FINALLY: PASSING OTHER DOGS
BOTH ARE MOVING
In this last phase of training both dogs are moving which means we are now getting to actually your dog learning to pass other dogs. Remember to ensure sufficient distance. If your dog starts barking more than a few times, you have probably moved too fast and decreased the distance too quickly. In this case, you will want to increase distance significantly and try to decrease the distance more slowly and carefully.
PASSING OTHER DOGS WITH A LONGER DISTANCE
The distance should be long enough so that your dog is able to disregard the other dog and pass it without reacting to it.
- The distance should be decreased 1-2m at a time, according to how well your dog is able to execute the last exercise without reacting to the other dog.
- If the surroundings change, we suggest you start with significantly larger distance to ensure success. When your dog is able to pass the distraction-dog from 2-3m away, you may switch to a different distraction dog but remember to start from the beginning. You should alternate between 4-5 different distraction dogs in an organized manner (don’t hurry though, this will backfire later if you make the situation too difficult for your dog) when the exercises on this page are going well with one distraction-dog.
Step 1
- In the video the distance between the dog-in-training and the distraction-dog at the moment they pass each other is around 6m. The handler and the dog move calmly and it’s important that the distraction-dog doesn’t stare at the dog-in-training. The dog-in-training is only rewarded for looking away from the other dog quietly (no barking). In the beginning it can be expected that the dog-in-training may bark. After the dog quiets down and offers the desired behaviour, you may reward him/her but be careful to only do this a few times and even then make sure that the conditioned reinforcer (the sound which acts as a promise for a reward) only comes when the dog is quiet. The dog only gets rewarded for calmly and quietly disregarding the other dog.
Step 2
- In the video the distance between the dog-in-training and the distraction-dog at the moment they pass each other is around 4m. The handler and the dog move calmly and it’s important that the distraction-dog doesn’t stare at the dog-in-training. The dog-in-training is only rewarded for looking away from the other dog quietly (no barking). In the beginning it can be expected that the dog-in-training may bark. After the dog quiets down and offers the desired behaviour, you may reward him/her but be careful to only do this a few times and even then make sure that the conditioned reinforcer (the sound which acts as a promise for a reward) only comes when the dog is quiet. The dog only gets rewarded for calmly and quietly disregarding the other dog.
Step 3
- In the video the distance between the dog-in-training and the distraction-dog at the moment they pass each other is around 3m. The handler and the dog move calmly and it’s important that the distraction-dog doesn’t stare at the dog-in-training. The dog-in-training is only rewarded for looking away from the other dog quietly (no barking). In the beginning it can be expected that the dog-in-training may bark. After the dog quiets down and offers the desired behaviour, you may reward him/her but be careful to only do this a few times and even then make sure that the conditioned reinforcer (the sound which acts as a promise for a reward) only comes when the dog is quiet. The dog only gets rewarded for calmly and quietly disregarding the other dog.
Step 4
- In the video the distance between the dog-in-training and the distraction-dog at the moment they pass each other is around 2m. The handler and the dog move calmly and it’s important that the distraction-dog doesn’t stare at the dog-in-training. The dog-in-training is only rewarded for looking away from the other dog quietly (no barking). In the beginning it can be expected that the dog-in-training may bark. After the dog quiets down and offers the desired behaviour, you may reward him/her but be careful to only do this a few times and even then make sure that the conditioned reinforcer (the sound which acts as a promise for a reward) only comes when the dog is quiet. The dog only gets rewarded for calmly and quietly disregarding the other dog.
If you encounter problems, look through these things step by step:
- Does you dog know and recognize the conditioned reinforcer? Try it by doing the sound you chose and see if your dog reacts to it.
- The quality of the reward? Are you sure your dog is motivated enough to get this reward? You may have to alternate between a few options, always test out the treats before training to see what your dog wants the most. It would be good to always have 2-3 different kinds of treats at hand.
- Does your dog get rewarded often enough? Make sure it does because otherwise, when still in the training phase, the dog may lose motivation.
- Is the exersize too difficult for the dog? If your dog attempts to get to the object and isn’t able to disregard it and to look away, you must increase the distance until it is. Again, check the quality of the treats.
- Make sure that all steps of the exercise have been taught thoroughly before increasing difficulty. By increasing difficulty too soon, the exercise becomes too challenging. In this case, you must return some steps back.
- Is your dog healthy? A sick dog isn’t able to learn as effectively. A dog may, for example, have pains which could cause it to react strongly to other dogs.