Course Details
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that influences pleasure, motivation, attention, mood and learning. It is part of the brain’s reward system that motivates an individual to seek out pleasurable experiences repeatedly.
We can use increased dopamine levels in our dogs to help with the counter conditioning process in a variety of environments and situations. Dopamine can influence emotional balance and help to reduce stress and anxiety.
So, how can we easily create more dopamine in the dog’s brain? EATING!
When we put eating into a structured process, we can harness the influence of dopamine to help your dog make a positive association to novel environments and situations. The “dopamine box” or box feeding is popular in the bite sport community and is used to build confidence, desensitize to sounds, develop duration as a concept, for scent work, tracking, and to develop working under pressure.
As with many concepts coming from the competition world, I find this is another one that has applications in the behavior world as well.
For starters, box feeding can create a visual cue that carries a positive conditioned emotional response. Not only is there classical counter conditioning going on, but it can also move into the operant realm and be used to create a ‘start button’ to empower the dog by giving them agency to start the process of desensitization and counter conditioning.
By modifying the box to accommodate for visual awareness, we can use this concept for various types of fear and reactivity issues, including environment, dog, people, and handling, not just for sound sensitivities!
About the Instructor:
Karen Deeds is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC). She is the co-owner of Canine Connection which has recently relocated to Memphis TN with her husband, Bob Deeds, a retired Federal K9 Handler on Texas Task Force I. Karen started her business in 1994 after realizing the need for educating the public about dog training and behavior while volunteering for a local humane society. She worked in the Assistance Dog Field for 15 years and the vet profession for 9 years. She currently provides her expertise on behavior problems including fear, anxiety, and aggression. She has consulted and worked with thousands of pet dog owners, many shelters and rescue organizations, as well as has testified in dozens of court cases regarding dog bites. She specializes in reactivity and has also competed heavily in AKC Rally on a State and National level. She works with pet dogs as well as conformation, rally, obedience, and agility dogs to help improve their emotional state.
Karen has presented seminars to the public, rescue groups, animal control officers, at various dog training clubs, dog training facilities, and various shelters and vet colleges throughout the United States and presented at The International Dog Bite Prevention Symposium in South Korea in 2024. She is often called upon to help rescue groups make difficult decisions about behaviorally challenged dogs in their care. Her work with high drive working and sport dogs have helped develop more comprehensive behavior modification protocols that are dramatically impacting the success of her students.
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