Above: Cheryl and Raiden make one of the stops for a visit while on their walk. This the field trip version of Reactive Rally.
Click on the video clip above to view the course Cheryl and Raiden take during their session.
As you watch this clip, you’ll start out by seeing that Raiden is pulling a bit on his leash.
He is sniffing and not truly focused on Cheryl. These are not perfect attributes, but for RAIDEN, this is very exciting to see! Historically, he would just freeze, then try to run home. Now, he is exploring his world, wanting to be a part of it. And he is happy to check in on Cheryl when she asks him to.
As he walks, you see that his mouth opens and he is more relaxed. Yay!
The exercise involves a walk around the pond, with people stationed at different spots along the way; it approximates a real-life walk, but the distractions are known ahead of time to the human. The task is for him to either be happily willing to greet people (one of them completely new), or for Cheryl to recognize that it is difficult for him, and set him up for send-offs.
As it turns out, he is happy to greet each person, sniff, get treats, and play with his Frisbee as a reward.
His pulling toward some of the people, the wide, low tail wag, willingness to take treats…these are all huge victories for him.
Raiden hasn’t been able to take walks since he moved here several months ago because life is just too scary. This was the first time he looked like a normal dog.
Cheryl and Raiden are moving on to Nosework class!
To get a better understanding about how we use Reactive Rally in our reactive dog classes, please buy our Reactive Dog Classes DVD. Click here to learn more.
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