Course Details
Does your dog struggle in new settings or situations? Do they get worried and shut down, or become hypervigilant and reactive? Whether you are going into competition, to the vet, to a training class, to a public place or even a change in their own home environment, there are games to help your dog that all start out with simple classical conditioning.
I’m a huge fan of foundations and I strive for both my dog and me to find JOY when teaching them. Dopamine is the ‘feel good’ hormone and is the fuel for the pursuit and wanting of rewarding experiences, the anticipation of reward. Since JOY is a result of those dopamine driven circuits or loops and provide meaning and emotional richness, I tend to use thinking patterns that release dopamine.
Using visual and verbal cues that carry a positive Conditioned Emotional Response, we can help your dog by utilizing predictability and movement within these games.
Loopy training creates predictable repetition that gives the dog a tiny dopamine lift. The dog succeeds, which leads to that neurochemical spark. The human sees success and their joy spikes! The human repeats training because it feels good to see the joy in the dog and to see them succeed. The more they succeed, the more dopamine is released and the more the dog enjoys training, it seeks engagement and moves through the world with more optimism and emotional resilience.
Considering active acclimation as another way to help our dogs, we can apply the use of verbal marker cues in a strategic pattern, the Dopamine box, a paws up or platform to target, a figure 8 leg weave or even the two-bowl game to allow loopy training which will provide the dopamine we want to carry over into the environment or situation we are preparing for. Using a combination of patterns with more movement, some that are more calming, some that are exciting, and one that is somewhere in between, we can influence your dog’s behavior by tapping into the neurotransmitter of Dopamine by creating anticipation of reinforcement simply be the initiation of the patterns/games. The patterns will help to utilize behavioral momentum to allow for persistence of behavior when there are changes in the environment or context.
Within this class, we will introduce multiple games that utilize visual cues and one that uses verbal cues to create a way to not only gauge your dog’s emotional state, but to change it! Fluctuating between more calming games or more arousing games we can help modulate your dog’s emotional valence within a specific situation.
Teaching Approach:
A new lecture will be released approximately every other day. Most lectures build on the work from the previous lecture, although in the beginning there wil be some information gathering to allow me to make recommendations specific to your situation and problem. This is a new class and the syllabus is subject to be modified if I see it would benefit the class. There are five 'skills/patterns' that will be presented in the class and not everyone will teach all to fluency. I will help determine which patterns work best for you and your dog as we proceed through class. We will then use these patterns to help with your problem area.
Instructor: Karen Deeds, CDBC Karen Deeds, is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC). She is the co-owner of Canine Connection in Ft. Worth, TX with her husband, Bob Deeds, a retired Federal K9 Handler on Texas Task Force I....(Click here for full bio and to view Karen's upcoming courses)
