progressing to more structured training techniques.
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I think scatter feeds are a great idea, @LisaOMy ! Would you elaborate on what you mean by ‘an added check-in component?”
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Sure! I build upon a “mark and reward” for eye contact exercise. So first, I mark and reward when the dog offers eye contact without prompting. Immediately after, I say “find it” and toss a treat away. Then after the dog finds the treat, I wait for eye contact again and repeat. After the dog understands the pattern, I add more and more treats to the “find it” portion. Ex. I click/treat for eye contact, then say “find it” and toss a treat away. As he searches for that treat, I start to drop more and more treats while encouraging the dog to continue searching. When he is done searching, I wait for eye contact and repeat. We casually walk around exploring in this way.
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Gorgeous — love that exercise, @LisaOMy !
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