Some dogs just don’t appear to be enthusiastic about training. This may present as a lack of enthusiasm for all training related activities, or it may be specific to a certain sport or individual task (e.g. dumbbell retrieve). In some cases, the dog may even appear to lose interest in training after a period of what appeared to be enthusiastic, engaged work.
The observable behaviors may include:
- Responding slowly to cues, needing repeated cues, or stopping responding altogether.
- Leaving you or the training area during a session.
- Avoiding eye contact with you or the task.
- Engaging in displacement behaviors such as sniffing the ground during an active training session.
- Developing a reluctance to join you at the start of a training session.
In this webinar we discuss common reasons why these behaviors may occur, including:
- Feeling fearful, anxious, frustrated, or conflicted.
- Physical limitations.
- Low levels of mental stamina.
- Sensitivity to making mistakes.
- Sensitivity to changes in the environment.
- Impact of prior learning history.
Most importantly, we also discuss simple strategies to put the enthusiasm back into the training process, for both the dog and the human!
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