The Unconventional Dog Trainer

Regulating Emotions: A Key to Successful Dog Training

Hey there, dog lover! Welcome to this episode of the Unconventional Dog Trainer. We hope you enjoy our battle tested, relationship based solutions for helping your unconventional dog shine, with your host, Luzelle Cockburn. Let's dive in.
The faster you go, the bigger the mess. Now, you may have heard that when it comes to driving to the speed limit or not speeding, but how does this relate to dog training? Hi, I'm Luzelle, the unconventional dog trainer, and in this episode we are talking about slowing down to speed up. Right, so what does that mean?
So, what do you need to know? Okay, so when it comes to working with people and animals, we have to remember that the stress hormone, cortisol, high levels of that, impairs, um, creates all sorts of problems, behavior problems, memory problems, problem solving problems. It leads to higher incidence of aggression. Um, and, uh, it leads to somebody who is not able to regulate their emotions because their, um, whole system is geared into the fight flight, um, freeze system.
They're not thinking because it's all, all, all, everything is triggered by the primal brain. If you have got high levels of cortisol, you are not getting out of primal brain. And if you want more information on this, check out Charlotte Moore. She is amazing. And she is the person who taught me all of this.
So. I highly recommend you check her out. She's a horse trainer in Perth. Um, she also helps dogs and owners and humans with their stress levels and trauma and so on and so forth. So she's brilliant. Look her up. This is the stuff you need to understand when it comes to your dog. Slowing down your speech and movement will not only help regulate your stress hormones, but it will help regulate your dog's too, because our dogs are so sensitive to our feelings and stress hormones.
Remember your dog can sniff out cancer, so if their nose is that good, then there's no question that they can smell. the hormones you are releasing. Now, I noticed this with my own dogs. If I've got a dog that got a fright or something, they absolutely stink to the other dog. Also, a dog who's unconfident, um, when I work with clients dogs and stuff, they're the ones who will pee in rivers and streams.
They won't pee out in public where other dogs can. find them or identify them because stress makes them smell weak. When you smell stressed you cannot be a relationship based leader because you Your dog won't trust you because you stink of stress and you really want to be in control so that your dog looks to you for guidance.
That they go, I don't know that I can deal with this, but my human smells like I've got it sorted. I will look to them. That's really why it's important to get your stress under control. And because our dogs are so sensitive to us, it's really important that we regulate our own emotions and learn how to do that.
So box breathing, four in, four hold, six out, or six or more out, that counts, your breath. Um, so you can help regulate your emotions a bit better. Now, these are just the tricks and so on and so forth, but there's so much more you need to do to help your dog. Because if you You're not going to trust somebody.
So like I usually do this when I explain to clients about leadership and stuff. And I say to them that, um, you need to. Pay attention to the way you speak because if you meet somebody on the train, say there was a train accident and the person goes, Oh my God, we're all gonna die! Now both my dogs looked up at that.
Then of course, um, you're not going to trust that person to get you out of here. If they say, okay, I can get you out of here, you're going to go, no, you just lost it. I don't trust you. If somebody comes along, say a firefighter, they don't even have to have a uniform on, it could be anybody. And they say in a calm, confident, low voice.
Hey, I can get you out of here. Follow me. Um, you're more likely to follow them. Um, even if they have to speak a little bit more firmly to you, you're still going to follow them because they appear like they've got it all together. So they're not running around like a headless chicken. They are. They truly look like they've got it under control
so, you do that by slowing down your speech, slowing down your movement, and giving the dog the information that you've got this under control. But you also need to slow down their movement. So, one step per second is perfect. So, that will really help you and your dog um, work together.
And It falls in line with leadership, it falls in line with getting their behavior better. Because stressed dogs bite. Stressed dogs. React. Stressed dogs, um, dig holes. Stressed dogs chew everything. Stressed dogs escape. Stressed dogs do all sorts of things we don't want them to do. Um, so, if you want to see less behaviour problems, you need to slow down your and your dog's movement and, um, stress levels.
Because the faster you go, the bigger the mess. Fast movement triggers adrenaline, which triggers cortisol, um, and also, uh, dopamine, high, uh, like markers, like constant reward, um, expectations and delivery, that, um, clicker training and stuff like that, that increases dopamine, which increases cortisol. So, if you don't want To increase your dog's stress, reduce those, even if it's a short period of time, and see how that affects your dog.
As I said in, um, my video to introduce this channel, it's not good or bad, it's just information. You need to test this with your dog and see how it affects your dog. And I recommend a three week stress detox. If you've got some behavior problems you're struggling with, do a three week stress detox with your dog.
I might do if you let me know in the comments that you want. Some more information on a stress detox. I'll give you that information in a future video. So I recommend you try this and I hope it helps you and your dog. And I have seen great results with this, even with some of the more. challenging dogs I've worked with.
So if you like this information, share it with a friend. If you want more information, or you need some more help, or you like or dislike this video, comment below. And if you want more of this, subscribe to this channel and don't forget to set to get the reminders of when a new episode drops. Anyway, happy training, see you in the next episode.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Unconventional Dog Trainer. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe so you don't miss an episode, or share it with a friend to help us help more dogs enjoy long, happy lives in their homes. We also have more resources for you at thedogtraininglab. com.
Catch you in the next episode.
For more resources, check out https://www.thedogtraininglab.com/
If you'd like to see the videos, check out our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@theunconventionaldogtrainer

Strengthening the Human-Dog Bond

Hey there, dog lover! Welcome to this episode of the Unconventional Dog Trainer. We hope you enjoy our battle tested, relationship based solutions for helping your unconventional dog shine, with your host, Luzelle Cockburn. Let's dive in.
Management fails, relationship based leadership saves lives. Hi, I'm Luzelle, the unconventional dog trainer, and what does that even mean? All right, so let's dive into what good leadership is. So, let's look at the qualities of good leader. So, just because somebody raises their voice and yells and screams does not make them a good leader.
I have met many people in leadership positions who never raised their voice, and yet I respect them, and I will do, I will move heaven and earth for them, because they're a good leader. And then I know people who yell and scream and I do not have the time or day for it, of day for them. In fact, basically, it means nothing that they go off their trolley.
It's just free entertainment for me. So what is good leadership really? What does it look like? Well, it's fair. It is, um, it's not that it's kind or unkind. It is Safety based. So if you feel safe with somebody, then if they grabbed you and bruised your arm to pull you out of traffic, you're not going to yell at them or get upset at them for bruising your arm.
You're going to be thankful that they pulled you out of traffic. So it's not about What you do, it's about why and how you do it. So one of the things I instill in my dogs from a very early age is the word careful. So if they go up to an electric fence or something that could fall on top of them, I say careful and my dogs I've heard that Experience has taught them that if I say careful They need to come back to me because that's where it's safe because I also don't go close to them I walk the other way and go Careful, I'm going this way because that's gonna lead to trouble.
My dogs learn that over time they can trust me. What I say is going to help them. Um, we also do a lot of things where just minor feedback from me gets me a result with my dogs. Now, Bear in mind when you have higher drive working dogs, these dogs were bred to ignore pain and any stimulus when they're in drive.
So they have got a really high pain threshold, especially if they're in drive. I knew a dog who would run the Delta, my Malinois, my first Malinois, would go through an electric fence just to get to the other side. She had an extremely high pain threshold. She also raised my pain threshold. Anyway, she was a dog that I really struggled with her because I wasn't a very good relationship based leader at that point.
I struggled a lot. I had no skills whatsoever. Over time I've become more patient. Patience is a quality of a great leader. That doesn't, patience and um, stuff doesn't mean that you're going to ignore bad behavior and stuff. It's. A good relationship based leader is understanding why your dog is doing something.
Are they stressed? Is there a basic need that needs to be met? So, are they hungry, thirsty, need to toilet? Are they, um, over excited, um, adrenalized? Or are they tired? I don't know if I've repeated any of those. But, um, you can find the, um, the list in probably one of my blog posts. Um, so these are important to understand because a good leader will not expect more of the dog than they are capable of doing.
Just like a good human leader wouldn't expect more of their staff or a teacher wouldn't expect more of their students than they're capable of. So you need to, a good relationship based leader means that. You have such a good relationship with a dog that the dog doesn't want to do the thing that you've said no to because they respect you that much.
They care and love you that much that they do not want to do anything that you don't want. And as a relationship based leader, too, you will treat your dog as kindly as possible. So, if I ask my dogs to do something, I will say, Schnewy! Sit, please. And that's how I speak to my dog. And I often get a sit, and if I don't, I just back it up.
Sit, please. Good Dog. So that's how I speak to my dogs. I don't need to yell and scream at them. I don't need to raise my voice because that's not what relationship based leadership is. Relationship based leadership is all about teamwork, working together, but The human is the one that needs to be in charge for safety's sake.
And a lot of the cues and, uh, whether you call them commands or cues, it doesn't matter what you call them, it matters how you deliver them. We get a little bit hung up on words, but what I really want to know is how those words are expressed. Hey, Schnooey! Can you sit for me, please?
Good dog. So what do you, how you're actually delivering your thing. Whether you call them a cue, you could still call them a cue and yell to your dog, sit! And whether you call it a cue or command, it's irrelevant. It's how you deliver it that matters. So how do you speak to your dog? How, but and also, does your dog listen?
Can they listen? A stressed dog Might not be able to hear you. I often explain to my clients that if you are watching TV, I don't know, a lot of husbands get accused of this, but I'm like this too. So if I'm stuck watching TV, Somebody could yell at me from here and I would not hear them because my focus is elsewhere.
Is your dog in that state of mind? Do you need to give them a bit of a tap on the shoulder to say, hey mate, um, I'm actually talking to you. Can you listen to me? And I'm like, quite often I'm like, why didn't you say you wanted me to talk back to you? I didn't actually, um, get that you were talking to me.
It's relationship based leadership recognizes that the person isn't able to hear them or understand them. And it's the leader's responsibility to make sure that the person they're working with understands them and is able to respond to them. And when they can't, well, then they make adjustments to help the employee, student, dog, uh, work with them better.
Because relationship based leadership is all about teamwork. And teamwork makes the dream work. Hey, Schneewie dog. So, does your dog like to spend time with you? This is all information. If your dog is avoiding you, then that means that you haven't really got a really good relationship based leadership. If your dog is cowering every time you speak, you haven't got relationship based leadership.
You have got a dictatorship. Relationship based leadership is not a dictatorship. It means that your dog is responding to you because they enjoy, um, spending time with you. They trust you. They know you're going to be there to keep them safe. And they want to feel safe and they know that they feel safe with you.
So that's what it is comes down to. And when you've got good relationship based leadership, you can break up a dog fight just with your voice. You can get your dog out of a tricky situation. Um, without too much drama. And that's why I say it saves lives. Because when your dog wants to do what you ask, because it's based on safety, and a relationship, eh Schneewee?
Then you're going to get far better results. And that's through experience. I've had dogs that I've done other styles of training with, and other styles of bits and pieces. I've tried every single dog training style out there. And By far, this one's given me the best relationship, the one I enjoy having with my dogs, the best results.
Um, and it's great because I can break up a dog fight just with my voice, with my dogs anyway. And my dogs respond really beautifully. Um, So yeah, I enjoy this. Anyway, I hope this has helped you. If you have any comments, share them below. If you know a friend who would benefit from this video, please share it with them.
And if you want more videos like this, um, or more episodes like this, please subscribe so you catch them. Anyway, happy training. Catch you in the next one.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Unconventional Dog Trainer. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe so you don't miss an episode, or share it with a friend to help us help more dogs enjoy long, happy lives in their homes. We also have more resources for you at thedogtraininglab. com.
Catch you in the next episode.
For more resources, check out https://www.thedogtraininglab.com/
If you'd like to see the videos, check out our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@theunconventionaldogtrainer

How to become your dog’s best friend.mp3

Here's the link to our FREE Guide: https://www.thedogtraininglab.com/products/courses/view/206
Hey there, dog lover! Welcome to this episode of the Unconventional Dog Trainer. We hope you enjoy our battle tested, relationship based solutions for helping your unconventional dog shine, with your host, Luzelle Cockburn. Let's dive in.
In this episode, I'll be sharing with you the checklist, the mental checklist I go through with every dog I work with, because every dog is different. Hi, I'm Luzelle, the unconventional dog trainer, and you can find this workbook at thedogtraininglab. com. I think it's called how to become your dog's best friend. It is free so you can go grab it now. I will share the link below so you can do this and get to know your dog a whole lot better and get far better results and enjoy your dog a whole lot more. Because to have a friend you have to be a friend.
And how can you be a friend if you don't know your friend? Okay, so how I explain this to my clients is what kind of chocolate do you like? Do you like white chocolate, milk chocolate or dark chocolate? Now, I'm a dark chocolate girl And so if anybody gives me white chocolate I will feel like they don't know me at all.
And in fact, it's an insult. Why did they give me white chocolate? I should know better And so, if you think, if you want to call yourself your dog's best friend and so on and so forth, and your dog likes white chocolate, figuratively, because dogs can't eat chocolate, and you constantly give your dog dark chocolate, your dog will go, this human just is oblivious, they don't know me at all, like, why am I even bothering?
Because they obviously don't care about me. So you do need to pay attention to who your dog is, their likes and dislikes, their learning styles, their personal preferences, so that you can be your dog's best friend. All right, now that we've got that out of the way, I, one of the first things I go through is whether the dog is introverted or extroverted.
You cannot make an extrovert an introvert and you cannot make an introvert an extrovert, right? You need to understand this and Extroverts are the ones that should change. The introverts cannot change. And it's just rude for us extroverts to expect that they do. Now, in one of my jobs, I actually, this is, I'm an extrovert.
And so I went to give a workmate a hug and she was like, no, I don't like hugs. And I was like, what's wrong with you, you freak. Just give me a bloody hug, man. Um, so that was really rude of me because as an introvert, she's entitled. Not to like hugs and not everybody does like hugs. Now, I didn't actually realize this until my very first puppy Kaz German Shepherd, she didn't like hugs.
She actually didn't, she liked hanging out by your feet But she didn't really want any attention on her. She liked to observe and watch but she didn't She liked interacting, but that interaction didn't need to include touching. She tolerated it, but she didn't like it. She was never aggressive towards people, but she did become aggressive towards dogs, and that was all my fault.
But that's for a future episode on dog reactivity.
There was one person she really loved and that was somebody who didn't like dogs. Now, she didn't hate dogs She was never mean to the dogs, but she just didn't like them. She doesn't and that's Everybody is entitled not to like a dog. That is fine Um, so what happened was when she came to visit Kaz would go up to her and lick her This is like the only person Kaz was happy to see because this is the only person who when they visited didn't put any pressure on this poor dog. So this is where I learned all about introverted dogs and how to get the best out of them.
If that person decided to take on Kaz and to train her, Kaz would have been putty in her hands and they wouldn't have had a problem together. Because Kaz would have appreciated the fact that this person just gave her everything she needed, which was space. So now that that's out of the way, is your dog an extrovert or an introvert?
Now there are some people who, um, introverts until they're around people they know, and then they behave in an extroverted manner. That's still an introvert. Then there are people who are out on a limb and they just don't like to interact with people. At least they really know them very well and they're comfortable with them.
That's an introvert. Introverts also have one or two really good friends and the rest of the world could die a slow painful death and they wouldn't care. Now, they probably would care because a lot of them are very empathetic. Um, But that's just a way to describe them. Extroverts, on the other hand, have lots of shallow friendships.
None of them are particularly deep, and if somebody falls off the surface of the world, they're not particularly fussed. They might be upset for a couple of days, maybe a month or so, but they get over it pretty quickly. That's an extrovert. I'm an extrovert. I actually like working with introverts now that I explain them, but I find that a lot of Owners who are extroverted, if they have an introverted dog, they really don't get it and it's really hard to help them understand that this dog needs space because extroverts are inherently really selfish.
We think that the world should revolve around us and we don't have a lot of patience or we don't give introverts the support they need and we really should because it's the introverts that are struggling the most. We can get over things. They struggle. We are the ones that can change, so we are the ones who should make allowances for introverts.
Now that I'm off my soapbox, the next thing I want to know is who's in this dog's circle of trust. So if they're an introvert, they likely have a very small circle of trust. So very few people who they feel comfortable with. Now, if this dog is reactive or aggressive, my goal is to Start off with a circle of trust and slowly but gently expand it so that I can include more people in that circle of trust Most introverted dogs, once you're in that circle of trust, you can do no wrong.
So this is one of the things because I'm very respectful of introverted dogs and Usually when an introverted dog meets me, they're like, Oh my goodness. Where have you been all my life? I've never had somebody Um that's treated me as well as you have so I instantly get into this circle of trust Thank you Schnewy.
Um, if you're in this dog circle, if you're in an introverted circle of trust quite often You can do no wrong and you can do anything to this dog and this dog will be like, yep. I trust you I don't care If you're not in the dog circle of trust, you can do nothing right and you'll always be watched and this depends on your behavior.
So you need to be very conscious of what you do and how you do it. Now the other thing is, I want to know my dog's likes and dislikes because if they don't like to be touched, I need to know this so that um, I build up, I'll get into the dog circle of trust before I start trying to. Harass them and touch them because um, otherwise i'm going to break that trust and Then i'm not with some dogs once you've broken trust you can't get back into it So anyway, I hope you go and grab that workbook So that you can work through it with your dog and get to know your dog a whole lot a whole lot better There's also a few other things like personality types and that'll be for another episode and reactivity That'll be for another episode Which we touched on in this episode.
So, if you enjoyed this episode, I would appreciate if you shared it with a friend, subscribe to this channel, or comment it below, because that's all things that'll help me. I'm not interested in going viral or getting lots of views. All I'm interested in is reaching the people who want this information, and who really want a better relationship with their dog.
Anyway, happy training. Catch you next time.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Unconventional Dog Trainer. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe so you don't miss an episode, or share it with a friend to help us help more dogs enjoy long, happy lives in their homes. We also have more resources for you at thedogtraininglab. com.
Catch you in the next episode.For more resources, check out https://www.thedogtraininglab.com/
If you'd like to see the videos, check out our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@theunconventionaldogtrainer

From Frustration to Success: Empowering Your Dog’s Learning Journey

Hey there, dog lover! Welcome to this episode of the Unconventional Dog Trainer. We hope you enjoy our battle tested, relationship based solutions for helping your unconventional dog shine, with your host, Luzelle Cockburn. Let's dive in.
Have you ever heard your dog go, when you're trying to teach them something? Do you do that? Hi, I'm Luzelle, the unconventional dog trainer. And in this episode, we are going to talk about the sigh of discontent, what it means for you and what it means for your dog. Right. So let's get into it. I don't know about you, but have you ever had an experience where somebody was teaching you something and you made a mistake and then they went, how did that make you feel?
Afterwards, did you make more mistakes or less mistakes? Of course you made more mistakes because now you started feeling stressed because you felt the frustration of the person teaching you. Right. Keep that in mind when you're training your dog because that is actually a bit of a bullying tactic.
People do it without realizing though and it puts people in a distress. So if you go back to my video on learning styles, you will um be able to understand this a little bit better. So, because now you've got a whole bunch of extra stress hormones, you're struggling to learn. Now, the problem is when you, as if you're the trainer, and you start going, that's when your patience starts running out.
So, when I first started dog training, I realized that I had a temper problem and a patience problem. So one of the things I did was I started paying attention. Where does my training go downhill? And it was where the sigh of discontent came out. So when I started going, that's when I knew I had to stop my training.
And so I take a break and then get back to it later. So I needed Some time to process, time to think, time to think of what else I could do. And when you're a newer trainer, um, you don't really trust the process as much. So you always really struggle with, um, the concepts of, will this work? You are always struggling with a little bit of self doubt.
As you get better as a trainer, you start doubting it less, because you just know it's going to work. So you go, right. I don't care if it takes me 1 minute or 10 minutes, we are going to work through this and with the dog until their brain processes it. Now, something I noticed is that, here's the thing though, if your dog is doing the because you're being unclear with your cues and your information, you are going to wreck your relationship, just like with human training.
If. Your dog is doing that because they're getting frustrated with themselves. Now that's a good thing. That's where, um, we are getting that discomfort where learning happens. So this is where we can really utilize that because this is where the dog is getting frustrated with themselves. Now, bear in mind if your dog is getting overtired or is get.
Going from discomfort into distress, so getting really so frustrated, so chewing on the lead and stuff like that, barking, all these frustrated sort of behaviors. This is where I would consider, not always, it depends on the dog, whether I would stop the session there or whether I would continue, but it's always in the back of my mind.
Um, I would then pop the dog away or do something really calm to de stress the dog and then we could try it again. There's nothing wrong with stopping the session. I haven't found any benefit necessarily. Well, it depends on your relationship with the dog, whether you should end on a win or end when the dog is struggling.
Because you, ending when the dog is struggling could relieve that stress for the dog and ending on a win is not always necessarily a good thing, especially if your dog's enjoying the activity. If you end on a win, the dog could feel like it's, they're being punished for that. So, think about your training style, but one of the things is you must be clear on what you're doing and that it's going to work.
And a lot of the times, Now, I can persevere whether it's, um, whether I'm training for two minutes or two hours. I can, because I'm training in a calmer mindset, um, you will have a more tired dog, but some sessions require you to be able to do it for a longer period of time. Now, the other thing is, if a dog is starting to feel frustrated, just check, and I call it the toddler list, if the dog's basic, has a basic need, they need to.
meet, whether they're thirsty or hungry or tired or
over stressed or need the toilet. I think those are the five. Um, if I have repeated something, it's okay. I'm sure I'll, I'll pop it in the notes below. So make sure your dog's basic needs are met so that they're not uncomfortable. Because you know how you feel when you're busting to go to the toilet and you can't go.
That's when you start breaking pencils and getting, doing things that you shouldn't be doing. So make sure your dog's basic needs are met and make sure that your communication is clear. Make sure you're, you know, the criteria on which you need to do things. Forget the dog. If you're not doing the right thing, you're confusing your dog.
So, this is a little bit about the sigh of discontent. I like it when I get the sigh of discontent when I'm really good with my criteria. Because it tells me, now the dog is uncomfortable. Now the dog's getting frustrated with themselves. They know what to do, but they're struggling to do it. And that's a good thing.
That's where I like them to be. Because this is Where the learning happens. And then if you work through that, the next session you have is gonna, they're gonna fly through it because they're gonna remember it. Um, and because you did it calmly and working through just in discomfort, the dog, um, wants to reduce the discomfort.
So they're not going to, um, make the same mistakes. They're gonna be like, oh, okay, we're doing it this way today, and they're gonna be fine. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. video and it helped you figure out a problem you're having with your dog and your training. Um, if you know a friend who would benefit from this video, I'd appreciate it if you could share it with them.
Um, otherwise, if you leave me a comment, whether you agree or disagree, I'd love to hear it. And if you want some more tips, please subscribe to this channel and set the reminder so you get our next video. Happy training. Catch you next time.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Unconventional Dog Trainer. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe so you don't miss an episode, or share it with a friend to help us help more dogs enjoy long, happy lives in their homes. We also have more resources for you at thedogtraininglab. com.
Catch you in the next episode.
For more resources, check out https://www.thedogtraininglab.com/
If you'd like to see the videos, check out our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@theunconventionaldogtrainer

Does Your Dog Wish You Knew This?

Hey there, dog lover! Welcome to this episode of the Unconventional Dog Trainer. We hope you enjoy our battle tested, relationship based solutions for helping your unconventional dog shine, with your host, Luzelle Coburn. Let's dive in.
Have you ever struggled to get your dog to understand a concept, a training, a trick, or whatever? I have been there, my friend. Hi, I'm Luzelle, the dog trainer, and in this episode we are going to talk about thinking outside the box when it comes to training your dog. So, before we begin, did you know that a fifth of the nutrition you take in and your dog gets used up by your noggin?
And I feel we're not really utilizing all that nutrition that well, because we're constantly telling our dogs what to do. So in today's episode, I'm going to challenge you to try and do something differently. So, there are a couple of things that, uh, our dogs. There's ways that people and dogs learn that you may not.
be thinking about when you are training your dog. And one is latent learning, where the dog has to sleep on something, or the human. I don't know if you've ever gone through this, and I have, because I'm an artist in my spare time. So I've struggled with a piece of art, and then I've slept on it, and then all of a sudden, Um, I've processed what I was struggling with and come up with a solution, um, usually it's just before you fall asleep or in the morning when you're a bit groggy.
And the next time I tackled that, I could do it. So that's latent learning. And then there's vicarious learning, where you learn through watching. Now I'll tackle that one first. I've got a fun story for you on that one. My very first Malinois was a dog called Delta. She's still alive. She's now a retired military working dog.
Fabulous dog. Anyway, she's quite a bossy boots and she's very selfish and entitled. Now, I tried to get her to do some things. One of them was breed showing because we did, we dabbled in breed showing and, as well as, um, competitive obedience. And she did competitive obedience fine. She, like, would do the steer.
Um, every time she was on my left. Now I needed her to be on my left and I needed her to do run prance around like the show ring and the show ring looking straight ahead, not looking up at me so that she could show off her structure. So I took her to the show that day. Previously, we, it went terrible because most people put their dogs away between their turn.
So this time I actually decided I grabbed myself a camping chair and we were watching the show. I put her next to me in a down stay, um, at first she was not impressed with it, she wanted to chase the dogs running, and that was, she was firmly told, no, that's not what we do. I put her in a down stay next to me so she could watch the show.
It took a little while before she figured it out. Anyway, come our turn, and I just about fell off my chair, and I wasn't even sitting, because Delta pranced around that show ring like she'd done it all her life. Yep, Delta was a vicarious learner. She learned best through watching. And this came out a few months later when I tried to teach her the Test A Recall.
Now the Test A Recall here in New Zealand is where you put the dog in a Satoru Downs day and you walk around the ring and you call your dog into your Now, the problem Delta had was when she would come into each, the side that was closest to her, whether it was my right or my left. And that wasn't what I wanted.
So, I decided, right, we had some success with this, with the breed show, why don't I try it? I put her in a down stay and did the exercise with my German Shepherd, Kaz, and it was like Delta was like, why didn't you tell me that's what you wanted in the first place? Cause she did it perfectly from that day forward because Delta learned best through watching.
So this is something that you can try with your dog. Do you need to make them watch other dogs perform the exercises so that they understand what's required from them? All right, so that's vicarious learning and I use that now a lot in my training. I let a dog watch other dogs and I've, I've had some really good success with it.
It's not something that every dog, that helps every dog, um, but this is definitely one of those things that can get you over a hump if you need to. The other one is latent learning. So I have found that sometimes I really struggle to get a concept and I need to sleep on it. I am definitely a huge latent learner.
And I found that the same with many dogs. Um, I can't actually think of an example, I have got many, but I can't think of one now of one of my dogs who did, um, this. But quite often if my dog is struggling with a concept. I will go, you know what? This is not us today. I will go do something else. I won't, I won't finish upset or anything like that because I've learned that.
You know what? We can try again another day, and maybe they'll have a chance to sleep on it. Think and process, and get it right the next time. This is particularly valuable for something like tracking. So, I used to find tracking very frustrating. I haven't tried it in ages, so, um, it's But I do know that that's where a lot of dogs need to think and process things.
Because you get, you run one track and then the dogs generally, especially if it's been a really long track, too tired to run another track, they need a day or so to think and process so that they can run better the next time. Now, another thing I wanted to cover is, I feel that we have our dogs in a too stressed state quite often.
If we keep in mind that cortisol, or the bad stress hormones, you always need a little bit of all the hormones, um, but too much of a good thing is a bad thing. So, too much cortisol in a dog's system is, and human's system, is going to interfere with thinking and processing. So, I remember when I was highly stressed, I couldn't problem solve to save my life and, um, I also had a lot of problems with memory.
So if we keep dogs in a high stress state, then we are going to have more problems with thinking and problem solving. Um, so they're going to struggle to get the concepts we're trying to teach. Um, so one of the things we need to do is work our dogs in a lower stressed state. Um, Especially when they're learning a new concept.
So keep in mind that highly adrenalized and dopamine based training, so markers, clickers, toy play, that sort of stuff, really increases the cortisol levels. So you need to be aware that if your dog is struggling with learning and memory, maybe bringing down their stress hormones is really going to help them problem solve and process.
And this is super important to try and keep in mind when you're training your dog because you will If you try this way, so I do a lot of calm based training, I get the dog when they're uncomfortable, because learning is uncomfortable for us and our dogs, that's why so many people struggle with it, that's where you get your stress eating, because you're trying, you're uncomfortable, so you're doing something to deal with that discomfort, instead of just learning to be comfortable with the discomfort and getting working through it.
And the same with our dogs. We need to teach them to work through that discomfort and not avoid it. And if we use adrenaline and dopamine based training, um, to cope with it, we're falling into pattern style training. And that is usually, um, what's needed because we can't. use because her dog's memory and thinking ability is impaired.
So try these things. I hope one of these tips helps you with your dog and helps you problem solve some of the challenges you're having. Um, happy training. _Um, _please, if you know somebody who could benefit from this video, share it with them. Please leave us a comment below. If you agree or disagree, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And if you'd like to hear more. Subscribe to this channel and I'm hoping to share a lot more tips and tricks and hacks and Insights with you in the future. Happy training
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Unconventional Dog Trainer. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe so you don't miss an episode, or share it with a friend to help us help more dogs enjoy long, happy lives in their homes. We also have more resources for you at thedogtraininglab. com.
Catch you in the next episode.
For more resources, check out https://www.thedogtraininglab.com/
If you'd like to see the videos, check out our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@theunconventionaldogtrainer