Ever wondered how your canine companion can become the confident pooch you always knew they were? Unlock the secrets to your dog's self-assurance with our step-by-step guide through the world of pattern recognition and positive reinforcement. This episode delves into the art of using classical conditioning and clicker markers to not only train your pup but also to tackle their fears head-on. Discover the transformative power of creating predictable, positive experiences, and watch as your furry friend learns to navigate the world with a new-found confidence.
Transform playtime into a confidence course with our Frisbee pattern game, designed to reinforce positive associations and gradually introduce your dog to anxiety-inducing scenarios. Learn how this simple game, paired with high-value treats, can become a cornerstone in helping your dog overcome their deepest fears, from stranger anxiety to vet visit phobias. As we guide you through the game, you'll see how consistency and repetition can make all the difference, turning a skittish pup into a self-assured companion ready to take on any challenge. Join us on this journey, and let's help our dogs leap towards a happier, more secure life.
If you need professional help please visit my Dog Behaviorist website.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dogs are masters at figuring out patterns,
especially when it comes to ushumans, because they've evolved
with us for 50, 60,000 years.
They've been traveling aroundthe globe with us and they
understand our body language,they understand our facial
(00:20):
gestures and they justunderstand patterns.
You know, one of the ways thatdogs make sense out of the world
.
One of the ways that they learnis by association.
In some respects, the way dogslearn everything is a very black
and white cause and effectassociation.
(00:42):
Now, when it comes to dogs withfears, one of the best things
that we can do for dogs that areafraid are to create patterns,
creating positive patterns,creating positive patterns where
they can predict what's gonnahappen and at the end of that
(01:07):
pattern, it's gonna be somethingfantastic.
If you've got a dog that hassome confidence issues or maybe
is full blown fearful, you wannacheck out this episode of dog
training today?
Don't go anywhere.
We're gonna be back in 60seconds.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Raised by wolves with canine DNA and his blood.
Having trained more than 24,000vets, helping you and your fur
babies thrive, live in studiowith Will Bangura answering your
pet behavior and trainingquestions.
Ladies and gentlemen, pleasewelcome your host and favorite
pet behavior expert, WillBangura.
(01:50):
Oh my.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
God, oh my God, would you like to go on?
Wookiees, beeps.
Good day, dog lovers.
I'm Will Bangura.
Thanks for joining me foranother episode of Dog Training
Today.
Hey, if you are not subscribedto the podcast, the audio
(02:15):
podcast, dog Training Today,what are you waiting for?
We've got some incrediblethings that we're gonna be doing
in 2024.
You wanna make sure that younever miss an episode of Dog
Training Today?
So, wherever you listen to yourpodcast, wherever you get your
podcast, whether that's ApplePodcast, whether that's Spotify,
(02:35):
do me a favor, go up there,make sure you're listening to us
at Dog Training Today.
But not only that.
Make sure that you subscribe.
So hit that subscribe button.
And also, while you're doingthat, hey, if you love what we
do here at Dog Training Today,do us a favor.
The best way that you can thankus is to give us a five-star
(02:57):
review and share.
Share this podcast with yourfriends, with your family.
All right, as I was saying inthe opener, one of the ways that
dogs learn, one of the waysthat they think, one of the ways
they process information, is bybeing experts at seeing
(03:21):
patterns.
Dogs learn by association, orwhat you might call classical
conditioning or classicallearning, or associative
learning and that type oflearning, the way dogs learn.
Everything is extremely blackand white, where there's a very
(03:46):
black and white cause and effectassociation.
So when we talk about clickertraining or we talk about marker
training, when we talk aboutusing clickers or using markers
in training, the first thingthat we needed to do was to
condition the marker orcondition the clicker, because
(04:10):
initially the clicker meansnothing, a marker means nothing.
But when we associate thatclicker with high value food
rewards, we give a click andimmediately follow that with a
treat, and then give anotherclick and immediately follow
that with another treat, only togive another click and
(04:30):
immediately follow that withanother treat, and do that
repetitiously, over and overpairing and creating the
association that that clickmeans a treat is coming.
Once we've got that conditioned, once the dog has been
(04:50):
classically conditioned, oncethere has been that associative
learning, that click means treat.
Now we can use that clicker tomark behaviors right.
Those of you that have beenfollowing this podcast and know
what marker training is knowwhat clicker training is.
And by the way, if you're notusing markers in training, if
(05:15):
you don't know what a markertraining system is, you and your
dog are missing out.
Do yourself a favor learn aboutmarker training, whether you
use a clicker a clicker is justone kind of marker but learn
about marker training and learnabout using markers and training
.
You can go to my website andlearn more about marker training
(05:35):
by going to dogbehavioristcom.
Again, that's dogbehavioristcom.
Go to the menu and look forwhere it says articles.
Click on articles and you canscroll through.
There's probably about 85different articles, All kinds of
great free dog training, dogbehavior articles that are up
(06:02):
there for you.
I don't care what kind ofproblem it is, it's probably up
there.
So check out dogbehavioristcomand you can find the article on
clicker training, which is alsomarker training.
Again, clicker is just one typeof marker, but learn about it.
Also, if you are listening tothe Dog Training Today podcast,
(06:24):
how about you check out episode80?
Episode 80 of the Dog TrainingToday podcast is all about
markers, using markers, markersin training, how to condition a
marker or a clicker, or how touse clickers in training.
Check that out, you will notregret that.
Now, just like with markertraining, just like with
(06:49):
conditioning a clicker, justlike with a dog, learning that
click means treat, because oneof the things that they are like
hardwired to do is to see thepatterns in the world and to
understand things that are veryblack and white cause and effect
associations.
Now, I said earlier, if you'vegot a dog that maybe isn't too
(07:18):
confident, maybe you have a dogor a puppy that needs more
confidence building.
Maybe they're a little bitnervous or fearful or skittish,
maybe they're just full blownafraid of everything.
One of the things that everyanimal I don't care if it's a
(07:38):
dog, I don't care if it's ahuman, any animal that is
experiencing fear, anxiety oneof the things that helps them
the most is to be able topredict what's going to happen
in the future.
Think about it, think about it,think about if you've got a dog
(08:00):
, you've got anxiety, if you'vegot fear.
How different would it be ifyou were able to predict what
was going to happen in thefuture.
Being able to predict what'sgoing to happen, that's half of
(08:21):
the fear, fear of the unknown,right.
And it's no different for ourfurry friends not to be
anthropomorphizing, but theyexperience fear like we
experience fear, and dogs lovestructure, they love routine,
(08:41):
they love patterns, they lovebeing able to predict what's
gonna happen next.
And if there's any area wherethat becomes extremely important
, it's when we're dealing withdogs that don't have confidence,
when we're dealing with dogsthat are nervous and fearful and
(09:02):
skittish and anxious andstressed.
So one of the things that Iwanna teach you today is a
pattern game, and I don't knowthat I have it 100% correct, but
I know it works because I do it.
Anyway, I gotta give creditwhere credit is due, and I
learned this from LeslieMcDovitt, and she's known for
(09:26):
her pattern games, and I watchedher demonstrate this pattern
game and she had mentioned howthis can really help dogs that
are fearful, that are anxiousdogs that really don't have a
(09:48):
lot of confidence, and this isan exercise that you can use,
that can help build confidence.
This is an exercise that youcan use as a way, and there's
many different ways, but this isone of many ways you can begin
(10:10):
to counter, condition anddesensitize your dog to some
fears.
Now the first thing that we needto do is we need to get like,
let's just say we need fourFrisbees.
Okay, I like to get differentcolor Frisbees, four of them.
All right, you know the kind ofthe plastic kind.
(10:32):
You're typical plastic Frisbee.
You don't need to spend a bunchof money on this, just get four
of them different color.
Now what I want you to do is Iwant you to turn those Frisbees
upside down on the ground, okay?
So if we were to say, hey, ifwe turn a Frisbee upside down,
it makes this extremely shallowbowl.
(10:54):
You know what I'm talking about, right?
So turn the Frisbees upsidedown.
And I want you to create astraight line with these
Frisbees, these four Frisbees onthe ground.
So the first thing you're gonnado is you're gonna set the
first Frisbee upside down on theground, then take a step or two
(11:15):
forward and in that same line,but ahead of that first Frisbee
that you set down on the floor,a step or two behind, you're
gonna take that second Frisbee,again, setting it down on the
floor upside down, and it'slined up with the Frisbee behind
it, the first one.
(11:35):
Then you're gonna take a stepor two forward again and you're
gonna take your third Frisbeeand you're gonna set it upside
down on the ground, lined upwith the two Frisbees behind it.
All right, so now we've gotthree Frisbees all in a line,
(11:56):
all upside down.
Now we're gonna take one or twosteps forward again and we're
gonna take that last Frisbee andwe're gonna set it on the
ground upside down.
Now we've got four Frisbees alllined up in a line.
Each Frisbee is about a step ortwo apart as far as distance
(12:19):
goes.
All right, what we're going todo is we're gonna create a game
that's very, very simple andthat's a game of having the dog
take a treat out of the firstFrisbee and then go to the
second Frisbee and take a treatout of the second Frisbee, only
(12:41):
to go to the third Frisbee, takea treat out of that third
Frisbee and then go to thefourth Frisbee, take a treat out
of that one and then turnaround and head back the other
way doing the exact same thing.
So if we were to number theFrisbees remember our first one
we set down let's number thatone.
(13:01):
Then we took a step or twoforward, set down the second
Frisbee we'll call that numbertwo.
Then we went a step or twoforward, set down the third
Frisbee we'll label that.
Number three.
And we took a step or twoforward from that one and set
down the fourth Frisbee upsidedown.
We'll label that.
Number four.
All right, let's go back toFrisbee number one.
(13:23):
We're standing at Frisbeenumber one.
We've got a treat pouch.
We've got high value foodrewards, like cut up pieces of
chicken, but they should besmall.
But yummy, yummy, Small.
What do I mean by small?
About the size of a pea?
All right, what you're gonna dois you're just going to Take a
treat out of your treat pouch.
(13:44):
You're going to set it down inthe Frisbee and point to your
dog to let your dog know hey,there's a treat here.
When your dog eats that treat,you're going to walk up to the
second Frisbee and place a treatin the second Frisbee and if
you need to help the dog pointto it so that the dog knows
there's a treat, it's that one.
(14:05):
When your dog eats the secondone, you got it.
We're going to that thirdFrisbee.
We're going to put a treat inthat third Frisbee.
The dog eats it.
We go to Frisbee number four.
We put a treat in Frisbeenumber four.
The dog eats it.
Now we go to Frisbee numberthree.
Drop a treat in it.
Technique the dog eats it.
We go to Frisbee number two.
(14:26):
Drop a treat in it.
The dog eats it.
We go to Frisbee number one.
We drop a treat in it, the dogeats that.
And we go to Frisbee number twoPut a treat in that Frisbee dog
eats it.
Go to Frisbee number three puta treat in that one, the dog
eats it.
Then we go to Frisbee numberfour.
Put a treat in that one, thedog eats it.
(14:48):
You get the idea.
So we're moving back and forth,back and forth, through these
Frisbees One, two, three, four,three.
Two, one, two, three, four,three, two, one back and forth.
And as we get to each Frisbeewe put a treat in the Frisbee
(15:09):
and the dog eats it.
So the dog learns that this isa wonderful Frisbee pattern game
.
That's right.
There are Frisbees that arelined up and we go from one
Frisbee to the next and then tothe next Frisbee and then to the
next Frisbee and then to thenext Frisbee, and each step of
(15:31):
the way wonderful things arehappening.
I'm getting this yummy chickenon each Frisbee.
I love moving back and forthwith these Frisbees.
Now I'm going to do that with adog that needs confidence
building.
I'm going to do that with a dogthat might be skittish or a
(15:54):
little fearful and I'm going toplay that pattern game in places
where the dog has no fear, andall I'm going to do is now this
is the key if you've got afearful dog, you've got to
practice this first, where thereare zero fears, and all you're
doing is teaching this game.
(16:15):
Hey, when the Frisbees come out, we go from one Frisbee, take a
treat, go to the next Frisbee,eat a treat.
We go to the next Frisbee, eata treat, go to the next Frisbee,
eat a treat, and then we do itall over again.
And you want to practice thisrepetitiously.
Okay, so let's say we've got thefour Frisbees right.
(16:35):
So I might go ahead and dothree passes, right?
I might go Frisbee one, then goto two to three to four that's
my one pass.
Then I go to three to two toFrisbee one that's my second
pass to Frisbee two to Frisbeethree to Frisbee four that's my
(16:58):
third pass.
So I've gone back and forththree times through those
Frisbees, each time stopping ateach Frisbee, and the dog's
eating a treat.
And we want to do that all overthe place, but it's got to be
places where the dog has nofears.
(17:20):
So if you have places in thehouse where your dog does not
have any fear, then make surethat you're doing that in all of
those areas.
If there are places outsidethat your dog doesn't have fears
, then do it outside, but you'vegot to do this where there are
no fears.
(17:41):
Okay, and I need you to do aminimum of three passes.
So you're going Frisbee one,two, three, four.
Frisbee three, two, one.
Frisbee two, three, four Eachtime you're putting a treat
there, and I need you to do thatthree times a day.
(18:01):
Make sure that there's at leasta half an hour to an hour time
between training sessions.
When you're doing this threetimes a day, it literally takes
about two minutes or less eachtime you do it.
So if you're doing this threetimes a day and I'm telling you
two minutes would be a long,long time, okay, but even if it
(18:25):
took two minutes, we're talkinga total of six minutes a day and
I want you to do that everysingle day and I want you to do
that for several weeks, severalweeks, and this should be the
highlight.
This should be the highlight ofyour dog's day.
Nothing should be more fun thanplaying the Frisbee pattern
(18:49):
game.
Now, once your dog loves doingthis and you're doing it all
over the place and your dog isconditioned.
Your dog understands exactly.
Oh man, I know exactly whathappens when the Frisbees are
out.
I can predict what's going tohappen.
We're going to go in a veryspecific direction and each step
of the way, wonderful thingsare going to happen.
(19:11):
I'm going to get a yummy, yummy, yummy treat T one I love trước
Tim'sère's show Ro deadline.
I actually do it to the nextwork a couple of weeks ago.
You know, if an dog is probablynot performing highs up or lows
up and I get food seasoning,it's when my dog's having too
much of a reforms table.
If there's a draft or a prefeedfeedback, I'll talk to you about
general therapy or ש slee.
That now can be something thatwe can use.
That now can be something verypowerful.
(19:32):
Remember, when I started thingsout, I said one of the things
that dogs, one of the things anyanimal that has fears, needs
more than anything to help themnot be so afraid, is to be able
to know what's going to happen.
If you can predict what's goingto happen, that diffuses most
(19:53):
of the fear right there.
So if I have a dog that hasthis wonderfully conditioned
pattern game with these frisbeesthat are easy to carry around
and easy to do.
I can begin to move this dogaround in areas where it might
(20:19):
not be so confident and I canmitigate a lot of that fear.
I can take something positivethat the dog has experienced
over and over again.
I can take this pattern thatthe dog has experienced over and
over again and has beenconditioned to predict good
(20:42):
things are going to happen, andI can bring that into
environments where otherwise thedog would be extremely fearful
to go into.
Now, granted, I'm not going tobe flooding the dog.
If those of you don't know whatflooding is, listen.
If the dog's afraid, let's sayto be around strange dogs.
(21:06):
I don't go to a dog park andtake that dog and toss the dog
in the middle of that dog parkaround 30 dogs and have 30 dogs
surrounding it.
That's what we would callflooding in psychology and
that's torture, that's emotionaltorture to do that.
(21:26):
But let's say that same dogthat's afraid of strange dogs.
Maybe there's a distance thatthat dog can be far enough away
from a strange dog where it cansee it, but it's far enough away
where you know what.
(21:47):
It really doesn't care becauseit's so far away.
Yeah, I see that strange dog.
But I don't care, it's farenough away, I just don't care.
But then if you get within acertain distance, ok, now the
anxiety starts and then it getseven more severe and then it's
full blown and then, boom, thedog goes into fight or flight.
(22:13):
And we want to begin the processof bringing this dog around
things that it's nervous about.
And granted, we're going tostart at a distance that's safe
for the dog.
We're not going to throw thedog right into it.
(22:33):
We'd be setting the dog up forfailure if we did that, and that
says more about the persondoing the training and their
lack of understanding than itdoes about the dog's ability to
be confident and handle thosetriggers.
So we want to set the dog upfor success by making sure that
(22:56):
we're not flooding the dog, thatwhen we're exposing the dog to
situations and places and thingsthat the dog is nervous about,
things are scary, whether it be,hey, I'm nervous about strange
people or I'm nervous aboutstrange dogs, I can, at a
(23:17):
distance, start to play thatFrisbee pattern game and I can
start to, very slowly, verygradually, inch my way closer
and closer to that trigger thatI'm working on, whether it be
again, I used a couple examples.
Whether it be a dog that'safraid of strange dogs or a dog
(23:39):
that's afraid of strange people,that pattern game can be a way
to very gradually, verysystematically, move the dog
closer and closer to the triggerand do so in a way that right
from the start it's positive.
(24:01):
Right from the start it'ssomething that is familiar,
because the pattern game isfamiliar for the dog.
Right from the start it'ssomething that the dog can
predict and right from the startit's something that the dog
knows and can predict and isfamiliar and is positive.
It's got that positiveassociation.
(24:22):
So I thought, when I saw thisbeing done, boom, that light
bulb went on.
I'm like man, this is so simple, this is so easy, it's so black
and white and can be sobeneficial to be able to start
(24:42):
moving a dog around and alsogiving them something else to do
so they're not just hyperfocused on the trigger.
When we're doing classicalcounter conditioning and we're
doing classical exposure therapy, we are exposing dogs to their
triggers and doing counterconditioning where we're, say,
(25:05):
pairing high value food rewardsat the exact moment they're
seeing the trigger that has beenscary for them.
Now, granted, we're doing it ata distance where the dog.
Yeah, I see it, but I reallydon't care.
We are creating a pattern there.
We're creating a pattern ofpositivity and associating that
(25:30):
with the trigger.
But when we start that process,there's no predictability,
there's no being familiar withsomething and there's no.
Hey, I know this is going to bepositive.
But when you have conditionedthis pattern game ahead of time
(25:55):
and created this pattern ofpositivity that is predictable,
that is familiar, that'spositive, that you can take with
you anywhere, imagine thatyou've got a dog that's afraid
to go to the vet's office.
Imagine working that patterngame outside in the parking lot
(26:23):
and little by little, using thatpattern game to get your dog
closer and closer to the frontdoor of the vet's office and
then eventually using thatpattern game to get your dog to
take a step inside, only to takethree steps back out.
Okay, so we only got oneFrisbee inside the vet's office,
three are outside and we'regoing back and forth, making it
(26:46):
easy for the dog.
Then eventually we've got twoFrisbees inside and two outside
and eventually three Frisbeesinside and one outside and
little by little, gradually,systematically, we can move this
dog that's afraid of the vet'soffice all around in that vet's
office.
It's a tool, it's a technique.
(27:11):
It doesn't take rocket scienceto do it, but it can be
extremely, extremely powerful.
So if you've got a dog that'sgot some anxiety, some stress,
some fear, some phobias, needsome confidence.
Building is a little bitskittish.
Hey, try that Frisbee patterngame and create something really
(27:36):
positive and wonderful for yourdog and then bring that into
situations where your dog's alittle unsure and before long
you've got a confident dog.
Give that a shot.
I'm out of here.
Dogs are masters at figuring out patterns,
especially when it comes to ushumans, because they've evolved
with us for 50, 60,000 years.
They've been traveling aroundthe globe with us and they
understand our body language,they understand our facial
(00:20):
gestures and they justunderstand patterns.
You know, one of the ways thatdogs make sense out of the world
.
One of the ways that they learnis by association.
In some respects, the way dogslearn everything is a very black
and white cause and effectassociation.
(00:42):
Now, when it comes to dogs withfears, one of the best things
that we can do for dogs that areafraid are to create patterns,
creating positive patterns,creating positive patterns where
they can predict what's gonnahappen and at the end of that
(01:07):
pattern, it's gonna be somethingfantastic.
If you've got a dog that hassome confidence issues or maybe
is full blown fearful, you wannacheck out this episode of dog
training today?
Don't go anywhere.
We're gonna be back in 60seconds.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Raised by wolves with canine DNA and his blood.
Having trained more than 24,000vets, helping you and your fur
babies thrive, live in studiowith Will Bangura answering your
pet behavior and trainingquestions.
Ladies and gentlemen, pleasewelcome your host and favorite
pet behavior expert, WillBangura.
(01:50):
Oh my.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
God, oh my God, would you like to go on?
Wookiees, beeps.
Good day, dog lovers.
I'm Will Bangura.
Thanks for joining me foranother episode of Dog Training
Today.
Hey, if you are not subscribedto the podcast, the audio
(02:15):
podcast, dog Training Today,what are you waiting for?
We've got some incrediblethings that we're gonna be doing
in 2024.
You wanna make sure that younever miss an episode of Dog
Training Today?
So, wherever you listen to yourpodcast, wherever you get your
podcast, whether that's ApplePodcast, whether that's Spotify,
(02:35):
do me a favor, go up there,make sure you're listening to us
at Dog Training Today.
But not only that.
Make sure that you subscribe.
So hit that subscribe button.
And also, while you're doingthat, hey, if you love what we
do here at Dog Training Today,do us a favor.
The best way that you can thankus is to give us a five-star
(02:57):
review and share.
Share this podcast with yourfriends, with your family.
All right, as I was saying inthe opener, one of the ways that
dogs learn, one of the waysthat they think, one of the ways
they process information, is bybeing experts at seeing
(03:21):
patterns.
Dogs learn by association, orwhat you might call classical
conditioning or classicallearning, or associative
learning and that type oflearning, the way dogs learn.
Everything is extremely blackand white, where there's a very
(03:46):
black and white cause and effectassociation.
So when we talk about clickertraining or we talk about marker
training, when we talk aboutusing clickers or using markers
in training, the first thingthat we needed to do was to
condition the marker orcondition the clicker, because
(04:10):
initially the clicker meansnothing, a marker means nothing.
But when we associate thatclicker with high value food
rewards, we give a click andimmediately follow that with a
treat, and then give anotherclick and immediately follow
that with another treat, only togive another click and
(04:30):
immediately follow that withanother treat, and do that
repetitiously, over and overpairing and creating the
association that that clickmeans a treat is coming.
Once we've got that conditioned, once the dog has been
(04:50):
classically conditioned, oncethere has been that associative
learning, that click means treat.
Now we can use that clicker tomark behaviors right.
Those of you that have beenfollowing this podcast and know
what marker training is knowwhat clicker training is.
And by the way, if you're notusing markers in training, if
(05:15):
you don't know what a markertraining system is, you and your
dog are missing out.
Do yourself a favor learn aboutmarker training, whether you
use a clicker a clicker is justone kind of marker but learn
about marker training and learnabout using markers and training
.
You can go to my website andlearn more about marker training
(05:35):
by going to dogbehavioristcom.
Again, that's dogbehavioristcom.
Go to the menu and look forwhere it says articles.
Click on articles and you canscroll through.
There's probably about 85different articles, All kinds of
great free dog training, dogbehavior articles that are up
(06:02):
there for you.
I don't care what kind ofproblem it is, it's probably up
there.
So check out dogbehavioristcomand you can find the article on
clicker training, which is alsomarker training.
Again, clicker is just one typeof marker, but learn about it.
Also, if you are listening tothe Dog Training Today podcast,
(06:24):
how about you check out episode80?
Episode 80 of the Dog TrainingToday podcast is all about
markers, using markers, markersin training, how to condition a
marker or a clicker, or how touse clickers in training.
Check that out, you will notregret that.
Now, just like with markertraining, just like with
(06:49):
conditioning a clicker, justlike with a dog, learning that
click means treat, because oneof the things that they are like
hardwired to do is to see thepatterns in the world and to
understand things that are veryblack and white cause and effect
associations.
Now, I said earlier, if you'vegot a dog that maybe isn't too
(07:18):
confident, maybe you have a dogor a puppy that needs more
confidence building.
Maybe they're a little bitnervous or fearful or skittish,
maybe they're just full blownafraid of everything.
One of the things that everyanimal I don't care if it's a
(07:38):
dog, I don't care if it's ahuman, any animal that is
experiencing fear, anxiety oneof the things that helps them
the most is to be able topredict what's going to happen
in the future.
Think about it, think about it,think about if you've got a dog
(08:00):
, you've got anxiety, if you'vegot fear.
How different would it be ifyou were able to predict what
was going to happen in thefuture.
Being able to predict what'sgoing to happen, that's half of
(08:21):
the fear, fear of the unknown,right.
And it's no different for ourfurry friends not to be
anthropomorphizing, but theyexperience fear like we
experience fear, and dogs lovestructure, they love routine,
(08:41):
they love patterns, they lovebeing able to predict what's
gonna happen next.
And if there's any area wherethat becomes extremely important
, it's when we're dealing withdogs that don't have confidence,
when we're dealing with dogsthat are nervous and fearful and
(09:02):
skittish and anxious andstressed.
So one of the things that Iwanna teach you today is a
pattern game, and I don't knowthat I have it 100% correct, but
I know it works because I do it.
Anyway, I gotta give creditwhere credit is due, and I
learned this from LeslieMcDovitt, and she's known for
(09:26):
her pattern games, and I watchedher demonstrate this pattern
game and she had mentioned howthis can really help dogs that
are fearful, that are anxiousdogs that really don't have a
(09:48):
lot of confidence, and this isan exercise that you can use,
that can help build confidence.
This is an exercise that youcan use as a way, and there's
many different ways, but this isone of many ways you can begin
(10:10):
to counter, condition anddesensitize your dog to some
fears.
Now the first thing that we needto do is we need to get like,
let's just say we need fourFrisbees.
Okay, I like to get differentcolor Frisbees, four of them.
All right, you know the kind ofthe plastic kind.
(10:32):
You're typical plastic Frisbee.
You don't need to spend a bunchof money on this, just get four
of them different color.
Now what I want you to do is Iwant you to turn those Frisbees
upside down on the ground, okay?
So if we were to say, hey, ifwe turn a Frisbee upside down,
it makes this extremely shallowbowl.
(10:54):
You know what I'm talking about, right?
So turn the Frisbees upsidedown.
And I want you to create astraight line with these
Frisbees, these four Frisbees onthe ground.
So the first thing you're gonnado is you're gonna set the
first Frisbee upside down on theground, then take a step or two
(11:15):
forward and in that same line,but ahead of that first Frisbee
that you set down on the floor,a step or two behind, you're
gonna take that second Frisbee,again, setting it down on the
floor upside down, and it'slined up with the Frisbee behind
it, the first one.
(11:35):
Then you're gonna take a stepor two forward again and you're
gonna take your third Frisbeeand you're gonna set it upside
down on the ground, lined upwith the two Frisbees behind it.
All right, so now we've gotthree Frisbees all in a line,
(11:56):
all upside down.
Now we're gonna take one or twosteps forward again and we're
gonna take that last Frisbee andwe're gonna set it on the
ground upside down.
Now we've got four Frisbees alllined up in a line.
Each Frisbee is about a step ortwo apart as far as distance
(12:19):
goes.
All right, what we're going todo is we're gonna create a game
that's very, very simple andthat's a game of having the dog
take a treat out of the firstFrisbee and then go to the
second Frisbee and take a treatout of the second Frisbee, only
(12:41):
to go to the third Frisbee, takea treat out of that third
Frisbee and then go to thefourth Frisbee, take a treat out
of that one and then turnaround and head back the other
way doing the exact same thing.
So if we were to number theFrisbees remember our first one
we set down let's number thatone.
(13:01):
Then we took a step or twoforward, set down the second
Frisbee we'll call that numbertwo.
Then we went a step or twoforward, set down the third
Frisbee we'll label that.
Number three.
And we took a step or twoforward from that one and set
down the fourth Frisbee upsidedown.
We'll label that.
Number four.
All right, let's go back toFrisbee number one.
(13:23):
We're standing at Frisbeenumber one.
We've got a treat pouch.
We've got high value foodrewards, like cut up pieces of
chicken, but they should besmall.
But yummy, yummy, Small.
What do I mean by small?
About the size of a pea?
All right, what you're gonna dois you're just going to Take a
treat out of your treat pouch.
(13:44):
You're going to set it down inthe Frisbee and point to your
dog to let your dog know hey,there's a treat here.
When your dog eats that treat,you're going to walk up to the
second Frisbee and place a treatin the second Frisbee and if
you need to help the dog pointto it so that the dog knows
there's a treat, it's that one.
(14:05):
When your dog eats the secondone, you got it.
We're going to that thirdFrisbee.
We're going to put a treat inthat third Frisbee.
The dog eats it.
We go to Frisbee number four.
We put a treat in Frisbeenumber four.
The dog eats it.
Now we go to Frisbee numberthree.
Drop a treat in it.
Technique the dog eats it.
We go to Frisbee number two.
(14:26):
Drop a treat in it.
The dog eats it.
We go to Frisbee number one.
We drop a treat in it, the dogeats that.
And we go to Frisbee number twoPut a treat in that Frisbee dog
eats it.
Go to Frisbee number three puta treat in that one, the dog
eats it.
Then we go to Frisbee numberfour.
Put a treat in that one, thedog eats it.
(14:48):
You get the idea.
So we're moving back and forth,back and forth, through these
Frisbees One, two, three, four,three.
Two, one, two, three, four,three, two, one back and forth.
And as we get to each Frisbeewe put a treat in the Frisbee
(15:09):
and the dog eats it.
So the dog learns that this isa wonderful Frisbee pattern game
.
That's right.
There are Frisbees that arelined up and we go from one
Frisbee to the next and then tothe next Frisbee and then to the
next Frisbee and then to thenext Frisbee, and each step of
(15:31):
the way wonderful things arehappening.
I'm getting this yummy chickenon each Frisbee.
I love moving back and forthwith these Frisbees.
Now I'm going to do that with adog that needs confidence
building.
I'm going to do that with a dogthat might be skittish or a
(15:54):
little fearful and I'm going toplay that pattern game in places
where the dog has no fear, andall I'm going to do is now this
is the key if you've got afearful dog, you've got to
practice this first, where thereare zero fears, and all you're
doing is teaching this game.
(16:15):
Hey, when the Frisbees come out, we go from one Frisbee, take a
treat, go to the next Frisbee,eat a treat.
We go to the next Frisbee, eata treat, go to the next Frisbee,
eat a treat, and then we do itall over again.
And you want to practice thisrepetitiously.
Okay, so let's say we've got thefour Frisbees right.
(16:35):
So I might go ahead and dothree passes, right?
I might go Frisbee one, then goto two to three to four that's
my one pass.
Then I go to three to two toFrisbee one that's my second
pass to Frisbee two to Frisbeethree to Frisbee four that's my
(16:58):
third pass.
So I've gone back and forththree times through those
Frisbees, each time stopping ateach Frisbee, and the dog's
eating a treat.
And we want to do that all overthe place, but it's got to be
places where the dog has nofears.
(17:20):
So if you have places in thehouse where your dog does not
have any fear, then make surethat you're doing that in all of
those areas.
If there are places outsidethat your dog doesn't have fears
, then do it outside, but you'vegot to do this where there are
no fears.
(17:41):
Okay, and I need you to do aminimum of three passes.
So you're going Frisbee one,two, three, four.
Frisbee three, two, one.
Frisbee two, three, four Eachtime you're putting a treat
there, and I need you to do thatthree times a day.
(18:01):
Make sure that there's at leasta half an hour to an hour time
between training sessions.
When you're doing this threetimes a day, it literally takes
about two minutes or less eachtime you do it.
So if you're doing this threetimes a day and I'm telling you
two minutes would be a long,long time, okay, but even if it
(18:25):
took two minutes, we're talkinga total of six minutes a day and
I want you to do that everysingle day and I want you to do
that for several weeks, severalweeks, and this should be the
highlight.
This should be the highlight ofyour dog's day.
Nothing should be more fun thanplaying the Frisbee pattern
(18:49):
game.
Now, once your dog loves doingthis and you're doing it all
over the place and your dog isconditioned.
Your dog understands exactly.
Oh man, I know exactly whathappens when the Frisbees are
out.
I can predict what's going tohappen.
We're going to go in a veryspecific direction and each step
of the way, wonderful thingsare going to happen.
(19:11):
I'm going to get a yummy, yummy, yummy treat T one I love trước
Tim'sère's show Ro deadline.
I actually do it to the nextwork a couple of weeks ago.
You know, if an dog is probablynot performing highs up or lows
up and I get food seasoning,it's when my dog's having too
much of a reforms table.
If there's a draft or a prefeedfeedback, I'll talk to you about
general therapy or ש slee.
That now can be something thatwe can use.
That now can be something verypowerful.
(19:32):
Remember, when I started thingsout, I said one of the things
that dogs, one of the things anyanimal that has fears, needs
more than anything to help themnot be so afraid, is to be able
to know what's going to happen.
If you can predict what's goingto happen, that diffuses most
(19:53):
of the fear right there.
So if I have a dog that hasthis wonderfully conditioned
pattern game with these frisbeesthat are easy to carry around
and easy to do.
I can begin to move this dogaround in areas where it might
(20:19):
not be so confident and I canmitigate a lot of that fear.
I can take something positivethat the dog has experienced
over and over again.
I can take this pattern thatthe dog has experienced over and
over again and has beenconditioned to predict good
(20:42):
things are going to happen, andI can bring that into
environments where otherwise thedog would be extremely fearful
to go into.
Now, granted, I'm not going tobe flooding the dog.
If those of you don't know whatflooding is, listen.
If the dog's afraid, let's sayto be around strange dogs.
(21:06):
I don't go to a dog park andtake that dog and toss the dog
in the middle of that dog parkaround 30 dogs and have 30 dogs
surrounding it.
That's what we would callflooding in psychology and
that's torture, that's emotionaltorture to do that.
(21:26):
But let's say that same dogthat's afraid of strange dogs.
Maybe there's a distance thatthat dog can be far enough away
from a strange dog where it cansee it, but it's far enough away
where you know what.
(21:47):
It really doesn't care becauseit's so far away.
Yeah, I see that strange dog.
But I don't care, it's farenough away, I just don't care.
But then if you get within acertain distance, ok, now the
anxiety starts and then it getseven more severe and then it's
full blown and then, boom, thedog goes into fight or flight.
(22:13):
And we want to begin the processof bringing this dog around
things that it's nervous about.
And granted, we're going tostart at a distance that's safe
for the dog.
We're not going to throw thedog right into it.
(22:33):
We'd be setting the dog up forfailure if we did that, and that
says more about the persondoing the training and their
lack of understanding than itdoes about the dog's ability to
be confident and handle thosetriggers.
So we want to set the dog upfor success by making sure that
(22:56):
we're not flooding the dog, thatwhen we're exposing the dog to
situations and places and thingsthat the dog is nervous about,
things are scary, whether it be,hey, I'm nervous about strange
people or I'm nervous aboutstrange dogs, I can, at a
(23:17):
distance, start to play thatFrisbee pattern game and I can
start to, very slowly, verygradually, inch my way closer
and closer to that trigger thatI'm working on, whether it be
again, I used a couple examples.
Whether it be a dog that'safraid of strange dogs or a dog
(23:39):
that's afraid of strange people,that pattern game can be a way
to very gradually, verysystematically, move the dog
closer and closer to the triggerand do so in a way that right
from the start it's positive.
(24:01):
Right from the start it'ssomething that is familiar,
because the pattern game isfamiliar for the dog.
Right from the start it'ssomething that the dog can
predict and right from the startit's something that the dog
knows and can predict and isfamiliar and is positive.
It's got that positiveassociation.
(24:22):
So I thought, when I saw thisbeing done, boom, that light
bulb went on.
I'm like man, this is so simple, this is so easy, it's so black
and white and can be sobeneficial to be able to start
(24:42):
moving a dog around and alsogiving them something else to do
so they're not just hyperfocused on the trigger.
When we're doing classicalcounter conditioning and we're
doing classical exposure therapy, we are exposing dogs to their
triggers and doing counterconditioning where we're, say,
(25:05):
pairing high value food rewardsat the exact moment they're
seeing the trigger that has beenscary for them.
Now, granted, we're doing it ata distance where the dog.
Yeah, I see it, but I reallydon't care.
We are creating a pattern there.
We're creating a pattern ofpositivity and associating that
(25:30):
with the trigger.
But when we start that process,there's no predictability,
there's no being familiar withsomething and there's no.
Hey, I know this is going to bepositive.
But when you have conditionedthis pattern game ahead of time
(25:55):
and created this pattern ofpositivity that is predictable,
that is familiar, that'spositive, that you can take with
you anywhere, imagine thatyou've got a dog that's afraid
to go to the vet's office.
Imagine working that patterngame outside in the parking lot
(26:23):
and little by little, using thatpattern game to get your dog
closer and closer to the frontdoor of the vet's office and
then eventually using thatpattern game to get your dog to
take a step inside, only to takethree steps back out.
Okay, so we only got oneFrisbee inside the vet's office,
three are outside and we'regoing back and forth, making it
(26:46):
easy for the dog.
Then eventually we've got twoFrisbees inside and two outside
and eventually three Frisbeesinside and one outside and
little by little, gradually,systematically, we can move this
dog that's afraid of the vet'soffice all around in that vet's
office.
It's a tool, it's a technique.
(27:11):
It doesn't take rocket scienceto do it, but it can be
extremely, extremely powerful.
So if you've got a dog that'sgot some anxiety, some stress,
some fear, some phobias, needsome confidence.
Building is a little bitskittish.
Hey, try that Frisbee patterngame and create something really
(27:36):
positive and wonderful for yourdog and then bring that into
situations where your dog's alittle unsure and before long
you've got a confident dog.
Give that a shot.
I'm out of here.
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