MORE ABOUT THE POWER OF "DOING NOTHING"

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

A few months ago I did a discussion about how powerful I found "just waiting" to be with Murph.  Because he's excitable, giving commands with constant corrections for non-compliance wasn't the best training answer for him.  As an example, today it took us almost 50 minutes to get from the car to the dog park entrance with both boys.  There were dogs running and barking inside the park and that just set off both of my guys.  We got out of the car and just waited until they calmed down....which meant that Guinness had to stop crying and Murph had to lose that "stiff body".  Eventually Murph gave it up and just lied down and Guinness stopped the whining.  So we started to move forward.  Every time they got too excited, we stopped and just waited.  After 45 minutes we finally were able to walk in...it was reinforcement to them that "nothing good happens when your in that excited frame of mind".  This is something that our trainer has worked on with us for months.  Anyway here's a video that explains this philosophy way better than I ever could.  It could me my trainer saying these words.  What do you think?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

If you think about it, it's so respectful to the dog.  It's us saying "we get it and we'll wait until you're ready".

[Wendy and Myla]

:)

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I love this trainer, such great common sense she brings to the debate. I am definitely going to employ this when I have one or two excited dogs to handle.  

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

I can't see the video on my work computer, but I did look up the book someone mentioned "Bones would rain from the sky".  Most are positive reviews with a few scathingly bad reviews.  I would like to buy it anyway.  Do you think I'd enjoy it on my Kindle (where I do most of my reading) or is it heavily illustrated and I should get the paperback?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I think it would be fine on your Kindle.

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

Wow.  I finally got to watch this video and boy have I been doing things wrong.  Cubbie goes into a frenzy when he sees me take his collar out of the drawer and I get him to sit but his little body just shakes and he whines.  He is sitting like I asked but no where near calm. 

 

This wait it out approach is something that I want to try, but what happens when you can't just wait it out?  For example, Cubbie gets so very excited whenever we go somewhere and will make all kinds of sounds as soon as the car stops.  If it we are going to the dog park or something I can just sit there, but what about trips to the vet where we are on a schedule?  Will that be counterproductive? 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Just do it whenever you can and eventually he will learn.  If you can, be consistent, because I think it shortens up the learning curve....it still works if you can only do it "sometimes' but it will take a little longer.  The shaking and whining sounds just like Guinness.  The reason it was so important for us yesterday is that we were taking them into a dog park with other dogs.  That kind of "whacky, unbalanced" energy can cause the other dogs to react to him.  

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

at what point would you have given up and gone home or were you ready to sit there for a couple of hours if necessary?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We only had an hour and we were making progress toward the Park....we'd take steps until they started to act excited and then we'd stop and wait.  As soon as they calmed, we'd move forward again.  It took a little over 45 minutes....if they hadn't calmed by then we would have left and they wouldn't get their reward....entrance to the dog park.

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

Doing the right thing can be so exhausting sometimes!  I've been practicing this approach with Kona's loose leash training and let's just say....I'm not breaking a sweat on our walks! (But it's so rewarding when he finally prances along right next to my knee and looks up with a smile of pride)

[Kyoko]

I loved it. Especially the conparison to how we may feel and not being able to do what friends may suggest us to do until we manage out nerves at our own pace, made great sense to me.  plan to watch more of her youtube videos.....I have to try being clam myself and give Charlie plenty of time to be, and manage her nerves..........

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I am so glad I watched this. I have been putting it to good use. The boys get really excited when it's walk time. They are both excellent at sitting while I attach their harness's and leash but when we head out the door they were both lunging onto the sidewalk. My front door is right onto a pathway with quite a busy road. Once outside they walk nicely for me but getting out was the problem so... I stopped and waited and waited and waited until they were both calm and then I walked out in front of them. I have done this five times since I took note of this oh so simple calm wait and it's working an absolute treat.  Thank you so much for posting this as I am sure there will be lots more situations that this will prove useful for.