Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Week 7 Developments
So this week has been going really good. Kratos seems eager to be moving while doing the hold and the retrieves have felt very fluid. But tonight we hit a snag. I started training with the fetch exercises and then did quiet time for about 45 minutes. I decided to take Kratos to our front porch to try going up and down our 3 steps. As I was getting Kratos set up, he refused to stay standing. I was able to walk off the first 2 times and reset. On the third try I tapped his belly and he lost it. He growled and snapped at me so I Outed him, walked off, and did some heeling. I set up again and as soon as I set up the stand he sat down again. I tapped his belly and tried to pull him up into postion and he growled and snapped at me. I Outed him again but he wouldn't back down and lunged at me. I had to "hang" him in the air because he would not stop lunging and trying to bite me. I guess he wasn't quite satisfied with the first go around and I had to do it again. After he had finally had enough I heeled for a few minutes with some soft praise for every good sit and then I put him in the kennel for almost an hour.
After his kennel time, I took him into the garage and did some "back to basic" stand practice. I put him in stand and leaned over him with the conditioned relaxation multiple times. I then had Corban do some regular stand exercises with him. When I tried to do a stand after that Kratos almost immediately went into a sit. Instead of tapping his belly I reached over him and pulled him back into a stand, set his shoulders, and did conditioned relaxation with lots of soft praise. It took Kratos about a minute to relax and not have his ears back anymore. As soon as I was
satisfied that he wouldn't sit and that he was relaxed in the stand, I ended our training. We are now doing a much needed quiet time.
I really hope I haven't done something to set us back in training. I have no idea why this set Kratos off so badly tonight. Any thoughts, comments, ideas??
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We had quite the interesting night...
ReplyDeleteThis is not unusual, I have seen it before. Not his response to you, growling, snapping, lunging, but rather a dogs struggle to grasp they can Hold and move WITH the dB in their mouth. It's Kratos Point of Contention, knew it was coming just wasn't sure when and where it would show up.
ReplyDeleteYou did everything right by backwashing. Do NOT correct him for breaking a Stand if you have already placed DB in his mouth and given "Hold" command. Do correct him, by immediately heeling him forward, for breaking a Stand once you have 'set' his shoulders if you have NOT yet placed DB in his mouth.
Now, here's the way to work him through his Point of Contention. We will backwash even further to help his grasp this concept. The below sequencing may, MAY (depends on thr individual dog) take 1-2 weeks to work through to success.
First step:
1) Put him on a Stand,
2) Command "Hold"'
3) Do Conditioned Relaxation as you are in Heel position next to him
4) Remove Db
Repeat until he can do this sequence in low, med and high distractions.
Second step:
1) Put him on a Stand,
2) Command "Hold"'
3) Do Conditioned Relaxation as you are in Heel position next to him
4) Now, 'set' his shoulders
5) Without another verbal command (*VERY IMPORTANT there is no verbal command after the "Hold"), make sure the leash is quite loose, and give the Stay hand signal and step off on your right foot as you begin the circle around him all the while doing Conditioned Relaxation.
6)Move confidently and if he drops DB, he gets corrected, then start over.
7) Seek SUCCESS MORE THAN CORRECTION. This is 🔑 key to him gaining confidence he can stand and HOLD dB.
8) So, it may be one step forward to begin to circle, then Step Back to Dog, command "Give" and EF, praise. All done in low levels of distractions.
This is a CRITICAL point of learning for him so again ..
Seek SUCCESS MORE THAN CORRECTION,
quiet hands, a CCC mindset, incredible patience and Conditioned Relaxation are the way to work Kratos through his current confusion.
3rd step:
Repeat 2nd step until you can do one complete circle successfully around him with him holding DB in low distractions.
When you can do one circle, without him dropping DB, then repeat the entire sequence going from low, to med, to high distractions.
4th Step:
Repeat 2nd step to do 2 circles, then 3 circles.
*YOU SHOULD ALSO AT ANT TIME do STEP 1 interspersed with the circles. The point is to toggle between Step 1 and Steps 2-4. We are doing a steady progression of sensory overload, coupled with CONDITIONED Relaxation, to work him successfully through his mental breakdown.*
This may take a week or more to accomplish, that is fine.
Now, when you can easily do the sequence of
1) "Stand"
2) "Hold"
3) Conditioned Relaxation in Heel position or 1 circle or 3 circles (again we toggle between these steps)
THEN ..take 1 take one step with dB in Kratos mouth, ONE STEP only (do a quiet praise here of "yes"), command "Give" as you continue to heel him to EF. Only give touch as praise for the EF, not verbal.
Does this all make sense?
This all makes perfect sense. Does it change anything that I was never able to introduce the hold during all of this?? I never even got to put my hand on his mouth and bring the dumbbell out. I'm not sure that this will change anything but I thought I would mention it. Should we just continue with this new training regimen?
ReplyDeleteStart with the above, firat step. If need be, wait till Sundays class so I can see what is happening.
ReplyDeleteRoxanne