Protocol for Relaxation: Day 1

The book I've been reading, "Control Unleashed," recommended teaching conditioned relaxation and utilizing Dr. Karen Overall's Protocol for Relaxation.  I thought, "Great, another thing I need to buy."  But today I was looking for conditioned relaxation exercises online, and I found a copy of the protocol!  So we're starting to use this before moving on to other exercises in "Control Unleashed."

Day 1

We started in our living room, where most of our training sessions take place.  I'm using a mat for her "place" since sitting and lying down on our hard tile floors is uncomfortable for her bony little butt.

We successfully completed this series of tasks.  It took us about 10 minutes (while I was heating up lasagna).

Day 1: Dog's Task
Sit for 5 seconds
Sit for 10 seconds
Sit while you take 1 step back and return
Sit while you take 2 steps back and return
Sit for 10 seconds
Sit while you take 1 step to the right and return
Sit while you take 1 step to the left and return
Sit for 10 seconds
Sit while you take 2 steps back and return
Sit while you take 2 steps to the right and return
Sit for 15 seconds
Sit while you take 2 steps to the left and return
Sit while you clap your hands softly once
Sit while you take 3 steps back and return
Sit while you count out loud to 10
Sit while you clap your hands softly once
Sit while you count out loud to 20
Sit while you take 3 steps to the right and return
Sit while you clap your hands softly twice
Sit for 3 seconds
Sit for 5 seconds
Sit while you take 1 step back and return
Sit for 3 seconds
Sit for 10 seconds
Sit for 5 seconds
Sit for 3 seconds

At first, during the sit for 5 and sit for 10 seconds, she kept trying to go into a down.  This is because when we were first training a down-stay she would keep popping into a sit so we did a lot of work emphasizing the down.  I said "eh," put her back into a sit position and then told her "good" which she understands as being on the right track.  I know some trainers don't like using a verbal correction or no reward marker, but it helps communicate to Delilah exactly when she made the mistake.  If I say "eh" and then show her what I want her to do, she will self-correct her mistakes.  She understood very quickly what I was trying to communicate to her and after the first two exercises, she didn't have that problem again.

Overall, she did very well!  We're probably going to advance quickly through these exercises in the apartment, but take longer outdoors and in new locations.  I'm very excited to start this with her!