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MORE SURVIVAL SKILLS

Let’s take a look at some more options for you to use to help your dog relax.

You can’t control triggers on walks, but you can control where you go and what you do to keep your dog “on the beach.” If you see the trigger before your dog does, proactively arrange your distance to the trigger so that your dog will stay relaxed when he sees it. Cross the street or move behind a car or trees until the trigger passes. That way, when your dog notices the trigger, he can make his own choices without needing your help.

Take walks in places without off-leash dogs, change your walking time, etc. If your dog is “in over his head” (or soon will be), call or Mark & Move without shouting or tugging on the leash.

Sometimes you can’t move far enough away. In that case, you are in survival mode and have to distract your dog from the trigger. This can happen a lot during urban training. In the ocean beach analogy, if you can’t bring your dog back to shore right away, you need to toss out a flotation device. There are many standard trainer tricks to get through this sort of situation.

Room to Move	Trapped!
Mark & Move Touch (nose to hand) as you walk away Find It (toss treats on the ground) as you move away Toss treats at a loose dog and move away (keep your dog’s focus if you do that)	Click for looking at the trigger, then treat Tricks (Touch, chin targeting, etc.) Find It in place (don’t do this with loose dogs!) Stand between your dog and the trigger and cue Watch Me Constantly feed your dog until the trigger goes away

When you use distraction to get through this kind of situation, stress may still build up. Distraction doesn’t necessarily give your dog any active coping skills or teach the dog that the situation is safe. However, it’s not nearly as bad as having your dog freak out. If distracting doesn’t work, do whatever you can to hold on and keep everyone safe. Do not make things worse by trying to punish your dog. Assess your dog’s stress level. You may need to do Find It to help your dog relax (toss treats to find on the ground) or head home.

When you get home, brainstorm to avoid getting trapped again in the future. For example, do you have to walk that particular route? Can you drive somewhere else to walk?

Note: It’s tempting to stay in the city and be continuously in survival mode. If you want to stop micromanaging your dog, set up scenarios where your dog can be relaxed, even if it means driving to a location being creative about locations, implementing visual barriers, trying medications, relaxation techniques, etc.

Think of it this way. Imagine you are an elementary school teacher. What is the better way to teach?

• Give a child a realistic, slightly challenging math problem he is able to think through and solve on his own, or
• Give him a calculus problem and tell him what to write on his paper to get to the answer?

While option 2 is better than, say, giving him a calculus problem and then hitting him when he gets the wrong answer, it’s still better to give the child a question that is interesting but possible to solve on his own. When you need to help your dog, be proactive, making it so that he still has a chance to practice decision-making but is likely to make the ‘right’ choices. Set him up for success and let him think!

Keep working at ways to set your dog up to stay calm during walks, so the training you will do in the BAT set-ups can take effect. When you start doing set-ups that allow your dog to experience the trigger in a stress-free way, you will see dramatic improvement.

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