When Games Scare The Dog

SPEAKER_01 0:00

But even at its most basic, some dogs are still scared. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:02

So how it looks in the game sometimes doesn't work for the dog that's in front of you. We like to work for the dog in front of us. So I have to figure out well, how do I do this? If you won't go near it, how do I even start?

Meet The Hosts And The Mission

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel podcast. I'm Lauren Langman. I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers, and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority. In each episode, you'll discover how to gain trust and communicate with your dog like never before, creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most exciting part of their world.

The Question About Fearful Pessimists

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Real life question, real life student, amazing student. Now she says, How do you approach optimism games like knock them over and noise box? These are games in the games club. We'll talk about that later. With a pessimist that's afraid of the bottles falling over and actually fearful of the whole world, or maybe even hearing a noise and a bottle crinkling in a box.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

How do we start? And you've been there, Sam. I have, I have. I've had a dog that's super nervous about noises and just about other things as well. Most of all about life. Yes, yeah, very much about life. And you know, you could you could pick up a box and she'd be like, oh, yeah, yeah. And nothing's ever happened to us.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

And people out there, that she's not a rescue, she's not a new home. People out there would be thinking this dog's been beaten by a bird.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Actually, she's a nervous dog. Yeah, she's just a nervous little Nelly. She is a nervous Nelly. She's just a little bit unsure about particularly noises for her. She's very, very nervous about noises. So we had to start this. And in the games club, there's lots and lots of games that are aimed toward kind of like noise, kind of like reactivity, or different like surfaces and textures and crinkles or getting in and out of boxes, all sorts of things like that. Cardboard chaos as well. Oh, one of my favourites.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Cardboard chaos is one of my favorites. But even at its most basic, some dogs are still scared. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

So how it looks in the game sometimes doesn't work for the dog that's in front of you. We like to work the dog in front of us. So I had to figure out well, how do I do this? If she won't go near it, how do I even start?

Break The Game Down Tiny

SPEAKER_00 2:00

So it was like kind of breaking it down. So I literally with cardboard chaos, I actually broke it down and we just did flat boxes. Can you even just stand on a flat box? You know, just put some food on it. And even that's the same room. Yeah, even that is. Yeah, absolutely. Can you even walk in the same room? Can you just go towards it and then come back away from it? You know, we had to really break it down to a very, very basic level for her. I think at one point I was like, Can you just walk on a piece of paper? You know, even that, she was like, No, it makes noise, you know. So we had to kind of figure out, well, where do we start with her? And then we can build it. But we had to find the starting point. And I think some people can't find the starting point, and then they give up and they say that game's not for their dog. Like you need to kind of think outside the box a little bit. And if you're unsure how to do that, the cool thing about the Games Club is that we've got an amazing community um full of like pro dog trainers and people that have been there but and helped their dogs in the past that can help you with it. So, you know, you will always find a solution.

Movement And The Freedom To Leave

SPEAKER_01 2:51

I think the biggest thing when you're struggling with a dog who is fearful, less is more. Yeah. And actually looking for anything that is remotely optimistic. And I'd say movement is really your friend. Yeah. So anything you can do to get a dog moving, I think can really move them out of that space. And I'd say that goes the same for people, people that are sad, or people that are not feeling it, or people that are not in a good space. Movement is massive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Yeah. I think that giving them the option as well to leave. So a big one that I found was really helpful was the pressure release. You know, uh, and I'd never ever heard of that before I joined Absolute Dogs, you know. I was like, you create a lot of pressure sometimes as an owner because you want them to do well, you want them to get better, you want them to, you know, be more confident. But as a result, sometimes you make it worse, you know, because you're like, you can do this, go do it. Yeah, we can we can we can relate to that, I think, in human life, you know, where someone tries to push you in a direction that you're not ready for. I would say so. You're really good at knowing when to push people, when not to push people, right? And you're very good at being like, no, I think you can handle this, off you go. Like, just get on with it, do it, you can do it. Come on, and I'll be here to support you, but I know that you can do it. Sometimes you're like, actually, no, that's that's not right. Yeah, it's not right.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

We had that instance yesterday, didn't we? We really I really pushed a student. I was pretty light.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

You were so strict. I was like, absolutely. In my head, I was like, You're being really strict. I didn't say it to you because I knew that you knew that, but yeah, I was on her, but I was on there, but she really valued it because she was ready for it. She was at that point where she, you know, she could handle that and she really valued it and came back later on and did and smashed it.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Like absolutely smashed it. So I think that's really important, guys, to acknowledge. So for me, scared dogs, optimism games. How do we keep them optimistic?

Build Eating And Reinforcement Value

SPEAKER_01 4:27

The other thing for me is um massive earning, so make earning such a big part of their day that actually it's a really good part of their day. And I don't mind a dog a fraction hungry, so they come into the session a little bit like, oh, this is something I quite enjoy doing. If they're not at the point of eating, then that's probably our first space. Actually, dog that eats. Yeah, if they're not eating, then how do we get them to eat? What makes eating attractive? Um, and I've certainly had that with Nell, the little sheepdog. She started by like turning her nose about everything, and now you should see her recall. Honestly, it it's it's a shame. She's Sam and I are gonna do a really cool walk today. It's gonna be filmed, so it'll either be in the games club or in Pro Dog Trainer. We're taking out a naughty but nice dog who doesn't get on well with other dogs, and we're taking them out in a stooge dog walk with other dogs. We're gonna film it all. I'm not gonna take her with me because she's a bit bitchy, yeah. She's got the edge to her. So if someone eyes her up, I think she would take it as a bit of an intole. Whereas my dogs are more confident than that. She's not she's not as confident, I would say, as them typically. So I need to play on that a little. Other than that, real cool rock star of a dog, really. Like, there's a lot of rock star in there. We've just got to sort of build that through. But what I was going into was the food thing. She used to not eat food, and now like you call her back and she runs back and hits you for a piece of kibble. And I'm like, wow, how did this happen?

SPEAKER_00 5:33

But it changes, doesn't it? It does change, it is really cool. But when you've got that that tool in your toolbox to use, massive, especially with like things. I mean, with any struggle, with any re any struggle with a lot of things. A dog that eats is helpful.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

A dog that plays is helpful. A dog that has reinforcement options help or helpful. And

Trainability Means Susceptible To Reinforcement

SPEAKER_01 5:49

I love this quote. This quote is like for me, this is like a masterpiece quote. It's a quote that I always go back to. Trainability is susceptibility to reinforcement. Yeah, if your dog is not susceptible to reinforcement, they are not as easily trainable. Yes, that makes it a lot harder. So Nell, for example, is susceptible to treat uh to sheep, yeah, but nothing else. Yeah, that's not easy. That's very limited, right? I'm limited. I I I mean, you have got sheep, luckily. Yeah, but it's limiting. Yeah, it's very now. She's susceptible to food.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Lots easier.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

We've got a cool game going. Yeah, like that's cool. She also quite likes toys, but her main toy to play with would be a sack of food. So like a sheep food bag or something like that. And that's because that would have happened in her early grow-up. She didn't have toys. Yeah. And so now if you were to give her toys, she's like, No, no, that's not my toy. I don't really know that. But give me a shred of cheaper. I'm all in. So kind of like plastic, yeah. She's very happy, or a plastic piece of piping. Yeah, very happy. These are the things that she never had, right? Or little stone. Yeah, a little stone. She's like, Yeah, I'll play with a stone. Yeah. And because those are the things that, yeah, she made her own toys. Like she made her own toys. And and you get people like that that they've had limitations when they were growing up. So those are the things that have kind of effectively later on defined them if they if they're kept in that space. For me, what I love is that trainability is susceptible to reinforcement. The more you grow reinforcement, the more you grow trainability. So actually, we can grow that. Now, coming back to the sort of topic, how do we maintain optimism? For me, three things: one, build reinforcement, two, minimize it going wrong, three, maximise it going right. Actually, very simple.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Yes, very, very simple. And work the dog in front of you. Work what you've got because it doesn't always look the same. It doesn't always look exactly how you want it. It's also not always pretty, is it?

SPEAKER_01 7:22

No, it's sometimes you've got to like get rid of the sort of like frills and and and sort of not worry about them too much and let us have a few rough edges.

Make Noise Predict Fun

SPEAKER_01 7:30

And have fun with it.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Like have fun with it because your dog can feel that in the energy, right? Yeah, we have a lot of fun when we train. We have a lot of fun when we train. And it makes a difference for our dogs, though. I see it. I see the difference in how my dogs learn when I'm having loads of fun with the training than when I'm like forcing myself to do the training. I'm a bit serious and worried about it. Yeah, sometimes we just got to light lighten up and it to a degree it is what it is. So find ways to make it fun. Actually, we were saying earlier, Luna, when I first started off, like she really loved shredding toilet roll chip to the point where we started giving them as well. It's one of your games. Yeah, it was literally one of our games. But what I realized really quickly is if you put kibble in, it makes a noise. Yeah. You know, so if you put kibble in it, she had to work out how to get it out. To begin with, she was a little bit like, oh, it's making noise, but then she was like, Oh, but I get to shred it and I get to eat out of it. She loved it, she absolutely loved it. Um, that might be your dog enjoys playing with a plastic bottle. It makes noise, but they're enjoying playing with it. And so suddenly that noise becomes something else part of the picture.

Games Club Trial And Stop Courses

SPEAKER_01 8:20

So if someone's not part of Games Club, Sam, how do they get involved?

SPEAKER_00 8:23

It's one pound, it's one pound for a seven-day trial. Like, why wouldn't you do it? Uh and for people that are trying to that might have dogs that aren't foodies right now or are struggling with optimism or any any other struggle, really, any struggle at all. This is the place for you. This is we have everything that you need, and right now you can try it for one pound. So why wouldn't you? Because if you don't like it, you can just leave.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Just give a couple of examples of the stop courses that are in there that if people might not have seen them yet. So give an example.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

So it's essentially a course that our trainers have designed to give you the games from the games club into a little package for a specific struggle. So 10 days to stop stealing, 10 days to stop barking, 10 days to stop um separation anxiety, 10 days to stop jumping. Like there are lots, 10 days to stop uh resource guarding. There are lots there to help you with whatever struggle that you've got. Or you could just ask our blink bot, which is essentially AI, the little blink bot retriever, cock spaniel that will go and grab whatever game you need. You just type in what your struggle is, and they will go and grab all of the information that we've had from all over the years and give it to you right there and then if you're not sure where to go. So it's a really, really cool space. Even for seven days, you'll get so much value. Why wouldn't it be?

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Mega stuff, mega

Share The Games And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_01 9:34

stuff. Literally, guys, dogs who lack optimism, let's play through games, let's build through games, let's give them games, let's give them the joy of games. And if you haven't already, share it with someone, right? You've shared it with sisters, mothers, fathers, brothers, like literally, it's gone all over. I've tried to share it with like so many different people. Some are receptive, some are not, but ultimately it helps dogs worldwide, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Yeah, absolutely. And it just brings a nicer place to look very good.