The Relaxation Walk
Remember that the handler does NOT intervene while the dog is working his conflict of staying or not staying with the handler after the set up.
Relaxation Walk
Any time after Week 7, Relaxation walks can begin.
Equipment:
a. A long quiet road (no turns is best, minimal turns if that's what you have to use);
b. Choke collar and Longe line, with 40' of light-line tailing off the Longe line handle.
Preparation:
c. The dog must have a reliable recall and
d. The handler must be able to read the environment for potential problems and must be prepared to respond to protect the dog against them.
Admonishment:
e. In this exercise the dog is completely made vulnerable. In such cases the untrained dog will generally respond with what Mother Nature provided: the defenses of fight or flight. Know that if you have done well in your training efforts, he will need neither, he will default to discriminate response and come toward you to find relief. But, if you have left any holes, or what Bill referred to as ‘goofing gaps’ in your training efforts, then you are going to see them now. Wear fast running shoes or have an extra-long light-line tied to the Longe.
Relaxation Walk:
f. Heel him from the car to the beginning of the walk path. Make sure that distance is at least 60' away from the car so that the Longe and tailing light-line become fully let out by the time you reach the beginning of the walk path.
g. Leave the dog on a 3-minute Sit/Stay, followed by a 5-minute Down/Stay - move out and around a bit while he's working on the Stays. If he won't hold these Stays, he isn't ready for this exercise.
Note: The Stays allow you and the dog to orient to the sights, sounds, and smells of the area ... you both need this time to do this, and I expect you to be able to read the area well enough to know if it is a safe environment for our purpose.
h. At the end of the Down/Stay, do an EF and bring the dog to an Automatic Sit in the Heel position.
i. Now look down the path, and stepping off LEFT FOOT FIRST, give the dog an "Okay release" and move as if you meant to say 'heel' and continue to move, in a straight line, as if you had said "Fido, heel." This sets up a conflict for the dog to resolve. He saw Heel, but he heard 'okay.' And while he may immediately default to the trained response (cueing off your left leg), or while he may decide to take the liberty your command allows him … you continue to move forward as if you had given the heel command.
The question now becomes how long (measured in distance) will it take the dog to resolve “the conflict” by assuming pleasant heaven?
Follower types will simply stay in pleasant heaven, so not much to discuss there. Enjoy your walk, be sure to stop every 50 yards or so to give him some praise. But each time you re-start to continue do it with the ‘Okay release,’ and step off LEFT FOOT FIRST. Max distance 1-mile, or forty minutes, whichever comes first.
Leader types will probably take your ‘Okay release’ and the liberty it allows, but as the dog begins to feel the pressure caused by the exaggeration in time/space (consider the Longe and early leash work), even the leader type will come to pleasant heaven. At that point, proceed as if the follower type.
You will see that with each new start along your path, the time/distance it takes the dog to resolve the issue of time/space becomes less and less – until the dog is not leaving your side at all. Rogue types (won’t follow back to pleasant heaven unless tightly monitored (leash and collar) are rare but do exist. It is this type of dog that prompts Pat Smith (see the KDT website’s discussion of the e-collar) to make comment that some dogs will forever need pushed. These dogs can never be trusted at liberty and an e-collar, or leash and collar, become the safest options for this dog when in public places.
Generally, with either the follower type, or the leader type, you will see both fall in to sync with you by the third or fourth stop – that’s day one. On day three, it’s usually by the second or third. And on day three or four – the dog just begins to think that maybe sometimes you mix things up in your mind and can’t remember the heel command like you should, but that’s okay – he knows what you want.
And at that point, your dog is responsibly working at working responsibly.
At that point it is time to begin the protocol for diminishing the light-line, your week-10 lesson.
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