Giant Inflatable Wacky Flailing Arm Guy - or how to judge stress in your dog

Last night at Petco they had parked one of these type of things, the giant inflatable wacky flailing arm guys, right next door at the matress place. So of course we worked the puppies in class on it. Brick was interesting - he acknowledged it, wasn't sure what it was but was still willing to heel with it on his side about 8 ft away. We then got closer, me on the side as the giwfag, and at one point an arm came down and hit my back. Brick jumped, looking at me, seeing me not flinch, and instantly put it in the tarp category. My lack of reaction allowed him to see that 1) I wasn't concerned and anyway I was between him and it, 2) it actually followed rules that other things in his life followed, and he'd seen be under tarps and he'd been under tarps and tarps are part of the daily life here (hay, shade, rain covers, etc).

For the puppy that was hackling and barking at it and very worried, we walked away until we found a distance at which the puppy could answer to his name and then sit. This was about 40ft away from the giwfag. We then walked about 5-10 ft, stopped, got the puppy's attention and got a sit. Repeat. If we got barking, we backed up a step or two. So by checking in with the puppy each step, we ensured that he wasn't so maxed out that he had no brain, and that his stress level was low enough that he could obey a command, before we moved closer. Before we knew it, the tail was no longer flagging, he was quiet and he'd pretty much dismissed the scary thing only 8 ft away from him. Think of the name and obedience commands as a checklist - The dog can answer to its name, the dog can take a treat, the dog can do a command facing the scary thing, the dog can do a command facing away from the scary thing, the dog can play. Pay attention to that order - it is done in order of most stressed to least stressed. The faster the dog goes up that chain of events, the more the dog is learning how to deal with stress. Getting to the end goal of the dog playing is important, and I need to do more of that with my guys. You'll get a dog that can play faster and faster in stressful situations thus making them not stressful, just like practicing the down until they fall asleep can give you a dog that can calm themselves faster in arousing situations.

Always take note of stress indicators - dog not making eye contact, dog not making ear contact, dog yawning, dog hackling, wet feet, stiff expression, stiff and tight tail (especially at the base), dog not answering to name. This lets you know that you are eating into the dog's buffer and lowering their threshold, and that you need to change something if training, or just take note that you need to balance the stress out with some play or sleep later. Not noticing these things is what gets people into the "he bit me, totally out of the blue!" situations - the dog was running out of buffer for a week, nobody noticed, and the dog finally lost it. Happens all the time.

So when you are out with your dogs, take time to use training opportunities as they come, and you'll get a lot steadier dog out of it. Watch for stress, know how much stress your dog can take, and how to add to the buffer.