Control Unleashed - Part 2

So feeding time is over. Gus went first and I worked him on the mat. I required him to lay down and tried to click for relaxation. He would not relax for very long. I tried to keep the reward rate really high so that he did not have to think too much but it was hard. He was inclined to jump up after each bite, so I tried to keep rapid fire with the kibble so that he relaxed and stayed put. This is going to take a few sessions.

Flex on the other hand did pretty well. He figured out very quickly that I was going to treat for him being on the mat. Then he moved to laying down. I rapid fired the kibble for a few handfuls and then I started to shape him looking me in the face. He picked up on it very quickly. By the end of the session he was relaxing into the down and making eye contact for short periods of time (less than 1 sec). I really think that this work is going to help Flexi. He gets pretty stressed when I ask him to do some things so this relaxation work should really help him out.