In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw discusses:

• Why engagement is important, what it means, and how it differs between puppies and older dogs.

• The importance of rituals in engagement, no matter the location.

• Developing engagement and engagement rituals.

• Creating and maintaining an emotional connection with your dog, no matter your emotional state that day.

Key Takeaways:

• If your dog is not in the right state of mind, you’re not going to achieve your training goals in a particular session. If it happens too many times, you won’t be moving forward in achieving your training goals.

• You should be creating an emotional connection with your dog when you’re training and working with your dog.

• Whether you are training at a club or in your backyard, you want the ritual to be consistent so your dog knows that it is game time.

• Engagement does not just happen at the beginning of your training session - it should go through the entire session to keep the dog’s attention and keep them engaged no matter how many repetitions.

• Stop training when you’re at the peak of it. Leave the dog wanting more for next time.

"Developing good rituals for engagement means you're going to be training better, right? You're going to be ready ahead of time. You're going to be creating expectations in your dog. When one repetition is over, we want that dog to have the expectation that they're going to get to do it again." — Jerry Bradshaw

Get Jerry's book Controlled Aggression on Amazon.com

Contact Jerry:

Website: controlledaggressionpodcast.com

Email: JBradshaw@TarheelCanine.com

Tarheel Canine Training: www.tarheelcanine.com

Youtube: tarheelcanine

Twitter: @tarheelcanine

Instagram: @tarheelk9

Facebook: TarheelCanineTraining

Protection Sports Website: psak9-as.org

Patreon: patreon.com/controlledaggression

Slideshare: Tarheel Canine

Calendly: https://calendly.com/tarheelcanine

Tarheel Canine Seminars: https://streetreadyk9.com/

Tarheel Canine Student Portal: https://tcstudentportal.com/

Sponsors:

ALM K9 Equipment: almk9equipment.com

PSA & American Schutzhund: psak9-as.org

Tarheel Canine: tarheelcanine.com

The Drive Company: https://thedriveco.com/

The Drive Company Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedrive.co

Train hard, train smart, be safe.

Show notes by Podcastologist Chelsea Taylor-Sturkie

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.