03/10/2026
New tutorial now posted in the Trained To Trialed course š„³ but itās a freebee for you guys here šļæ½ļæ½Are you going on your 1st, 2nd or even 3rd year of protection without ALSO showing gunfire in the obedience context? ��Classically conditioning your dog to the whip sound only in protection may create a big project in the future.ļæ½I know I did when first starting this sport, waiting three years to really introduce gunfire to Ricky š¬š¤¦āāļø ļæ½ļæ½Donāt be like me. Hereās your very own guide, starting from introduction, all the way to š trial picture. ��ā Using Social Learning ļæ½ā Reconditioning the association ļæ½ā Intro and progression with the heeling ļæ½ā Intro and progression with the long down ļæ½ā Corrections ���**Extra note for fearful dogs: While some dogs are not suitable for the sport and are not suitable when severe noise sensitivity is observed, other dogs have initial fear, but improve greatly. Negative reinforcement to a target remains one of my favorite tools to use with fearful dogs, ALWAYS combined with extremely high levels of motivation (laziness on the part of developing motivation when using negative reinforcement has a higher chance of resulting in a poor emotion and demonstrates a lack of ability on the part of the handler) ļæ½Fear issues with the gun should be resolved prior to showing in trial picture! This allows you to hyper focus on the issue and avoids poisoning the trial picture exercise exercises with a fearful emotion.