In this video, Sage is on Place while I sweep the floor. Doesnt seem like such a hard task? For a 5 mth old puppy, its pretty difficult. Sweeping the floor, walking around Sage and opening & shutting the door makes this exercise even more difficult for Sage. I train th Place/Down with duration with Sage everyday which is helping her to become a dog with a calm/relaxed state of mind. Why is the Place/Down with duration important for Sage? I have found that duration Place and Down command are two of the most powerful exercises that I can do to train and rehab dogs. It may look like an easy exercise for dogs and not a very exciting command. This can makes it a command that some people will not get how valuable and how great an impact it can have and how it can greatly influence the behavior of dogs. To explain how this exercise helps dogs, you must understand that many dogs live in a vicious cycle of reactivity to all sorts of stimuli in their world. The jogger, the garbage trucks, kids riding bikes and skateboards, kids running inside the home, your neighbors dog barking, the UPS truck, guests in your home, the list goes on & on. To us, all of these activities are pretty mundane. But, to our dogs these activities cause our dogs to be constantly stressed, excited, tense, concerned about what is about to happen and in general, in a state of chaos. Can you image living every minute of your day, 365 days a year worrying about what is going to be happening next in you life. With our dogs, the more nervous, anxious, insecure, fearful they are the more likely they are to make bad choices. When a dogs state of mind is not calm and relaxed, they begin to develop behavior issues. Our dogs will begin to try to cope by biting, barking, fence fighting, obsessive behavior, nervousness, which only make them worse. With Place & Down duration work we’re actually training our dogs not to be concerned about all the noises and chaos in the world. We’re desensitizing them and conditioning them to disregard all this stuff in their life. How can duration Place and Down create a calm and relaxed state of mind? First, this can only happen if we enforce these commands and never negotiate with our dogs. Dogs will accept the exercise and begin to relax once the Place & Down commands are rock solid. Your dog will soon learn that trying to push against the commands will not get them anywhere, this is when your dog will start to develop a calm state of mind. To reach this point takes patience, repeating the exercise over and over again and correcting your dog when needed.If this is done, the chaotic emotional state that your dog lives in will begin to fade away. The training will begin to nullify your dogs impulse to react to whatever is exciting them or making them uncomfortable. In time, your dog is actually conditioned to be able to have a life that has much less stress. Your dog will be more relax which means they will be, less stressful, less reactive and will make better choices. I realize that some people will not believe that it can be as simple as training Place & Down with duration. But, I have seen it make a huge difference in the lives of dogs. To work, your dog must understand that the commands are not up for discussion and that they must completely comply with the commands. Once they have, your dog will be able to relax even when there are triggers that were once very difficult for your dog to ignore.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 05:06:44 +0000
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