The Dog Agility Summit

 

Three Exercises to Help Alter Your Dog's Arousal Level

 

Take a Breath

 

In this video I am teaching my youngster Sparkles to Take a Breath. To teach this slowly lower a treat towards the dogs nose and wait to see them air scent the treat. You may see their nostrils flair as they do this. When they do just deliver the treat. Gradually you can wait and reward just the bigger breaths. Once the dog is doing this you can add a cue. In the video you will hear me exhale as I bring the treat down as that is my cue. Sparkles is beginning to do audible exhales. For some dogs it may be hard to see their nostrils move to start with. Do not overly worry about this as they are still breathing! You will never be wrong in delivering the treat for that point of view. I also don't use a marker for this exercise as the dog is always breathing. Good is not my marker word it is more of a keep going signal I use.
Teaching your dog to Take a breath can really help to lower their arousal levels.

Premack Principle

 

Premack principle is where the dog has to offer a lesser desired behaviour to gain access to what they want. In this video I am using a toy but the principle can be applied to anything the dog wants. The dog has to look at me to be released to the toy. It is great for teaching a check in where they see something they want and rather than just impulsively doing what they want they check in with you and connect then wait for you to see if they can access the thing or not. This helps with impulse control.

Figure 8 Hurry Up and Wait

 

Figure 8 Hurry up and wait is an exercise that helps with teaching flexibility in arousal level. This is a skill that some are naturally better at than others but it can be taught. Just teaching arousal or just teaching calm is rarely the whole picture so here we can introduce small amounts of arousal and then help the dog to calm before bringing the arousal back up again. This helps to keep the dog in their thinking zone rather than just escalating to over arousal.

If you've enjoyed these videos and would like to learn more about helping your dog find optimal arousal outside of the ring then this is for you!

Inside Out!
Helping dogs feel better on the inside so they perform better on the outside.

Done with your dog not performing as well as you know they can?... 

  • If you are fed up and frustrated at your dog's behaviour outside of the ring and know it is impacting their performance
  • If  your confidence and joy is being lost in competing
  • If you want to improve your connection with your dog to improve your performance
  • If you would like support and clarity in how to find your dog's optimal arousal level to perform at their best 

Then join Inside Out!

This virtual training will look at both ends of the lead so you can fully connect with your dog to allow them to shine in the ring.  

The course is broken down into 4 main sections

  1. Your End of the Lead - to help you stay calm, confident and present for your dog
  2. Your Dog's Emotions - to identify the emotions that drive their behaviour so you can select appropriate training techniques
  3. Clarity - being clear on how to break down the training helps to build confidence
  4. Skills - training techniques to help your dog find optimal arousal levels which will allow them to succeed.

In this course you will have access to a video library to watch at any time of day, 6 live training sessions as well as a FB group where you can get your questions answered so you can be fully supported in supporting your dog.
You will have lifetime access to the material so can revisit at any time.

Find out more and sign up via the button below 👇

Join Inside Out Here!