Building Confidence

 

Rip/Tear/Shred

The Pet Owner's Reality

Most people are too busy to devote the necessary time is incredibly reliable and applies across nearly all training methodologies.

• Time Commitment: An owner is juggling work, family, social life, and household chores. Devoting 1-2 hours daily of focused, structured training and practice (beyond walks and feeding) is simply unsustainable for the vast majority.
• Learning Curve: Training a dog effectively, regardless of the tools (prong, shock, clicker, harness, food lure), requires the owner to first become proficient in the methodology and the mechanics. This is a skill set in itself. As you said, this takes weeks or months of dedicated practice before the dog even masters the behavior.
• Consistency is King: Dogs thrive on consistency. If the owner only applies the method correctly 50% of the time, or only practices when they have a problem, the dog's learning will be inconsistent, and results will be unreliable or short-lived.

The Challenge of Tool-Based Training

Tool based training IMO is difficult as the usage of the tool changes depending on what is being taught the dog. So the learning process of wielding the tool never stops.

This is true for both aversive and reward-based tools:

Training Tool	Owner Challenge
Prong/E-collar	The owner must learn the exact timing, pressure, or stimulation level that provides the necessary communication without inducing fear or aggression. The correction for pulling on a walk is different from the communication for ignoring a recall.
Clicker/Reward	The owner must learn precise timing for the click, proper rate of reinforcement, fading the lure, and creating a variable reinforcement schedule to maintain the behavior. The timing for rewarding a "sit" is different from rewarding a "down-stay."

The Role of the Professional Trainer

Given this reality, the trainer's role shifts. Instead of just "fixing" the dog, a highly effective trainer must focus on:

1. Simplification: Breaking down complex techniques into simple, 5-minute daily maintenance tasks the owner can commit to.
2. Owner Coaching: Spending far more time training the owner than the dog, focusing on developing the owner's observation skills, timing, and mechanical consistency.
3. Lifestyle Integration: Developing a training plan that integrates seamlessly into the owner's existing routine (e.g., training during meal prep, not carving out a special hour).
4. Managing Expectations: Being honest about the level of commitment required and the realistic outcome based on the owner's current lifestyle.

A lay person can certainly help a dog, but for a truly troubled dog requiring complex behavioral modification, the long-term success is overwhelmingly dependent on the owner's willingness to make an intensive and lasting lifestyle change, which is where the reliability breaks down.

The Disconnect: Training vs. Behavior Modification

1. The Limitation of Simple Obedience (The "Sit" Problem)

Simply forcing a dog to hold a non-functional position (like a Sit or a Down) when facing a high-stress trigger is incredibly inadequate.

• Obedience as a Cue for Compliance: Many trainers use a Sit/Down as a simple way to gain compliance, believing that if the dog is physically compliant, they are mentally calm. This is often false. The dog may be suppressing behavior due to external pressure (lure, leash tension, E-collar stim) but still be experiencing high levels of internal stress. This is called Behavioral Suppression.
• The Lack of Functional Value: A dog does not naturally choose to sit when they are scared of an approaching dog; they choose to move away, freeze, or posture. A Sit does not help the dog feel safer or know how to navigate the social/environmental stressor.

2. The Flaw in Redirection (The "Yes" Problem)

Using a marker like "Yes" or a click, or even a leash pop, to redirect attention away from a trigger (an antecedent) is an initial step, but it only solves the immediate symptom, not the underlying cause.

Method	What the Dog Learns	What the Dog Doesn't Learn
"Yes" / Clicker	"If I disengage from that scary thing for a moment, a reward appears."	How to feel comfortable when the scary thing is present and close, and what functional behavior to offer instead.
Tool Correction	"Engaging with the scary thing causes discomfort."	How to relax and move safely in the presence of the trigger.

 

3. The Power of Movement and Natural Behavior

A crucial point rooted in ethology (the study of animal behavior) and evolutionary strategy: Movement is more potent than stillness.

When a dog is faced with an antecedent that causes discomfort, their natural, adaptive responses involve movement:

• Displacement Activities: Shaking off, yawning, sniffing the ground—all movements that relieve stress.
• Distance Increasing Behaviors: Moving away (flight) or establishing a boundary (fence line running).
• Calming Signals: Slow, deliberate movement or turning the head/body away.

If the owner's five-minute task is to practice a "functional alternative behavior," that behavior should be one the dog can use to self-regulate or navigate the environment successfully.

💡 The "Better" 5-Minute Tasks

Truly effective, low-effort daily tasks that lead to lasting results focus on changing the dog's emotional state and teaching functional movement patterns.

• The Find-It/Sniff Task: Instead of a Sit, cue the dog to "Find It" and toss a handful of high-value food on the ground when a trigger is distant, or put that food in a safe paper bag and toss it away from the trigger and allowing the dog to rip/tear/shred the paper to get to the treats.
• What it teaches: Sniffing is a natural, self-calming behavior that drops the dog's heart rate. It changes the dog's emotional state from arousal/anxiety to foraging/calmness. The movement is down, which is a low-stress position. The instincts are fulfilled with the resulting “destroying”, however much a proxy, the trigger.
• The U-Turn/Pattern Games: Instead of a simple heel, practice patterned Movement: quick U-turns, figure-eights, or walking rapidly away from a trigger.
• What it teaches: It gives the dog permission to move and creates a reliable pattern the dog can offer when stressed. It teaches the dog that moving away with their person is the successful and rewarding strategy for handling the trigger.
• Boundary Games: Teaching the dog to place themselves on a mat or bed and stay there until released, which is not about stillness, but about choosing a low-arousal location and waiting for the release cue (a cue for movement/action). This functional alternative behavior is highly applicable to home life.  The most important piece of this is to give the dog something to “do” while on that mat.  A plushie to shred, several paper bags with treats to destroy.

These tasks are successful because they leverage the dog's natural inclination (foraging, moving away, resting) and change the emotional response to the antecedent, which is where lasting behavior change truly happens.

🧠 The Philosophy of Choice and Predatory Fulfillment

Move beyond "manage the moment" and into "build the internal architecture for coping." A method that is highly focused on empowerment and instinctual fulfillment, is a deeper, more lasting way to address fear than simple distraction or counterconditioning.

Concept	Your Critique	The Underlying Mechanism You Are Targeting
Passive Games (Snuffle Mat, Puzzles)	Merely a redirection/distraction. Do not build confidence.	Low Cognitive Demand & Low Instinctual Fulfillment: While they lower arousal via sniffing, they do not activate the deeply satisfying, confidence-boosting sequence of the predatory drive.
Active Games (Hunt/Shred/Tug)	Directly engage the Prey Drive Sequence (Find à Chase à Wait à Kill à Consume).	High Instinctual Fulfillment & Emotional Shift: Successfully completing a natural, high-drive sequence (like a hunt) releases potent chemicals (dopamine, serotonin) associated with competence and satisfaction, which fundamentally counteracts the cortisol/adrenaline of fear.
"Choice"	Building the dog's ability to choose and be happy with those choices is key.	Locus of Control: Giving the dog agency in training (e.g., controlling distance, choosing a behavior, initiating play) shifts their internal locus of control from "the environment controls me" (fear) to "I can influence the outcome" (confidence).

 

This means your method of building confidence is not about what the dog is doing (sitting, sniffing), but how the dog is feeling about its own competence and ability to execute instinctual behaviors successfully.

The Confidence Building Toolkit: Prey to Play

1. The Find and Shred Game (The Consummatory Phase)

Instead of passive sniffing in a snuffle mat, the confidence-building version involves a game that culminates in the destruction/consumption phase of the hunt.

• Example: A dog finds a high-value, wrapped, or protected treat and must engage in focused ripping and tearing to get to the reward. This is a sanctioned, low-stress, highly satisfying "destruction" that releases tension and provides a huge dopamine hit.

2. The Flirt Pole (The Chase and Tug Phase)

The Flirt Pole is a phenomenal tool because it allows the dog to fully engage the chase and capture phases without placing the handler at risk of injury or having to run.

• Confidence Builder: The dog is guaranteed to "win" and "kill" the lure (the tug at the end). The repeated successful completion of the sequence builds self-efficacy—the belief that they can achieve the goal. (Something which, I must point out, a laser toy does NOT).

3. The Choice Game (The Agency Phase)

This is about giving the dog control over the training session itself, which is vital for fearful dogs.

• Example: Allowing the dog to walk away from the trigger (Permission to Move), or letting the dog choose when to engage with the prey item, not forcing the interaction. This builds trust and reinforces their right to disengage, which is the cornerstone of psychological safety.

This philosophy is a powerful antidote to anxiety because it replaces the feeling of helplessness (which feeds fear) with the feeling of competence and fulfillment (which builds confidence).

Leverage the dog's innate biology to overcome learned fear.