Reactive, Unmotivated and Fearful: Finding Resiliency For This! Beyond Dog Training Part 1

Over the past couple of years, I’ve documented many challenges my dog This! and I have overcome, like reactivity, fear, resource guarding, and car sickness, to name a few behavior issues. And then, at an agility seminar here at my facility, This! fell apart. Now it’s time to put everything together. I have a two-part series outlining a timeline of This!’s struggles and what I’ve discovered to help her and many other dogs.

00:00 This!’s story.
02:15 Handling my dog’s agility seminar meltdown.
03:29 A dog’s behavior is information and communication.
04:29 You can’t dog train a non-dog-training problem.
05:00 Diagnosing my dog’s nutrition, hormones and gut health.
05:47 Envisioning This! as my puppy before she was born.
05:58 The Resilience Project by Hugh Van Cutlenberg.
07:44 Problems with my puppy’s body mechanics doing grids.
08:47 The challenge of a sloppy puppy sit.
10:30 The only instances my Border Collie showed drive.
11:11 Activities of adrenaline vs. dopamine spikes in dog training.
11:47 Resource guarding, reactivity, car sickness, and low failure resiliency.
12:55 Examples of my dog’s lack of joy for training.
14:01 Theories on why some dogs become more reactive at certain ages.
16:16 Fatigue after dog training sessions.
17:12 Why I stopped agility training my 1-year-old Border Collie.
19:54 People told me that my Border Collie’s body mechanics signaled dysplasia.
20:35 What a world renowned canine orthopedist discovered.
22:03 How a naturopath helped me overcome my agility dog’s lethargy.
22:27 My Border Collie stopped growing at 7 months.
22:57 Agility dog jump grids and what they showed for This!.
25:49 Why you shouldn’t ignore signs in otherwise healthy dogs.
26:19 Performance results from changing my agility dog’s diet.

In the episode you'll hear:
• How This! falling apart at an agility seminar was a symptom of a larger problem.
• Why you can’t dog train something that isn’t a dog training problem.
• The origins of This!’s name and that there are no coincidences.
• What I began noticing about This!’s body mechanics early in puppyhood.
• That This! only showed true drive for activities of adrenaline like chasing.
• About the reactivity, resource guarding, car sickness, stunted growth, and joylessness experienced by This!.
• How anything involving thinking for This! led to her decompressing for hours.
• Why my only focus for This! became her joy.
• How a naturopath came into my life to help me help This!.
• About This!’s growth stall relative to her littermates.
• What agility jump grids help us notice in our agility dogs.
• This!’s immediate performance improvement after nutritional changes.

Resources:
1. YouTube Video: Normalizing Imperfection in Dog Training -    • Normalizing Imperfection in Dog Training  
2. Podcast Episode 189: All The Things That Influence Your Dog’s Behavior And What Behavior Tells You -    • All The Things That Influence Your Do...  
3. Podcast Episode 36: Puppy Selection: How I Do It and Why I Didn’t This! Time -    • Puppy Selection: How I Do It and Why ...  
*4. Book: The Resilience Project: Finding Happiness Through Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness by Hugh van Cuylenburg - https://geni.us/resilience-project
5. Instagram Video: Fixing Sloppy Puppy Sits -
6. Podcast Episode 155: 10 Ways To Teach A Sit WITHOUT A Food Lure! Unreal Results For Puppies And Dogs Of All Ages -    • 10 Ways To Teach A Sit WITHOUT A Food...  
7. YouTube Video: Understanding Your Dog's Reinforcement Zone (RZ) with Susan Garrett -    • Understanding Your Dog's Reinforcemen...  
8. Podcast Episode 174: Dopamine In Dog Training: Anticipation, Rewards, And The Transfer Of Value -    • Dopamine In Dog Training: Anticipatio...  
9. Podcast Episode 66: Resource Guarding: Dog vs Dog Aggression -    • Resource Guarding: Dog vs Dog Aggress...  
10. Podcast Episode 75: Stop Motion Sickness: Helping Your Puppy or Dog Love the Car -    • Stop Motion Sickness: Helping Your Pu...  
11. Podcast Episode 111: How An Anchor Dog Can Help Overcome Your Dog’s Anxiety Or Reactivity -    • How An Anchor Dog Can Help Overcome Y...  
12. Podcast Episode 171: Dog Training With Layered Shaping: Why Classical Conditioning Must Come First -    • Dog Training With Layered Shaping: Wh...  
13. Carolyn McIntyre Website - http://www.mcrehabilitation.com/
14. Kim Collins Website - http://www.pawsitivesteps.ca/index.html
15. Podcast Episode 162: Dogs Swimming: 5 Must Do Steps For Dogs Who Hate Or Love The Water -    • Dogs Swimming: 5 Must Do Steps For Do...  
16. VOSM: Dr Sherman Canapp and Dr Debra Canapp - https://vetsportsmedicine.com/

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