Sorry for all the question threads
I am doing mat work with Frodo, but I'm not sure what the best way to go about it is, and people use so many different methods.
The biggest split there seems to be is whether or not to put the mat on cue. I know a lot of people do, and it seems like a good idea, but I was reading Nan Arthur's book, Chill out Fido, and her method is to teach the dog to default to the mat when they're stressed. She says that telling a dog to go to the mat can potentially make a nervous or stressed dog more stressed, because even if they are doing what they are told and go to the mat, it doesn't mean they are going to feel any calmer. Where as if the dog goes on their own, and it's been taught as a calm point (the training is rewarding calm behavior and calming signals on the mat), then they will self calm on the mat.
I guess I am just not sure that a dog will eventually go to the mat themselves when they are stressed I guess.
I am doing mat work with Frodo, but I'm not sure what the best way to go about it is, and people use so many different methods.
The biggest split there seems to be is whether or not to put the mat on cue. I know a lot of people do, and it seems like a good idea, but I was reading Nan Arthur's book, Chill out Fido, and her method is to teach the dog to default to the mat when they're stressed. She says that telling a dog to go to the mat can potentially make a nervous or stressed dog more stressed, because even if they are doing what they are told and go to the mat, it doesn't mean they are going to feel any calmer. Where as if the dog goes on their own, and it's been taught as a calm point (the training is rewarding calm behavior and calming signals on the mat), then they will self calm on the mat.
I guess I am just not sure that a dog will eventually go to the mat themselves when they are stressed I guess.