Reacting on walks (Counter Conditioning)
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With this we want to change their emotional state and relationship to dogs or people walking around and ‘appearing from nowhere’ and worrying them. We need to be their eyes and ears with him to pre-empt worrying situations.
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Red zone means they are too close, over their threshold and can’t learn anything so say “This way” or “1,2,3” to help them and remove them from the situation
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Amber zone means they are alert and vigilant to the thing that is worrying them and could potentially bark, so let them look at it and say “yes” and reward them.
Green zone means they are relaxed with plenty of distance around them. Say “yes” and reward them for glancing and remaining calm looking at dogs or people. You can even just let ‘cycles’ happen where they look, process and then just move on calmly and naturally in their own time.
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Use the Illustration below to help you with the the timing of your training. Instead of a clicker, we are using the marker word "Yes"
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