tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-364510902774440038.post6471671694993578208..comments2023-07-02T06:53:19.789-07:00Comments on Rollin' With Rubi: Rubi's First Day of SchoolDizzyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09114617812917172888noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-364510902774440038.post-61632976532806288482010-11-09T06:50:25.591-08:002010-11-09T06:50:25.591-08:00That makes a lot of sense actually! I especially l...That makes a lot of sense actually! I especially like the idea of threshold as a continuum. I think you're probably correct about that, and I think that's probably the case with most things in life--not much is just black or white.Ninsohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11926615638315977082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-364510902774440038.post-70439248599664108792010-11-08T18:05:44.922-08:002010-11-08T18:05:44.922-08:00There was probably some flooding here, particularl...There was probably some flooding here, particularly in the beginning of class. It was a judgment call on my part if I kept her in or not. I decided since she was still giving me behaviors I could reward and still taking treats that we could work through this. I also factored in that I'd spent big bucks on the class and it did get much lower stimulus than this: she couldn't see the other dogs at all, just hear and smell them. If Rubi had been too worked up to take treats or if she had more of a fearful temperament, I would have pulled her from the class. For example, I never would have kept Maus in that situation. <br /><br />I'm sure that there are trainers who will disagree with me, but I've come to think of "over threshold" as more of a continuum than a black and white line. On one side you have sleeping and on the other side you have psychotic. It's a matter of deciding where on the continuum a dog is at any given moment, and where is the dog going to go from here. Being at the psychotic end is exhausting. Where is the dog going to be when he or she comes down? Is it possible to benefit from pushing things here? I wish I could explain it better, but what it comes down to is I took a chance and trusted my gut. Luckily for us, it turned out to be the right thing to do.<br /><br />Getting B to relax in a working environment has been an on-going struggle. I have a few tricks left in my bag, so keep an eye out for those. I think one of the advantages of the relaxation protocol is that it's so predictable and there's a rhythm to it. The dog is working, but it's about as low key as a job can be. I think the repetition is really the important part of the relaxation protocol. Eventually the dog learns that it's not worth it to be tense? That's my theory - you'll have to let me know if it works for your BC!<br /><br />(PS - thank you for commenting! You are my new best friend! )Dizzyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09114617812917172888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-364510902774440038.post-52294084678847453262010-11-08T13:37:14.996-08:002010-11-08T13:37:14.996-08:00I have a question (not a criticism--you've bee...I have a question (not a criticism--you've been doing this longer than I have): Isn't bringing Ruby to an hour and a half long class where she was extremely over threshold right from a beginning considered more of "flooding" than DS? I get that you were doing CC work while over threshold, but I've always heard that for DS, the key is always keeping the dog under threshold.<br /><br />Also, I'd love to hear more about the relaxation protocol. I've read CU, but never really tried it, and one of my border collies does NOT relax if he's working. He will lay there and stay, holding his breath the whole time and on a hair-trigger waiting for a release.Ninsohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11926615638315977082noreply@blogger.com