Counterconditioning
Pivoting around an obstacle can help your dog learn to keep his rear end tucked.
Prerequisite
Your dog should be walking next to you relatively well in the training environment.
Tools
- Very high value treats (chicken, cheese, fish, beef, etc)
- Treat pouch
- A large training area with a blind in it
Training Environment
You’ll need to consider a few things when choosing your training area:
- Your dog’s threshold (how close your dog can be to the trigger before he/she becomes upset)
- Your ability to control the environment. Public areas may be difficult to control.
- The presence of a spot where the trigger can move out of sight.
Treating Your Dog
When you treat, you want to go rapid fire one treat right after the other. This is NOT a handful of treats all at once. It is one treat right after the next as fast as your dog can eat.
Steps
- Position your trigger behind the blind and your dog as far away as possible. Remember: your dog needs to be under threshold.
- With your treat pouch at the ready, ask your trigger to step into sight. (Hint: Use texts to communicate if you are far away)
- Immediately begin treating your dog. Keep treating.
- After about 30 seconds, have your trigger step back behind the blind.
- Immediately put the treats away.
- Repeat this several times.
- If your dog is focusing on you and seems unbothered by the trigger, move closer to the blind. It’s best to not move directly towards the trigger. Instead, zigzag around getting gradually closer. Move only a few feet closer at a time.
Homework
- If at any point you move too fast and your dog goes over threshold, end for the day.
- If your dog continues to focus on you, work for about 10 minutes and then quit for the day.
At the End of This Step
The goal is to equate chicken and the trigger. When your dog sees the trigger he/she should begin anticipating chicken.