Episode 21: Pressure, Part Two

Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Canine Connection
podcast. Today, Lori and I are going to continue
talking about pressure. And in today's episode,
we're actually going to talk about what are the
actual techniques? What do we actually do to
help our dogs with pressure? Just a little reminder
is that the way we view pressure is it's something
that our dogs feel that's not comfortable. So
remember, everything is not pressure. If your
dog's looking curiously at something, like little
Miss Zaina, like, oh, what's over there? That's
not pressure. That's being nosy. Right? Pressure
is uncomfortable. And that really shouldn't be
that hard for people to understand because everybody's
been under pressure, right? In some way, shape,
form or another. We're under pressure when we
go in the ring. And all people talk about is
how uncomfortable they are going in the ring,
right? We're under pressure, deadlines, things
in life. You know, there's pressure and pressure
is uncomfortable. And it's so uncomfortable that
we want to get away from the pressure, just like
the dogs do. Right. As a matter of fact, there
is a thing in mental management because I have
felt I remember reading about this years ago
and I felt this before. And now it's good that
I read it because when I feel it, I'm like, don't
do that. It actually says that people. Quite
often when they're competing and they're feeling
a lot of pressure, they will subconsciously sabotage
themselves so that they no longer have to feel
the pressure. That's how uncomfortable it is,
right? So I think everybody could kind of relate
to that, right? So the dogs are uncomfortable.
So the old way that we used to train. And I remember
like I can distinctly hear certain people saying
this and it's not just throw shade on them. It's
like that's what we did. Right. It's like, yes,
I know the dog is uncomfortable, but it just
has to do it anyway because that's just how it
is. Right. But for certain dogs like Zeal, he
couldn't he couldn't do it like he was so uncomfortable
that he couldn't do it. And that's what happens
to many dogs. And second thing for me was, well.
Does he have to be that uncomfortable? Or can
I make him more comfortable or less uncomfortable,
right? So how do I change his feelings from negative
feelings to positive feelings? So we kind of
in the past did this like with healing. So for
example, you heal towards a wall. So if you have
a young dog, a green dog, and you heel it towards
a wall, what's it going to do? Move back, stare
at the wall, like, hello, you're running me into
the wall, crazy lady. So we do games, right?
So we'll like head towards the wall and go, yes,
and then reward the dog and get a little closer
to the wall and say, yes. um and reward the dog
and get a little closer so now the closer you
get to the wall instead of the dog going god
oh god we're hello we're running into a wall
this is crazy the dog's like any second you're
gonna play that game and i go yes and we back
away and we reward the dog and we get a little
closer yes and we back away and reward so now
the closer the dog gets to the wall the more
animated they get, the more happy they get. I
used to sometimes I used to teach my dogs like
to hit the wall with their feet. And I used to
like get close to the wall and go hit that wall.
And they'd go, really? I'm like, yes. So the
closer we get to the wall, they'd like leap and
hit the wall with their front feet. So now it
became even more of a game, right? run into the
wall so you could have the dog touch it you could
have the dog put their front feet on it or you
could just release the dog right each time uh
release the dog and reward it now here are the
two critical pieces for teaching pressure work
And the two pieces that people struggle with
on people feel like when they mark, they must
immediately shove the food in the dog's mouth.
That's not correct. Right. You have time. And
what's more important to the dog is getting released
off the pressure because that's what they want
more than anything. Yeah. Right. So you're really
nervous and someone goes, it's OK. Here, like,
have a piece of food. And you're like, have a
piece of food? I'm ready to puke. I just want
to get the frig out of here. What are you doing?
Right? Like, don't try and shove. So, I mean,
I would have to be a super high value piece of
food, but I still probably wouldn't want to eat
it at that moment. Right. Right. Right. So the
dog and a behaviorist once told me that the most
valuable reinforcer for the dog is to get released
off the pressure. Right. Right. So. Yeah, go
ahead. Well, I was just going to, I try to use
a little bit of an example for my students. So
they kind of have like that visual. I'm just
like, I usually use like that little term of
like, it's like pretend it's like a prep, like
you're in a pressure cooker. Like you, what do
you want to do? You want to, you want to release,
you want to get out, you want to take that lid
off. to relieve that feeling, that horrible,
like heavy, heavy feeling of that pressure. It's
so uncomfortable. So when you talk about, so
that's what I was trying to explain. biggest
the biggest highest reinforcer you can give the
dog is to alleviate them getting out of that
pressure is to release them out of that pressure
right so it's like taking the lid off right so
so as soon as we feel when we see the dog we
were sending them into pressure or we're having
something you know like a judge or a friend play
judge come in and create the pressure we release
the dog out of there and i always try to just
use that little analogy that visual Yeah, that's
perfect. And then you can reward the dog. You
can give them a cookie. You can give them a toy.
But the biggest mistake people make is they go,
yes, they step towards the animal, which now
is putting even more pressure on them. And they
feed them something. And now the dog's standing
under pressure this whole time. So not, so you're
really not only are you probably not even reinforcing
the dog, you're almost, it can become an aversive,
right? You're almost punishing the dog. Like
you did it, you look, you're doing well, but
while your reward is you need to stay under the
pressure, like what? Right. So I think if people
just understand that concept of like, Get away
from the pressure. Right. If you're yeah, if
you're walking down the street and a stranger
is walking up behind you, are you going to want
to stand there and wait for them to get to you?
No. Every instinct in your body is going to be
screaming to move away. Right. Get out. Get out
of there. So. We want to release the dog off
the pressure. That's the one piece that everybody
struggles with. The other piece is, and this
is probably kind of like an A and B, is that
we want the dog to be right. Because if the dog
is wrong, you're adding pressure to pressure.
And we never want to add pressure to pressure.
the dog is never wrong what does that mean a
it means you have to mark and release the dog
off the pressure ideally before the dog makes
the mistake of looking away or moving away Right.
So before the dog is overwhelmed by the pressure,
when the pressure is still light, you want to
mark release off the pressure and reinforce.
So, again, this is not a test. Right. We're not
like, well, how long can my dog stay under pressure?
Because, you know, in the ring, my dog's going
to have to be there. No, no, no, no. That's not
what we're doing. or trying to change the dog's
feelings about pressure to something positive,
which means as soon as a tiny little bit of pressure
is applied, you go, yes, release off the pressure,
reward. I think a big mistake when people try
to do this is that they're actually waiting to
see, they want to see the dog react to the pressure
before they are marking and releasing, right?
So, hold on. So, sorry about that. happens is
people wait too long right and then because because
they it's hard for them to just to to do it without
having to see the dog make the mistake I guess
is what I'm trying to say I know why is that
I don't know I don't know what it is because
like when I have like people students do it I'm
like you waited too long you know I'm like literally
like let's Let's put like, let's just talk about
like a visual. So our listeners kind of know
what we would be talking about, like an example.
So like, let's say Petra and I are training and
I've got Stormy out and I want to work on some
judge pressure with her. Right. So my game is
going to be, I stand in front of Stormy. She's
standing there like we're doing like a novice
stand for exam. And I say to Petra, all right,
you walk toward her like you're going to. be
the judge and do the exam, but I'm not going
to wait for Stormy. to look at Petra or move
away from Petra. I'm going to make her right,
right off the bat and immediately sort of capture
that. I want her to, I want her to have that
good feeling of pressure right away. I'm not
going to wait for her to look away. I'm just
going to say, Petra, go. She takes like a step
towards Stormy and I go, yes. And I'll just throw
a cookie away. So in the other direction so that
she's going. away from the judge. I'm not going
to wait until Petra goes like all the way up
to Stormy. And of course, Stormy is going to
look at her because now she's made the mistake.
Like, so this is what we're trying to talk about
is don't wait. for the dog to make the mistake,
right? And when they're making the mistake, it's
because they're uncomfortable, right? So you
waited until they were uncomfortable. Instead,
when the key here is when you first do it, it's
when I take one step. So the dog's barely even
registering that I move towards them, like just
barely registered it. But this is the thing,
but that's the thing I think people get, like
they don't understand is the dog's... Like even
the judge coming in, as soon as that judge is
moving toward them, even though the dog isn't
giving us any physical cues that like looking
at the judge or moving away, they know that judge
is coming. Yeah, they're aware. They're totally
aware. So that's why you need to do it early
over and over. And what happens is like maybe
on the first step, you do it two or three times
and then you let the. Judge take two or three
steps and then you do that a few times. And then
what starts to happen if you do it like that
is a dog starts to go. When this person approaches
me, it triggers a really fun game. A, I get to
get out of there and B, I get a reinforcer. Right.
So now what you're doing is you're completely
changing the relationship. So now instead of
going, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, the person's
coming. They're like. the person's coming, the
person's coming. Right. And they, their engagement
gets super strong. They get super excited. They're
like riveted on you, on the handler. They're
like. on the edge of their seat. And they think
it's a super fun game only. And if on the first
session, maybe the person never even gets close
to my dog. That's perfectly fine. Maybe the person
never even touches my dog. That's perfectly fine.
Right. Cause it's not about, and this is where
I think people go wrong. They're so like the
exercises, the judge comes in and touches the
dog. So that's where they feel like they need
to get. Instead of saying, no, no, no, it's not
about the judge touching the dog. It's not about
doing the exercise. It's about slowly over time
changing the dog's feelings about the pressure.
Right. Not about getting it done. Right. Getting
the thing done. Right. Because what happens a
lot with probably just some of the old school
ways. before my time. I didn't really, I wasn't
doing it then. But what I see with people who
have been training longer than me and I'm helping
them or I'm watching them is they inadvertently
apply more pressure when the dog is already under
pressure and is struggling, thinking that they
are going to sort of, like you said. correct
them under pressure, which is like the worst
thing you could do because you're just layering
pressure on pressure. So they would do like a
stand for exam and the judge comes in and the
dog moves away or the dog, you know. turns around
and whatever, but the dog is definitely suffering
under pressure and is having trouble. And then
what happens is the person, the handler comes
in and they go, no, you stand, you stand, you
know, and, and now we're forcing the dog to stand
there and endure the pressure, which if it was
like you or me, right. And I said, Petra, just
stand here. And this person needs to come up
and, you know, touch you and look in your hair.
And I start yelling at you. Stand still, Petra.
Stop it. You're just going to feel worse and
worse and worse. Right. Yeah. Or they think they're
helping like, wait, wait, wait. That's pressure.
Right. It's pressure. So I think it's. under
it's really understanding like being able to
feel what the dog feels like I've become so hyper
aware of pressure yeah like constantly like if
um I can it's kind of that weird thing like you
said like you know how you the dog the dog even
though someone's not really close the dog knows
they're approaching like I'll be outside or at
a store or something looking at my dog and I
can't see because I'm looking at my dog but I
know somebody's coming up on my right side like
I can feel that yeah and I can feel as they get
closer and closer and I'm like all right I need
to move away or right you know and the more you
can feel that the more you can start to feel
what the dog is feeling And you can kind of start
anticipating where pressure points are when they're
being applied. And you can say, all right, I
need to move now because if I wait a little longer,
it's going to be too much pressure. My dog's
going to be uncomfortable. And what did I gain?
Nothing. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So the other thing
with the pressure work is when I'm doing these
games and I'll describe some more of them. But
when I'm doing these games, if I make a mistake,
which everybody does, like I've done it. What's
going to happen? You're going to mess up your
timing. Wait too long. Your dog's going to look
away. The worst thing you can do at that moment
is tell your dog it's wrong. You messed up. You're
supposed to mark and release before the dog is
so uncomfortable that they're going to look.
So if you waited too long, that's on you. That's
not on the dog. So then I do something that blows
people's minds. I say, I tell them, say yes,
release off the pressure and feed anyway. Just
pretend the dog did it right. Right. But wait,
aren't you reinforcing the incorrect behavior?
No, you made the mistake. You're giving your
dog. You're like, sorry, buddy. Here you go.
My bad. Now on the next few reps, you better
make darn sure you mark release the dog off the
pressure. early so it can't possibly look away
and no it does not teach the dog that looking
away is what gets it's just covering for a mistake
you made it's making sure you don't add any negativity
to it and I'm like just trust me on this just
I promise you it's not going to go awry just
do that but then make sure on the next few reps
you mark release off the pressure early enough
so that there's no way your dog's going to look
yeah right whatever's coming at it or freeze
or get upset or worried or whatever the case
right so it's that whole concept of making the
dog right um not worrying if the dog makes a
mistake acknowledging that it's your mistake
just tell the dog they're right anyway and then
um you know the next few reps make sure you're
correct so I guess I kind of call this the pressure
off game, right? So it's basically like either
the dog is stationary and a person and someone
pressure approaches the dog, right? So the only
thing that can approach a dog is a human or another
animal, right? So the person approaches, you
release the dog out of that position, sit or
a stand. and you mark release a dog away from
that pressure so you could toss a cookie you
could say yes you could toss a cookie you could
turn and throw something you could turn and the
dog can run to you you can decide how your reinforcement
looks so that would be applicable if you know
the dog is sitting or standing person's approaching
from the side is the easiest, I think, for most
dogs. The front is probably the second most challenging.
A person approaching from behind is usually the
hardest. Would you agree with that? Yeah, I would.
I definitely would. Well, because, well, if you
ever want, you know, if you ever do some work
with, you know, having someone play judge and
coming up and doing some pressure from behind
and when the dog's in front, you can watch their
ears. You know, that person's far away. the judge
comes up, the dog's ears go flicking back. I
immediately know that my dog definitely feels
that pressure. It's super hard from behind, definitely.
Yeah, behind is really hard. So what I would
do is I always do easiest first. So I work on
approaching from one side, then I work on approaching
from the other side. And it is interesting because
dogs will be, it'll be easier for them on one
side. than the other for some weird reason yeah
but that's a thing i don't know why but whatever
fyi so be prepared one side will be harder than
the other yeah then i do approaching from in
front and then the by now the dog's starting
to understand the game so that when you start
the person approaching from the behind the dog's
like i know this game and so it goes a little
more quickly and it's a little bit easier for
the dog because now you've already done it from
other directions so there's something approaching
the dog then there's the dog moving towards pressure
right which would be the dog moving so whether
it could be running towards pressure it could
be with moving towards pressure with us so pressure
could be a barrier so we talked about like moving
in towards a wall moving towards a corner moving
towards a ring gate and then moving into a tight
space like if you're doing a dog's doing a search
like an aisle or a corner or like agility like
approaching certain obstacles or approaching
corners you know dark corners are hard for dogs
Right. Barriers, people. So they could be approaching
a person or many people. If there are people
like a steward's table or people, spectators.
I was like, I couldn't think of the word spectators.
Spectators outside the ring. Right. So approaching
that can be the dog can. feel pressure from that.
And the dog can just generally feel pressure
from the environment. Now, every dog doesn't
feel all these pressures. Some do. Right. Some
feel pressure from some things, not others. Right.
You have to kind of figure that out. Yeah. And
you'll notice that, you know, like some dogs
don't really care about like. judge pressure.
Some dogs really care about judge pressure. Like
I've got a dog that could care less about barrier
pressure. I can literally, gates can fall on
her. I can run her right into a gate, anything
like that. She doesn't care, but other pressures
might affect her. So you're going to definitely
see what affects your dog differently for sure.
Yeah. And you want to work on the easiest pressures
first. So we're walking, moving towards pressure.
I basically do the same concept, right? So let's
say we're heading towards a barrier, like a wall
or a gate, right? So you start far away and you're
nowhere near it and you just go, yes, step back,
right? Move back. So you're drawing the dog away
from the pressure. Reinforce. Move a little closer.
Yes, reinforce. Just as Lori just said, during
all this, you should be watching your dog like
a hawk because your dog is going to tell you
ahead of time when the pressure is coming onto
their radar. Their ears, right, will flick or
move in the direction of the pressure. Their
eyes might change a little bit. Some dogs, maybe
their nose starts twitching a little bit. So
watch your dogs for those early signs. If you
see an early sign, mark, get the dog off the
pressure, reinforce. Because if you keep going,
you're going to end up going too far. Now, again,
you know, it's a learning process. You're going
to miss some signs. It is a learning process.
And I think we need to say. that if you've never
done it and you're listening and kind of trying
to envision how this would work, this would be,
we should put a video up, a couple of videos
up for this stuff. I think what happens is people
don't quite understand, like we will literally,
like if we're 20 feet from a barrier and we're
going to work on this, we will literally heal
a step or two toward it. And then we'll mark
and release. When we say we do it early, we fucking
do it early. It is a step or two. It's not halfway.
It's not four feet. Early is literally where
you're really going to, if you were watching
it, you'd be like, wow, you do it that early?
Yes. Because if you were walking toward a building,
you're going to know as soon as you take a step
or two, you're heading toward a barrier. And
depending on how sensitive your dog is to that
pressure, they're going to notice that pretty
quick and they're going to react. So that's why
we always say, pay attention. They're going to
tell you with their ears or they're going to
start to slow down or you're going to notice
those things. But we do. We start super, super
early. Sorry, I had to say that. No, no, no.
That's really good because I know people never
really get like how early. Well, because I think
if you say early, they're like, oh, well, maybe
two feet, three feet before the very, no way.
Like that's actually super close. No, like very
far away. Yeah. Yeah. And so again, so what happens
is, especially once they start understanding
the game, like the closer you get, the more animated
they get. So now if I, so end result, I have
a fully trained dog. My dog understands the game.
I start healing towards people. People actually
become a cue to my dog to get happy and animated
and they'll start bouncing like and driving into
me with their eyes like, come on, do the release.
I know it's coming. Let's go. Well, it's that
same engagement piece you talk about, like when
we play judge and the judge starts heading toward
and we see more engagement happening as the judge
approaches. It's the same thing as when you're
heading toward a barrier. If you played the game
enough that that's going to just trigger the
dog to become more and more animated and more
engaged with you for sure. Right. And so now
you're getting the. complete opposite effects.
So instead of the dog having a negative reaction,
not only are they having a positive reaction,
you're getting like an increase in arousal, increase
in engagement. And the dog's like, I know how
to win this game. And they get really confident,
which is pretty, it's really cool to see when
that's like fully trained, but that's kind of
like your end goal. So if you start like 20 feet
away, you do two or three releases at 20 feet,
a few more at 18, a few more at 17 or 16. And
now you watch your dog, right? Because some dog
by. Dogs by 15 feet might start to go, oh, this
is so I'm going to do a whole bunch at 15 until
I see my dog's face totally relaxed, totally
like good. Then I'll go to 13. But if my dog's
at 15 and it's like, oh, this is. oh ma the building
i'm like don't worry about it i'm gonna keep
staying at 15 and it maybe it's more than one
session right until my dog's super comfortable
there then i'll try for 13 right because again
the goal is not can i get to the wall today the
goal is you know, can I change my dog's feelings?
And once the dogs understand the games and you
do them in more and more context, then you introduce
them to something new. They pick up on it more
and more quickly because they're like, it's that
game, right? They understand. And we do we apply
it the same way. Right. So it's the same thing
as like releasing them out. So as we're heading
toward the barrier, we'll go, yes. And then we
release backwards to release them out of that
pressure. Right. Just so everybody can kind of
see that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Get them out of there.
So that's what I always say to my students. I'm
just like, get out. Get them out. Get them out.
Get them out. Or if I'm like. reviewing a student
video and I'm watching and I'm like, I'm like
going, yes, yes, yes. Just say yes and get out
of there. And then I'm like, yeah. So on my first,
yes, that's when you were supposed to mark. I'm
like screaming at them. Yeah, I know. Well, I
do it. I do it like in, I do it live. I'm like,
I know I've got to shut the hell up. I'm like
marking for them. Get out of there. No, you waited
too long. Yeah. So so I do that. So another thing
that I do. So I had this forward thing going.
So that was a good thing. But then my dog had
a tremendous amount of trouble with pressure
behind when I was in front of the dog, not close
to the dog. Right. So pressure behind the dog.
horribly uncomfortable and dogs really struggle
a lot with that. So I was like, all right, how,
what am I going to do? Like, how am I going to
make the dog be comfortable? Not just under pressure,
but I actually want my dog so confident that
they back into the pressure, that they move into
the pressure. So I was training with someone
during the pandemic. And I, and so I'm like,
ah, we need to figure this out. I have to solve
this puzzle. So For conditioning, for like physical
therapy, because I did physical therapy on dogs,
as body awareness and for certain exercises,
we would put a platform behind the dogs and then
we would stand in front of the dog and the dog
would move backwards until their hind feet were
on the target, the platform. And they found that
super, super fun. Like they thought that was
the most fun thing in the planet. So anytime
I would. say legs, which is means find the target
with your back feet. My dogs will get super happy,
like crazy happy. So we're like, okay, what if
we put. The platform, the target, I use a mat
now just because it's easier to carry around,
but whatever. What if we use that? Because the
dog already has really strong, positive feelings
associated with the object, the platform or the
mat, and with the activity backing up to it.
So what if we do that? Similar concept, person
stands maybe far, like maybe 10, 15 feet behind
the dog. Right. I stay close because we're teaching
the dog the game. And I put the platform like
maybe just one to two feet behind the dog, not
like five feet, just one to two feet behind the
dog. Right. And I would just stand in front of
the dog and say to the dog legs, my dog would
back up, put their back feet on the platform.
Now they're moving into pressure. Even if the
pressure is so far away, they're not really,
it's okay. They're moving into the pressure.
And the second, both back feet are on the platform.
Yes, toss a cookie forward because now the dog
backed onto the platform. Now I'm releasing them
off the platform and forwards. So now I'm doing
this game over and over and the dog's like, oh
my God, this is so fun. And then I will incrementally
have the person move. 14 feet 13 feet 12 feet
11 feet 10 feet oftentimes in one to two sessions
the dog is having so much fun with the game and
they're so engrossed in the game that the person
can get all the way behind the dog and the dog's
just like yeah whatever it doesn't even care
like could care less so i've done this like at
seminars only if the dog must first before you
introduce any sort of pressure at all The dog
has to have that really strong relationship with
the prop. It has to be established ahead of time.
If you don't have that, it's not going to work.
Right. Right. You're just telling the dog to
do a task while they're under pressure. Well,
that's not what we're trying to do. Right. The
task we're asking the dog to do is a task the
dog thinks is the most fun thing on the planet.
Therefore, it's releasing a bunch of really good
chemicals and therefore the pressure becomes
like secondary. It's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's right. Right. That's when it's going to
work. Right. And that's why, you know, I. I love,
love introducing all that stuff to all my dogs
when they're puppies, because then you have that,
right? You just have those two, you have those
props with you. So you can, then they have that
just fantastic. Like I, if I take a mat, if I
pick up a mat and start carrying it, my dogs
are like mauling me. Yeah. They just want to
get on that mat. That's how strong of that relationship
they have with that. that item so that's when
you can like Petra said use it for yeah and don't
hang don't hang the mat on a ring gate because
your dog will tear the whole ring down because
that happens like oh yeah that was not a good
idea just hanging it there that was not good
yeah but so you want to establish that when they're
puppies so when they're puppies but even if you
don't have a puppy if you have an adult dog You
just every day, you know, back up to the mat.
Yes. Feed back up to Matt. Yes. Feed. So I have
the dog back to the mat. I also have the dog
run to the mat. Yeah. So my dog runs to the mat.
I don't care if they sit on it, stand on it.
Yeah. I just care that they're like somebody
part is on it. Right. Yeah. I'm like, ready,
ready, ready. Go, go, Matt. And my dog runs to
the mat. The second it's on it, I go, yes, toss
a cookie. And I do that game over and over. Day
after day, week after week. And I can put the
mat further and further. So my dog sees a mat
and it's like, let me at it. It races to the
mat, gets on the mat. So now I have two ways
I can use the mat. I can use the mat to have
the dog run towards pressure. And I can use the
mat to have the dog back into pressure. Right.
So if the dog if you want the dog to run towards
pressure, let's say it's a person standing there
or it's a dark corner that the dog's weird about.
You take the mat like maybe 15, 20 feet in front
of what the dog is afraid, nervous about, uncomfortable
about, whatever. Send the dog to the mat. Yes.
Release the dog off the mat. Move the mat a couple
inch, you know, a foot or two closer. Send the
dog to the mat. Yes. Now, when a dog, if you
move the mat to a certain point and the dog starts
running short of the mat, they're telling you,
I'm not comfortable going all the way out there.
Right. So just pull the mat back. You just move
too fast, right? You want it easier. Yeah. Make
it easier. Bring the mat back. Right. Send the
dog to the mat. Now, when people see this in
action, it is pretty clear because I've done
this in seminars in real time with dogs that
have never done this before. And everybody's
watching and you can see the dog starts to run
short. And I'll hear people that are out, you
know, participants start saying, oh, he's not
comfortable. And I'm like, yes, that's right.
He's not comfortable. Perfect. You notice that
you understand that. So simplify it, pull the
mat closer. Right. So you can do that with anything
that the dog is uncomfortable going away from
you. Right. So you're not involved. The dog's
leaving you. So like for agility, like let's
say the dog doesn't want to, you know, some agility
dogs don't like corners. They'll avoid them.
Right. So you can do this game. You're sending
the dog away from you. Towards pressure, but
you're out of the picture. So that's the one
way you can do it. The other way is to have the
dog back into pressure by backing to the mat.
So I do that with barriers because for competition
obedience with cert like command discrimination,
a lot of times they're relatively close to a
barrier and they need to like they want to move
away from it. So I teach my dogs literally to
like. Go do a pushback down and their butt knocks
into the ring gate. It knocks into the wall.
It knocks into people. I do all these games with
the mat, with the dog backing to the mat. So
I have the dog move backwards to the mat in a
stand, in a sit, and in a down. You don't need
all three, depending on your sport. For our sport,
it's good to have all three. But again, the concept
remains the same. You start far away from the
pressure. You make the dog successful over and
over. Move incrementally closer. Only move closer
when the dog is comfortable enough to do it.
And eventually you will have a dog. So like even
now, if I'm in the ring and and this happens,
especially with bigger dogs, if we do command
discrimination and they have you set the dog
up with their back end relatively close to the
ring gate. Well, that's a problem for my dogs
because my dogs do a push back down. Well, now
your butt went from being like. six or eight
feet in front of the gate to only being like
one or two feet in front of the gate. Like maybe
my dog's tail is hitting the gate. Right. So
if I don't train for that, or even if the gate
is two feet behind, but there's stuff going on
behind the gate to a dog, it's going to feel
like that pressure is on top of that. Yep. Definitely.
Yeah. Yeah. And other other scenarios are, you
know, when you're healing in competition obedience,
like there are times where it feels like the
judge calls that about turn or left turn or right
turn really, really late. And you're literally
on top of that ring gate, which is barrier pressure.
So we do tons of training like that where, you
know, we're putting the dogs right up to the
barriers, playing pressure games off the barrier
so that they're totally OK with those. that feeling
of being that close to them for sure. And same
thing, like, you know, other examples would be
articles. Like we're sending the dogs out to
article piles. There's a weird, scary dude or
person out there acting as judge. We're sending
them into pressure, right? Or go outs. We're
sending them into pressure. So even a novice
recall, like you're back, you could be like to
like the steward table or. The crowd is behind
you and your dog has to recall toward you, which
you can be pressure too, and all the stuff behind
you. So they're coming toward pressure. So these
are all examples of why we do these things to
apply. And a super common thing I see in the
novice recall is the dogs don't front because
they haven't practiced the judge walking behind
them as a dog is running towards you. Right.
But I also see it. And so, for example, this
was interesting. I had a student. It was in my
pressure class. She was doing nose work and she
was in like, so you're in a store and an aisle.
She was in an aisle in the store. Right. And
so the dog is a little bit ahead of her, but
the aisle is narrow. And there was a person.
So it's it's the handler, then the dog. And then
there was a. an employee doing something so now
the dog has the aisle on each side on two sides
and the employee so now that's three sides there's
only one side open where the handler is and the
handler started to converge on the dog and the
dog was like i'm out yeah right so again this
is where we have to be aware of where are all
the pressure points and what is our role Is are
we taking pressure off the dog or are we actually
making it worse by inadvertently adding even
more pressure to the dog? Right. So a perfect
example is like and this is very common in agility.
Obviously, ring entrances, very big issue in
obedience and rally. But I see it in agility
a lot. People have start line problems, not all
start line problems, but. a fair amount because
a dog wants to get out of the pressure they're
like sit stay and there's all this chaos going
on behind them right like they went through the
ring entrance the person's over there calling
next dog's up you know there's the um what do
they call the table where they're the timing
table i'm probably saying it wrong but whatever
there's a whole bunch of chaos going on and the
dog's like get me out of there and dogs will
just start doing quote unquote zoomies sniffing
do all these displacement behaviors and they're
like i don't know why the dog's just like i want
to get out of out of this pressure right um so
it all has to be trained but also like what is
your impact on that pressure so i've seen people
move into the ring And then set their dog in
a way that they're scrunched between the steward's
table and the handler and the judge as they're
taking the leash off. And I'm like, oh, and the
dog's like, oh, yeah. So I always strategically
enter the ring very strategically and turn in
a way that my dog is in the least amount of pressure
while I take the leash off, for example. Or when
I'm moving from point A to point B, how can I
get there in a way that takes some pressure off
my dog before I set the dog up for the next exercise?
Because as soon as I set them up for an exercise,
they're going to be under pressure again. So
these are all things that you want to look at.
uh, when you're working with your dog, like what
is your role? Make sure you're not inadvertently
applying pressure. So even when we're doing these
pressure games, like when we're doing backing
into pressure, people move into, they like move
into the dog. Like, you know, they move towards
the dog's nose to make the dog back up. Well,
dude, you're, you're squishing the dog, right?
You know, back off, just use a hand signal, stand
off to the side a little bit. And if the dog
is uncomfortable backing up or moving forward,
don't stand there and go, back up, back up. Come
on, back up. No, you're adding pressure. So true.
I just totally envisioned that whole thing. Because
I see it. I know. I know. I'm not trying to be
mean. Like, people aren't aware. Exactly. Yeah,
exactly. So I'm just saying, like, I'm trying
to exaggerate so that it is kind of funny. you
have to like learn, like maybe what I'm doing
is adding some pressure and maybe that's, maybe
I need to modify what I'm doing. Let me figure
out how I can modify this so that I'm putting
less pressure on my dog. And the more you examine
it, the more you think about it, the more you
look at it, the more aware you will become. And
then the better able you'll be, you know, the
more aware of pressure you are and how it's impacting
your dog moment by moment by moment, the more
you're going to be able to help your dog handle
that pressure. I think a lot of it is they need
to learn how to be. We need to help them. By
doing these games, change their relationship
with pressure and they need to be able to learn
to function under pressure. And I think what
we have to be very careful of is not to set our
dogs up to fail. We kind of sometimes inadvertently
want to train to make sure that they can handle
pressure by all of a sudden, you know, I've seen
this like at matches and things like that, training
parties where I hear people say. I want a lot
of pressure, so put pressure on the dog. Unless
the dog has been really trained well to be able
to handle that sort of pressure. We don't want
to, we don't want to make things worse by setting
the dogs up to fail under pressure. Does that
make sense? Yeah. And we also have to be really
proactive, right? Because this just happened
to me yesterday because people will, for whatever
reason, apply more, a little too much pressure,
right? But it's my dog, so it's my responsibility.
So it was, I was working on something with Zesty,
with Zaina, and she's very experienced. Experienced
people don't really bother her that much. I wanted,
I asked my training partner to put a lot of pressure
on her, but I was watching her in the mirror.
And then when I was rewarding her for handling
it, like mind you, she's highly, highly trained.
Like she's nine. She's been to multiple nationals
region. She's highly, she's. Been through all
this process like 10 times. Well, that's what
I want to talk about, you know? So the point
is, so, okay. So that was all fine. Then I took
Zesty out and I said, normal pressure. And I
took like three steps and Zesty's up running
past me and I turn around and I'm like, what
happened? He's like, well, I was stepping over.
I'm like, that is not normal pressure. Yeah.
Right. Right. I'm like, that's not what I wanted
for him. So I'm like, OK, now I have to remediate.
So now I have to do a bunch of games with him.
Like, yes, he's done the games, too. But in that
in that moment, in that exercise, because we
were working on an exercise that's very on his
weakest exercise. That's why I didn't want a
lot of pressure. Because it's his weakest exercise.
I'm working on building confidence in that exercise.
I wanted to work on the middle of the exercise.
And anyway, and then I had to go remediate that,
which I did and whatever. So I have to. And so
in that moment, my first reaction was not zesty,
naughty dog. Why are you up? I left you in a
stay, which is what most people would do. I turned
around. I go, what happened? Right. I need to
know that first. I need the information because
he said, I stepped over your dog. Well, guess
what? That's not Zesty's fault. Right. I, that
was not what was supposed to happen. And if I
then yelled at him, now he would just be standing
there, a nervous wreck with the person next to
him. Like, Oh God, Oh God, is he going to do
that weird thing? That's the point because you,
then you're going in the other direction and
now your dog has a crappy. response to pressure
like that's what i'm trying to explain like exactly
yeah because i see i see it a lot it's like my
dog needs to be able to handle all sorts of pressures
so i'm just going to make sure that we can do
that right here right here and there and in this
training session so apply lots of pressure and
if the dog hasn't been exposed to it correctly
and strategically so that they have a more comfortable
relationship with pressure you can go in the
opposite direction and then you've got shitty
feelings with pressure you don't want that and
then the dogs are going to struggle in the ring
right like because here's the reality i tell
people this all the time the ring is hard It
is hard. It's a test. It's artificial. Like retrieve
tests are artificial. They do not look like hunting.
I'm sorry. Let's be realistic here. Okay. That
is not hunting. You know, all these activities,
all these sports have artificial rules, right?
Like if my dog's running in the woods, there
is no such thing as a contact zone, an up contact
or a down contact. My dog's just running, jumping
on things, doing whatever. There are no. rules
right like who decided you have to enter the
weave poles from the right side like that's arbitrary
It's random. It's a rule. So it's all artificial.
So it all has and it's all meant to be challenging.
Therefore, it's all going to have some form of
pressure there in some way, shape or form. And
we need to teach our dogs how to handle that
pressure. But if I teach my dogs how to handle
the pressure in a positive way, the way we describe,
then when the dog. is in the ring and things
get really hard the dog is able to persevere
and push through right if the dog is like standing
there going oh god oh god oh god guess what it's
just a matter of time before the whole thing
has the cards comes crashing down because it
can't do it it's too nervous right you want a
dog that's confident that And that knows the
game, right? That knows, I know how to win this
game. I know how to do this. I know that, I know
what this means and how to win basically, right?
Exactly, exactly. So if, and I mean, the games
work so insanely well. So like Zeal basically
was terrified of everything under the sun. He
would flunk command discrimination signals a
lot, a lot. And so I worked. And the mat backing
to the mat for like, I think it was like six
or eight months. So 100 % of the time the mat
was behind him. The only time it wasn't behind
him in the ring. Yeah. And I remember one time
my training partner was standing next to him.
I left him on command discrimination. I turned,
I gave him the signal to change positions. He
changed positions and moved. and leaned into
my training partner that was acting as judge.
That's how extreme he went in the opposite direction.
And then you're like, well, that's great, but
it's training. So to me, one of the most absolutely
fascinating things I've ever seen to this day
in all my time of dog training. was when I was
at the national, it was multiple rings. It was
the final rounds. And I looked at the final four
rings and I'm like, if there's one ring, he's
going to mess up. It's going to be this one ring
signals because they were doing standing the
dog and they were doing go outs behind the, it
was, it was insanity. There was just pressure
everywhere. Two judges in the ring. It was crazy.
And I'm like, if he's going to flunk, he's going
to flunk signals, right? Like not, I wasn't like.
But I was realistic, right? So in the warm -up
ring, all I did was back him to that mat. Like
down to the mat, stand to the mat, back to the
mat. Reward, reward, reward, right? So I go in
the ring, heal him, leave, turn, look at him.
And I'm like, oh my God, he looks happy, right?
Judge gives me the single to down him. He downed
and backed up. Now, yes, one judge took off a
point for that. Did I care? I left that ring.
I texted my one friend because it was like live
streamed. I'm like, did you see that? Do you
believe that just happened? I'm like, no one
like I didn't even know like who to say it to
because I'm like, people aren't even going to
understand. Right, right, right. What just happened
that in the most intense pressure after having
been in the ring a million times, this dog just
went. backwards into a massive amount of pressure
in competition like The fact that that is even
possible, like to this day is mind boggling.
Like if you knew how Zeal was. Right. You know,
people only ever see the finished product. Of
course. They don't see how. Behind the scenes.
Yes. My God. All the flunking, all the struggling,
all the me trying to take in eight years to figure
this out. Just eight years. Like whatever. Right.
Oh my gosh. It's so true. To come up with all
these games and do them. Yeah. Like, so the whole
moral of that story is it does work and it will
hold up. However, it doesn't work overnight.
Just like anything. You have to work on it mindfully
and carefully. You have to be diligent with it
and you have to keep up with it. Right. Like
I do pressure games to this day with Zaina at
nine to this day with Zesty. five and a half
like and I you have to do it for their whole
career it just becomes part of your training
regimen it just becomes you know and and you'll
see sometimes they'll regress right sometimes
an area will get weak or it'll get you know you'll
go in the ring and you'll be like oh my dog really
hated that yeah okay I'm gonna go work on that
you know, for the next couple of weeks, really,
you know, help my dog through that. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, where you're able to see when they have
weaknesses in that, then you can just have that
fallback of having, having those tools to be
able to go back to. And kind of rebuild. Oh,
you want to just rebuild that. So they strengthen
up again, which is nice. Like that's where that,
like the mat lives in my car. I've got mats in
my car. And they're easy. You just drag them
in with you or wherever. Really nice. Really
good. Yeah. And if your dog has a really strong,
I forget who I was training with and we didn't
have them. And I'm like, here, just use my jacket.
Or just do, you know, whatever. Here, here's
a dog bed. Just use that. So the thing is too,
like you can be creative, right? Like actually
in one of my seminars, Mary did this. So her
dog was uncomfortable setting up in heel position
for some reason. We don't know why it doesn't
matter. Right. And then we were doing pressure
work and then she goes, huh, can I use the mat
and heel position? I'm like, I guess so. Try
it. I don't know. And she did it. She put the
mat there next, you know, and then said to the
dog. get into heel position, but on the mat and
the dog loved it and it worked great. So that
was totally her idea. Like I didn't think of
that. She thought of that. I've thought of a
bunch of different applications. I never thought
of that one. I'm sure there are more applications.
Like the mat can anchor the dog as well. It can
also act as an anchor. So if you follow the concepts
of Release the dog off the pressure. Don't add
pressure to pressure. Start with the pressure
very far away. Move incrementally, incrementally
closer. Read your dog. And then that the concept
is you're changing the dog's relationship to
pressure. If you take the foundation for lack
of whatever, the basic games, right? Back to
the mat, run to the mat. pressure off when you're
facing the dog, pressure off when the dog is
next to you. Right. You can be creative. Right.
And so I've like, I don't know that I've had
students take my classes in sports that I don't
even do. And I'm like, oh, well, let's try this
game here. Let's try that game there. Right.
And it works because the concept is changing
the dog's relationship to pressure. So you can
be creative. You know, you can use it in different
sports and different scenarios. Yeah, definitely.
Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. It's good stuff. Good
stuff. So I think, I think you just, you know,
the, you know. A couple of big takeaways is are
that you just you need to be able to recognize
when your dog is uncomfortable. Right. We always
go back to that. Reading your dog, reading your
dog, because we're always watching them because
that's like, you know, that's what they're going
to tell you with their body language that they're
they're feeling uncomfortable. And then that's
when you kind of know like that those are your
thresholds, you know, when the judge. Wow, when
the judge even starts coming immediately that
first step or two, I can see my dog starting
to get worried. So there's your threshold. That's
what I usually tell my students. Like look for
the threshold where you start to see the change
in your dog, the eye flick, the lip flick, the
ear flick, right? And that's where you're gonna,
that's your starting point. or before that even
is where you start playing games. Because people
get caught up in like mechanics. Like, okay,
they get caught up in like, this is the game.
I say, yes, release. Yes, release. And they forget
to actually watch the dog. Right. They get caught
up in the mechanics. I'm doing it. Okay. Person
starts 20 feet away. Now come closer, come closer,
come closer. And they forget that they're supposed
to be reading the dog in that process. Right.
And then the dog looks away and then they're
like, well, what the heck? Why did the dog look
away? Because you miss the signs before the dog
looked away saying, Hey, I'm starting to get
uncomfortable here. So again, cause we like,
well, all we ever talk about is videotape, right?
Yeah. But videotape will help you with that because
yeah, I get it, right? Like releasing off pressure
initially requires thought, right? Doing the
mechanics of everything requires thought and
your brain can only handle so much information
at the same time, at one time. So you may be
doing the mechanics and not. able in that moment
to also read the dog because you're tapped out.
But the video will show you and then that gives
you really good feedback. And then as you get
more proficient with the mechanics, you'll be
able to have enough extra brain space available
to also read the dog. But that video is going
to help you tremendously. I can't tell you how
many times my students are like, well, I thought
I was. My timing was good. And then I looked
at the video and I'm like, whoopsie. And I'm
like, it's OK. This isn't about, oh, I didn't
do it well. This is about I see where I can do
better. Right. Right. And if you don't have that
feedback, then you're not aware and then you're
not going to get better. Right. Right. And then
you're going to stop doing it. Don't stop doing
it. Don't stop doing it. Yeah. And like, you
know, if you have people you can do it with,
you can help each other. That's even better.
But if you're, you know, either way, I still
think videotape is really good. You can slow
-mo it. Yeah. I do that on my feedback a lot.
They're like, because. I don't know. I, you know,
I've been doing this so long. I can, I can see
it really quickly, but if they're like, I can
see that the student didn't see it, I slow mo
it. And I go, see right there. And then it's
like, right. And I'm like, and then you can see
the person gets closer and your dog gets more
uncomfortable, more uncomfortable. And then they're
like, Oh, I can see that. And that's how you
slowly develop the skillset of being able to
read your dog and eventually being able to do
it in real time. Yeah. doing it quickly in real
time yeah and being effective yeah all i can
say is the stuff works you just have to just
give it a try do it consistently yep yep and
then i think i'll try to get so i'll try to do
some videos too of some of the games that we
do just so people can have reference to those
we can put them on the youtube yeah i have some
of them already like i have the pressure off
game is on my youtube channel so i'll just put
the link here and then yeah same i i have some
of the games i think somewhere in my in my yeah
if we can do like a female going toward a barrier
doing like the judge doing stuff from behind
and size just so people can kind of have a visual
if they've never seen it that helps yeah and
then You can practice it. And I always say like,
just practice it at home first. So you get the
mechanics down. You can even practice it without
something or just do a barrier that's not going
to bother your dog terribly. Like, you know,
if you always train in your yard, then just into
a rain gate or maybe into, you know, a bush or
whatever, something relatively innocuous and
just get your mechanics down and then you can
work from there. Yeah. Good. All right, good.
I hope this was helpful. Hope it was helpful
as well. All right, everybody. This takes a lot
of brain power. So I think we get a little fried
at the end. Okay, we're done. Goodbye. All right.
Thanks, everybody, for listening. Thanks for
your feedback. Go to our Facebook page. Go to
our Canine Connection Facebook page. Yeah, we're
putting together a list of topics that you guys
are asking for, and we will get to them. We have
some super fun guests coming up that we're really
excited about. Yeah, totally. And then we're
supposed to ask you guys to like, comment. What
are you supposed to do? You're supposed to...
like it yeah and share it so on the podcast platforms
can you tell we're really good at marketing we're
getting there we're just putting this stuff out
for you guys and whatever share spread the word
and whatever happens happens yeah exactly awesome
all right thanks everybody thanks everybody bye
bye