Twice this week now the neighbors sheep have found their way through a hole in the fence. Today was the second day and the first group must have told their friends because it looked like the whole herd was on property this time! Both times I took each of my vizslas out for some PST exposure and it went well! I have footage from today but not day 1 and will be putting that together for another post. The camera angles on the footage for Káosz are a little wonky (I’m using a mounted POV camera) as it was my first time using it. What are some opportune moments you have come across with your dog when encountering wildlife or other things they have trouble with?

I did not write this but I think it is important and puts into words well what I wanted to talk about today. From Canine Evolutions on Facebook: There is a question I get asked constantly: "Bart, should I play fetch with my dog every day? He LOVES it!" And my answer is always the same: No. Especially not with working breeds like the Malinois, German Shepherd, Dutch Shepherd, or any other high-prey-drive dog, like hunting dogs, Agility dogs, etc. This answer is often met with surprise, sometimes with resistance. I get it-your dog brings you the ball, eyes bright, body full of energy, practically begging you to throw it. It feels like bonding. It feels like exercise. It feels like the right thing to do. But from a scientific, behavioral, and neurobiological perspective- it's not. In fact, it may be one of the most harmful daily habits for your dog's mental health and nervous system regulation that no one is warning you about. Let me break it down for you in detail. This will be long, but if you have a working dog, you need to understand this. Working dogs like the Malinois and German Shepherd were selected over generations for their intensity, persistence, and drive to engage in behaviors tied to the prey sequence: Working dogs like the Malinois and German Shepherd were selected over generations for their intensity, persistence, and drive to engage in behaviors tied to the prey sequence: orient, stalk, chase, grab, bite, kill. In their role as police, protection, herding, or military dogs, these genetically encoded motor patterns are partially utilized- but directed toward human-defined tasks. Fetch is an artificial mimicry of this prey sequence. - Ball = prey - Throwing = movement stimulus - Chase = reinforcement - Grab and return = closure and Reward - Reinforecment again. Every time you throw that ball, you're not just giving your dog "exercise." You are triggering an evolutionary motor pattern that was designed to result in the death of prey. But here's the twist:

I wanted to talk about something a little bit different today and not completely on the nose for predation but aids in a strong foundation for any dog depending on their needs. I recently have had a veterinarian (DVM) come out to do acupuncture on my youngest dog Káosz for these mysterious bumps on his head and eye discharge and to do chiropractic work on my other two, Lucas and Csili. I had acupuncture done on Lucas many years ago to help with his allergies by a different DVM who unfortunately has passed away. Holistic veterinarians are already difficult to find so losing the one I did trust was difficult not just professionally but also personally as we got on very well. Fast forward to this year, at the prompt of a good friend @Katie Schobel, I looked into finding another veterinarian that has this skill set for my middle dog’s, Csili, social/life skill issues. Her biggest obstacle for life skills is being anxious in relation to a vehicle and/or kenneling. I have made a lot of progress with her but we are at a plateau currently so I decided to try chiropractic adjustment for her. She has only had one session so far, and this is by no means the only method of approach I am taking for her, but it is an important piece of the puzzle. I do also have her on some supplements to help relax the overactive part of her brain associated with anxieties. I do try and avoid pharmaceuticals as much as I can which means that the more natural approaches can take longer to go in effect, but, in my opinion, is healthier and therefore worth it in the long run. I can update in a few months on her progress. My oldest dog Lucas is also getting chiropractic work done as well and as he is older he gets them a little more often than Csili does. He so far has had two and I am very glad I had his most recent one done because apparently his ribs were slightly out of place! I suspect this is from slipping on the stairs going up into my RV. I do not use the stairs that come with the RV itself but some wooden ones that @Paul Bunker helped me put together (or rather I helped him). They may just be a little too steep for the old boy so that will need to be upgraded soon. In the meantime, I do help him up the stairs as a guide/catch in case he needs it. I still want him to use his muscles as much as he can and also have the confidence to do stuff. This apparently works because after his last chiropractic appointment I was helping the DVM load up her vehicle and Lucas tried jumping in the back of her SUV! I thankfully caught him and he was not hurt. His attempt was with gusto but I think the vehicle was too tall for him to actually make it in his old age.

When it comes to training your dog whether it is for detection, social skills or predation substitution there may come a time where training just seems to stagnate. Depending on what you are working on and what your goal is this may not be a bad thing per se but generally speaking we want our dogs to be their best and that means challenging them. Challenging our dogs, so they have the chance to improve and learn new skills, must be done strategically. It is important to have a strong foundation for what you need as well, that way, if the challenge is too difficult, your dog has a practiced and approved skill to fall back on. If this occurs just reevaluate and adjust in a way to ensure your dog is successful. Often times this includes setting up the problem different entirely or breaking it down into smaller steps. The other benefit of a strong foundation is that if your dog were to “fail” at the challenge then they are less likely to “fall apart” when the intended end goal is not met. Some suggestions for getting out of the plateau and on to progress would be to try a new area, different time of day, different reward, change the distance or even take some time off and, within reason, allow your dog and yourself to just go somewhere and exist. While dogs are constantly learning, this is true, they also need time to enjoy being outside, going out and just going on a sniffari. Obviously if your dog has a trigger that really gets them I would suggest avoiding areas that contain that trigger as best you can that way you and your dog can enjoy being outside together with very little pressure to perform. If this needs to be done in multiple short sessions throughout the day/week that is ok. What are some things that you have done when you notice training starting to plateau? Feel free to share so we may learn from each other!

In order to understand and identify your dog’s predatory trigger it is highly beneficial to know what breed(s) of dog you have and to know what that breed was bred to do. For example, my Vizslas were bred to locate birds and other small game. Most dogs are not born with impulse control and so it must be taught otherwise they will see a trigger (or what I also call a stimulus) and want to chase after it. The chase part of the predatory motor sequence is only the beginning of the upswing for the undesired portion of the PMS on dopamine, and other feel good hormones. The peak is if they are successful in grab biting. That is when the dopamine and other hormones will start to come down and the dog will start to relax in satisfaction. Depending on what your dog is bred for, prefers on an individual level and personal experience the types of triggers will vary. Some dogs learn to use their eyes heavily to look for that exciting trigger. Some dogs will use their nose to sniff out a critter trail and some will use their ears to listen for a disturbance to bolt after. Many dogs will use all 3 of these approaches but not all at equal levels all of the time. Paying attention to your dog while out on walks (even while on leash) is very important. This is the best and safest way to teach your dog how to be safe and have impulse control around wildlife. So be sure to not be on your phone and if you have to take an important phone call do your best to be in as little of a distracting area as possible while that call takes place (even if you are using Bluetooth or otherwise hands free). So now let’s talk about threshold levels. There are three different thresholds that we should be aware of: under threshold, at threshold and over threshold. You can think of them this way: - Under threshold = green light - At threshold = yellow light - Over threshold = red light Green light threshold, a dog is able to think, be engaged with you enthusiastically and listen to you when you give a command.