-
Hey Taylor! I have a couple thoughts!
When doing p3 escape conditioning, I layer the directional pumps with the nick. If we nick, and the dog doesn’t adjust, then we pump (without the Nick’s) we are distancing the response to the ecollar. The dog is then responding to the pumps and not the nick. This can cause the negative side effects that we can avoid if we pair the nick’s with directional pumps (in this phase we often don’t need pumps so much as light directional leash guidance). While the dog may put the pieces together, layering them together expedites the process and clarifies exactly what the dog must do to make the new feeling stop.
One thing I learned the hard way, is that when we are trying to get dogs to break, having the handler/core family members entice the dog (with clear eye contact and offerings) and then correcting the dog for responding to clear enticement can confuse the dog. Ultimately, we don’t want to “trick” the dog. Best case scenario the dog has to second guess our intentions and interactions (may cause the dog to hide, cower, etc) worst case the dog self advocates and even take a swing at the handler. I have my clients hold things like toys, food, and even swing things around….but not invitational or by making eye contact with clear intention to entice. Non-handlers/core family members can entice and it is reasonable to have the dogs learn to hold a command in spite of that behavior from people that are not handlers/core family members. If we want our dogs to trust us we have to be predictable and honest. This is especially important with strong temperaments and aggression cases for safety reasons.
Your explanation of what escape conditioning is was great and very easy to understand. Your leash handling and presentation was cool like Fonzi!
