Connection Continuum

Creating a cohesive Handler-Dog team fluctuates between an aspiration and a challenge for many dog enthusiasts. Countless training systems promise a unifying handler/dog team a reason; a unified front is the ideal team structure. Somehow, the paradigm of many training systems remains ‘master and servant (compliant and responsive canine)’ even when the promise made represents as a teamwork solution.

A continuum of connection exists organically in all relationships. How we weight and perceive connection with our dogs directs our communication with them and many of our training choices. Disconnection is disconcerting to people and may spark the desire to act rashly and sometimes to punish the offender, or ourselves. Both choices result in a punishment of the team as a unit.

In this piece I will focus specifically on the connection/disconnection dynamic of teams entering novel environments. It’s expected to become a bit connection-fluid even with ourselves when entering new spaces. Over time, we develop methods of channeling the stress of new places. Examining how we adapt to changes provides a window into our relationships with ourselves and our dogs.

Negotiating new situations with clarity can make the difference between practicing successful integration and practicing being frustrated or up

set. The chemistry of how we change in new environments happens along the continuum of connection.

In simplest terms, there are three main factors at play in the connection continuum:

• How the hander is processing novelty

  • Connection to self - how stable do we feel?

  • Connection to the dog

  • How much the opinions of others impact handler feelings

• How the dog is processing novelty

  • Connection with self

  • Connection with handler

  • Dogs don't care about public opinion!

• How the team is handling novelty

  • What is the teams history?

  • Has the team been practicing unity and reconnection skills in the face of novelty

Analyzing and understanding the processes of both yourself and your dog can make both practice and field trips a form of shared enrichment.

The anticipation of surprises both happy and unhappy we feel in new locations has us temporarily more susceptible distractions. This is a list of the most common reactions experienced by us and by our dogs:

• High level of excitement

  • May stimulate a desire to move fast and burst into the space of others

  • Can make us clumsy

  • Can increase or exaggerate our volume

  • We might want to make ourselves appear larger or smaller

• High level of curiosity about sights, smells and sounds

  • Possible awareness of past unpleasant triggers which can turn curiosity into vigilance or anxiety

• When over threshold or overly aroused three possible reactions are

• Flight - "Must run now to get away"

• Fight - "Game on"

• Freeze - "Can't do anything. I am frozen"

One way to smooth the transition from known to unknown is to practice pathways to reconnection with your dog. When both of you have reliable and rehearsed behaviors surprises are less jarring.

Let’s think about strengthening connection for a bit.

Practicing foundation skills and transitioning to an approach of unity between you and your dog can itself give us healthier expectations for both ourself and our dog. Practicing how you might react when a certain list of things might happen helps you to negotiate situations with your dog and the practice alone makes for strength of connection

Working on a connection profile is the beginning of enabling yourself to strengthen your awareness of how to strengthen your work with your dog:

• Begin with what you see

  • What is working for both you and your dog?

    • When you are in synch and having fun

    • Where are you most often

    • What does that look like? (Playing games, food used as reinforcer for desired choices, etc.)

    • How are you communicating and what skills are you practicing?

• Where do you feel your connection with your dog degrade?

  • Dog is highly drawn to or away from environmental changes

  • When do you feel like you are disconnecting with your dog? In what situations might they need your support, direction or intervention more than you have given it to them?

• List individual and mutual environmental triggers. How many you share. Most likely you share many and for different reasons.

  • Think about rewriting that script for you and your dog. transitioning triggers to decoys.

  • Are you and your dog possibly anticipating what might occur in new environments?

    • For practice, you can visit areas similar to the highly charged locations. Similar and without the likelihood of having upsetting events to verify concern in you or your dog.

    • You can practice optimism with your dog. You do this by practicing coping skills when faced with trouble beginning with maintaining or restoring our connection to each other. When the strategies are effective they feel better to everyone when you need to implement them.

• Make an information gathering visit to potential new walking or training locations so one member of the team has knowledge about what to expect when you visit as a team.

• If a place or event is like a spider pit for your dog and you can avoid taking them into the situation until you have a productive and practiced coping strategy then stop going there for the time being.

Consider what events may cause or contribute to a feeling of vigilance in Handler, Dog and Team (each has their own chemistry). Throughout our daily lives and interactions, we are connecting and disconnecting with different aspects of our lives including our dogs. Work to minimize damaging disconnections and missed connections. The goal is to untangle and work to lessen what is not productive. We can’t eliminate mistakes and misunderstandings so reframing them into learning opportunities is kind of wonderful. Finding, practicing and strengthening our moments of habitual reconnection is where you can really start to build some unity with your dog.

Success takes place in real time when you’re prioritizing effectively. By attending to the nuances, nourish our everyday activities with our dogs we can create and add to activities which increases everyday enrichment for both ends of the leash.