Patience, Learning, and Generalization

[MyDogBitz]

I posted a pic a few days back of my dog in a down. I talked about using play to bring him into arousal and then queuing breaks in between playing to teach the pup how to move in and out of the high arousal state. That pic was of a 15 minute down-stay. A longggg time for my pup.

This is important for him to learn because he's an easily aroused dog. He has a reactive personality. Which is great for a lot of things that I like about high energy, high drive dogs but there is also downsides too. Ying and yang I suppose.

Between 5:00 and 6:00pm is a challenging time as everyone is coming home for the night and he loses his mind.

At one point I told him enough and he immediately went into a down and decompressed. This is encouraging. I don't expect him to turn-off this easily every single time but seeing him do this means he understands what's expected and he's starting to generalize the lessons taught during the play.

I like my dogs to figure out the vibes of the household and adjust their energy level accordingly. When I was a kid all of our family dogs were perfectly behaved and there was no formal training going on.

My parents wouldn't tolerate the dogs acting crazy in the house and their presence was enough to keep everyone, including the dogs behaved. I think about that a lot.

 

[Malakai The Great]

This is such a solid reflection. You’re describing that perfect balance between drive and composure, the hardest thing to teach, but the most rewarding when it clicks. The fact he can self-regulate after being told “enough” shows he’s really starting to internalize it. That part about your parents hit home too… energy and presence set the tone long before words do.