ZZ002: Dogs With Big Feelings One Day Conference

Karen Deeds - MULTIPLE MARKER SYSTEM It’s not just for sport dogs anymore!

This session will focus on using a multiple marker system for behavior cases. Whether quiet and fearful, or barking and reactive, the use of multiple markers can help build clarity in your training and influence your dog’s physical and emotional wellbeing. We know that many sport dogs have benefited from their use although the arousal that you see in them may have a different underlying motivator than behavior cases. Just like in sports, using marker cues for behavior cases also enhances the communication between dog and handler. In behavior cases, the effectiveness of behavior modification techniques and protocols also becomes more effective.

Is the dog ready to begin behavior modification? Can the dog respond to a cue to eat food? Multiple markers allow us to construct a ‘test’ to assess your dog’s emotional state, allowing us to know when to begin implementing behavior modification techniques.
Utilizing a multiple marker system can be used to create more clarity in your communication, make the handler more thoughtful and observant, help the dog to generalize, influence the dogs emotional state, regulate the movement and position of the dog and they help the dog to learn that words matter. A more thoughtful dog is a less emotional dog. They can empower the dog and handler by more effectively allowing the handler to help the dog make more appropriate choices.

Julie Daniels- How to Use Choice and CU Patterns to Create Clear Thinking and Self Regulation

Many of your dog’s big responses to the world are automatic. They are habits, just as our own typical responses stem from our habits. Big feelings are attached to habits. And, just as our own habits are hard to break, it’s a challenge to create new habits in our dogs with big feelings. Habits are behavior chains. New habits will require brand new behavior chains.

The goal of this presentation is to give you a playbook you can use to set up pathways to clear thinking for your dog. We’ll use Control Unleashed patterns, some stationary and some with motion, to build new behavior chains from scratch. We’ll design conditions that let your dog choose their best route to clear thinking. The goal is to keep you on the same page while giving the dog agency to drive the pattern.

My playbook is designed to get and keep clear thinking and self regulation while giving your dog free choice about how to respond. Can you really change your dog’s big feeling responses while giving them free choice to respond as they wish? Yes! To do that, it’s important to start fresh with a new set of learning conditions. We’ll change the environment in order to build new habits. If we do not change the environment, your dog’s default choices will stay the same, triggered by the circumstances associated with big feelings.

In short, feelings become attached to habits. If we are smart and careful playing new games with new behaviors, your dog will be able to think clearly and choose to participate. And they will automatically attach new and more optimal feelings to their new and more optimal habits.

Sophie Liu, DVM- When Dog Sports and Big Feelings Collide: A Supporting Role for Medications

Dogs used for sports are often selected to be very intensely motivated and to have high arousal in specific situations. While this is fantastic for flashy obedience or responsive herding or time-blazing agility, it comes with a cost. Those big feelings don’t end in the competition ring. And they don’t end in training, either. Those big feelings can show up in unintended ways at home. Or when you travel. Or at the vet’s office. If dogs with big feelings aren’t carefully developed and monitored or if they show other signs of a behavior disorder, sometimes, it's necessary to discuss the use of behavior medications.

Before understanding the role of behavior medications in supporting these dogs, it’s imperative to understand what is generally “normal” and functional or adaptive - and what is less so. We will also dig into what we know about the effect of heritable traits and to recognize what is or is not a reasonable expectation. Finally, we will review commonly used medications and their potential roles in supporting sport dogs. This presentation will empower you to be the best advocate for your dog and, when appropriate, start asking questions about medications to support your dog with big feelings.

Amy Cook, PhD- When feelings get in the way

You’ve probably heard me say “when you teach your dog what to do, you teach her how to feel,” but have you thought about all the ways that may be impacting your training? Emotions and behaviors go hand in hand, and you do not get the luxury of prioritizing one over the other. It’s in your best interest to align your emotional goals with your behavioral ones!

Experiences like frustration, confusion, agitation, desperation, insecurity, uncertainty, suspicion and more (and the underlying emotions informing those) all get in the way of your dog’s learning and performance, and also affect the bigger picture of what it’s like to work with you and learn things in general!  One thing we really want in our dogs is a love of working with us, full attention, and for them to know they’re safe so they can give their all! 

In this presentation I’ll go over the ways we can contribute to unwanted states in our dogs, what that might look like, and how you can minimize negative states and emphasize positive, supportive ones! Let’s keep our dogs in the happy bucket! 

Sharon Carroll- Reactivity: Selecting a training protocol to suit the underlying driver

Big feelings often lead to big responses!

When a dog performs big behaviors in response to a stimulus, the “reactivity” label is often applied, regardless of the underlying driver.

Any stimulus can trigger these responses, but common triggers include other dogs, people, vehicles, bicycles, skateboards, and other animals.

The behaviors frequently occur whilst on-leash, but can also be exhibited at a door or window in the home, at a property fence-line, or from within a crate, enclosure, or vehicle.

The behaviors may include any mix of the following:
• Lunging.
• Vocalizing (barking, whining, growling).
• Intense pulling toward the stimulus (when on-leash).
• Rushing to the stimulus or barrier (when off-leash).
• Attempts to flee from the stimulus or situation, which may also result in pulling and thrashing when on-leash.

In combination with the above, the dog may exhibit moments of intense focus on the stimulus, stillness, freezing, and/or body rigidity/tension. Alternatively, the dog’s whole body may be wiggling, and there may even be spinning, and/or leaping.

The extensive mix of different behaviors and body language are the result of differing underlying emotions and motivations driving the “reactivity”. Fear is a very common driver of “reactive” responses, but it is not the only driver, hyper-arousal due to excitement or frustration can also result in the performance of “reactive” behaviors. Certain genetic traits can influence the development of reactive behaviors too, these include traits associated with owner guarding, intolerance to nearby unfamiliar dogs, or a strong desire to chase. The “reactive” behaviors may also have been inadvertently reinforced by the handler, leading to the ongoing performance, and potential escalation, of these unwanted and potentially dangerous behaviors.

The common theme with “reactivity”, is that once the reactive responses are triggered, the dog’s ability to follow our cues is significantly diminished, but without our help, the dog struggles to manage their own arousal, emotions, and behaviors in the presence of the stimuli.

The best way forward, in terms of appropriate management and training, is largely going to be influenced by the underlying driver/s of the behavior. In this webinar we discuss the reasons why some strategies are best suited to certain types of reactivity, and how choosing the most appropriate strategy, will increase the likelihood of making significant progress with modifying your dog’s behavior.

Currently there are discussions in our industry about re-labeling reactivity to identify the difference between excitement-based responses, fear / anxiety-based responses, and behaviors with a likelihood of progression to aggressive behaviors. This webinar will also touch on the pro’s and con’s of re-labeling in this way.

Denise Fenzi- Calming Games for High Arousal

You love your dog's enthusiasm for the reinforcer but you don't love the frantic ball of fur energy that comes out in its presence. You love your dog's drive for work but sometimes you wish she took a day off once in a while. You love to train your dog at home but when you go out, it's as if the whole world is a trigger for high arousal.

Sound familiar?

Easily aroused dogs are awesome dogs with fantastic working capacity but sometimes we wish they could self-regulate better. Self regulation is necessary to live peacefully in our world, and if you have goals for competition, they are essential in order to perform with a clear head. Plus, it's kinder to the dog. Who wants to exist in a state of overarousal all the time?"

So what can you do? You can learn to provide appropriate outlets for that energy, and give your dog the tools they need to relax (or escalate) their arousal as appropriate. Here's where Calming Games for High Arousal come in! We hope you'll join Denise Fenzi for this webinar to find out about the skills and games you can play with your dog to raise and lower arousal. An essential skill for both life and sports!