Day 3
Leigh Lamacraft
I did the Scent and Stability challenge, and as I wrote in my notes, I was interested to see that Cheddar was totally focused while he was going through the different scents and treats, happily walking all over the different surfaces, but once he had been over everything (checking twice to make sure he hadn’t missed anything), he seemed to get a bit nervous, licking and yawning and looking at me… it was an interesting shift.
Sparky Smith
Hi Leigh: Traumatised dogs need more processing time. Think of it as making a pathway through a jungle, versus a pathway through a meadow. The meadow is easier. You could think of these two environments as the density trauma plays in our brain landscapes. Our brains are capable of this wonderful plasticity to can make new pathways with positive experiences vs negative, but depending on what they are working with, jungle or meadow, it makes take finding the optimal frequency of the experience and planned resting time. Use a journal and track time, frequency and downtime all while maintaining the green pathways.