Allie had her very first off-campus field trip to Lowes today and killed it!
Allie is a fearful, anxious little gal that freezes and pees instantly when confronted with something unfamiliar. We’ve been slowly conditioning her to withstand high levels of distraction while holding command, slowly building her confidence in us as her leaders.
We ran into an object that Allie was quite unsure of in this video, so I took the opportunity to lead her through her fear. Using a low level taps on the remote collar interrupted her mind from cycling into a panicked reaction. The remote is an amazing tool to help your dog concentrate on staying connected to the handler.
You may wonder why you would force a dog to confront something she is legitimately afraid of, and the answer is if you allow your dog to react in one secenario like a mad-man, she will learn to react like a mad-man, at ANY trigger. Allowing the mind to cycle out of control is much crueler than stopping it in its tracks.
It took no time at all to work this little mamma around her fears! We then had a fun-filled day practicing all of her obedience in the real world!
Awesome job today little mamma!
