Intro to BAT Course

Lesson 1: (BAT Overview) What is BAT?

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We have the lessons clustered into weeks, but don’t be put off by that if you need to take more time. It’s very common to spend 2-3 weeks on each “week” of lessons from here.

Week 1: BAT Overview

  • What is BAT?
  • Leash Skills: Staying out of the dog’s path, Handle, Slide, Slow Stop, Relax the Leash, Mime Pulling, Shorter, Longer
  • Practice leash skills with people (Gold level: submit video & written assessment)
  • Training: Treat Parties (not officially BAT but very useful)

WHAT IS BAT?

The answer to that question depends on who you are and how much you know about dogs. This course is intended for all audiences, so I’ll give a general answer first.

BAT helps dogs practice social skills in a way that improves confidence and self control. Your dog has a chance to practice being relaxed and ‘normal’ around other dogs, people, etc. We are used to constantly cueing and helping our dogs in order to keep them within the range of socially acceptable behavior. Wouldn’t it be so much better if they just did it on their own, naturally?

BAT stands for Behavior Adjustment Training because we focus on adjusting the behavior within the natural set of consequences. BAT could stand for Boring Aggression Training. The goal is to have a dog whose response to people or other dogs is boring: no barking, lunging, growling, etc., and no need for you to micromanage to make that happen. The dog has a chance to practice controlling his own safety and stress level, with us providing a safety net. With BAT, we rehearse being boring (but not bor-ed), over and over!

There may never be a BAT television show. BAT’s boring to do and even more boring to watch. If you do it right, there are no super exciting moments of barking or even frantically feeding or cueing. You just set up situations where your dog can be a dog and learn how to be boring. Let’s take a look at some BAT set-ups in the following videos.

[vc_video link=”https://vimeo.com/135900164″]

And another so you can see a more in-depth session from one dog:

[vc_video link=”https://vimeo.com/135890732″]

BAT has three major components:

  • Leash Handling Skills
  • Set-ups
  • Survival Skills / Mark & Move

Good leash skills allow freedom of movement for the dog (or horse) and they are the foundation of BAT. It is important to know that your movement affects your dog’s movement and mood. If you compete in agility, obedience, or other sports, you know that your dog follows your shoulders, where you look, etc. Most of the BAT set-ups are done on a 12-15 foot leash for safety (4-5 meters). Any small pressure on the leash during your regular walks and training set-ups will also change the dynamic, so I want you to be aware of different ways to move that are less intrusive to your dog’s learning process.

BAT set-ups are rehearsals for relaxed behavior, like I mentioned above, where your dog can practice being boring (i.e., not ‘reactive’). You will use survival skills when you train up close to triggers and in real-life situations that your dog can’t yet handle on his own. (I’ll swap genders around in my lectures, so please don’t be offended if I call your dog a boy when she’s a girl).

Survival skills and BAT set-ups are both essential. We will cover both of them in this course and more deeply cover each of them in other courses. If you only ever do the survival skills, then you have to micromanage your dog forever. You have a ‘trained’ dog instead of one that looks and acts like a well-socialized dog. If you only do the BAT set-ups, then your progress will be slowed down or may never happen because your dog keeps getting traumatized or practicing reactive behavior out in the real world.

The first thing I want to cover is leash skills. We will cover more in-depth survival skills in week 3, but for now, let’s just reduce the barking until you’re ready to do BAT. Carry some amazing meaty/cheesy treats with you on your walks. If your dog sees one of his ‘triggers’ (another dog, person, whatever it is that makes him bark, lunge, pull, act fearful, etc.) call his name just before you feed him some of those treats and walk in the other direction. So for now: call and feed your dog treats just after he sees any trigger on walks.

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