Clean Run - July 2012 - 32

Don’t allow your dog’s over-arousal to send you into your own state of over-arousal! Remember to breathe, smile, and have fun.
dog cannot respond to your simple cues), move the dog further away and try again. As the over-aroused dog is learning selfcontrol, it might be wise to use food rewards at first to get the dog into the proper state of arousal for work. When using food, don’t simply hand the dog the treat; get him to chase you a bit for the treat since this increases his arousal for interaction with you. Toy play might be too arousing for some of these dogs, especially at the beginning of their training journey. When he has a solid understanding of self-control, use a toy to get him ready to train. Toy play is often the best choice for getting the dog into the proper zone for teamwork with the handler, and many highly aroused dogs focus best after a bit of tugging. However, with these dogs it is easy to tug non-stop, or use the tug toy as a babysitter or leash. I am against this nonstop tugging or babysitting because it is mindless arousal and does nothing to focus the dog on the handler. Also, the handler cannot assess the dog’s state of arousal or readiness if the dog has just been tugging non-stop. Remember to ask for behaviors in between tugging, and keep tug sessions short (a few seconds, not a few minutes). you want. Begin your training in a calm, distraction-free (“sterile”) environment. Then, as you see the dog’s understanding develop, begin to add distractions. A common error made by handlers is that training and practice is done almost exclusively in sterile environments, so the dog never learns the self-control needed for success in distracting environments. In fact, too many sterile training sessions can be a waste of time and effort, because they do nothing to progress the dog’s learning. The dog might fail sometimes when distractions are added, but failure is an important part of learning. If you have been working on self-control, failure is easy for the dog to tolerate and it can also build drive and focus since the dog will try again to find the correct answer. If the dog has no understanding of self-control, he is likely to get aroused and seek reinforcement elsewhere in the environment. has a good understanding of the necessary agility skills, which includes jump grids, contacts, weave poles, handling, and anything else you will need in the ring. These over-aroused dogs are likely to go to the high arousal zone anyway; so after you have taught them self-control skills, you need to start working on agility skills (and reinforcing the dog) while the dogs are aroused. In your warm-up, get the dog as high as possible, maybe even over-aroused—then present a training question and ask him to work. You should also now begin to incorporate the list of triggers that can bring out the arousal into your training. Too many handlers are worried about adding the arousal, or having the dogs fail. In classes, I like to try to recreate the energy of a trial for the aroused dogs. This includes noise, other dogs running around or tugging, people cheering, and more. The handlers are then tasked to work on simple skills at first, rewarding the dog for small successes. Then, we build the distractions and arousal well past anything the dog will see in a competition setting. Again, the dog gets heavily reinforced for small successes. Over time, this will build into big successes on complex behaviors, as well as a dog that is able to choose self-control or extreme arousal.

Train for Understanding
For the highly aroused dog to be successful in training and competition, he must both understand his job and then be able to do it in the face of highly arousing distractions. These dogs are likely to do things fast, but that doesn’t mean they actually understand what they are supposed to do! There are many techniques out there that can produce excellent results for jumping, contacts, handling, weaves, etc. Pick a method that you enjoy and believe in, then train the dog to understand what

Stay Calm and Enjoy The Training!
Finally, don’t allow your dog’s overarousal to send you into your own state of over-arousal! Remember to breathe, smile, and have fun. Keep your training sessions short and always assess your successes and failures before the next session. Embrace the fun of adding arousal and distractions to your training, and reward your dog as he learns to work with you, as your partner and teammate. D

Add the Arousal Into Your Training
Don’t avoid arousal in your training! Trying to keep the dog calm in training is generally not helpful once he

Tracy Sklenar is the training director at Leader of the Pack (www.lotp.com) in Smyrna, New York, and on the faculty of Agility University (www.agility-u.com). Tracy specializes in positive,motivationaltechniquesforalldogs.CompetingthroughoutNorthAmericaandinEurope,bothwithherowndogsandasacoach,shehashadmultipleplacementsandwins at Regional and National events, as well as medals at international events with teams she has managed/coached. Tracy shares her life with six dogs: Pierce and Samson (Dalmatians), Rebound (Rat Terrier), Export (BC/JRT mix), Matrix (BC/SBT mix), and Crusher (Papillon). Contact her at agilitydals@yahoo.com. Contact her at agilitydals@yahoo.com. 32 Clean Run | July 12

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Clean Run - July 2012

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