How to Train Unmotivated or Overexcited Dogs #86
Shaped by Dog with Susan Garrett
DogsThat
4.8 • 679 Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2021
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Visit us at shapedbydog.com
Are there times your dog just does not want to train? Or perhaps your dog is so distracted that you can't get their focus on you or the training? The reason a dog will seem so obsessed with something that you can't get their attention or do not seem motivated comes down to their emotional state. The good news is that you can help get your dog into the zone for peak performance, and when you rehearse success, it becomes easier and easier.
In the episode you'll hear:
• What Yerkes–Dodson Law means for dog training.
• How emotional states go up and down based on stress.
• Why not all stress is bad and why we need good stress.
• About our emotional state and how the same applies to our dogs.
• All the stages of arousal and how each state impacts our dog.
• How focus narrows when stress goes up.
• What over excitement does to us and our dogs.
• Why dogs can't hear us when they are over excited.
• What we can do to help our dogs be in the zone.
• How you can test your dog's arousal state with a treat.
• The importance of changing our dog's physiology.
• Why the bell curve changes for dogs with clarity through training.
• How to train activities that help your dog get to peak performance.
• Why not to train something important when your dog is over or under aroused.
Resources:
• Yerkes–Dodson Law (Wikipedia) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes%E2%80%93Dodson_law
• Podcast Episode 84: Disappointment in Dog Sports: Mindset with Olympian Greg Louganis - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/84/
• Podcast Episode 60: When You Don't Feel Like Training Your Dog - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/60/
• Podcast Episode 57: Why Balance Breaks Fast Track Your Dog Training - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/57/
• Blog Post: How Do I Train My Dog To Come When Called? - https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2019/04/train-my-dog-to-come-when-called/
• Watch this Episode of Shaped by Dog on YouTube - https://youtu.be/jsva1bKdYQg
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Have you ever noticed there seems to be times when your dog just doesn't want to train? |
| 0:15.1 | Or the opposite, that your dog is so distracted by something that you absolutely can't get their focus on you |
| 0:22.5 | or your training. Hi, I'm Susan Garrett. Welcome to Shape by Dog. And today, we're going to |
| 0:28.3 | talk not only about why that's happening, but what you can train first when you see it. And |
| 0:35.7 | what's the best time to train a dog like that? I promise there's |
| 0:40.9 | going to be a lot of aha moments, some palm slaps and I bet the odd epiphany before we're |
| 0:47.0 | done here. And if you're watching this on YouTube, here's what I'd like to do. When you get |
| 0:52.3 | one of those moments, I'd like you to share it |
| 0:55.6 | in the comments because then you can do what I'm doing, helping people you may have never |
| 1:01.9 | met before understand dog training just a little better. And if you are watching this on |
| 1:06.8 | YouTube, go ahead and hit that like button for me before we get going. The reason, dogs |
| 1:12.3 | sometimes seem so obsessed with something they can't listen or that they don't want to, |
| 1:18.8 | you know, do anything, all comes down to their emotional state. And the emotional state is common, not just in dogs, but in people too. Have you ever |
| 1:32.1 | heard the term of an athlete being in the zone? That means they're at the peak of their emotional |
| 1:39.4 | state, peak performance. They're in the zone. Oh, Susan, I don't want to be an athlete. I don't care |
| 1:46.5 | about being in the zone. I promise you. This is monstrous for anybody doing dog sports, |
| 1:53.1 | but it's absolutely important for anybody trying to train or educate a person, trying to train |
| 2:00.6 | a dog. |
| 2:02.0 | Hugely important. |
| 2:03.4 | Because our emotional states go up and down based on stress. |
| 2:08.4 | Now, you might be thinking, oh, stress, that's bad, right? |
| 2:10.9 | Not all stress is bad. |
... |
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