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Here is some video of Kool and I playing Find my Face with a toy rather than food. I’ve used food for the game in the past and wanted to see how he would respond to a toy throw for a reinforcer instead. He seemed to love it. Let me know if you see any issues with the delivery of the reinforcer. Also, I included in the video Kool and I meeting up with my friend at the agility field to work on the target stick some more. Susan and I both noted he didn’t do any alert barks when he sees her at first. Normally, he gives at least one. I’m working on his crate reactivity and that’s why I have the crate out for him to go into and do a small game of in and out. I noticed that when we approached her he began to sniff. Normally, he would not have done this. My friend’s five year old male dog had just practiced at the field right before I brought Kool out. I would think he was smelling him and taking in the environmental information that he needed. Kool had more accuracy for the ball at the end of the target stick and was able to hit it at different angles rather than the stick portion. Dr. Haug wanted to make sure he can focus his attention enough to touch this portion when meeting someone. In the past encounters with my friend and other people, this has been more difficult for him. Here is the video link: https://youtu.be/hc3MPMgKvMA
Here is some video of my friend and I working with Kool on mat relaxation while she ran her 10 year old lab around the field doing some agility. Kool became more aroused than I would have liked to have seen him. I repositioned him a little further back in the gated area and his arousal went down. I’m planning on doing this again next week and keeping the dog further back the entire time to see how it goes. https://youtu.be/G-gY4weDXXQ
One of my friends helped with Kool at our agility field. At Dr. Haug’s suggestion, until now, we have refrained from training with anyone around while training for agility (with the exception of Brain Camp which she approved) for the past few months. We can now do some simple agility related training with people and dogs present. I’m going to take it slow in advancing him to avoid doing too much too soon. Initially, we worked on Kool’s target stick skills to help facilitate meeting people. Although Kool knows my friend, it’s been a while since he saw her. He was relaxed and happy with the entire interaction. I then proceeded to do the tunnel game for arousal with him and had him sit and then go to the weaves. None of this was an issue even with my friend’s presence. In the past, he would have had a hard time doing a sit and holding it. After all of this Kool worked on mat relaxation which I’ll submit for Week 4. Finally, I played a short game of Find my Face at a walking pace. Here is video of our training: https://youtu.be/4llCPzyezV0
Dr. Haug has coached me in person with Kool on what decreases in arousal look like for him. Some of it is body language. His head, ears, eyes, mouth, tail. His tail might not always be the best indicator. We’ve seen him looking very relaxed everywhere with the exception of a small tail tuck. Dr. Haug and I discussed putting untucking the tail on cue. It might have accidentally been reinforced at times that we were reinforcing other body language that indicated a decrease in arousal. Also, decreases in arousal can be looking away from the thing, sniffing, moving away. We’re looking for the even the slightest changes and marking and reinforcing them.
Here is a video of Kool and I working on shadow handling, find my face and some pattern games in our front yard this week. A new house is being constructed a couple of houses down from us. Kool was doing some alert barking when he heard all of the unusual noises when we were in the backyard. I decided to use this as a training opportunity with him and work some of the exercises with him in the front yard where he could see the potential triggers. Initially, we worked further from the house being constructed and then moved closer to it after a few minutes. I had great engagement with him. Closer to the end of the video you will see a couple of ladies pass by and he gives an alert bark. I waited to see a decrease in arousal and marked it. Then, he made a great choice that I haven’t seen him make before. He started sniffing. Decompression!!! Not on this video, but immediately after this we did some mat relaxation on the driveway for about 10 minutes. I felt the training succession was a great success and I plan on using it more during the time this home is being constructed on our quiet dead end street. Here is the video: https://youtu.be/h5WtS6rh__4
Yes, she’s having me do it in other unknown locations. We were doing it at known locations for the past three months. Quite honestly, I didn’t know if all the work put into it would pay off. Although, every reactive dog program that I’ve participated in or read about in the past year and a half has some form of mat work in it, I still wasn’t sure. But, I can now really see the benefits of it and I’m a true believer.
Hi Bobbie,
Here is our video for week 1. We visited Dr. Haug in Sugarland, TX today and Kool did some set ups with various dogs. All of the mat relaxation work looks like it is starting to pay off. At one point, he chose to go into a down position with a hip roll and just stayed there relaxed while an unfamiliar dog walked around him in an unfamiliar environment. I’m so proud of the progress he’s making. Here is a video from his visit: https://youtu.be/1LBGrm39y4s
