Blog — dog training

Sentinel Trauma is a one-time learning event which can leave a permanent imprint on the autonomic nervous system.    According to Dr. Stephen Porges, Sentinel Trauma is a single overwhelming event which the body-brain registers as life-threatening. This could be an accident, an assault, or a medical crisis. It is an "one-trial imprint" which results is the sudden re-calibration of autonomic state and neuroception. Sentinel Trauma is distinct from chronic stress and complex trauma. It is also separate from fear conditioning, which requires repetition. Sentinel Trauma, like Conditioned Taste Aversion, is a one-trial learning event which is highly resistant to...

  When I was first learning about dogs from my mentor, he taught me that a dog's temperament is based on their "prey threshold" i.e. what types of prey they are genetically programmed to hunt. So bird dogs have a certain temperament because they are tuned to birds (soft mouth). And you can imagine a bulldog, grabbing and holding onto the bull (hard mouth) and what kind of temperament and drive is required of that particular dog. And so on and so forth, in this way we account for all the different types of hunting dogs and their different types...

  When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears Does your dog push your buttons? Do you ever feel an exaggerated reaction to your dog's behavior? Downright triggered? Your most uncomfortable emotions can be activated and mirrored by your dog. Your shadow self might be unconsciously projected into your dog. Your unhealed inner child. Your refusal to accept the truth or the reality of your current situation. One of the simplest practices (not necessarily easy, but straightforward) is to write your dog a letter of gratitude. This can help you process the emotions coming up around your dog's behavior. This...

Expressing Sympathetic Arousal with Resistance Feeding and Tug-of-War “In the intensity of sympathetic mobilization your clients are looking for an organized way to use and safely discharge their energy. “    --Deb Dana, Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection   Resistance Feeding:   Allows the dog to express the “surge” of energy resulting from sympathetic arousal Dog pushes into the handler to discharge sympathetic energy of fight/flight/hunt Constructive way to channel fear, reactivity, fight drive, and even hunting instincts       Tug-of-War:   Uses the dog’s natural instinct to bite in a playful way that regulates the dog and...

  Facts are facts: Loose-lead walking requires a dog to suppress natural behaviors. We don't usually like to use straight-up suppression to get "compliance," which is why I teach ways to help the dog channel their natural drives into alternative behaviors. This is by far the best way to help intensely driven dogs become manageable on walks. Here are some foundational concepts to consider… Firstly, have we fulfilled the dogs need for exercise and breed-specific enrichment? Secondly, have you provided proper motivation for the dog to adjust their natural speed and gait to match your own? Finally, we are asking...