This exercise simulates a visit to veterinarian’s waiting room.
The graphic at the top of the page describes the flow of person/dog teams and shows the positions of the other people in the room. This is one of the few Saturday Reactive Class exercises that takes place indoors, but the amount of space still assures that the dogs can maintain their focus and stay below threshold.
The exercise helps reactive dogs deal with entering a room when there are other people and dogs around. Of course in this class we are in a controlled environment. Ali directs the person/dog team to come into the room and leave the room. She also helps to guide the dog’s and the dog owner’s behavior by suggesting how to respond to the new environment.
You can hear Ali’s direction as people make dog handling “mistakes.” For example, Gary instinctively pulls on Chloe’s leash when he wants her to pay attention to him, instead of simply calling her and clicking and treating when she responds — which Chloe is capable of doing. Gary has made incredible improvements in Chloe’s behavior issues through consistent participation in class exercises, allowing him to gradually correct his own handling errors. (Chloe was rescued from an existance of almost total isolation.) Also participating in the exercise are Emily with Mikey and Melissa with Lacey. Note mid-way through the video we have two people (students) just hanging out, sitting at a table in the simulated vet’s office.
Recent Reactive Dog Classes
