Have you been training your dog for awhile only to keep making forward progress and then feel as if you are back tracking? I am hear to tell you that you are not alone and in fact, you are probably farther ahead than you think! We can even help you through our live online dog training program from Setbacks to Success.
Diego’s Setback with Car Anxiety
Diego is a Golden Retriever, that I have helped train. When we started training together, he didn’t want to go near the car and had anxiety about the car. After, a few months of training, he began hopping into the car happily and easily. The owner, Patty, was so happy. She was elated. With her emotions so strongly entangled with Diego’s success, she felt defeated when they had a set back.
After going into the car periodically for a few weeks, Patty took Diego on a car ride, he had a panic attack. He became very stressed in the car. She turned around to take him back home, but he didn’t recover quickly. In fact, he didn’t want to get in the car again. Fortunately, I was still training with them, so we got back on track. Within a couple of months, Diego was hopping into the car faster than he did before. He was even happier than before he had a set back!
Can you believe it? It has appeared that Diego actually developed more resilience and more strength about the getting into the car than he had before. How is that possible?
Dog Training Setbacks Create Resilience
Dog training relates to the human brain. I remember getting upset many times and yelling at my daughter. I never felt good about it. After, realigning my nervous system and doing years of counseling, I can say that I have much more patience. Now when I yell, it’s for a shorter amount of time, and I actually develop more resilience that I can do better next time around. So it’s actually during the set back that I made a shift and learn to make a different choice. Each time I do that my mind gets stronger and I actually be more calm and patient.
It’s not realisitic to be perfect and to hold a high standard that I will never yell as a parent. It is more realistic to believe that I can move through the setbacks faster. Each time I make a new chioce, I feel less shame and guilt. I get stronger and realize that I can shift faster to happiness and peace.
Your dog also needs to know that he doesn’t have to be perfect. He / she is going to make chioces that are the complete opposite from what you are wanting to training him / her to do. This is a normal part of learning. We think that learning is an upward straight line. Actually the line goes all over the place (up, down, up again, straight, etc.). However, the overall average of the line is still moving upward.
Mistakes is normal. It is normal for your dog to do the complete oppostie behavior from what you are training your dog to do. Your dog will sometimes perform his or her old habit. This is normal. Your dog may also react at times, and this is normal.
What if you could embrace the set back and realize it is a catalyst in helping you move forward? What if the set back isn’t really a set back at all but actually part of the progress to success?
Even if this true, how can you feel more confident with dealing with them?
Realign Your Nervous System in Our Live Online Dog Training Program
How can you feel more grounded? When you are more grounded, its easier to move through set backs with ease and grace. When you are more stressed, it’s very difficult to move through them as easily.
There are so many ways to help your body ground:
- Breathing through your belly. Breathing through your chest increases stress. When you breath through your belly it calms down your body.
- Your parasympathetic nervous kicks in when you have a longer out breath than in breath. Think of counting in to the count of four and out to the count of 8.
- Also breathing in to the count of four, holding for the count of seven and breathing out to the count of eight, is also very calming.
- Alternate nostril breathing is also great to do.
- Shaking your entire body is great to ground. You can jump up and down. You can also lay down. When laying down point and flex your toes, this will cause your body to shake too. You may need to do these your dog is in the other room. The shaking may cause your dog to increase in arousal.
- Eye patching can be very helpful as well.
- Tapping and Rapid Eye is helpful too. These are great for releasing trauma in your body. Check out Paula Bronte. She has so much information on tapping and rapid eye. She also has a Youtube Channel.
Join us in our live online dog training program from Setbacks to Success. Contact us to learn more about the program.
Reading Your Dog’s Behavior Can Help You Through Setbacks
When your dog is really stressed, the cortex part of the brain shuts down. The cortex is the thinking part of the brain. When your dog is stressed, he or she cannot learn or think properly. Now reactions and old habits become more dominant. It is important that your dog’s stress level is lower, in order to train your dog.
When working with behavioral issues, you are aiming for your dog to be minorly stressed. Having your dog be completely relaxed is unrealistic. Instead, aim for a minor amount of frustration / anger, anxiety / fear, etc.
Check out this article on reading dog behavior. Think of gradients of stress. You want your dog at a lower level of fear/anxiety, frustation/anger, etc.
If your dog holds his/her tail low when stressed. Look for the tail being a bit higher rather than at its lowest point. The opposite is true if your dog holds his /her tail high.
The idea is the same for each body part (eyes, mouth, ears, tail, body posture, etc.). Can the tension be a bit lower in the body? You want to train your dog when his stress level is minor rather than at the highest point.
When your dog is at a lower level of stress, you can begin re-training the behavior that you are wanting to create successfully with your dog.
Re-Train the Behavior and Break Down It into Successful Steps
How did you initially train the new behavior? If those steps worked, you will want to use the same or similar steps. With Diego we gave him treats when he moved towards the car and then immediately let him walk away. He knew that good things would happen when he moved towards the car. He also knew that we were not going to keep pressuring him. He knew he would get a break to integrate what he learned before he had to move towards the car again. This increased confidence and built his trust level with us.
Did you use counter conditioning? This is when you pair the trigger (stressful situation) with something positive such as food. Remember you have to have your dog at a lower level of stress in order for your dog to want to eat and learn. Make sure your dog is only minorly triggered.
Lessen the intensity of the trigger by doing one of the following to keep your dog at a lower level of stress:
- Increase your dog’s distance from the trigger.
- If the trigger is a noise, lower the volume of the trigger.
- Keep the interactions with the trigger short and give frequent breaks.
- Change only one variable at a time. If your dog is triggered by dogs. Only work with one dog that is calm and holding. Changing too many variables all at once will overwhelm your dog, and your dog won’t be able to learn.
It can be helpful to watch videos to help you read your dogs behavior. When I work with clients through online dog training, reading dog behavior can very helpful by watching your dog’s behavior in a video. Take videos of your dog and share them with me online or with others. Slow down the videos to learn how to read your dog’s behavior.
Breaks During Dog Training are Important
Pushing and pressuring doesn’t create success. It creates burn out. You need to take breaks during the week and during the actual training sessions. You can train for a few minutes and then take a break for a few minutes. Repeat this so that you have frequent breaks within your training sessions.
Also, it is important to NOT train everyday. You have to determine the number of days that are best to train your dog in a week. For most dogs 3-5 times a week is plenty. They need a day off, just like you do.
Make Dog Training Fun
How can make dog training fun for both you and your dog?
When taking breaks:
- Add play with toys
- Calm petting or Tellington Touch
- Use a variety of treats or use treats that your dog loves. Kibble or dry treats may not be motivating enough for your dog. Here are some treat ideas.
While you are training with your, think of ways to make it fun. You can turn the training into a game!
Here are some ways to change training into a game:
- Once you are ready to move away from the trigger (scary or stressful stimuli = person, dog, car, etc.), run away from it. Running away can be more fun than walking away.
- Use toys while training your dog. If your dog wants toy, you can replace the food reward with a game of play. This could include
- Fetch
- Tug
- When giving the food reward, do something fun with the food. Here are some options:
- Drop it on the ground / floor and do a “go find it” game.
- Toss them into the air and have your dog catch the treat.
- Turn it into a game with enrichment toys.
Get more fun ideas from other dog owners. Imagine taking our live online dog training program with other dog owners. We will help each other to create dog training to be more fun for both you and your dog. Join our live online dog training program from Setbacks to Success. Contact myself, Johanna, if you are interested.
Meditation
This a great way to ground yourself and your dog. You can meditate alone or meditate with your dog. You can mediate before, during, or after your dog training session.
Here are is a mediation that you can do with your dog before or after training your dog.
If you meditate, while you are training your dog, meditate in a way that brings you into the moment. Take in the sights, sounds, smells, and tactile feelings in your body. Pay attention and connect with your dog on a deeper level.
Yoga and qigong are great for moving meditation ideas too.
Get Perspective Through Online Dog Training
Journaling can help you gain perspective. It’s easy to see a bad day as a setback in your progress. It is important to see the bigger picture. Look at weeks, months or even years to see the progress that you have made. On a day to day basis behavior is going to vary. Looking at larger chunks of time can allow you to actually see the progress that you are making with your dog.
You can also journal your answers to some specific questions below:
- What was my dog’s behavior like a _____ (year, month, etc.) ago? What is my dog’s behavior like this _____ ( month, week)?
- How has my dog’s behavior improved?
- What training methods have been working with my dog?
- How can I appreciate my dog more?
- How can I express gratitude towards my dog and the progress that we have made together?
Journal over a period of weeks or months about your dog’s behavior and training. See how it changes and improves over time.
We will listen to your perspective and help you get back on track in our live online dog training program from Setbacks to Success. Contact us to learn more about this amazing program.
Learn to Enjoy the Training Journey in Our Live Online Dog Training Program
It is important to enjoy the training journey to feel success. Part of enjoying the journey is doing the above suggestions. The other part is allowing your mind to have some positive thoughts. Your brain wants to focus on the negative. Instead, remind it to focus on questions. Questions open up space and give your brain something better to wonder about.
What you focus on, is what you create. Your brain will create more of what you think about. So be aware of where your focus is going. You want to energetically shift to more positive or higher vibrartion energy that consists of joy and happiness as best that you can.
When you are not in that space, that is okay. Just be with those emotions and love yourself in that space. Have compassion and understanding towards yourself. When you are ready, you can shift to a higher vibration. There are many questions that can help you shift.
Take the control of your dog. Instead, focus on the energy that you are carrying around your dog. You aren’t trying to control your dog. You are focusing on your energy and your emotions. This will then trickle into your dog’s field and your dog will co-regulate with you.
How and wonder questions are great to use. Here are some ideas:
- How can I enjoy the training journey with my dog?
- I wonder how we can be a team.
- How can training be more fun for the both of us?
- What are some fun activities that I can do with my dog?
- How can I focus more on what is going right with my dog?
- I wonder how I can be more present with my dog.
- Etc.
How Do You Move Through Setbacks and Get Back to Success with Your Dog?
Are you struggling with a dog that performs well and then acts out again? Does your dog improve and then react yet again? We understand your pain and are personally hear to help you with your dog. Let’s help both you and your dog to feel peace and enjoy the training.
In this course we will be focusing on the human end of dog training. You will be learning about yourself and what you can do differently with your dog to get back to success. During our live sessions together, you will gain awareness on how to shift your energy,. During the next week, you will then, apply these tools while you are training your dog.
Join our live online dog training program From “Setbacks to Success”. In this program you will learn the following:
- How to move through your thoughts of failure and get back on track with your goals.
- Gain perspective so you can see the bigger picture of your dog’s behavior.
- Learn how to regulate your nervous system so that you can feel more grounded when training your dog.
- Learn the steps you need to create to reach your goals with your dog.
- Know when to stop training and take breaks.
- Become good at reading your dog’s behavior so you can train your dog when he/she is receptive to learn.
- How to enjoy the training journey by shifting your mindset and emotions.
- Build and strengthen your relationship with your dog as you work as a team.
This is an interactive course focusing on the human end of dog training! The entire group will be working together and cheering everyone onward!
The course will be live online through Zoom. We will walk you through the steps that you need to personally take to create success with your dog! Let’s help you gain peace of mind now!
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