Training Thresholds: A Strategy For Balancing The Emotions Of Anxious Or Over Excited Dogs #268
Shaped by Dog with Susan Garrett
DogsThat
4.8 • 679 Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2024
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Visit us at shapedbydog.com
How many thresholds does your dog cross a day? It could be a physical or emotional threshold. Training thresholds are important to understand, and thresholds can explain why some dogs seem anxious and refuse to budge, and others get way overexcited. I’ve got tips to help dogs with balancing emotions to cross any type of threshold with calm, thoughtful focus. You’ll also get a peek at what I discovered about my puppy Prophet’s excitement with a see-saw and how I'm counterconditioning the stimulus.
In this episode you’ll hear:
• About understanding thresholds as emotional states that dogs experience.
• The different types of thresholds: positive, neutral, and unpleasant.
• Examples of thresholds such as entering new environments, or going to specific places like a training class or vet's office.
• The importance of observing and managing a dog's emotional state when crossing thresholds.
• Strategies for managing extreme reactions at thresholds, such as overexcitement or fear.
• How to implement relaxation protocols and counter conditioning to create a more desirable behavior.
• Why you need patience and consistency in training to modify a dog's response to thresholds over time.
• My puppy Prophet’s See-Saw (Teeter) obsession and counterconditioning the stimulus.
• What to do for calm, focused behavior when crossing thresholds.
• The importance of being present and proactive in managing thresholds and behaviors.
Resources:
1. Podcast Episode 258: Training Plan For Hyper Excited Dogs: Play The Threshold Game For Calm Focus - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/258/
2. YouTube Playlist: The Emotional State of Dogs with Susan Garrett - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLphRRSxcMHy29pv3_9b7DZdMFJL9ZJPMy
3. Podcast Episode 245: Make Dog Training Easy! Quick Guide To Antecedent Arrangements - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/245/
4. Podcast Episode 132: All The Things Your Dog Hates And How To Fix Them - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/132/
5. YouTube Video: Vet Visits For Dogs: How To Create A Positive Experience For Everyone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJc42BfNre4
6. YouTube Video: Understanding Your Dog's Reinforcement Zone (RZ) with Susan Garrett - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaUAScgaFAg
7. Podcast Episode 63: 3 Easy Tricks Every Dog Should Know - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/68/
8. Podcast Episode 4: T.E.M.P. (Tail, Eyes/Ears, Mouth, Posture) - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/4/
9. Podcast Episode 157: Dog Body Language: Understanding Canine Communication Signals And Emotions - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/157/
10. Podcast Episode 165: Why Do Dogs Bark In Cars And How To Stop It - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/165/
11. Podcast Episode 191: Get Your Dog To Calm Down With This Common Sense Protocol For Relaxation - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/191/
12. Podcast Episode 266: Hot Zone And Stays – How One Dog Training Nuance Can Fix Anxiety And Duration - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/266/
13. Watch this Episode of Shaped by Dog on YouTube - https://youtu.be/RxJg7smQ6nM
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | In podcast episode number 258, I described the Threshold game and it's a game that I put together |
| 0:06.2 | for one of my students who had a over-exuberant puppy who would lose it when he walked into the |
| 0:13.3 | training building. It's a way that got that puppy to redirect his focus onto his owner rather |
| 0:18.9 | than his environment and it's a game that helped |
| 0:21.3 | create calm as he entered the building. And it occurred to me that we really need a deep |
| 0:27.2 | dive on all kinds of thresholds. Hi, I'm Susan Garrett. Welcome to Shape by Dog. Now, what is a threshold? |
| 0:44.2 | We think of a threshold as maybe like a doorstep that we step over and will often refer to |
| 0:50.3 | emotional states, the thresholds that they represent, that we don't want to go over this |
| 0:55.6 | threshold or stay under threshold. And by definition, a threshold is a level or point you start |
| 1:03.9 | experiencing something. Kind of vague, isn't it? It's like you're moving or the dog is moving from one set of antecedents |
| 1:13.0 | into a different set of antecedents. They may not be new. It's highly unlikely in most cases |
| 1:20.3 | that it is new. It's just different antecedent arrangements. And because it's highly unlikely |
| 1:27.1 | it's new, the dog has experienced |
| 1:29.9 | crossing that threshold going from one experience into the current one. And because of that, |
| 1:37.1 | they could have and likely have developed a conditioned emotional response to it. So, it could be that it is a very positive thing. They |
| 1:46.8 | really look forward to it, like that puppy coming into our training building and they get excited. |
| 1:51.3 | And excitement and joy is something we all love to see in our dogs, but we want to keep it |
| 1:56.6 | under threshold. We want to have that excitement and joy be contained. So, we can have a dog that's |
| 2:02.3 | joyful showing a positive CER. We could have them crossing a threshold and we'll get a neutral |
| 2:07.4 | response. Like when your dog goes from the bedroom to the living room. They don't go in going, |
| 2:12.7 | oh, I'm in the living room, right? It's the same thing that they experienced the day before. |
| 2:18.1 | There's really no need. That's a neutral threshold. Now, they might cross a threshold that they |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from DogsThat, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of DogsThat and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.