Natural Dog Training Blog

A week or so ago, we talked about another major question that you can answer for your dog: Where is the Danger? In this article I’m going to give you a more advanced exercise in defining “the danger” for your dog. Please make sure that you’ve read the first article about “where’s the danger?” before continuing. Remember that your predator work should be something that you do only after you have a solid foundation in doing all of the prey-related work (particularly pushing).

Advanced exercise in identifying “the danger” for your dog

Major predator. For this exercise, you’re going to need an assistant, and a place to go (like a trail in the woods) where you will certainly be undisturbed by other people. Agree ahead of time on a place in the trail where the “action” is going to occur. Your assistant is going to be the “predator”, so make sure that you have given them all the details on how to be predator-like (see the first article for a comprehensive list). It will also be helpful if your assistant dresses so as to look a bit different - additional layers of clothes, a big hat, sunglasses. The extra layers are also helpful in deterring insect bites (a plus for the assistant).

IMPORTANT WARNING:  This exercise digs really deep into your dog’s emotional repertoire.  If at any time it feels like this is “too much” for your dog, end the exercise.  Since you are going to be keeping your dog close to you (with a leash) during the exercise, there is a chance that overstimulation could lead them to bite you.  So stay in tune with your dog, and use “the retreat” (as described below) to effectively manage your dog’s stress level.  The goal of the exercise is to get deep within your dog’s emotional reserves (often heralded by a deep, resonant barking) - but you need to remain calm and objective, ending the exercise early if it seems necessary (especially if your dog shows any signs of impending aggression towards you).  You choose to do this exercise at your own risk.

ALSO IMPORTANT:  Potential aggression (growling, barking) towards the predator (who will never get within 100 feet of you) is fine.  However, make sure that you DO NOT release the leash at any time (and make sure in advance that your dog can’t slip their collar).  You do NOT want your assistant to get bitten.  DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT release the leash.  Make sure that your assistant has a tasty treat or two with them.  Should your dog get loose, your assistant should not run away (which would encourage the chase).  Have them remove their hat and sunglasses (if wearing them) to transform back into “friendly person you know”, at which point they can talk to the dog (”good dog”) and offer treats.  They should keep a big stick handy - just in case.  Be a responsible pet owner and KEEP A GOOD HOLD ON THE LEASH AT ALL TIMES - and you’ll never have to worry about any of this - and use a LONG LEASH so that, in the off chance that you do lose hold on the leash, you can get back to the leash that much more quickly.  Make sure your assistant has read this article AND the previous article on “Where’s the Danger?”  Make sure that your assistant understands and feels comfortable with the risk involved.  Your assistant also chooses to do this exercise at their own risk.

Let your assistant head out into the woods before you go. If possible, have your assistant approach the spot from a different direction than how you are going to be approaching with your dog. For instance, if the trail is a loop, they can enter one way, and you can enter the other way. Or they can just hike through the woods to get to the agreed upon place. If there’s no choice but to take the same route, allow your assistant ample time to get to their appointed spot - so that their scent (which will probably be familiar to your dog) will have dissipated somewhat by the time you approach. It’ll still be there, of course - you just want to minimize its impact on your dog’s experience.  To that end, don’t let your dog see your assistant head out down the trail.

OK, so your assistant heads out to the spot, and then should leave the trail, heading about 50 yards into the woods (or even further). If you have the choice between uphill and downhill, it’s better for your assistant to head uphill (so that when you approach you’ll have to look up to see “the predator”). Now your assistant hides and waits for you to arrive with your dog.

So head out on a “normal” walk into the woods with your dog. Your dog should be LEASHED. Keep it relatively relaxed and discussion-free, enabling your dog to really tune in to the sights, sounds, and smells of the trail. As you arrive at the appointed place, come to a stop, and reel your dog in (if you have let the leash out) so that your dog is right near your side with minimal slack in the leash. Wait for a few moments.

After you have arrived and waited for a minute or two, your assistant should begin their predator act. Ideally your assistant will get into the mental space of a big, bad predator who is very, very slowly stalking their prey (you and your dog). Have them start slowly - perhaps not even yet visible, but just striking a large, dead branch against a tree to make some noise. The sounds will punctuate the sonic backdrop of the scene (something your dog will definitely notice). Your assistant should approach, ever-so-slowly: crouching, pointing, breathing noisily, striking branches with a stick. It’s important to not over-expose your dog to the intensity of the situation (and to allow a gradual build-up of the energy) - so make sure that your assistant takes it slow. When in doubt, they should err on the side of too slow.

Your assistant also needs to respond to your dog.  Just as in the earlier exercises, if your dog lets out a bark, your assistant should run away a few paces and hide.  You are giving your dog a successful way to negotiate being the recipient of that “big, bad predator” energy - they BARK and the predator responds.  Listen to the quality of your dog’s bark, and see if you notice it having a deeper, more resonant quality.  This exercise gets into the core of your dog’s experience to shake things loose - especially if they have some “stuck” stress.

Your dog might not bark - they might whimper, look at you nervously, or give a low, rumbling growl.  You are exposing your dog to “the BIG danger” after all.  You can offer your dog encouragement with a quiet, relaxed “Good dog” - but that should be the extent of your interaction with your dog in this moment - you don’t want to distract your dog from the matter at hand.  You should also try to gauge the extent of your dog’s tension and the stress that’s building within them. 

Work out a hand signal with your assistant, so that you can indicate from a distance that your assistant should do the “retreat and hide” routine.  It can be helpful to take the pressure off for a moment or two (which is what the running and hiding does), to allow your dog to get to the NEXT level in their experience.  Notice how the retreat affects your dog’s subsequent response to the predator’s advance. 

After your assistant runs away, they should wait a few moments and then begin their approach again.  SLOWLY.  If you get your dog to the “barking” stage, you’ll want to let your dog go through the “bark/relax” cycle a few times.  Then END the exercise by leading your dog away (they might not want to come with you - so feel free to use food as an inducement).  Take some time to notice how your dog is responding to the environment now (versus your initial approach).

IMPORTANT:  While the deep, resonant barking is what you’re after, if it doesn’t happen DON’T worry, and DON’T prolong the exercise in an attempt to get there.  The whole thing should take about 15-20 minutes MAX.

ALSO IMPORTANT:  Your assistant should never get closer than 100 feet.  It’s more important for your dog to FEEL the presence of the predator and its approach - so that’s what you’re after.  It’s the suspenseful “What is that thing in the woods coming to get me?”  Your dog should never feel like it is directly being threatened by close proximity of the predator.  In other words - ASSISTANT STAYS FAR AWAY.  Less is more.  There should never be the chance of a direct encounter between your assistant and your dog during the exercise.

Once you’re well away from the site of the encounter with big predator, you can do a little pushing or tug-of-war with your dog.  Your main aim is to give them a vent for any residual emotional energy that’s hanging around, and to re-attract them to you (which, as you recall, is the chief aim of your “prey” work).  Then give your dog some alone time to relax.  The entire experience needs to gestate within them a bit, which seems to take a sleep cycle or two.  So give your dog the rest of the day “off” - and resume your regularly scheduled training the next day.

One last important note:  You should plan on re-introducing your dog to the person who was your assistant the next time that they meet.  In other words, be cautious - everything will probably be fine, but you want to make sure that it’s fine.  Have your assistant feed the dog some tasty treats - you can also go through the “How to Introduce Your Dog to a Stranger” protocol.  Go the extra mile to make sure that your dog is fine and relaxed with your assistant around before you allow them to freely interact.

You may only have to do this exercise once in your dog’s life.  You may NEVER have to do it.  Anything more than once or twice (and if you did it twice you would want the experiences to be separated by a LOT of time) would be too much.  Be the predator to answer the question “Where’s the Danger?” for your dog (answer: it’s out there in the woods), and then go back to being the MOOSE, which is the most important part of your training work.  As always, let me know if you have any questions or need me to clarify any of this exercise.

A dog’s life revolves around two principle questions. The first one is “What do I do with my energy?” and it’s what we’ve principally been talking about for these many months on the NaturalDogBlog. The second question, a bit more elusive, is “Where is the danger?” Your dog’s search for answers to these two questions defines the bulk of how they interact with their world. If you let your dog come up with their own answers, you might have some problems on your hands: separation anxiety, stranger aggression, etc. We’re going to talk about how to answer the question of “Where is the danger?” for your dog, so that you will be less likely the victim of an arbitrary conclusion on the part of your dog.

Where is the danger then? And, more importantly, WHAT is the danger?

Let’s take a moment to define danger in your dog’s life. In our human minds, “danger” could be an electrical cord, a car barreling down the street, or a bagful of chicken bones. In a dog’s world, however, the definition of danger is a little bit different and made up of two main components:

1. Do I feel the fear of falling? In Kevin Behan’s theory, this is actually the basic fear for all of us (well, I suppose you could say fear of death is right up there too). We all begin our lives weightless, in the womb, only to have to spend the rest of our days contending with the omnipresent force of gravity. We speculate the many “overload” behaviors actually occur because the dog feels as if he/she is falling (imagine a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach), and so they reach out (with their jaws) to grab a hold of the world and keep that from happening.
2. Is there a big ol’ predator here? Am I going to be its lunch? Predators are, for the most part, to be avoided in a dog’s life. That’s how you stay alive in the jungle, after all. It’s also the reason that there are often so many problems getting synched up with your dog - because most humans are VERY predator-like in their dog’s life. As we’ve been discussing, the way that you counteract that is to learn how to be as prey-like as you can possible be, so that you can become a channel for your dog’s prey drive (answering the “what do I do with my energy?” question). As a human, you dance back and forth between predator and prey (when you’re being the moose, for instance).

Interestingly, some dogs will actually need for you to define where the danger for them is in their lives. In other words, if your dog is scared of everything, you might be able to resolve their general “fear of everything” if you…er…give them something to be afraid of. Now I’m not talking about the leather belt you keep in your closet. I am going to give you an exercise that you can do with your dog - but first let’s talk a little bit more about predator energy.

How a dog handles predator energy

When your dog senses a predator (slow movement - like stalking, eye contact, strange noises, face-to-face position), it awakens the energy stored within your dog. Kevin Behan would even say that it’s the “predator aspect” of a deer/squirrel/moose that arouses a dog’s initial interest. The more “predator” that your dog experiences, the deeper it gets into your dog’s emotional battery - i.e. the more internal stress that gets mobilized as your dog prepares for action.

In becoming a predator and working with your dog’s need to define where the danger is, you are able to dig more deeply into your dog’s personal stress reserves. Now, perhaps, you understand why I’ve waited so long to cover this component of Natural Dog Training - without the tools to resolve all that mobilized stress (pushing/tug/etc.) you would just end up causing more stress for your dog. And you absolutely DON’T want to do that, right?!? Right.

Sometimes you’ll reach a plateau in how much energy your dog is willing to give you (especially when you’re pushing). Or you work and work and work on something, but your progress slows to a halt. Occasionally in those circumstances you need to help your dog free a bit more of the internal emotional residue (aka stress) so that they have more emotional energy to GIVE you.

To summarize, you are going to be showing your dog “where the danger is” - and then you’re going to help them resolve their newly discovered reserves of energy which they have mobilized in response to that danger.

Think of it like this - for a dog that has harbored lots of stress without a proper way to release it, over time the emotions can get a little caked on, like plaque or rust gathering in a pipe. Up until now (and even after now) you have been focused on relaxing your dog to make the emotional pipe wider, and being more prey-like to get the emotions flowing and directed at you (so that you can resolve them). Now you’re going to be using a subtle technique to knock the rust/plaque loose.

Note that I said “subtle” - you are not going to flood your dog, or press your dog too strongly. Resist the whole “more is better” temptation - as with anything else, you want to be gradual and take time to observe how what you’re doing is affecting your dog.

WARNING: Simulating a predator when working with your dog can be dangerous. Make sure that your dog is leashed securely whenever you do this work. Wear protective clothing. You choose to use these techniques at your own risk!

That was important.

Basic “how to” be a predator in dog world

Here are some of the predator-like things that you can do. As you do them, be aware of the effect that you’re having on your dog - you will see the energy that you’re sending out reflected in your dogs movements (hackles raised, tensing of the body, tail wagging, alert attention, barking - all of these are signs that they’re feeling your predator energy). As soon as you start doing any of these things your dog WILL notice what you’re doing. Trust me. And remember, be GRADUAL:

1. Mentally imagine yourself as a predator slowly stalking your prey (your dog).  Your own mental state is the most important part of the game.
2. Slow down your movements.
3. Wear a big hat.
4. Turn to face your dog squarely.
5. Bend your knees into a slight crouch (don’t get on the ground, just bend slightly)
6. Point at your dog
7. Breathe noisily - as you breathe in, suck the air through your teeth. As you breathe out, make a “whooshing” noise, as if you were imitating the north wind. Or Darth Vadar. Well, not quite Darth Vadar - I don’t want you to start hyperventilating.
8. Slowly approach your dog.
9. Pause and freeze in a position. Wait. Resume your approach.

I’m going to now give you a few “levels” of predator exercises. In the first two exercises, YOU can be the source of predator energy when working with your dog. In my next post I will give you the third exercise, in which it’s preferable to have someone else be the predator. You’ll see what I mean. Please try the exercises step by step - i.e. don’t jump to the end. Make sure that you are using a long leash with your dog as you work. And try to find an area relatively free from distractions so that no unsuspecting other beings cross your path as you’re working.

1. Easy predator. In case you haven’t experimented with being predator-like in playing tug-of-war, try the following: Tease your dog with a tug toy, then toss the toy about 50 ft away from you. Then forget about the game for a few moments, so that your dog doesn’t bring the toy to you. You want your dog to hang out with the toy at a distance from where you are. Now go into “predator” mode. Your dog will notice you as you slowly stalk them, and at a certain point will probably make a move for their toy. That is GOOD. What you are seeing is that your “predator-ness” is stimulating their energy, and the path of least resistance for that newly mobilized energy is the first available prey object - in this case, the tug toy. When they go for their tug toy, YOU start running in the opposite direction, away from your dog. At this point (hopefully) your dog will chase you with the tug toy (if not, make sure that you’re holding a 2nd tug toy so you can play tug with them with THAT toy when they approach you). As soon as you’re running away from your dog, you have changed from “predator” into a big “prey” object, and the your emotional density should attract your dog - especially because you just stimulated all of that energy with your predator act. You have now seen the entire cycle in action - predator stimulates your dogs drive, and then, through becoming prey, you give your dog a place for their energy to go. Note: we covered this exercise as part of the article on FetchTug, which I suggest you read now if you haven’t already.
2. Medium predator: In this exercise, take your leashed dog and secure the leash to something immovable - a pole, tree, etc. Make sure that there’s hardly any play in the leash, so essentially your dog can’t move much from their position. Now walk away from your dog. Once you’re about 50 yards or so from where your dog is, stop, take a moment to breathe, and adopt the “predator” mindset. Turn around, and slowly stalk your dog, using all of the aforementioned techniques. You’re probably only going to want to be “predator” until you’re about 50 feet away. Even though you’re immersed in your act, make sure that you’re evaluating what’s going on with your dog. In particular, you’re looking for signs that you’re shaking things loose (emotionally). Low, resonant growls and deep barking are ideal (imagine those deep vibrations loosening the rust/plaque) - but you may only see tail wagging or physical tension. If your dog DOES bark, immediately “reward” their bark by running away from your dog - ducking behind a tree if there’s one nearby. You move AWAY to relieve the pressure that your dog is feeling, and, in the process, showing them that their bark is an effective tool for negotiating their interaction with a predator. Take a break for a few moments, then resume your slow stalk - again, typically you will never get any closer to your dog than around 50 feet. If your dog doesn’t bark then you should use your “running away” to reward whatever it is that they’re doing to show you that the approach of this predator (you) is having an effect. You can stop after a few cycles of this (or even just ONE cycle). Relax your demeanor, call out “Good dog!” to your dog, and approach. It’s helpful at this point to have tasty treats with which you can reward your dog when you approach. Make sure that you’re cautious as you get closer as you give your dog a chance to adjust to your change OUT of predator mode. Untie your dog from the post, then do some pushing/play tug - essentially now do some of your traditional “prey” exercises to give your dog a place to vent the stress of your predator work.

These two exercises will give you a sense of how your dog responds to predator energy. Please be slow, and make sure that you are always aware of what your dog is doing. You don’t want to push your dog into overload behavior, so if you get the feeling that your dog is slowly entering attack mode (or if your dog begins to show signs of submission) then you have taken the exercise too far. In fact, that’s probably an indication that you haven’t gone far enough in your relaxation/pushing work to warrant trying this kind of exercise. Typically, if you do “predator” work at ALL with your dog, you’ll only have to do it a couple of times to have an impact. Then it’s back to the prey work. You’ll notice a new level of energy coming from your dog - additional reserves of stress that you “knocked loose”. In addition, YOU will have increased your own level of fluency in communicating with your dog, as you will be able to directly observe how changing from prey-like to predator-like behavior affects your dog’s responses to you. Ideally you will be like the moose - mostly prey with a touch of predator when it counts.  Let me know if you have any questions.