{"id":2517,"date":"2015-08-15T14:53:43","date_gmt":"2015-08-15T14:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testmaria.satemporary.online\/2015\/08\/15\/2015-08-15-arousal-is-the-enemy\/"},"modified":"2024-04-26T23:57:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T23:57:01","slug":"arousal-is-the-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testmaria.satemporary.online\/2015\/08\/15\/arousal-is-the-enemy\/","title":{"rendered":"Arousal Is The Enemy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As a dog trainer <\/a>who travels the country training dogs and working with 20-30 families a week in their homes it is so important for folks to understand how a dog thinks. And when there is no authority figure present, the kind of chaos and bad behavior that can happen. Remember the bad behavior of your dog is not the problem it is just the outcome of a breakdown of leadership in your home.<\/em>
\nMy friend, co-host of the Train The Trainers<\/a> Seminar Series, and LA dog training<\/a> colleague Sean O\u2019Shea from The Good Dog Training and Rehabilitation puts out such a great blog that I feature it here on my blog. Since the message is so powerful and important it needs to be shared by all. Enjoy the read and feel free to also join his Facebook Fan Page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Arousal Is The Enemy<\/h1>\n

By Sean O’Shea<\/h1>\n

\"20150310-094912-35352723\"
\nI think it can be easy to miss this key component of success with your dog. Many folks confuse the state of arousal with excitement, happiness, or a dog being a dog. But here\u2019s the thing, arousal, when you\u2019re trying to get your dog to make his best choices, is usually the enemy.<\/p>\n

Check out this analogy. A perfectly nice couple of guys go the football game on Sunday. These guys have nice jobs, nice families, are well respected, and well liked. Good people. Once they get on the road to the game they start to get excited. They pump some loud music, start talking a little louder, and are getting excited about the game. They both notice the little lift they\u2019re feeling. Almost a little high, a little care free, a little, just a little I-don\u2019t-a-damn attitude creeping in. It feels good and a teeny bit dangerous. But just a teeny bit.<\/p>\n

They arrive at the game, grab their seats, and are swept up in the energy of the crowd and the anticipation of the game.<\/p>\n

And then, kick off!<\/p>\n

Boom, the adrenaline stars to flow, our family men\u2019s voices become louder, the excitement more intense, and now we\u2019ve got some physical gestures as well. We\u2019re pumping hands and standing up periodically to add emphasis and show our commitment to the moment.<\/p>\n

Next thing you know, someone in front of our lovely gents says something inappropriate. It isn\u2019t directed directly at our guys, it\u2019s just a general silly outburst, but due to all the excitement and arousal our guys are feeling, their better judgement lapses for just a moment and one of them shouts back at the other commenting gentlemen. It doesn\u2019t take long for a shouting match to erupt, and soon enough there\u2019s an actual physical altercation. No one is seriously injured, but the whole thing is pretty ugly, and both our family men and the other man who made the initial comment are all secured by security folks and later handed over to the police.<\/p>\n

Now how did we get here? How did our nice, respectable, good guys end up making such bad choices and getting themselves in so much trouble? Arousal. They didn\u2019t even see it coming. It was like a a slow storm that gradually enveloped them and next thing they knew they were acting like they wouldn\u2019t normally act, talking like they wouldn\u2019t normally talk, and getting into behavior that they wouldn\u2019t normally get into.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same with our dogs. Only our dogs don\u2019t have the same social pressure we do to comport ourselves in a certain fashion. (Because they live within a human structure not a dog structure.) And they tend to move into this space of arousal very, very quickly. We humans tend to need more ammo and time to get lifted up (not all of us though!), but our dogs are like hair triggers. They only need a little push to go boom! And many dogs live in the state of arousal most of their lives (always on edge about every little sound, every new passerby, every dog that barks etc). So pushing them into a higher state of it is very easy.<\/p>\n

This is why we focus so much on the structured walk\/heel, thresholds, duration place command, state of mind training overall, and correcting inappropriate overly excited\/aroused\/trigger happy behavior \u2013 both in the house and on the walks. These are all geared towards removing\/combatting arousal. All these exercises or interactions are to calm the mind, slow the mind, relax the mind.<\/p>\n

What we\u2019re shooting for is much more than obedience work, we\u2019re shooting for creating the mental landscape of more calm, more relaxed, more chilled out, and definitely less arousal. Because if we create all these elements, we create an environment for our dogs to make their best choices, share their best behavior, and be their best selves, without needing constant supervision or management. Eventually it becomes more of a default.<\/p>\n

Just remember, the dogs you see out on walks that are all fired up, barking, pulling, spinning, biting the leash, or the ones you see in the house (yours perhaps??:)) that bark at everything that moves, anyone who walks in, or any change in the environment, are very much like our nice gentleman at the football game who got themselves into trouble. They\u2019re likely suffering from arousal stemming from not enough help from us about what to do with it.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re stuck at the never ending football game.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s help them find their seat, relax, and watch in a more civilized (and enjoyable for all) fashion.<\/p>\n

P.S. Arousal and excitement do have their places. Play and fun time, or high action work like frisby, fetch etc are all great times for letting it all hang out. Just make sure you have both worlds to offer your dog. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Sean\u2019s website <\/em>www.thegooddog.net<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Solid K9 Training<\/b> Training Center- 25 Acorn Street, Providence, RI 02903<\/p>\n

(401) 274 1078 Providence Training Center Info<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*********FOLLOW ME**********<\/p>\n

Subscribe To My YouTube Channel<\/a>
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As a dog trainer who travels the country training dogs and working with 20-30 families a week in their homes it is so important for folks to understand how a dog thinks. And when there is no authority figure present, the kind of chaos and bad behavior that can happen. 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