A Class Success!

Hello World,
I'm back with La Bamba to share more adventures! As one of the most loyal and helpful dogs, he's assisting me, whether it's helping in classes with reactive dogs like he did last night, or relaxing at my feet to keep me company like he's doing now. I'd like to share what we did last night in the hopes that it will encourage someone, and give new training ideas.

Let me give you a good picture of the class first. The class room is a small room with stools along the walls. There were three dogs last night. Leela - Border Collie mix who barks and lunges at the end of her leash. Ellie - Weimaraner who is working on focus. Lucy - Yorkie who is terrified of dogs, especially big ones.

I took Rusty to work with me, forgetting which class I was having. It was Rusty's first night back, and he had a stuffed bone to chew on, so I consider leaving him in the kennels during class. However, I decided to just try bringing him in. Before he broke his foot, he came to work with me as my demo dog on a regular basis. He was always a bit whiny and made it harder to teach. But he could also be very helpful. He would wait in his room until I needed to show my students how to do a behavior, and return there when he was done. I was slowly getting him use to the idea of me working and treating other dogs. That's certainly not his favorite part!

With a room full of dogs with different issues, I'm not sure what made me certain that bringing him into the room would be a good idea. A 6th sense? Whatever the case, Rusty joined me in class. Right away, Leela started barking, Ellie started to fixate, and Lucy was under the chair. I've been working with my students on "leave it" and the power of a positive interrupter. I immediately started reminding them of what they already knew, and they set to work.

Through all this Rusty was being a perfect gentleman. He had a gentle leader on, which I think calms him because of the pressure points on the nose. He's always a bit more relaxed when it's on. I had him in front of me, his back to the students. I kept rewarding with small bits as he stayed focused on me and quiet! I hardly had to pay attention to him, he maintained the position perfectly.

My goal was to keep the situation as calm as possible, giving these dogs every chance to succeed. With Rusty turned away and laying down, there was nothing threatening about him. The dogs began to relax and pay attention. I calmly had Rusty scoot backwards while in a down. (Those freestyling moves come in handy!!!) It caused them to react a bit, but everyone regained their composure quickly.

 At this point, Lucy started coming within a foot of Rusty from behind. She has not approached a dog in the many many weeks I have worked with this team. They previously went through this same class, so I have worked with them at least 8-10 weeks. Rusty was wonderful, not turning and looking at her. I was making sure that he focused only on me, not making eye contact with any of the dogs.

The dogs were doing wonderfully, working on loose leashes, and redirecting well to their owners when they got distracted by Rusty. I kept talking to them, watching their body posture and tones to make sure they were relaxed. With this intensity of work, the last thing you should do is just listen to the answers your students give you. You must evaluate them, because the dog will be evaluating them by posture and tone. These observations are more likely true than brave words.

I began to move Rusty in small movements at the front of the room, and was pleasantly surprised by the level of focus maintained. The key to success is not to change anything too quickly. So we started with just having Rusty standing, then moving a few steps and standing some more. By the time we gradually made this transition, Rusty and I could walk across the front of the room with everyone maintaining good, focused behavior.

Moving slowly around my students, I continued to have Rusty back up wherever he went. This kept his eyes on me, and I could move him any which way I liked side to side. Whenever I saw any tension, all I had to do was tell Rusty to rotate towards one side or the other to provide more space. By moving around slowly, and creating more space I was able to give each dog breaks from the intense training by moving on towards the next dog. It was my goal to not push any dog too far or too long. Don't push them to breaking point.

Now for successes! I was able to back Rusty up towards Lucy who was sitting on her owner's lap. Lucy, of her own accord got up and sniffed Rusty! What a good girl! Wonderful break through for her. Leela was able to stand within reach of Rusty, on a loose leash while focusing completely on her owner. Ellie was able to focus on her owner within reach of Rusty, and quit doing the yo - yo effect on the leash!

All this took was
1. keeping Rusty completely engaged on me so he didn't look at the other dogs.
2. moving him backwards in the least threatening manner.
3. working up from the least exciting behavior (down) to higher intensity behaviors (moving among the students)
4. watching both dog and student language to make sure that no one is being pushed too far too fast.
5. Using lots of reassuring, calm speech as well as praising the students for their work as you see the little victories. ("there, now she's relaxing!" - Leela the instant I saw her body relax and she gave more attention. "She's checking him out! Way to go" - Lucy when she was looking more inquisitively with a forward body posture. "That's it, that was a quicker response and turn around" - Ellie turning quickly to listen to the positive interrupter rather than hitting the end of her lead.) (praising the students for their timing and calm verbal.)
6.Always encourage the owner, and help them see the victories!

 I was very happy with the progress we made, and Rusty was such a star for me! What set Rusty up for success? Lots of exercise before we went, calm rewards, and my relaxed posture and voice. We went to the river and played for a while before class, and exercise takes the edge off of reactive dogs. I couldn't have asked him to do any better!

The biggest thing that made this a success - and something to always remember.

Work with the dogs and students, not against them.