In this program you will be establishing a history of reinforcement for choice, understanding, decisions and willingness to operate on the environment and the objects in it.
In order to empower a dog you must teach him industriousness, resilience, persistence and creativity.
Empowerment and Engagement training is about showing our dogs that the environment is something they can affect and control.
According to James O'Heare, in order to empower a dog you must teach him industriousness, persistence and creativity.
Industriousness means that the dog is willing to work; industriousness is also the willingness and ability to engage with not only the human involved but the environment itself.
Industriousness also means to work hard and steadily, mostly ignoring distractions or finding that the work itself is more rewarding.
This is the basic behind engagement with the human handler and without it, engagement is improbable.
Persistence is basically not giving up if the goal is attainable. Persistence is that quality that allows someone to continue doing something or trying to do something even though it is difficult or opposed by others.
Persistence contains with it the ability to continue even though the motivators have disappeared. The goal and the rewards inherent in reaching the goal are important enough that there is no need for continued motivation.
Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed.
Creativity for our dogs can best be expressed as problem solving. Namely, how your dog responds to problems and new situations.
Creativity is nurtured by freedom and stifled by the continuous commands, labeling of behavior, the necessity for human direction, and pressure to conform to an ideal that has little to do with the reality that is a dog and that restrict most dogs lives whether they are working, sporting or just pet dogs.
In the real world few questions have one right answer; few problems have one right solution; that’s why creativity is crucial to helping our dogs live in our world with our rules.
The basis of resilience is adaptivity. Therefore, positive socialization is so important for puppies, because it builds their ability to adapt based on many different situations throughout their development process. A well-socialized puppy that has learned about everything from loud noises to different types of people and animal will have a naturally learned resilience.
Resilience is the ability to cope, and a dog that shows reactive behavior usually has low resilience. Personality dictates resilience, but it can be learned and taught. All dogs are unique in their personalities. All animals and humans have evolved with a negative bias to keep us safe. Dogs that are reactive to triggers are reacting to their own negative bias and expecting the worst. Fear can be learned in one scary experience.
Empowerment training is about showing our dogs that the environment is something they can affect and control. Most training is about instilling control onto our dogs instead of showing them how to have self-control and understanding.
In this program you will be establishing a history of reinforcement for choice, understanding, decisions and willingness to operate on the environment and the objects in it.