Relaxation and Focus-work

group class

For dogs 4+ months

Does your dog struggle to focus on you around distractions? Are they more excited about everything in the world except you? This affordable reward-based clicker training class is designed to enhance and elevate your relationship with your dog so that focusing on you around distractions is easy. Learn the skills that will help you and your dog each thrive in your lives together.

6 weeks for $255

LOCATION: NOBLE WOOF CANINE EDUCATION CENTER

8502 SE STARK ST, PORTLAND, 97216

Elevated Canine Companionship

Why this class is important:

Dogs are not made for modern urban life. Many of their “features” are not appreciated anymore, and are not functional in our homes, neighborhoods, and public spaces.

Herding, hunting, foraging, guarding, retrieving, and protecting behaviors are still useful to some modern guardians, but there are few opportunities for dogs to learn how and when to do these jobs the way they traditionally learned: there are no older more experienced working dogs in the household for most puppies to watch and follow and few dogs have regular access to environments like the farms and fields where dogs traditionally worked.

What results is a dog that is inspired by their urban environment to engage in barking, chasing, nipping, lunging, guarding, digging, chewing, foraging and other “nuisance” behaviors in an uncontrolled way. Because dogs were made to do these jobs with and for their guardians, when we get frustrated with our dogs for acting this way we put our dogs in an impossible situation: they keep trying to win us over, and they just don’t know how.

Learn how to safely and joyfully let your dog be a dog.

Together you can learn how to have a conversation that works for both dog and human about what’s going on in the world around you - and how to navigate it.

This class can provide support for dogs that:

  • always want more

  • have a hard time settling around distractions

  • are more excited about everything in the world except you

  • are worried about people, dogs, or other things in the environment

  • are new to the home or need to build a trusting relationship with you

  • are working on stationing (knowing how to stay on a platform or mat)

  • are working on reliability of skills around distractions

UPCOMING SERIES

Winter

Saturdays at 12:30pm

January 11th - March 1st

(No Class January 18th or February 15th)

Thursdays at 6:00pm

January 16th - February 27th

(No Class February 13th)

Join waitlist in the form below or by emailing katrina@noblewoof.com

How we achieve Elevated Canine Companionship:

  • Clear Communication

  • Lots of Repetition

  • Easy Patterns

  • Short Sessions

  • Diversifying Applications

  • We also use food, toys, movement, and play!

This way we make it fun, easy, and even a habit to connect with us and stay calm.

Learning goals for this class:

  • Learn how to understand the difference between relaxed/work-mode and relaxed/checked-out mode, and how to build both in your dog.

  • Learn how to understand and think about reinforcement delivery and human body language so we are supporting our training goals efficiently.

  • Learn how to watch, interpret, and respond to individual dogs' body language in real time during training.

  • Learn how to know when/how to increase or decrease the difficulty of the training challenge as well as when/how to provide breaks to build excellent skills efficiently.

  • Learn how to set our dogs up to experience and successfully respond to environmental changes in ways that are healthier for them and for the people around them.

  • Learn how to understand and support our individual dogs' learning style.

  • Learn how to build relationship teamwork between dog and guardian.

Skills we’ll work on:

  • Food delivery patterns (eg: Excavator, Nice, Pez Dispenser, Get it, Magnet)

  • Calm toy play

  • Magic mat and All Done (Get It)

  • Up-down (stationary)

  • Lured u-turn (using magnet)

  • Introduce choices (snuffle mat or toy or training/sniffing station)

  • Shaping behaviors

  • Practicing skills with increasing Distractions, Duration, and Distance

  • TAB/massage

  • Zig-zag sniffing

  • Open bar/closed bar

  • Really Real Relaxation Protocol

  • Whisper name response

  • Creating an environmentally cued connection or behavior

  • Cued relaxation

Preparation for this class:

Dogs must have their basic needs met to get the most out of this training. You do not have to have everything figured out to take this class - just use this list to consider what you can expect from your dog for now.

All dogs need quality sleep. A lot of it. If your dog is not getting enough sleep, they will not respond well to training, and will not be able to self-calm easily. Memory, focus, healing, arousal are all influenced by sleep. Below are some things that can interfere:

  • Allergies

  • Sound sensitivity

  • Changes in routine such as visitors or travel (even if fun)

  • Veterinary visits

  • Confinement or Separation discomfort

All dogs need mental entertainment every day. How much depends on the dog. Below are some ideas:

  • Sniffy walks in natural areas

  • Nosework games

  • Practicing fun training tricks

  • Learning new skills

  • Food puzzles

  • Toy dissection/shredding

An adult dog probably needs at least two 20 minute bouts of cardiovascular exercise daily.

Below are some ideas on how you can get your dog exercise (cardio) outside of walks:

  • Fetch in the backyard

  • Fetch up and down stairs inside

  • Using a flirt pole

  • Tug of war

  • Backyard/Indoor Agility

  • Rent a Sniffspot

  • Go on remote hikes

Not sure if this class is right for your dog?

Dogs in this class do not have to see other dogs, but they do need to be able to come into class (via the sidewalk) without lots of signs of stress (such as lunging, barking, or refusing food/toys), and they need to be able to share the space with other dogs without lunging/barking/refusing food and toys. The purpose of the class is to support actual comfort and calm, not just tolerance of other people/dogs, so if the dog is struggling, we will do our best to help.

The support systems we have in place include:

  1. Teams come into the space one at a time

  2. Training spaces are set up with empty "air lock" spaces between them so no dog shares an ex-pen wall with another dog

  3. Visual cloth barriers so the dogs cannot see each other

If the dog is struggling in class we can try:

  1. A training space on the observation deck or private training room, farther away from the other teams

  2. Frequent breaks outside the studio

If the dog cannot be successful in the classroom space, we recommend clients leave their dog comfortable at home, and attend the class to observe other teams, taking what they learn each week and applying it at home. Most of the progress achieved is the result of training at home and in everyday environments, so we find many clients can make great strides with this approach. Some clients find they can repeat the class with their dog after finishing one round this way. Others find their dog can attend class after a few weeks of staying home to practice.

More questions? Reach out to us in the form below or at info@noblewoof.com

IMPORTANT POLICIES

For dogs 4+ months and older

PLEASE READ

  • DIARRHEA OR VOMITING: Your dpg will be asked to leave class immediately if they have diarrhea or vomiting in class. A negative fecal test result from the vet will be required to return to class.

  • UP TO DATE VACCINES REQUIRED.

  • PROTECTED FROM DISEASE: Must be on a regular vaccination schedule during class.

  • MONTHLY PREVENTATIVES: Your dog must be up to date on monthly internal flea/tick, and internal parasite/heart-worm treatment.

  • ILLNESS: Do not bring your dog to class if they are vomiting or have diarrhea.

HAVE A QUESTION?

want to join the waitlist for the next series?

Let us know in the form below: