You’re on the right page – this is where the Challenging Behaviour Masterclass takes place!
There are three videos, just scroll down to find’em! Also, be on the lookout for a relevant link or three, as well as the discussions going on in the comments’ section below!
Video 1 – Change Moods to Change Behaviour
In video one, I discuss how mood shifts literally change our perception of the world – and how we can harness this mechanism to bring about major behavioural changes in the animals in our care – including a reduction of unwanted behaviour.
Video 2 – Change Emotions to Change Behaviour
In the second video, I talk about how we might address the animal’s emotional state in the challenging context. If the animal is fearful, for instance, it’s typically due to some triggering stimulus or event in the environment. This video shows examples of how we might go about making animals more comfortable around such stimuli – so that they stop showing the unwanted behaviour triggered by them.
In the final video, we shift perspectives and look at the function of the unwanted behaviour in the current context – what are the antecedents and consequences that maintain the behaviour, and what may we do about them in order to bring about a behaviour change? We’ll specifically look at some differential reinforcement techniques involving response type schedules, with a particular focus on DRAs and DRIs.
Hej Karolina! If I understood correctly in video 2, you said that the persons emotional state is altso important? I think this is very relevant. I think the dog t.ex is very aware of our emotional state. Beeing tens walking your dog give a tens dog. I would very much like your comments on this!
I’ve been working with my cats to get their appetites in sync. Two of them are getting picky and will snub their food. I’ve been trying different times of day and more often as I know cats generally eat 8-20 small meals a day. They seem to keep wanting the dry food more than the wet food though, I have puzzle feeders for the dry food but not sure how I can make the wet food more engaging for them. I rotate different flavors and brands already but even after a play session they still don’t seem interested as much.
I would also be mindful, if you have two cats, of not feeding them next to one another. Cats are solitary hunters, they are more at ease when not eating next to another cat. Best of luck! π
I dont have a Β«reactiveΒ» dog in the negative sense. But of course she react. What I have been doing all the time is that when I see she might react to something we meet, I just start talking in a friendly voice to her. (The Words probably dont mean anything to her). I can see that the signals she had is gone and her mood shifts. If I still see some tension, I just hold her back in the leash or sit with her talking calmly until the situation is over.
She’s probably doing social referencing: taking cues from you as to whether or not that “something” is scary..! π
And we shouldn’t underestimate the need for mental processing! Just sitting there and watching the thing..!
A great master class and way to refresh learning from some of your more in-depth courses..
How have I managed to change emotions of the animal s in my care.
Holly (dog) did not like my other dog Roo coming up to our bedroom in the morning and would do a low warning growl ” I sleep here, this is my mum …Stay away”
I now take a couple of small snacks up to bed with me ready for the morning …. when roo enters the room, both are given a snack .
Result …. Holly now listens for Roo coming upstairs and is happy for her to enter the room as it predicts a snack … if Roo is slow to come up in a morning , Holly will now go to the top of the stairs ” get up here Roo ”
Holly now feels differently about Roo being there and her emotional state has shifted … Roo never gave a hoot anyway as she is very laid back . Punishing the low growl would only have increased tension and proved Holly right … IE ” that Roo is trouble bad things happen when she is around ” grrrrr
Wow, such a fabulous example! The “intruder” being a predictor of great things! Thanks so much for sharing, Claire! π
I have been taking my very sensitive dog to our local vet every week for 18 months for Confidence Clinics. The Confidence Clinics are held during the lunch hour when the vet is closed to other visitors. We see the same nurse, Sarra, every time and she has the BEST treats. We started outside just walking round and the nurse throwing treats on the ground for Gale. It took months before she was ready to approach Sarra. Eventually after almost a year Gale was brave enough to enter the waiting room where she found one of her favourite chews. Gale now happily goes in to the consult room and even takes treats from the vet if she happens to be there. We continue to go almost every week to reinforce it as a good place with lovely people. It has really been worth persevering and taking everything at Galeβs pace, not forcing her to do anything.
That’s wonderful to hear! She’s lucky to have such a dedicated guardian!
Hi Karolina from South Africa. I always enjoy and benefit from your Masterclasses. Lots of food for thought, as usual. I have just finished the first instalment and looking forward to the second one.
My current dog is born on the right sid of the cas and we try to keep her there. BUT she has somethings that she find scary. She was afraid of water outside (a little creek, a lake and so on). By slowly letting her know it is safe, she actually finally drank from it at one year of age. Now she can even dip her feet in it, but not to far. By letting he explore at her own pace she have managed that.
I see that it is very important to keep her on the right side of the CAS as a general mood state. But she easily get aroused in different situations. It is very easy to get strict then even if we know it does not help. We use PLAY a lot.
Oh, the value of letting the animal explore at their own pace! And just giving them time to process, too! I have a feeling that many people rush in such situations – but finding the animal’s pace is really important! π
I enjoyed your presentation & insight. New neighbor is a stock car racer & gun enthusiast. A LOT of loud noise! I have GRs & ESS. The 3-yo Springer was startled, shaking afraid of the shots & exploding engine sounds. Not much option since we werenβt moving. At first, multiple times, I held him on my lap, caressing, some TT, laughing & singing with every shot & overall acting like an idiot until he relaxed & took treats. Eventually he got off my lap & would jump back up when noise again, until he finally just looked at me with noises & kept walking in the yard. Phew! After that, he would notice the noises, but didnβt care enough to change what he was doing. Yay! The Goldens notice but donβt care either.
Glad to hear things have gone so well! We shouldn’t underestimate the power of acting like an idiot! π
So inspiring and educational! I want to take the course!
Glad you’re enjoying the Masterclass, Kasha! π
Thank you for providing this masterclass. Most informative and interesting.
Glad to hear that, Julie! π
Thank you Karolina, so love the master classes, learn something new every time… one day I will have the time set aside to actually engage in a full course..
I share the links as much as I can, but that sometimes gets me into a bit of a pickle . I KNOW the commenter is twisting the logic to continue to justify his use of aversives…. but I am stuck to offer the most robust reply….. here is the most recent challenge:
HE SAYS:
and the funny part is, Karolina Westlund refuted Jenny’s claims about aversive stimuli with her explanation of the five emotional reactions. And she also says that “we also need to put some aspects of R+ in the dark side.” As I said before, Jenny doesn’t quite get it.
AND A REPLY TO MY CHALLENGE
Jenny i’m just stating facts, something you still struggle it seems. If you listened carefully, she clearly stated that aversives are inevitable and that a living being even learns to cope with them positively (5th emotional reaction). Why don’t you ask Dr. Westlund if an aversive stimulus always causes chronic stress or trauma? Let us know if you have the answer
I promised I would share the question with you and post on the public discussion with him your reply to the challenge…
Would love to know how to respond to this intelligently?
I need a bit more context, Jenny! I’ll email you (and once I know a bit more I can get back to this comment thread and post here too..!)
What a completely exhausting conversation – and it’s all over the place, too! I agree that they’re unlikely to ever change their stance, and I don’t want to be dragged into a conversation with someone who’s so derogatory in their overall commenting and uninterested in hearing other perspectives – we’ll only trigger the backfire effect and reactance. Besides, those types of FB comment threads don’t lend themselves to a nuanced discussion – it’s not the right forum I think.
As to my thoughts on using aversive stimuli in training, here are some blog posts:
Hi Karolina, and thank you for this opportunity. Your first video helped me put a few pieces together about one of my dogs, Bella – a sweet and gentle Romanian rescue.
When I adopted her, almost 4 years ago, Bella was scared of many things and all people and dogs. Now, sheβs usually OK with most things, even thunder and fireworks (as long as they arenβt too loud), but the vacuum cleaner is still her number one enemy!
Sheβs still unsure of humans, but sometimes she surprises me and has an instant connection with random people.
The major change has been her behaviour towards dogs. She used to be scared of all of them: big or small, loud or quiet. On our walks, she used to sit and wait for them to leave. She started off making friends with small dogs and is gradually becoming braver going up to medium and larger dogs for a sniff. In the last year, she has started playing with some of them.
Beside offering her a good diet, a safe place to sleep and rest, and love – while giving her space, my approach has been to allow her to observe people and dogs from a distance. Slowly allowing some short and positive interaction. I gave her protection and allowed her to βleadβ if she wanted to move away from the situation.
Because of her past, Bella doesnβt play with toys, but sheβs definitely a big fan of sniffing and orienting and she loves chasing squirrels and pigeons. I break big treat in small pieces and wrap each piece in some paper then scrunch all the paper in one ball and she has to break it all to get to the treats.
Sorry about the long message, I wanted to share my experience with my very first dog.
Thank you.
So glad to hear that Bella’s doing so much better! I think giving her control over potentially situations – so that she can leave if she wants to – can be really powerful! π
I just watched video 1.
It’s great!
To your question, – I have moved my pessimistic, cautious and reactive dog by merging seeking into high/low arousal through play. Catching games with food, hunting games, touch games where she physically uses her body, body exercises like zigzag, power pose, squeezing through exercises, search exercises and catch and other games where she get the feeling of come/leave me. So she gets the feeling of choosing for herself. I individually train her optimism, independence, calm, power, focus, self-control, flexibility, closeness and grit. And make them stong one by one. With different games for the different abilities. It has made a huge difference. And we have done all the games at home in quiet safe surroundings. And only when they felt good and easy for her, have we taken them out into the world. And make the world our playground Here she had games and exercises that made her safe and happy and I could choose games based on the arousal she could be in and feel safe in.
Sorry for my bad english. Hope it make sense.
Thank you for your always good videos Karolina!! I love them
Interesting! How do you train power poses with a dog? π
Hi Karolina
Among other things, Two frontpaws up which raises the front. At first just on a wash tub with the bottom up or a low box for the purpose. Later on tree stumps in the forest or other places. On boxes, stones, steps or benches in the park. Or anywhere you can. I think it gives both a feeling of power in the body, but maybe also a kind of feeling of security. My dog often seeks it if she is in doubt. She has gone from being nervous about it to seeking it as a safe feeling.
( I think because who knows )
Well, if that position makes her feel better it will be self-reinforcing, so I would assume she’d start using it!
Power posing in humans is a documented thing (even though it’s controversial) – didn’t realize that it might also be true for dogs! π
I wrote a blog post discussing how we (the humans) might use power posing in our interactions with dogs (or rather, before interacting with dogs): https://illis.se/en/cesar-millan/
Thanks for that link.
I think I read that a long time ago and it’s a very interesting topic.
I’ll have to watch the videos tonight.
I don’t know if it applies to dogs either, but why not. Low-ranking horses that are trained in piaff, (maybe it’s the horses’ power pose?) – they move up in the group and get higher status the better they get at it. In everything I do with my dogs and horses, I try to keep the focus on the feeling behind what we’re doing.
What are they feeling.
And of course we go for the good, nice feelings.
If the cautious dog can elevate his feelings to a fantastic feeling by doing something ala power pose…then that’s only good?? don’t you think so?
And I wonder if it can also be used for a powerful dog with dominant behavior, who, via a “2 paws up” exercise, plays with the idea that it might be nice to jump down and is rewarded for the feeling. Hmmm…Does that make sense?
Do you think so?
Oh my…it’s a big topic.
I hope I live to be 200 years old because it might take me some time to delve into all these interesting topics
Interesting observations about piaff and hierarchies in horses…
About an assertive dog becoming less assertive if they were taught to jump down (if that’s what you meant; the equivalent of the low-power pose in humans) – I don’t know. I would probably try other strategies to improve the social dynamics between dogs. As Claire described in her comment, perhaps using counterconditioning could be one such approach. Ensuring that resources aren’t clumped and monopolizable (is that even a word..?) And also of course monitoring health: grumpiness can often have some type of underlying medical condition.
Thanks Karolina for your answers.
Of course health comes first and should be checked first.
I don’t know if it should be to make it less confident, but more as an entrance and part of changing a perhaps stuck behavior.
If a dog takes that position as the first response to others. Then the exercise can be learned without triggers and the dog is moved down and “taken out of the feeling” without being done wrong / being corrected. And when it sits in the dog as a positive exercise / feeling it can be used outside where triggers appear. As part of several exercises of course. Being able to look at the trigger without high arousal and having a pattern learned to leave the trigger that must of course also be learned. As separate patterns. So the whole chain works.
So two paws down was intended as a neutral conversation starter if i can call it that. Just to work on the feeling.
The thing with piaff is only out of my own experiences and what you see and hear. There is nothing scientific in it.
Thank you very much for your answers. I look forward to the next video. I always learn something when I watch them. Thanks! β€οΈ
y’welcome! π
Hej Karolina!
A great and very informative first video !
We have a three year old Rottweiler/Rhodesian Ridgeback female, Rosie.
She was a lovely well balanced young pup, till at 10 months old a teenager threw 2 fireworks in front of her.
I have been doing your little Master classes and getting tips to help Rosie.
One specific ‘problem’ Rosie has is that any loud noise will trigger her,
a wheelie bin lid, garage door, fireworks , motorbikes, loud cars etc…
So the next day Rosie is reactive on walks and will bark and lunge at other dogs.
We try to calm her down but mostly we to wait till she has ‘shook it off’ shaking her head and back with us.
Rosie is , i think a little down too, due to changes, one year ago we moved in with our daughter and almost three year old grand daughther.
We have a garden to run in and play.
Because of Rosie our daughter has become a dog lover and granddaughter loves Rosie too.
Great friends in the making π
I got two 5 month old kittens for Christmas, who adore Rosie.
After investigations from vets we have found out that Rosie is allergic to dairy, protein and something else i can ‘t remember, so she is only allowed Purina Hypoallergenic dog food.
I have tried Rosie on vegetarian treats but unfortunately she is allergic to most i have tried, so she is left with no treats and a tasteless food.
She needs some food in a tub with Pro-Fibre and we scatter the for her to seek out and Rosie was spayed too.
So i hope your videos will help us to understand and help our adored Rosie π
Hi Sarah, hopefully you’ll get some insights from video 2 that might help with Rosie! π
Hi Sarah,
I just wanted to say my Bella is also allergic to animal protein! I feed her hypoallergenic dry food (Royal Canin), which she loves, and Purina hypoallergenic wet food, she prefers it to Royal Caninβs. I also give her only veg treats – even denta sticks are 100% veg.
It can be difficult with such a strict diet. Good luck to you and Rosie.
I find I can change my dog’s mood state by using a massage technique, Tellington Touch. Very simple and he often starts to relax right away. Timing is important off course. You need to intervene before things escalate, but the more you practice it, you will find they start to look to you for the touch. One of the core touches is using the tips of your fingers and making a circle and a quarter. It can be very light or more pressure. It does not matter where he do it on the body. Linda Tellington is amazing.
I find it especially interesting that the animal starts to look to the human for the touch – they learn that it makes them feel better! <3
Iβm finding this video helpful in managing my high drive, high energy Terrier, especially the part about the seeking stage of feeding. Iβve been training my Bull Terrier for AKC FETCH. The challenge has been to provide the structure so he will watch, mark, retrieve and give to hand without him loosing focus or reaching high arrousal. Following along in your Video 1, I can see that the timing of my cues and praise enhances his work to continue in a calm /happy state. When I miss timely opportunities to do this, his rate of failure increases as his focus is diverted to other things or people in his environment. As we have explored, learned and repeated this game, he has being more willing to work not just for treats after the task but for his own enjoyment upon success with praise.
Hi Susan – so glad that this video brought some clarity to your situation! π
Just watched video one and found it really interesting. thank you
y’welcome Janice! Glad you enjoyed it! π
I thoroughly enjoyed this masterclass, and it resonated with me and my past and present experiences with my 3 current dogs, which are all foster fail rescues. Not to mention dogs i am currently working with helping their owners.
I eagerly await part 2
Hi Frances – so glad to hear that! *see* you in part 2! π
Play for my 15 month old dog is key for shifting his emotional state, but it has to be done quickly before he gets over-aroused…. so it is a matter of being very observant of the environment. at home he is very happy, although having a terrier trait (mixed breed) he likes to chase birds, but if i have a toy/ball his preference is the ball.
the key, which i have to work on is to keep him under-threshold in different environments, which can be very challenging.
thank you for your insights Karolina – always appreciated.
Great point – over-arousal can certainly be just as challenging as under-arousal! You may want to explore some conditioned relaxation techniques, or the Take-a-breath protocol developed by Karen Overall. Best of luck! π
Thought provoking video. I have a rescue border collie with high anxiety. She has improved since I have had her but following what you have said I have only tackled sleeping and nutrition. I now need to look at the other 3. That is going to challenge my creativity.
Great to hear that you got inspired to try something new! Best of luck! π
Your explanations and metaphors are easily understood and spark ideas. Thank you for this free class!
You’re welcome, Erika! π
Great first video! π I managed to change my previous dogs behaviour by changing his emotions in pressured situations (not his general mood, unfortunately), so his very intense and years long reacitivity towards other dogs lessened significantly. I did it by thinking about what his favorite thing in the world was (me.. And interacting with me), and then using this. So I started prasing him more on walks, and having more fun on walks with him, especially when there were other dogs visible. It seemed so simple, but it was very effective.
Many of the most effective approaches are actually quite simple! Great to hear that he’s doing so much better! π
Thank you so much for this great video! You really hit the nail on the head (and you are a great singer, too).
My first approach to changing the mood is to engage in play and work with the seeking system, i.e., letting the dogs do something to work for food in a natural way (e.g., scent detection) instead of just putting the food bowl in front of them.
π Thanks! So glad you enjoyed this first video!
Excellent masterclass! Thank you so much.
I have owned, bred and trained Siberian Huskies for 15 years with a lot of succes. My youngest (bought from another breeder) turned out to be a mixed breed (dispite of her FCI pedigree), and she was completely different from the others. I really struggled to understand her and keep her happy in the beginning. We began doing nosework and I took classes in playing with dogs/rewarding with toys. It absolutely changed everything! Now we work as a great team and she is happy.
After this first video I can see that there are details about feeding her, that I can consider changing too. She is a picky eater and is fed raw food primarily, but maybe I can spice it up somehow, making her find it herself. She is a chaser for sure! Thank you so much for sharing with us Karolina!
You’re welcome Malene – so glad you got inspired to try some new approaches! π
Can’t wait to see what you got. My 4.5 yr old Labrador Mix Floyd and my 8 yr old MaltiPom Betsy. Definitely need some work. Otherwise mostly Good Dogs.
I hope you’ll find it interesting, Laura! π
I know you have a huge knowledge about animal behaviors because I have taken som of your certified and free classes before and I am a fan of you, smile.
Looking really forward to this master class
Vibeke Schellerup Reese
Will be great to *see* you again, Vibeke! π
Thank you for offering this opportunity. I look forward to learning how to better understand my pets’ interactions with the world as they experience it — and how to help them, if needed.
Hope you’ll get some useful insights, Sharon! π
Hello, Karolina!
I am looking forward to another amazing class! Your perspective is refreshing and I always come away with a new way of approaching behavior!
Hi Fran! I hope you’ll enjoy this one, too! π
Look forward to this series. Thank you so much.
You’re so very welcome! π
Very Excited for this Masterclass. I am currently taking the Getting Behavior Course which is fantastic!
74 replies on “Welcome to the free Masterclass!”
Hej Karolina! If I understood correctly in video 2, you said that the persons emotional state is altso important? I think this is very relevant. I think the dog t.ex is very aware of our emotional state. Beeing tens walking your dog give a tens dog. I would very much like your comments on this!
I’ve been working with my cats to get their appetites in sync. Two of them are getting picky and will snub their food. I’ve been trying different times of day and more often as I know cats generally eat 8-20 small meals a day. They seem to keep wanting the dry food more than the wet food though, I have puzzle feeders for the dry food but not sure how I can make the wet food more engaging for them. I rotate different flavors and brands already but even after a play session they still don’t seem interested as much.
Perhaps you can find some inspiration here! http://foodpuzzlesforcats.com/
I would also be mindful, if you have two cats, of not feeding them next to one another. Cats are solitary hunters, they are more at ease when not eating next to another cat. Best of luck! π
I dont have a Β«reactiveΒ» dog in the negative sense. But of course she react. What I have been doing all the time is that when I see she might react to something we meet, I just start talking in a friendly voice to her. (The Words probably dont mean anything to her). I can see that the signals she had is gone and her mood shifts. If I still see some tension, I just hold her back in the leash or sit with her talking calmly until the situation is over.
She’s probably doing social referencing: taking cues from you as to whether or not that “something” is scary..! π
And we shouldn’t underestimate the need for mental processing! Just sitting there and watching the thing..!
A great master class and way to refresh learning from some of your more in-depth courses..
How have I managed to change emotions of the animal s in my care.
Holly (dog) did not like my other dog Roo coming up to our bedroom in the morning and would do a low warning growl ” I sleep here, this is my mum …Stay away”
I now take a couple of small snacks up to bed with me ready for the morning …. when roo enters the room, both are given a snack .
Result …. Holly now listens for Roo coming upstairs and is happy for her to enter the room as it predicts a snack … if Roo is slow to come up in a morning , Holly will now go to the top of the stairs ” get up here Roo ”
Holly now feels differently about Roo being there and her emotional state has shifted … Roo never gave a hoot anyway as she is very laid back . Punishing the low growl would only have increased tension and proved Holly right … IE ” that Roo is trouble bad things happen when she is around ” grrrrr
Wow, such a fabulous example! The “intruder” being a predictor of great things! Thanks so much for sharing, Claire! π
I have been taking my very sensitive dog to our local vet every week for 18 months for Confidence Clinics. The Confidence Clinics are held during the lunch hour when the vet is closed to other visitors. We see the same nurse, Sarra, every time and she has the BEST treats. We started outside just walking round and the nurse throwing treats on the ground for Gale. It took months before she was ready to approach Sarra. Eventually after almost a year Gale was brave enough to enter the waiting room where she found one of her favourite chews. Gale now happily goes in to the consult room and even takes treats from the vet if she happens to be there. We continue to go almost every week to reinforce it as a good place with lovely people. It has really been worth persevering and taking everything at Galeβs pace, not forcing her to do anything.
That’s wonderful to hear! She’s lucky to have such a dedicated guardian!
Hi Karolina from South Africa. I always enjoy and benefit from your Masterclasses. Lots of food for thought, as usual. I have just finished the first instalment and looking forward to the second one.
My current dog is born on the right sid of the cas and we try to keep her there. BUT she has somethings that she find scary. She was afraid of water outside (a little creek, a lake and so on). By slowly letting her know it is safe, she actually finally drank from it at one year of age. Now she can even dip her feet in it, but not to far. By letting he explore at her own pace she have managed that.
I see that it is very important to keep her on the right side of the CAS as a general mood state. But she easily get aroused in different situations. It is very easy to get strict then even if we know it does not help. We use PLAY a lot.
Oh, the value of letting the animal explore at their own pace! And just giving them time to process, too! I have a feeling that many people rush in such situations – but finding the animal’s pace is really important! π
I enjoyed your presentation & insight. New neighbor is a stock car racer & gun enthusiast. A LOT of loud noise! I have GRs & ESS. The 3-yo Springer was startled, shaking afraid of the shots & exploding engine sounds. Not much option since we werenβt moving. At first, multiple times, I held him on my lap, caressing, some TT, laughing & singing with every shot & overall acting like an idiot until he relaxed & took treats. Eventually he got off my lap & would jump back up when noise again, until he finally just looked at me with noises & kept walking in the yard. Phew! After that, he would notice the noises, but didnβt care enough to change what he was doing. Yay! The Goldens notice but donβt care either.
Glad to hear things have gone so well! We shouldn’t underestimate the power of acting like an idiot! π
So inspiring and educational! I want to take the course!
Glad you’re enjoying the Masterclass, Kasha! π
Thank you for providing this masterclass. Most informative and interesting.
Glad to hear that, Julie! π
Thank you Karolina, so love the master classes, learn something new every time… one day I will have the time set aside to actually engage in a full course..
I share the links as much as I can, but that sometimes gets me into a bit of a pickle . I KNOW the commenter is twisting the logic to continue to justify his use of aversives…. but I am stuck to offer the most robust reply….. here is the most recent challenge:
HE SAYS:
and the funny part is, Karolina Westlund refuted Jenny’s claims about aversive stimuli with her explanation of the five emotional reactions. And she also says that “we also need to put some aspects of R+ in the dark side.” As I said before, Jenny doesn’t quite get it.
AND A REPLY TO MY CHALLENGE
Jenny i’m just stating facts, something you still struggle it seems. If you listened carefully, she clearly stated that aversives are inevitable and that a living being even learns to cope with them positively (5th emotional reaction). Why don’t you ask Dr. Westlund if an aversive stimulus always causes chronic stress or trauma? Let us know if you have the answer
I promised I would share the question with you and post on the public discussion with him your reply to the challenge…
Would love to know how to respond to this intelligently?
I need a bit more context, Jenny! I’ll email you (and once I know a bit more I can get back to this comment thread and post here too..!)
What a completely exhausting conversation – and it’s all over the place, too! I agree that they’re unlikely to ever change their stance, and I don’t want to be dragged into a conversation with someone who’s so derogatory in their overall commenting and uninterested in hearing other perspectives – we’ll only trigger the backfire effect and reactance. Besides, those types of FB comment threads don’t lend themselves to a nuanced discussion – it’s not the right forum I think.
As to my thoughts on using aversive stimuli in training, here are some blog posts:
https://illis.se/en/punishment-problems/
https://illis.se/en/shock-collar-critique/
https://illis.se/en/sheep-proofing-dogs-in-norway/
Hi Karolina, and thank you for this opportunity. Your first video helped me put a few pieces together about one of my dogs, Bella – a sweet and gentle Romanian rescue.
When I adopted her, almost 4 years ago, Bella was scared of many things and all people and dogs. Now, sheβs usually OK with most things, even thunder and fireworks (as long as they arenβt too loud), but the vacuum cleaner is still her number one enemy!
Sheβs still unsure of humans, but sometimes she surprises me and has an instant connection with random people.
The major change has been her behaviour towards dogs. She used to be scared of all of them: big or small, loud or quiet. On our walks, she used to sit and wait for them to leave. She started off making friends with small dogs and is gradually becoming braver going up to medium and larger dogs for a sniff. In the last year, she has started playing with some of them.
Beside offering her a good diet, a safe place to sleep and rest, and love – while giving her space, my approach has been to allow her to observe people and dogs from a distance. Slowly allowing some short and positive interaction. I gave her protection and allowed her to βleadβ if she wanted to move away from the situation.
Because of her past, Bella doesnβt play with toys, but sheβs definitely a big fan of sniffing and orienting and she loves chasing squirrels and pigeons. I break big treat in small pieces and wrap each piece in some paper then scrunch all the paper in one ball and she has to break it all to get to the treats.
Sorry about the long message, I wanted to share my experience with my very first dog.
Thank you.
So glad to hear that Bella’s doing so much better! I think giving her control over potentially situations – so that she can leave if she wants to – can be really powerful! π
I just watched video 1.
It’s great!
To your question, – I have moved my pessimistic, cautious and reactive dog by merging seeking into high/low arousal through play. Catching games with food, hunting games, touch games where she physically uses her body, body exercises like zigzag, power pose, squeezing through exercises, search exercises and catch and other games where she get the feeling of come/leave me. So she gets the feeling of choosing for herself. I individually train her optimism, independence, calm, power, focus, self-control, flexibility, closeness and grit. And make them stong one by one. With different games for the different abilities. It has made a huge difference. And we have done all the games at home in quiet safe surroundings. And only when they felt good and easy for her, have we taken them out into the world. And make the world our playground Here she had games and exercises that made her safe and happy and I could choose games based on the arousal she could be in and feel safe in.
Sorry for my bad english. Hope it make sense.
Thank you for your always good videos Karolina!! I love them
Interesting! How do you train power poses with a dog? π
Hi Karolina
Among other things, Two frontpaws up which raises the front. At first just on a wash tub with the bottom up or a low box for the purpose. Later on tree stumps in the forest or other places. On boxes, stones, steps or benches in the park. Or anywhere you can. I think it gives both a feeling of power in the body, but maybe also a kind of feeling of security. My dog often seeks it if she is in doubt. She has gone from being nervous about it to seeking it as a safe feeling.
( I think because who knows )
Well, if that position makes her feel better it will be self-reinforcing, so I would assume she’d start using it!
Power posing in humans is a documented thing (even though it’s controversial) – didn’t realize that it might also be true for dogs! π
I wrote a blog post discussing how we (the humans) might use power posing in our interactions with dogs (or rather, before interacting with dogs): https://illis.se/en/cesar-millan/
Thanks for that link.
I think I read that a long time ago and it’s a very interesting topic.
I’ll have to watch the videos tonight.
I don’t know if it applies to dogs either, but why not. Low-ranking horses that are trained in piaff, (maybe it’s the horses’ power pose?) – they move up in the group and get higher status the better they get at it. In everything I do with my dogs and horses, I try to keep the focus on the feeling behind what we’re doing.
What are they feeling.
And of course we go for the good, nice feelings.
If the cautious dog can elevate his feelings to a fantastic feeling by doing something ala power pose…then that’s only good?? don’t you think so?
And I wonder if it can also be used for a powerful dog with dominant behavior, who, via a “2 paws up” exercise, plays with the idea that it might be nice to jump down and is rewarded for the feeling. Hmmm…Does that make sense?
Do you think so?
Oh my…it’s a big topic.
I hope I live to be 200 years old because it might take me some time to delve into all these interesting topics
Interesting observations about piaff and hierarchies in horses…
About an assertive dog becoming less assertive if they were taught to jump down (if that’s what you meant; the equivalent of the low-power pose in humans) – I don’t know. I would probably try other strategies to improve the social dynamics between dogs. As Claire described in her comment, perhaps using counterconditioning could be one such approach. Ensuring that resources aren’t clumped and monopolizable (is that even a word..?) And also of course monitoring health: grumpiness can often have some type of underlying medical condition.
Thanks Karolina for your answers.
Of course health comes first and should be checked first.
I don’t know if it should be to make it less confident, but more as an entrance and part of changing a perhaps stuck behavior.
If a dog takes that position as the first response to others. Then the exercise can be learned without triggers and the dog is moved down and “taken out of the feeling” without being done wrong / being corrected. And when it sits in the dog as a positive exercise / feeling it can be used outside where triggers appear. As part of several exercises of course. Being able to look at the trigger without high arousal and having a pattern learned to leave the trigger that must of course also be learned. As separate patterns. So the whole chain works.
So two paws down was intended as a neutral conversation starter if i can call it that. Just to work on the feeling.
The thing with piaff is only out of my own experiences and what you see and hear. There is nothing scientific in it.
Thank you very much for your answers. I look forward to the next video. I always learn something when I watch them. Thanks! β€οΈ
y’welcome! π
Hej Karolina!
A great and very informative first video !
We have a three year old Rottweiler/Rhodesian Ridgeback female, Rosie.
She was a lovely well balanced young pup, till at 10 months old a teenager threw 2 fireworks in front of her.
I have been doing your little Master classes and getting tips to help Rosie.
One specific ‘problem’ Rosie has is that any loud noise will trigger her,
a wheelie bin lid, garage door, fireworks , motorbikes, loud cars etc…
So the next day Rosie is reactive on walks and will bark and lunge at other dogs.
We try to calm her down but mostly we to wait till she has ‘shook it off’ shaking her head and back with us.
Rosie is , i think a little down too, due to changes, one year ago we moved in with our daughter and almost three year old grand daughther.
We have a garden to run in and play.
Because of Rosie our daughter has become a dog lover and granddaughter loves Rosie too.
Great friends in the making π
I got two 5 month old kittens for Christmas, who adore Rosie.
After investigations from vets we have found out that Rosie is allergic to dairy, protein and something else i can ‘t remember, so she is only allowed Purina Hypoallergenic dog food.
I have tried Rosie on vegetarian treats but unfortunately she is allergic to most i have tried, so she is left with no treats and a tasteless food.
She needs some food in a tub with Pro-Fibre and we scatter the for her to seek out and Rosie was spayed too.
So i hope your videos will help us to understand and help our adored Rosie π
Hi Sarah, hopefully you’ll get some insights from video 2 that might help with Rosie! π
Hi Sarah,
I just wanted to say my Bella is also allergic to animal protein! I feed her hypoallergenic dry food (Royal Canin), which she loves, and Purina hypoallergenic wet food, she prefers it to Royal Caninβs. I also give her only veg treats – even denta sticks are 100% veg.
It can be difficult with such a strict diet. Good luck to you and Rosie.
I find I can change my dog’s mood state by using a massage technique, Tellington Touch. Very simple and he often starts to relax right away. Timing is important off course. You need to intervene before things escalate, but the more you practice it, you will find they start to look to you for the touch. One of the core touches is using the tips of your fingers and making a circle and a quarter. It can be very light or more pressure. It does not matter where he do it on the body. Linda Tellington is amazing.
I find it especially interesting that the animal starts to look to the human for the touch – they learn that it makes them feel better! <3
Iβm finding this video helpful in managing my high drive, high energy Terrier, especially the part about the seeking stage of feeding. Iβve been training my Bull Terrier for AKC FETCH. The challenge has been to provide the structure so he will watch, mark, retrieve and give to hand without him loosing focus or reaching high arrousal. Following along in your Video 1, I can see that the timing of my cues and praise enhances his work to continue in a calm /happy state. When I miss timely opportunities to do this, his rate of failure increases as his focus is diverted to other things or people in his environment. As we have explored, learned and repeated this game, he has being more willing to work not just for treats after the task but for his own enjoyment upon success with praise.
Hi Susan – so glad that this video brought some clarity to your situation! π
Just watched video one and found it really interesting. thank you
y’welcome Janice! Glad you enjoyed it! π
I thoroughly enjoyed this masterclass, and it resonated with me and my past and present experiences with my 3 current dogs, which are all foster fail rescues. Not to mention dogs i am currently working with helping their owners.
I eagerly await part 2
Hi Frances – so glad to hear that! *see* you in part 2! π
Play for my 15 month old dog is key for shifting his emotional state, but it has to be done quickly before he gets over-aroused…. so it is a matter of being very observant of the environment. at home he is very happy, although having a terrier trait (mixed breed) he likes to chase birds, but if i have a toy/ball his preference is the ball.
the key, which i have to work on is to keep him under-threshold in different environments, which can be very challenging.
thank you for your insights Karolina – always appreciated.
Great point – over-arousal can certainly be just as challenging as under-arousal! You may want to explore some conditioned relaxation techniques, or the Take-a-breath protocol developed by Karen Overall. Best of luck! π
Thought provoking video. I have a rescue border collie with high anxiety. She has improved since I have had her but following what you have said I have only tackled sleeping and nutrition. I now need to look at the other 3. That is going to challenge my creativity.
Great to hear that you got inspired to try something new! Best of luck! π
Your explanations and metaphors are easily understood and spark ideas. Thank you for this free class!
You’re welcome, Erika! π
Great first video! π I managed to change my previous dogs behaviour by changing his emotions in pressured situations (not his general mood, unfortunately), so his very intense and years long reacitivity towards other dogs lessened significantly. I did it by thinking about what his favorite thing in the world was (me.. And interacting with me), and then using this. So I started prasing him more on walks, and having more fun on walks with him, especially when there were other dogs visible. It seemed so simple, but it was very effective.
Many of the most effective approaches are actually quite simple! Great to hear that he’s doing so much better! π
Thank you so much for this great video! You really hit the nail on the head (and you are a great singer, too).
My first approach to changing the mood is to engage in play and work with the seeking system, i.e., letting the dogs do something to work for food in a natural way (e.g., scent detection) instead of just putting the food bowl in front of them.
π Thanks! So glad you enjoyed this first video!
Excellent masterclass! Thank you so much.
I have owned, bred and trained Siberian Huskies for 15 years with a lot of succes. My youngest (bought from another breeder) turned out to be a mixed breed (dispite of her FCI pedigree), and she was completely different from the others. I really struggled to understand her and keep her happy in the beginning. We began doing nosework and I took classes in playing with dogs/rewarding with toys. It absolutely changed everything! Now we work as a great team and she is happy.
After this first video I can see that there are details about feeding her, that I can consider changing too. She is a picky eater and is fed raw food primarily, but maybe I can spice it up somehow, making her find it herself. She is a chaser for sure! Thank you so much for sharing with us Karolina!
You’re welcome Malene – so glad you got inspired to try some new approaches! π
Can’t wait to see what you got. My 4.5 yr old Labrador Mix Floyd and my 8 yr old MaltiPom Betsy. Definitely need some work. Otherwise mostly Good Dogs.
I hope you’ll find it interesting, Laura! π
I know you have a huge knowledge about animal behaviors because I have taken som of your certified and free classes before and I am a fan of you, smile.
Looking really forward to this master class
Vibeke Schellerup Reese
Will be great to *see* you again, Vibeke! π
Thank you for offering this opportunity. I look forward to learning how to better understand my pets’ interactions with the world as they experience it — and how to help them, if needed.
Hope you’ll get some useful insights, Sharon! π
Hello, Karolina!
I am looking forward to another amazing class! Your perspective is refreshing and I always come away with a new way of approaching behavior!
Hi Fran! I hope you’ll enjoy this one, too! π
Look forward to this series. Thank you so much.
You’re so very welcome! π
Very Excited for this Masterclass. I am currently taking the Getting Behavior Course which is fantastic!
I hope you’ll enjoy it, Kasha! π
Looking forward to the masterclasses Hun
I hope you’ll enjoy it, Elizabeth! π
Excited about this! Thank you!
Me too! π
Looking forward to this.
Me too! *see* you in the Masterclass!
I look forward to this! Many thanks!!
Y’welcome! π