Training Concepts

Arousal is the term used to describe a big rise in emotion, which results in a really amped up dog! The emotion could be excitement, nervousness, fear, something else, or a mix of things (most common). Unless an unaltered dog is in the presence of another unaltered dog of the opposite sex, “arousal” is not referring to sexual arousal. 

Many folks make the mistake of using food as a way to coerce a dog into doing something they don’t want to do. In fact, even many positive reinforcement trainers still make this mistake! As science has evolved and we’ve come to understand more about modern dogs, we’ve realized that they’re emotionally complex beings (just like us). If we want to build trust with our dogs (the cornerstone of training progress), we need to shift away from using food to make them do things they’re rather not do. Instead, we rely on collaborative approaches, building strong reinforcement histories, and prioritizing our dog’s emotional experience. This builds trust and enhances our bond with our dog, while also supporting our training progress.

A training method that breaks the target behavior into small parts, teaches the last part (the “final product”) first, and then backs up to include each additional part one by one.

If you think about it, behavior is communication (think about it!). For an animal, it’s one of the only ways they can communicate with us. Behavior is driven by emotions and needs, so we should first seek to understand our dog’s behavior before we seek to change it.

All sentient beings, dogs and humans included, communicate to be understood. Acknowledging that our dog’s behavior is communication helps us get curious about it, ask questions, and work to understand it.

This is also why labeling behavior as “good” or “bad” is inaccurate and damaging. It’s just communication. Sometimes it’s unwanted communication, but communication nonetheless.

This is also why addressing unwanted behavior by simply correcting it is unfair and unethical. Shutting down a behavior without understanding the emotions and/or meeting the needs that drive it is not only foolish, but cruel.

Our goal at the onset of training is to build really positive, fun, engaging skills (such as ready find it/catch) that your dog is eager to engage with. Once these skills are established in this way, we can use those skills as part of our approach in challenging moments, as well as moments of recovery.

Overall, we want to build a pattern of enjoyably working together. Working together requires listening to each other and respecting each other’s limits. It’s collaborative. Building a cooperative relationship will benefit everything we do going forward.

The more your dog looks forward to working with you, and the more they know you’re also working with them, the smoother everything else will be!

The simplest definitions are as follows:

• Desensitization - The process of getting used to things they find triggering. 

• Counterconditioning - The process of changing a dog’s emotional response to the things they find triggering.

A training strategy that aims to avoid “mistakes” as much as possible. We do this by breaking skills down into small parts, teaching them one by one, and adding the next step only once the first is mastered. This approach minimizes frustration for the dog, builds confidence, and ultimately helps them feel better about the skill. It’s honestly pretty incredible.

This term describes the process of teaching a dog that what they learned in one environment is still the same in other environments. Dogs don’t usually understand this without our help!

For example, when a dog learns how to sit, down, come, etc. in obedience class, they may be able to do those skills perfectly in class, but they often struggle to do those skills in other environments (at home, on a hike, etc). This isn’t because they’re being obstinate; it’s because the “picture” of what they’re used to seeing when we cue them is different (aka the environment is different), so they’re not actually sure what we’re asking them to do.

Each time the picture changes, we help our dogs bridge that gap by giving them lots of guidance and help. 

The importance of this cannot be underestimated. This concept often gets lost in dog training efforts because we focus so much on getting the dog to listen to us. If we want our dog to listen to us, we also have to listen to them. We all communicate because we want to be understood—including animals. Allowing space for communication to go both ways (from human to dog and from dog to human) isn’t indulgent and it won’t create a demanding dog; it will create a dog who trusts you and who is more willing to work together with you. It creates a stronger connection and lets your dog know you're someone they can count on. We control nearly every aspect of our dogs’ lives (out of necessity), so allowing them to have a voice and make some choices goes a long, long way toward enhancing their overall wellbeing and their bond with you.

It often feels like you’re running from your triggers and/or not giving your dog a chance to respond appropriately to a trigger, but rest assured that’s not the purpose of making space! The purpose is to put your dog in a position where they can actually learn! Remaining under threshold is the key to emotional learning, and thresholds require space.

It is our responsibility to meet our dog’s needs, and their needs should be met before we ask them to change their behavior. Otherwise, our efforts aren’t likely to be successful. Every dog is a little different, but all dogs have the following needs: 

• Food and water (that they don’t have to “earn”)

• Daily exercise 

• Rest - dogs need 14-18 hours a day depending on what phase of life they’re in 

• Engagement with us (training, play, etc) 

• Connection with us - every dog is different in what they prefer, but some dogs like snuggling, some like to be pet, some just like to be close and spend time with you. Listen to your dog and connect the ways they want to connect. 

• Opportunities to express natural dog behaviors (see enrichment page).

Your positive marker signals that the dog has done the behavior we’re looking for and that a reward is coming. A reward must always follow the “yes” marker! The order is important because we want your dog to key into the word “yes”, not the sound of you reaching into your treat bag. So, mark “yes” first, then reach for a reward and then deliver it to your dog. Same thing if you have the reward in your hand already: mark “yes” first, then reach down to deliver the reward. Try to avoid marking and rewarding simultaneously.

Yes ➡️ Reach ➡️ Reward

This order is so important because we want “yes” to have predictive value (yes predicts a reward).

I’m not being fussy about this just to be fussy; a clear (or unclear) positive marker can make or break your training success!

The most important thing to understand about predictability is that it lowers anxiety. It teaches your dog what to expect which helps put them at ease. Predictable patterns should be established in as many areas of life as possible, especially for anxious and/or adolescent dogs. Your entire daily schedule doesn’t have to be the exact same day in and day out, but a good starting point is to do the things that occur every day (like feeding, potty breaks, etc) in the exact same way every time. Predictable patterns are also important in any area of life that causes your dog extra anxiety. That’s why we’ll do a lot of this during training!

We can teach a word in such a way that a dog comes to expect that something specific happens after they hear it. Dogs feel less anxious when they know what to expect, and words with predictive value help us build effective training protocols.

Examples of words that could have a predictive value:

• Positive marker (“yes” or a clicker) - predicts a reward

• Warning cue - predicts a certain action, often one that make the dog feel uncomfortable. For example, I say “clip” before clipping each nail. Another example: for dogs who have trouble with guests in the house, we’ll often ask them to say “moving!” before standing up.

• “Ready, find it!” and “Ready, catch!” - “Ready” predicts that something fun is about to happen, either “find it” or “catch”. “Find it” predicts a treat toss away, and “catch” predicts a treat toss up.

Overall, keep in mind that preoccupation with prey/prey drive is a normal, natural, appropriate dog behavior. It’s not ideal on a neighborhood walk, for example, but that doesn’t make the behavior inappropriate altogether.

We will work on this behavior in the contexts that pose a problem, but your dog should also have a safe outlet to express that behavior during other times. Fulfilling that instinctual need regularly will help your dog be less obsessed when they’re on leash. It also brings dogs a lot of joy! The best ways to do this are usually to let your dog run on a long line or at a SniffSpot. You can also purchase a flirt pole to give your dog the experience of chasing and catching mock prey (and this is also a fun thing to do together!). 

The more a skill or action is rewarded (usually with food), the easier it is for the dog to perform the behavior, and the more likely the dog is to offer it unprompted (reel demo with explanation in caption here). This is often how we encourage certain behaviors in certain contexts.

Each time you reward a behavior it’s like putting a deposit into that behavior’s bank account, and once you have enough, you can start making withdrawals (asking them to do it in challenging situations or without food rewards, for example). If you don’t have enough deposits, you’re going to be really limited on the withdrawals you can make.

This is why training takes a lot of food rewards in the beginning! Don’t skimp.

Delivering a food reward from your hand directly to the dog’s mouth isn’t a bad thing, but it’s boring. In low key moments it’s totally fine, but once distractions are present and/or the dog is feeling emotionally amped, it’s FAR more engaging to deliver their food rewards in a more engaging way.

My favorite delivery option is the treat toss (tossing it away for them to chase down), and “catch” is also fun (tossing it up in the air for them to catch). Both of these delivery methods involve movement, which is a helpful outlet for big feelings! It’s also more fun, which means the dog is more likely to engage with you again immediately after. The one caveat is that the dog must see you toss/throw it. I usually very briefly hold it within their line of vision before tossing it. (Watch this short reel to see an example of using treat tosses in a key moment.)

Distance, duration and distraction, often referred to as “the 3 D’s” are the three variables that needed to be added to make a particular skill more useful.

For example, most dogs know how to sit, but they can perform it only as a trick, not as something functional that can be applied in “real life”. To make it functional, you’d do training sessions with each of the three D’s, one at a time, starting easy, and slowly working up to more difficult challenges.

Not every skill needs to have the 3 D’s applied, but especially for stationary cues like down, sit, place, stand, paws up, etc. you may want to consider training the 3 D’s.

This is the point at which your dog can see the trigger but not be triggered. This is where “the work” happens. Once your dog is triggered, their learning brain is off and they’re not processing anything we’re trying to teach. All we can do once they’re triggered is make space and try again from a distance. In time, as our work takes hold and. your dog’s new emotional response begins to emerge, you’ll be able to work closer and closer to your dog’s triggers and their threshold won’t be as big of a deal. In the beginning though, threshold is very important!

Training and management are two sides of the same coin, and in order for training to be effective, you cannot skip management! 

• Training is what we do to create new behavior (teach new skills and patterns, condition new emotional responses, etc).

• Management is what we do to prevent our dog from rehearsing unwanted behaviors in the meantime.

The right time to use your training skills is when your dog is below threshold. If your dog is already at or likely to be pushed over threshold, then training will not be effective, so you should use your management skills instead. 

Remember: the things we do to manage the behavior (keep our dog from reacting, for example) are important, but they aren’t helping the dog respond differently next time. They’re only helping us get through this moment with minimal setbacks. Only training efforts—what we do below threshold—actually changes behavior.

This refers to what happens in a dog’s mind when they see several triggers in a relatively short period of time. Dog, scooter, barking dog, squirrel, for example. When they see too many things in a row, they may handle the first few okay, but then explode on the last one, even if it’s not a “big” or even typical trigger. It’s as if the residual stress of seeing each trigger “stacks” together to create that big explosion. This happens to all dogs. It’s always wise to keep this in mind and make extra space when there’s a lot going on.

A warning cue is NOT associated with punishment or doing something wrong. It’s just a heads up that something is about to happen. When we consistently say a warning cue and immediately follow it with the same action, the dog begins to pair the cue and the action. This gives the cue predictive value, which means whenever they hear the word, they’ll know what comes next. Predictability can lower anxiety, and it also makes uncomfortable actions less jarring. We commonly add warning cues when working on handling, leaving the house, stranger danger, etc.