Arousal Masterclass

Who is this event for?

Designed to provide detailed information delivered in layman’s terms, this workshop is aimed at helping dog owners and trainers to empathise with the dog/s that they are working with, and to devise a starting point and training trajectory that moves the human-dog team towards reasonable, achievable training and behaviour goals.

Who is presenting?

Dr Melissa Marot and Brad Griggs are co-presenting this event. Speaker profiles are provided on this page for those seeking more information.

How is this event different?

It’s very rare to find a multidisciplinary workshop type event in the dog world.

Dr Mel brings with her a ridiculous ability to make very complex concepts and understandings accessible to everyday folks – it’s part of what she’s known for in her industry.

Brad is a highly experienced dog trainer with a strong history of working with dogs that are extremely problematic, as well as working with and developing dogs for high performance and working type roles.

The dynamic between these two presenters is very easy and friendly, and makes for a great blend of depth of information underpinned by seeing that applied with dogs, on the day.

If you’re looking to move beyond seeking simple techniques or methods, and instead beginning to understand why certain choices   make more or less sense in a given context – this event is a good investment.

Event overview:

Without a sound strategy in place to drive the training practice towards desired outcomes trainers and owners often ‘get lost’ along the way – bouncing from technique to technique, methods, becoming increasingly frustrated as these behaviours progressively get worse.

The first step in being able to form a sound training strategy is to identify and form an appropriate working understanding of the underlying emotional state/s that drive these problem behaviours.

Working effectively with dogs in various states of physiological arousal presents a number of issues for dog owners and dog trainers alike.

Dogs in heightened states of arousal often display very challenging behaviours such as biting, lunging, snarling, flight responses and barking.

Conversely, building the most robust and expressive behaviours relies on delivering or denying an appropriate level of excitement associated with positive reinforcement.

Finding an effective path to working with such behaviours can be extremely difficult for owners and trainers alike, especially where significant reinforcement histories and strongly established patterns of behaviour must be contended with.

Some aspects covered within this workshop are:

• Understanding arousal states in dogs and their physiological effects
• Identifying respondent behaviour associated with states of arousal
• Recognising respondent behaviour
• Discussion of executive function, and how it affects a dogs capacity to self-regulate behaviour
• Managing the stress response of handlers when dealing with problem dog behaviour
• Considerations relating to modification and/or control of behaviour driven by arousal states
• Understanding the instinctive goal/s of problem behaviour
• Considerations when working with dogs experiencing fear, anxiety and phobia
• How to prepare a dog to behave differently
• Counter-Conditioning: pros and cons
• A cognitive approach to behavioural modification and training in dogs
• Models for understanding the relationship between arousal and performance
• Effective use of arousal states to improve training performances
• Harnessing arousal states to build obedience performance

Dog spots:

If you wish to apply to work with your dog on the day, please toggle the switch below and use the online form to provide any relevant information to us. The presenters will review all applicants to choose a number of dogs which they believe likely to provide the best learning experience for the group, and will notify successful dog owners by email prior to attendance.