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Engage/Disengage Session with Byxbee + Dog Distraction (Patreon)

Published:
2024-01-19 17:15:00
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Before you watch this video, a reminder that good training is boring. We've been taught through reality TV and social media that we should be seeing giant transformations, from dogs barking and lunging to dogs that are "calm" (but actually shut down) in under 30 minutes of course! However, good training is under threshold, and consequently, pretty uneventful. 

So in this video you'll watch a young puppy being set up for success while learning that he doesn't have to interact with every new dog he sees. We start slowly and in the backyard, not out on the street, and teach this puppy the framework for this game so that his handler can then take him out and work with him in different locations and under different distractions. 

Our goal with this game is for the trigger or distraction to be the CUE for the dog to ENGAGE with you, without you having to ask. I find this to be preferable to having a "look at me cue" and more practical for everyday work, especially with service dogs. 

Happy Training ya'll! 

Comments

K

I was wondering how this fits into herding dogs that show crouching/stalking behavior when something or someone is coming at them? My dog does this with bikes/cars and sometimes strange men or children approaching. Unfortunately this behavior often gets him extra attention and people will look at him and turn towards him and sometimes speak to him which can scare my dog and he will bark and raise his hackles at the person. My dog starts crouching when he sees the person or car in the distance so I can't increase the distance exactly but I may be sometimes able to do the engage/disengage game if I can pull way off to the side of the path or road and watch the trigger go by from there...it's just that it is more of a sideways configuration if you know what i mean, so I don't know if it will help him stop reacting to things approaching him head on. My dog is a 10 month old working kelpie. Thanks for any thoughts you may have on this.

DOGGY•U
>>127410203

Unfortunately, you've got two things working against you here: strong genetics, and adolescence. The good news is that this game can definitely help with your kelpie's ability to break away from the stare. But, you're not going to be able to just take it out onto your regular walks to play. You'll need to practice in a more controlled environment first. I like to use a dog park (wayyyy far away) for this type of training because the dogs aren't going to move outside of the pen generally, and there's usually a parking lot, so you can create a lot of distance. So I would give that a try to start!

Olivia Weiland

What if dog does not do well with creating more distance and is still lunging and barking at trigger? Thank you Laura for all your hard work and dedication to us and yourself. Keep it up, its inspiring!!!

DOGGY•U
>>127438680

If the dog is still lunging and barking at the trigger, they are still over threshold and too close. So that may mean that you need to figure out a setup where the trigger can be REALLY far away. I did this with CoolWhip when she was a baby and anxious around cars. I was a hundred yards or more from the highway to start, before I started moving her closer over time. Then I made sure her exercise didn't involve trigger exposure. This was obviously a lot of work, but in the end, I can walk by a car within a few feet of us on our street without a reaction, so the time spent was definitely worth it!

RaAnn Laine

For some reason, I can hear the audio but the video is a black screen.

Arielle Harvey

I expected this to be a dog who is fearful or reactive, this dog looks highly food motivated, most of the dogs I work with won’t even think about a treat when they see the trigger

DOGGY•U
>>129448773

Hey Arielle! The dogs I work with tend to be service dogs, and service dog candidates should not typically be overly fearful or reactive. I use this game to teach neutrality, and neutrality is exactly what I'm teaching here with Byxbee. That being said, if the dog is not taking food, you are too close to the trigger and need to move further away or create a different setup where the dog can be successful. You won't see over-the-top reactive dogs in any of my videos, even if they are reactive with their handler, because I'm very careful to set them up to be successful and limit them going over threshold. Remember that good training honestly looks pretty boring. I do have a video of working with a very reactive german shepherd dog that I was evaluating that you can find here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/engage-disengage-52704681

Christy

I have been doing this with my dog for awhile but we can’t seem to get over his distraction towards the object. He looks at the distraction, then looks at me for a treat, then back at the distraction. I can’t seem to move his focus over to me and away from the distraction after he looks at - instead we just repeat this pattern several times. It feels like I taught him to look at the distraction over and over rather than look to me and stay focused on me during the distraction.

DOGGY•U
>>130660796

Have you spent time hanging out at a distance from the distraction? Sometimes it can be a good idea to make the distraction boring by bringing a folding chair, staying at a distance where it's not too distracting, but still noticeable, and just hanging out, chewing a bone, etc. Make it less novel through low level long-term exposure.

Kelli Hughart

I typically say ‘yes’ with current SD. Im getting a puppy in October do I need to start with clicking again for new dog or is ‘yes’ ok

DOGGY•U
>>146356340

I do find that for this particular exercise, a clicker is more effective as the sound is unique. I like to train the dog for both a clicker and the word "yes". But if you want to forgo the clicker, you can use a verbal marker. I find that dogs that fixate on things have more trouble looking away when using a verbal marker for this particular exercise.

Amy

Great video! Looking forward to putting this work in. Can you help me iterate on this for novel items that go away more quickly - for example doing this work on the front porch while people go by, but not a busy place. My guess is stay at level one for more sessions? Thanks!

DOGGY•U
>>148817478

So in the case of people/house stuff, I would work on this outside of the house first so that the dog understands the game before brining it to the "problem" area. So go work on it on a bike path with lots of people going by, and then work on it at the house. One they understand the concept, then I'd pick a time of day where people are most likely to be coming by, and work on it then. The hard part though, is if it's house stuff, you also need to limit their exposure to the stimuli while you're working on the problem. You can do this by keeping the curtains drawn or putting that cling stuff on the windows that makes them blury, and crating or penning your dog away from the windows when you're not there to monitor. Because if you work on it on the porch, but then they are still out there barking 99% of the time you're not working on it, you likely won't make a ton of progress. Hopefully that makes sense!