![]() This is where you will see the strategies applied in a real-life setting, with appropriate adjustments made as required, to suit the needs of each individual dog and handler. There will be practical exercises introduced weekly, with lots of flexibility for Gold students to progress through the work at their own pace, selecting the exercises that most suit their dog, and their end goals.Īll students are encouraged to follow along with the Gold and Silver students’ forums to get the most benefit from this class. ![]() The bulk of the written content will be released in the first half of the class to allow students to incorporate the information into their training as quickly as possible. Lectures will be released in two blocks each week: one at the start of the week and one mid-week. a family member that lives within the home or frequents the home). Note: In this class we do not cover issues associated with resource guarding, multi-dog household dog-to-dog aggression, or aggression directed towards a known person (e.g. The content of this class is applicable to every different dog sport, as well as dogs with varying lifestyles, including pet dogs. The gold spots will be best suited to dogs that readily disconnect from their handler due to distractions in the environment, or dogs that demonstrate reactivity to one or more specific stimuli (triggers) – this could be a dog that is driven by desire to get to the stimulus or chase the stimulus, or a dog that is performing behaviors in an attempt to maintain or increase distance from the stimulus. ![]() excitement, desire to chase, etc.), or due to negative-valence emotions (e.g. The content of this class is equally applicable to dogs over-arousing due to desire (e.g. This class will be beneficial for anyone looking to understand over-arousal, and also wanting strategies to maintain optimal arousal (and therefore a thinking and responsive dog) during training and competing. This includes: honing observation skills knowing when and how to use distraction the importance of effective management when, where and how to implement behavior modifying training, and when to progress beyond behavior modification to the teams ultimate goals (creating pet dog behaviors or creating sport specific behaviors). So instead of going from stimulus to automatic response, the dog is able to think before responding, and hence can choose to offer an alternative behavior to the existing, inappropriate, or extreme response.ĭuring this 6-week class, handlers will develop the necessary skills to assist the dog through this journey. This protocol is focused on helping the dog find time to think between the stimulus and the response. In this class, the Gold students will work through Sharon’s method for modifying reactive behavior – Offered Durational Engagement. Understanding why these responses are occurring, allows us to choose the best approach to modify the existing behaviors. In this class we discuss many of these, as well as the potential reinforcers that may be contributing to the ongoing expression of the behaviors. Reactive and hyper-aroused responses are driven by a vast array of underlying emotions, motivations and contributing factors. In many dogs the escalation to this state is rapid – going from thinking, to not thinking, in a split second! Once past threshold, the dog is unable to follow cues, they cannot think clearly, they struggle to offer true handler focus, and they may be uninterested in treats, or take treats in a snappy way. The hyperarousal may occur as the dog’s attention is drawn to stimuli in the environment, or it may be a response to aspects of the training session itself. Once hyper-aroused, they may even redirect on to their owner, chomp on toys, or snap at treats. They appear to struggle to control themselves at times, and may easily get distracted when in a big environment. They may also occasionally (or frequently) run off, bark, spin, lose focus, or do zoomies in the middle of a training session, or at a competition. When leashed or behind a barrier, these dogs typically lunge and/or bark at stimulus such as unknown people, dogs, bicycles, vehicles, or wildlife. This class is best suited to dogs that respond in an active way to an increase in arousal.
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