Relaxation protocol

[Jollymolly]

Have any of you done this ? How has it worked out for you. Also if anyone is intrested in doing this please let me know.

[Snowshoe]

What is it?

[Jollymolly]

Dr. Karen Overall's relaxation protocol

12 days of traing

Day 1 looks like this

Dogs task

Sit for 5 seconds
sit for 10 seconds
sit while you take one step back and return
Sit while you take two steps back and return
Sit for 10 seconds
Sit while yout take a step to the right and return
Sit while you take a step to the left and return

This keeps going on for 25 different sit s and 12 days

[smartrock]

I'm not familiar with it but here's a more complete description. https://www.dogdaysnw.com/doc/Protoco...en_Overall.pdf I'll ahve to look at it more carefully.

[Snowshoe]

That seems awfully like how we trained formal SIT, DOWN and STAY.

We learned a forced down that was meant to teach the dog the control to chill out on his own and just stay put quietly. There is not really a lot of force about it but there is a certain amount of, let's say firmness. Dog put into a down, not a formal down so do not use that word, must stay by your feet till you say he can get up. He can flop around, wiggle but stay down by your feet. Start with 10 seconds, if dog begins to fidget keep him down a nano second more, let him up. you might only starte with 5 seconds. No other interaction between you and dog, no talking, petting, reassuring and no treats. Increase time down, 10, 15, 20 by seconds, then graduate to minutes. It ususally goes pretty quickly but you go at dog's speed. Most twig as to what you are doing and you advance times till dog is down a half hour and you can watch a TV show. At the beginning you do hold the dog down, stand or kneel on the leash. Eventually you won't need to. Do the short times, a few minutes down, several times a day. Do the 1/2 hour down a couple of times a week (or however many sitcoms you absolutely must watch ) ONe of our trainer wants her classes to do this till dog is a year old and asks it be done before advancing in class. We learned it with two different trainers so it must be part of common doggy teaching but I have never heard of it with a proper name or seen it elsewhere but it does work to teach dogs how to relax and chill.

[smartrock]

Our trainer had us do something similar to Snowshoe, using a bed or mat beside a chair that you sit on. Put the dog on a lead, sit on the lead, and proceed pretty much as outlined above. We did it with Lark, the trainer with Chase did not have us do that. Lark figured it out fairly quickly but I can't say we still practice it much. I should probably try it when our kids visit or go to a park or sit outside Petsmart or somewhere. She could probably use a little reinforcement.