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FE445: Crazy Good! Self-Control Games for the Wild Child

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FE445: Crazy Good! Self-Control Games for the Wild Child

Course Details

This class is about how to use high-energy training and high-energy reinforcers. It’s for dogs who already love to play in the Crazy zone. I’ve had well-trained Good dogs who could not rise to their potential without adding some Crazy. And I’ve had well-trained Crazy dogs who could not rise to their potential without adding some Good. What about your dog?

This is a class for dogs 6 months and older who tend to work high and/or stress up. This class can help prevent frustration in adolescent dogs. It can also help adult dogs make sense of high-energy training and active reinforcement procedures. It's not a class for aggression problems! FDSA offers reactivity classes in the School of Behavior. This class is about foundation training in self-control for high-energy dogs. Whether your dog shows tendencies that you'd like to channel early on or whether your dog has had arousal problems for years, this class can make a difference.

Structure plays a big part in effective training, and structuring your sessions becomes even more important when we want to train Crazy. This class will help you remain clear and clean with the structure of your training.

If you are thinking, “Finally I get to let my dog be crazy while we train!” well, yes and no to that thought! We will know what we are doing and why. We’ll study what keeps your dog in their pre-frontal cortex and how to help them get back there when we let the limbic system take over. We will not be afraid of arousal. We’ll look at how important high arousal is when we want the utmost from speed and power tasks which are already trained to the muscle memory stage. We will use and enjoy and respect and work with arousal in different ways. And there will be structure and clean mechanics all over the place.

I promise you a fun learning experience, some new games, and some new twists on games you might  already know. I will do my best to offer you the inspiration and the tools to design useful games for your own personal situation.

Curious? This might be just the class you need!

Julie DanielsInstructor: Julie Daniels

Julie Daniels (she/her) won her first award for writing in the fourth grade, and she was training dogs long before that. Today Julie Daniels is one of the foremost names in dog agility in the United States.  She was one of the early champions of the sport and helped many clubs throughout the country...(Click here for full bio and to view Julie's upcoming courses)

Syllabus

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CRAZY GOOD - Self Control Games for the Wild Child

SYLLABUS

WEEK 1

What Color is your Crazy

Mats and Stations - Gotta Love Them!

Reward Delivery Markers - Stay Put vs Chase

How and Why to be Slow and Fast

Hand Target Games

Multi-Tasking: Reinforcers in Motion

Creating Reinforcement Zones

 

WEEK 2

Teach what Annoys You

The Gimme A Break Game (Leslie McD)

How to Use a Flirt Pole for Arousal Modulation

Reverse Luring is a Required Skill

Cue the Station

Wait vs Stay

 

WEEK 3

Premack and Panksepp

Using Environmental Reinforcers

Hand Target to Station Pattern Game

I’m so Chill, Kick the Ball Game

The Line-Up Game Part 1

Vacuuming: Calm Response to Noise

 

WEEK 4

Water Games

Cueing Arousal UP in the Reinforcement Loop

Dogs Cueing Trainers with Stations

Reward Delivery Markers: Catch vs Dish

Line-Up Game Part 2

Bikes! Yikes! Calm Response to Motion

 

WEEK 5

Moving Sit and Down

Displacing to a Toy While Watching

Multi-Tasking: Magic Hand Game (Absolute Dogs)

Line-Up Game Part 3

Throw Your Food Game

From Vacuuming to Weed-Whacking: Calm Responses

 

WEEK 6

How to Create and Use Positive Transfer

Toy in the Middle and Fading the Station

Nose Bops from Tuck Sit

Chin Rest with Side Stepping

Using Cookie Bowl Games

From Bikes to Cars: Calm Responses

 

Prerequisites & Supplies

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There are no prerequisites! Handlers and dogs who have a basic working familiarity with clicker training will be able to jump right in.

 

Sample Lecture

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How and Why to be Slow and Fast, by Julie Daniels

Slow is not automatically Calm, and Fast is not automatically Confident. Many dogs feel frustrated when we make them slow down. Frustration is not calm. And many dogs feel anxious when we let them go fast. Anxiety is not confident. It's not necessarily that the dogs don't want to use their bodies in those ways. It's more about the mental conflict they have attached to the effort. That internal conflict is not a good feeling. It may be a process throughout this course, but our goal is to be able to cue our dog's energy up and down without losing the Calm or the Confident.

 

The Stir Crazy Game

This week we'll begin with how to introduce some Slow without causing frustration. In subsequent weeks we'll be adding some Fast without causing anxiety.

For this class I've chosen a game which will work whether your dog has a lot of training or just a little bit. Can your Crazy Good dog sit on cue? Then you can play. If your dog knows both Sit and Down on cue, then you can use both. For the most advanced students, does your dog REALLY have Sit and Down under stimulus control? This game will challenge you!

Koolaid is going to demonstrate the game at the highest level, with both Sit and Down under stimulus control. But this game will work just as well with only a basic Sit. Use only the positions which are easy for your dog to perform. Adding the delay of reinforcement will be challenge enough, and that is the real purpose of our game!

The game consists of a Spoon - the major player! - and a container of food. I use leftovers from human dinner, but any sort of soft spoonable food will do. The game does not include a clicker. Use your voice to praise calmly. You may also use your "stay put" Reward Delivery Marker if you have trained that. Don't use that delivery cue unless your dog has already learned it.

Here's how to play: Cue the Sit. Now reach for the container of food. Hold the container in one hand and the spoon in the other hand. Put a bit of food on the spoon and deliver it to your dog, who gets to lick the food from the spoon while maintaining the Sit position. If your Crazy Good dog is just learning about duration and patience, then this is enough challenge for your first session. One rep, put the food container back on the counter or table, stand up, and release your dog and play with them. Why play? Because it's active and it will be just the relief that they need and it will include you in the celebration. Enjoy, and congratulations!

Here is Koolaid to demonstrate the stimulus control version. We love this game! A nice mix of silly, challenging, and high-value reinforcement. Can you count the ways I have added extra challenges to her session in this video? Please, if you are playing with a dog who is just beginning - which is most of you! - then do not take so long as I do before you deliver the food. You can begin with the container of food in your hand if your dog is not familiar with delay of reinforcement. We want to build up the challenge without causing frustration!

Koolaid Stir Crazy Game with Sit and Down Under Stimulus Control

 

Let's talk in detail about this video and what I am trying to show you. Koolaid is calm and she knows that she is in the correct position when she responds to each cue. She does not second-guess herself. She does not offer other behaviors when the reinforcement is late. She is not stressed or frustrated. In this session I am being clumsy and slow on purpose. But Koolaid has perfect faith that she is on her path to reinforcement and she knows that it will come.

By the way, please do not feel bad for my Sport, who is waiting on the station in this video. Sport is a pro, and to him this is just another game of "Skip Your Turn." He was paid well with several spoonfulls in a row after Koolaid's session was over.

Julie Daniels

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Testimonials & Reviews

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A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...

New class for the August 2020 session

 

Registration

Next session starts: August 1, 2021
Registration starts: July 22, 2021
Registration ends: August 15, 2021

Registration opens at 11:00am Pacific Time.

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