Daphne

The Adventure Begins: 01/20/2025

What is the Humane Hierarchy?

Addressing behavior from a professional lens means approaching change from a systematic and humane process. While you can read a little about my training philosophy on my Frequently Asked Questions and in this blog post, generally speaking when looking at behavior change I will recommend you review the Human Hierarchy of needs for your dog.

This structure emphasizes physical and mental welfare, and changing behavior by setting up successful interactions with positive reinforcement driving preferred behaviors. I am always cautious before including any behavior in a training plan that may exacerbate frustration or distress for your dog, and will work to avoid creating fallout and mistrust in your training program.

Coaching Resources

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Start Here 〰️

The Handbook

The Handbook is a lengthy read, but has just about everything you might need to know when starting a program. This is the absolute best place to start with your training package.

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Start Here 〰️

Guild Hall Home

Guild Hall is a client portal within my website - you’ll find classes and events available only to past and present clients there, as well as discounts on certain future services. You’ll also find recommended outlets for your dog, including sports, events, and sniffspot information.

Google Drive

Your google drive is available to you to reference your contract and contact and care form, make updates to your dog’s care information, upload vaccination records, as well as share videos and photos with questions or for feedback!

Your Course

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Use the discount code DRAMA-MAJOR to access the course: your package invoice includes to cost of this class! This self-led class includes behaviors and skills that we will practice during our sessions, as well as others you may find helpful out and about. The more you review between sessions, the more we can just right into troubleshooting and tailoring the exercises to your home and situation!

Drama Class Home

Character Sheet

Daphne

Session Zero: 01/20/2025

Character Creation Private Training (4)
02/10/2025
02/26/2025
05/01/2025
Unscheduled

Building confidence around visitors: Daphne has been in her new home for about 3 weeks in total, and is fearful around new people, particularly men. A variety of approaches have been tried and while there’s yet to be a pattern for how Daphne adjusts best, what seems to work is:

Incorporating a social dog: Daphne draws social confidence from another dog in the space.
Meeting Daphne outside: this may have been impactful, but was the same instance as when a social dog was incorporated- less likely to make a difference independently
Ignoring Daphne: when given a chance, Daphne chooses to stay in the room without soliciting attention from a new person. This works well until the person moves unexpectedly.

Keep in mind the 3x3x3 rule for newly adopted dogs and take things slowly with Daphne as she’s still settling in and finding her confidence. Wherever possible find opportunities to introduce her to chances to sniff, search for food in the yard or throughout the house, and incorporate “decompression walks” into her every day life.

The more that Daphne’s reactions can be managed and you can avoid rehearsing her reactions, the more successful behavior adjustments and training can be. I recommend setting up a room or Daphne’s crate area away from the bustle of visitors. You can use a toppl or other food puzzle or chew to encourage her to lick and chew to self-soothe, and white noise (or an audiobook) to help block out noise. Some dogs respond well to crate covers too!

Keep in mind that management is something you can utilize both to help her prepare or recover from new visitors - but also just as a tool when you would like to visit with you guests rather than train your dog!

Additional Recommendations:

Further group classes you might consider for Daphne include: Control Unleashed classes that utilize similar pattern games as I would introduce with private sessions, Agility geared towards confidence building like with E Foley, and Nosework or scentwork classes.

01/20/2025

Set Daphne up for success by burning energy (physical, mental, oral) prior to visitors arriving, and have her in her “comfortable space” when they arrive. Bring her in with the “worried greetings” behavior we discussed during our session, ideally tossing treats in an open area of the house behind her prior to her reactions. If she struggles, you can create more distance to reduce the likelihood of her reaction. Let the new visitor toss her treats until she is willing to settle nearby, and then they can ignore her. However, when they are about to get up, have the person nearest Daphne scatter treats on the ground to pre-empt a reaction to their movement. Return to the treat tossing game until she chooses to re-settle herself.

If the sessions are going well and everyone is enjoying themselves, Daphne can stay out throughout the entirety of the visit. If Daphne is struggling however (or you or your visitor needs a break!), she can return to her “safe space” in her crate or room.

It sounds like Daphne is very responsive to training and I’d like to recommend private sessions to build up her confidence and practice visitors at home and evaluate from there. My behavioral private training package includes:

4 45-minute in-person sessions at your home, a nearby park, or virtually

Recaps and Resources provided on your personalized webpage to keep you on track between sessions
Lifetime Access to Drama Class Online self-led classes
Everything that the client portal Guild Hall has to offer - including nearby classes and events, discounted services, additional troubleshooting and coaching, and more!

…$740

If you’re comfortable, I do think we could jump right in to working at your home with the skills discussed in our Session Zero - I would need to confirm your address and can let you know of any travel fee as I’m guessing you may be somewhat outside of my typical travel area. I would also be happy to run some sessions virtually or at a park to mitigate that and work on Daphne’s greetings in more neutral territory first if that would be preferable, but would recommend at least one in-home session or a virtual session where I am coaching a visitor through a greeting!

Let me know what questions you have and if that sounds good - looking forward to working with you and your family!

02/10/2025

It was such a pleasure getting to meet you both and Daphne this week! She’s adorable and clearly a very sweet, conflicted girl.

For our current greeting protocol, I think it’s ideal to have Daphne meet your guest or guests outside. Start with a treat scatter right outside the door (do this any time you leave the house) to avoid immediate hypervigilance on leaving the house. Then move through the exercises we worked on based on how difficult or easy they seem for her:

If people are really hard: Food scatter. All she needs to do is eat kibble and take in her environment with her ears while she focuses on calming down and something good happening
If things are going okay: Ready-Get It. Look for informal attention (totally okay if it’s not perfect eye contact!) to you between being invited to find a treat on the ground. Also use this for making distance or moving around the distraction/trigger
If things seem easy: Look at That. You can always reward for an offered look at that - we want to consistently mark and give her something else to do when she looks at a trigger and doesn’t react.

As people approach and move, they can start walking parallel to Daphne and then start approaching in an arc. Take small movements and behaviors into account as things that may increase or decrease difficulty. This includes:

Turning towards or away from her when changing direction
Making eye contact or speaking directly to her
Staying at an angle or facing Daphne directly
Large gestures or excited voices

Expect that things will become more challenging as she approaches her door. Once she’s relatively comfortable in the front yard, have her ready-get it into the house and settle her with a toppl on her new spot in the far corner of the living room so people can move into the room and around the room without needing to get closer to her. Make sure she’s aware of them moving into the house and the room and reward for calm behavior. Keep her leashed here and don’t let herself get in over her head!

Anytime someone moves, incorporate a treat scatter and - if they’re willing/able, you can have them toss her treats from different points of the room. Consider finding something especially yummy for Daphne for this - I tend to gravitate towards pieces of frozen meatball or string cheese.

When things are a little quieter, reward her for choices towards relaxation. Most relaxation practice for now should happen outside the context of guests, but if she does happen to offer a down or even a sit, I would reward and praise heavily.

We discussed that one of the hardest things with Daphne will be preventing her from moving too quickly. She very much wants to be social with people, but her fear catches up to her quickly. Use the leash length to limit how far she can move towards someone and reward her well below her threshold so she doesn’t put herself in a tough situation. Over time we will work on dropping pieces of this protocol so arrivals are a little more streamlined but still support Daphne’s growing confidence.

We spoke a little about what to do when the kids are home and the environment is a little less peaceful than it was during our session. I would start visits with Daphne up in the back room, either crated, or when/if she can be trusted with it, just loose in a room with some music or audiobook and a chew. That way the kids get their initial burst of excitement out, everyone can get settled, and when/if you’re ready, you can head back outside for a Daphne greeting. You should also feel free to put her up if the environment is too much or if you simply would like to focus on your visit! Using management to give yourself and Daphne breaks is never a bad option.

With guests, use the greeting protocol outlined above
Continue to practice Daphne’s skill set outside of stressful situations - food scatters on leaving the house, ready get it for loose leash walking, look at that towards benign distractions, relaxation indoors on her bed
Log in to Drama Class online and start watching the videos! Let me know if you have any questions and feel free to send clips of Daphne working! Use the discount code DRAMA-MAJOR to access the course: your package invoice includes to cost of this class! This self-led class includes behaviors and skills that we will practice during our sessions, as well as others you may find helpful out and about. The more you review between sessions, the more we can just right into troubleshooting and tailoring the exercises to your home and situation!

02/26/2025

We discussed some specific instances where Daphne may need some additional management or help, as well as some positions to start building Daphne’s confidence as she’s able to work more and more closely with others. First, for those specific instances:

Out and about, for the moment manage Daphne’s interactions with others. She can watch from a distance, but she shouldn’t be asked to be meeting new people - especially kids - for the moment. Let her have a treat scatter, or work on her “middle” position to help ground her as you explain that Daphne is building her confidence right now and is learning that people are safe (or, she’s sick, sorry!)
In the house, Daphne should be learning that her bed is her safe space and kids won’t approach her there. If she seems interested in saying hi to one of your kids’ friends, take it as an opportunity for you (or your kids) to be the teachers - have them practice explaining “petting with one hand, collar to tail” and what “pat, pet, pause” means - both of these are below in your skill tree! If the kids around are too much, or the kids over are too young to reasonably ask for them to understand those rules, Daphne should be able to retire to a safe space in the house where she won’t be disturbed.
While out on walks if she’s meeting and playing with another dog, explain to the owner that she’s building her confidence with people and you really appreciate their help - just them being around her while she gets to play with their dog is a huge confidence boost! Give them something to do with their hands by passing over some treats and asking that if she comes over to them that instead of petting, they drop some food for her.

We also continued pushing forward with our greeting ritual - Daphne did phenomenal and I want to make a point of practicing walking in or knocking and walking in to her already on the mat next time. Keep doing the full ritual (or as much as weather allows) with people coming over. From this point forward you generally want to keep a step or two behind what we’re practicing in session and bringing others up to speed more slowly so Daphne can have as many good experiences as possible.

Between sessions, practice your middle and your “say hi” with her between the two of you (and the kids if they are interested in getting in on it!) so she’s comfortable with both those cues. Remember to reward out to the side when she’s invited to say hi so she is able to practice coming across and leaning against the person she’s greeting rather than approaching head on, which is likely to lead to some jumping!

Keep me posted on how those more typical adolescent behaviors are going as well and we can make sure to put aside some time to dive into those soon as well!

05/01/2025

Daphne has made some tremendous strides since our last session! She was only briefly tense when I arrived, and we were able to progress through our protocol quickly and without issue. This session focused on helping her stay settled while I moved around the home.

Visitor Protocol: One of the key things to keep in mind is ensuring Daphne never feels trapped, especially in narrow areas of the home. For people she feels somewhat more comfortable with (like Russ’ brother), having them toss treats ahead and behind them as they move can help Daphne acclimate to that movement in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming.

It's important not to misread small signs of social interest as full comfort—even if she rests her head on someone, she may not be fully comfortable. That’s why Jordana’s dad might be ideal for her right now, offering low-pressure, neutral presence since he will also be a little worried around her!

Safe Space Reminders: If Daphne becomes overwhelmed, gently directing her back to her safe zone is important. If she tends to destroy soft beds, a towel or yoga mat may be a temporary solution. Kong also makes more durable beds if you’re considering a longer-term fix, and K9 Ballistics has a line of “chew proof” beds that are pricier but very well-made too.

Kids & Management: With kids, it’s best to keep interactions very limited. Keep her leashed when she's around Ian's friends, reward her in her safe space, and ideally crate her for the duration of younger kids' visits. Continuing to avoid child greetings in public is absolutely appropriate.

Crate Work: Even though her crate issues are mostly tied to guest visits, it’s valuable to build positive associations during the usual day-to-day. Try crate sessions when the kids are especially loud, and experiment with covered crates, white noise, and durable stuffers.

Looking Ahead - Visitor Weekend: With Jordana’s parents visiting soon, consider discussing temporary event medication with your vet. This could take the edge off for her and make things a little easier for everyone.

Skill Building:

Middle Cue: Daphne is ready for more! Start by making your verbal cue and gesture separate steps. Only reward once she’s fully in position. Gradually fade the gesture to a smaller prompt.
Drop/Trade: For now, when she grabs non-precious items, try removing attention first. Exit briefly and come back to retrieve it when she drops it. Outside of that moment, begin building a strong "trade" cue by starting with low-value items and rewarding the trade every time. This teaches her to willingly give up things without needing a chase or game.

One More Session: I actually double-checked and realized we do have one session left! Would it be helpful to use that visit during an interaction with guests or children so I can coach through? Let me know what works best for you.

Ongoing Support Options: If you're looking for continued guidance beyond our final session, I offer:

🔮 Cast Guidance: Ongoing Coaching - $65/month