Webinar Presentations
Questions or Problems? Please send email to [email protected]
Webinars will run approximately 1-2 hours including presentation and questions.
Click here for a list of frequently asked questions
Sharon Carroll - When Treats Interfere with Training: Why It Happens and What To Do Next
Date: Thursday, September 17th
Time: 3pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time).
Fee: $19.95 USD
Problems with using food in training can take many different forms; this webinar examines the full range of these issues…..
- Does your dog become super excited, jump at you, bark at you, snatch at the treats, or stare intensely at your hands as soon as food appears?
- Is your dog so focused on the food that they can no longer listen, think clearly, or perform even familiar behaviors?
- Does your dog work well when food is visibly available, but seems to forget everything as soon as the treats are put away?
- Does your dog struggle to ignore a treat container. They either can’t leave the container, or their work deteriorates because they are still thinking about the nearby food, or they leave the current task to run to investigate the food?
- Is your dog keen to eat when food is readily available, but as soon as they are asked to “work” for the food, they lose interest, start sniffing the ground, look for something else to do, or leave the session?
- Is your dog able to eat in some environments, but then in other situations / environments / settings they are no longer interested in food?
Each of the above issues can interfere with training sessions; they can slow the learning process, reduce our dog’s enjoyment, and cause frustration for us as handlers.
Some of these issues become particularly challenging in competition settings, where food may be used as an intentional distraction (e.g. rally, nose work) or where treats may be placed on a nearby table or left outside the ring and our dog needs to leave the treat container, work in a focused and accurate way at a distance, and wait for clear information about when they can return to the food.
Other common issues relate to food inadvertently being built into the cues to perform the behavior. When the provision of food forms an aspect of generating the behavior (e.g. as a lure, reverse lure, pre-placed food bowl / treat dispenser), rather than acting solely as reinforcement, the behavior can become very unreliable when food is taken out of the picture.
Separately, rejecting food is often treated as a problem that can be solved by offering higher value treats, or simply teaching our dog to always eat on cue. However, a dog who is refusing food, or is leaving a training session rather than continuing to try to “work” for access to food, may be responding to intense confusion / frustration, fear, over-excitement, sensory overload, physical discomfort, or a combined overall challenge that is simply too difficult for that dog at that time. In these situations, the important question is not how to make our dog eat, but rather what their inability to eat tells us about their current emotional and physiological state. Motivation to access even highly valued food can diminish due to a vast array of factors; this can easily be mistaken for a lack of food drive, when the real problem lies elsewhere.
In this webinar, we will examine all these issues in detail and, importantly, learn how to distinguish one problem from another. We will explore practical ways to help dogs think in the presence of food, disengage from treat pouches / containers, leave remotely placed food and return only when cued, respond to cues without needing to see the reward first, and continue working when reinforcement is not immediately obvious. We will also look at the reasons that drive a dog to refuse to eat, or to walk away from the opportunity to earn treats.
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* Click here to Register Now *
Joshua Beckler (K9 Optima) - The Somatic Side of Reactivity: Using Touch as Support & Communication
Date: Thursday, September 17th
Time: 6pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time).
Fee: $19.95 USD
This webinar explores the intentional use of touch as a form of somatic support during reactivity work. Through real-world case studies and session footage, we’ll examine how different styles of touch can be used to ground and build rapport, channel a dog away from a trigger, support regulation during moments of rising arousal, and provide reinforcement during alternative behavior.
Rather than treating touch as a single technique, we’ll look at its function within the larger behavioral picture: what we’re trying to achieve, what the dog’s response tells us, and how the application may change depending on the individual dog and the moment. The case studies will allow us to see these concepts in action and explore where somatic support can fit within a broader reactivity plan.
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Jennifer Summerfield, DVM - Dazed and Confused: Understanding Age-Related Cognitive Dysfunction
Date: Thursday, September 24th
Time: 3pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time).
Fee: $19.95 USD
If you’re fortunate enough to have a much-loved senior dog as your companion, you may start to notice some gradual behavior changes as they get older. Perhaps they’re having trouble sleeping at night, becoming more restless or anxious for no obvious reason, not wanting as much social interaction as they used to, or getting lost in the backyard. Just like older humans, elderly dogs can struggle with cognitive issues related to aging. In this presentation, we’ll discuss what we know about the causes of canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD), how to recognize early signs of a problem, and medical rule-outs that need to be considered in cases of suspected CCD. We’ll also review some treatment options to consider if you’re concerned about possible CCD in your senior dog including medications, dietary supplements, and prescription diets.
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Coming Soon!
This webinar previously ran as part of ZZ014- Loving and Living with Senior Dogs Conference. Please check your Course and Workshop Library to prevent a duplicate purchase.
* Click here to Register Now *
Amy Cook, PhD - The Use of Play as Behavioral Therapy
Date: Thursday, September 24th
Time: 6pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time).
Fee: $19.95 USD
Play is magic! We all love to play with our dogs, and fortunately there are so many ways to do it. There is toy play, food play, and interpersonal interaction as play, and everything in between. The possibilities are endless!
We all know we can use play as reinforcement for desired behaviors, and we can use it to have fun and build relationship and good feelings together, but did you know that we can also use play specifically as therapy, assisting us in our behavioral interventions and supporting our dogs through difficult times?
In this presentation I will outline the structure for using play as an intervention for behavioral issues, and the structural differences we use for when play is reward (in the ABC form), when play is used for classical conditioning, and for when play is therapeutic itself as in The Play Way. Come learn how these approaches differ so you can know when to use each, and we'll do a deep dive into what makes The Play Way different!
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Coming Soon!
This webinar previously ran as part of ZZ013- The Power of Play Conference. Please check your Course and Workshop Library to prevent a duplicate purchase.
* Click here to Register Now *
Sarah Owen - The Constructional Approach: An Introduction to Behavioral Engineering
Date: Thursday, October 1st
Time: 3pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time).
Fee: $19.95 USD
Your dog lunges at other dogs. Pulls toward people. Struggles with body handling. Falls apart in the ring. You know what you want to change – but how do you get from where you are now to where you want to go?
The constructional approach begins with an analysis of the dog's existing behavioral repertoire and then uses that starting point to build new behavior. Rather than focusing on reducing behavior, the constructional approach teaches you and your dog what *to do*.
This shift in perspective can lead to surprisingly simple and clever solutions. You may find yourself wondering, “Why didn't I think of that sooner?”
In this webinar, we'll explore the principles of behavioral engineering and, more importantly, how to put them to work in your training. We'll look at how existing behaviors can be shaped, combined, and transformed into new behavior, and how to maintain it.
Through real-world examples and research, we'll see how these solutions are developed and why a constructional approach can succeed where other strategies may have fallen short.
You'll leave with a practical framework for analyzing difficult training problems and concrete steps for deliberately constructing behaviors that serve both you and your dog. Most importantly, you'll learn how to think of solutions like these yourself, so you aren't dependent on someone else's formula for solving every new training dilemma.
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Coming Soon!
* Click here to Register Now *
Hélène Lawler - From Over-Arousal to Optimal Arousal: Dog Sports and the Nervous System
Date: Thursday, October 1st
Time: 6pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time).
Fee: $19.95 USD
After 20 years of training and competing in multiple dog sports, and over 7 years of being a full-time dog sport performance coach, I feel confident saying that over-arousal is the #1 challenge dog sport trainers face today. This is true both in training and competing. And, as dog sports become more popular, I’m seeing a growing trend towards more struggle, not less!
To make sense of why this is happening and to find the path to Optimal Arousal, we need to understand what is causing the over-arousal, and what to do about it.
In this webinar, we’ll cover:
- The science of over-arousal: What it is and why it happens in dog sports
- The 3 categories of triggers that send our dogs into over-arousal
- The 2 key insights you need to remember to get your dog back into Optimal Arousal
- The 1 most important skill YOU need to master to help your dog stay out of over-arousal
- The blueprint to go from Over-Arousal to Optimal Arousal
If you and/or your dog struggle with arousal issues in training or competition, this training is for you. Please join me!
Watch the Trailer
This is a previously run webinar. Please check your Webinar Library to prevent a duplicate purchase.
* Click here to Register Now *
Questions or Problems? Please send email to [email protected]
