Protocol to Take a Breath by Dr. Karen Overall

[@straight.no.chaser1708]

I accidentally taught this to my now 6 year old pooch when he was 8 weeks old. He’s always done it when about to sleep or when in the middle of excited play. I was a novice dog owner and whenever he would get worked up id make eye contact and take a deep breath to calm myself. There you have it

[@thisbeingspace]

I like this concept. How can we be sure the dog is taking a deep breath instead of learning to flare the nostril muscles for a treat? Perhaps the latter is more of a wiggle?

[@TheCleverCanine]

For clarification why do you not use a marker signal?

[@aidenberzins]

Could be for several reasons. For this particular dog I am not sure why this trainer did not use a marker. I would assume in this particular instance the click could start to lead to other behaviors being offered and it may be faster to just immediately feed after the nose flair and keep the loop small and precise. I believe Karen Overall's protocol also is laid out on her website here: www.karenoverall.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Protocol-for-relaxation_Overall.pdf

[@laurenajkirby]

I think a click could be too arousing and thus counterproductive. Calm verbal markers may simply be to slow for so subtle a behavior.

[@sherryhanen3112]

Awesome, thank you!

[@jessjeppe]

How did you initially get her to offer the behaviour?

[@stip6689]

I started with holding a treat on my nose to get his focus and rewarding that. Once I had his focus I did the deep breath with nose flare myself a couple time and be sure to reward even the slightest sniff he takes. It took him 2 minutes before he got the nose flare! I was very surprised. I hope this works for you too :)

[@jessjeppe]

@@stip6689 thanks for responding 🙏😊

[@criktun3346]

And then when you don’t have a treat?!? Or the dog doesn’t care about the treat, he will NEVER take a deep breath 😂😂😂 A dog is a wild animal, not an AI computer…use simple logic. Show me this “reactive dog” taking a deep breath in a park full of other dogs

[@thisbeingspace]

The dog species separated from the grey wolf species due to domestication with humans, which isn't to say some can become 'feral'. This exercise is especially useful for dogs with behavioural issues from abuse, neglect etc, though all human/dog relationships would benefit from it. Treats are a fair currency, not a bribe (ie after, not before the desired exchange).