Why Changing Your Dog's Environment Boosts Learning #36

In this episode of "Easier Movement, Happier Dogs," Mary Debono builds on the previous episode's discussion about the power of novelty and variation in enhancing your dog's nervous system. She explains how changing the context or environment when working with your dog—whether during hands-on practices or training sessions—can create lasting improvements in your dog's movement and well-being.

Mary shares practical tips on how to incorporate these variations into everyday activities, making the experience more enjoyable and effective for both you and your dog.

Key Takeaways:

1. Context Matters: Changing the environment or context during hands-on work or training can significantly improve your dog’s ability to generalize and retain new skills.
2. Vary Positions: Incorporate different orientations—such as standing, sitting, or lying down—when working with your dog to enhance their nervous system's ability to integrate new experiences.
3. Incorporate Variations in Routine: Small changes in your dog's daily activities, like grooming or walking, can make a big difference in their learning and well-being.
4. Prioritize Comfort: Always ensure your dog feels comfortable and safe; avoid introducing anything that might cause discomfort or stress.

Resources:

Grab your FREE video training. Includes Rhythm Circles and Connected Breathing!
https://www.marydebono.com/lovedog 💥

Join our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DogHealthAndVitality

Get Mary’s bestselling, award-winning book, “Grow Young with Your Dog,” for a super low price at: https://tinyurl.com/growyoungwithyourdog. Demonstration videos are included at no extra cost. ⬅️⬅️⬅️

All information is for general educational purposes ONLY and doesn't constitute medical or veterinary advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider if you or your dog are unwell or injured. 

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi. Today I want to talk to you about how changing the context or changing the environment of how you're working with your dog can really bring about lasting improvement for your dog. So this episode will actually build on the episode that we did last week. So if you haven't listened or watched that, please do so. That was all about novelty variation, introducing that to help potentiate things, to help really help your dog's nervous system be basically upgraded.

And again, today we're going to build on that idea. So today we're talking about how you can do things in different environments, and this can actually bring a level of upgrade to the nervous system and help. It can help the dog actually generalize the improvement. So this is true whether we're talking about the hands on work that you learn through my work or like a training session, doing them in different contexts can help the nervous system actually integrate it more effectively.

So if you find yourself always doing the same thing in the same location, like maybe you do something in your backyard, like in a particular spot in your backyard or in your living room or here, that's good. And it can even be better if you change that up. And it's not only about generalizing behavior, we're talking about changes in the nervous system, how the nervous system just has a different experience of it.

Okay. And again, this is true whether you're doing the hands on work or doing like a training session with your dog. Now, something else about the hands on work that's really important, again, for those of you who've read my book or done some other studying with me. My book, by the way, is called Grow Young with your dog. And it comes with an online little demo videos and things like that.

So in addition to the book, and it's available, by the way, for ridiculously low price on my website. And you get like the PDF and then you get access to the, to the little video. They're short demo videos. Or you can get it on Amazon as a, as a physical book or a Kindle. So when you're doing the hands on work with your dog, doing it in different orientations also helps so much.

So by that, I mean just say, for example, you always do. Maybe you're doing the connected breathing that you learned with me, and there's free trainings on this, or you're doing the other, what I call rhythm circles. Again, there's a free training, and I'll link to it in the description wherever you're listening or watching this. Maybe you always do that with your dog lying on their side. Well, you can also do it with your dog sitting up or lying more in a sphinx position, what we call sternal recumbency or standing up.

Right. You know, there's different ways, I also work with dogs as they're moving, you know, so there's all different ways you can work. And what, and I learned this from the work of Doctor Moshe Feldenkrais, is that the more different orientations or positions, you can call it that, that an individual is in and you're doing the work, the more the nervous system can integrate it. So the better the improvements, the longer lasting it, like, gives it that sticky quality.

So the dog learns that, oh, they can feel this way when they're lying on their side or when they're like a sphinx or sitting up or standing or walking or whatever it is. So we want to bring as many different experiences like that that are pleasant and helpful for the dog into play as we can. This is true, by the way, for all animals. So maybe you also work with horses.

You do this, you've learned some things to do with horses or cats or whoever. It's all, you know, it's all the same. If you have a nervous system, right? You're going to respond that way. So that's something to think about. And then if you want to take this away, like, in addition to the hands on stuff, so maybe you haven't trained with me or you want to do this in addition.

Again, think back to when you're interacting with your dog. Are you always doing it in the same context, the same environments, or can you do it in other ways? And even, like, you can, like, have. I guess you can call it, like, subcontext. So, for example, maybe you're taking your dog for a hike in the morning. That's something I do with my dog every morning but six days a week.

Usually my husband takes our dog to the beach another day, but we go for a big hike in beautiful trails. It's just awesome. I love it. But just so there's a certain routine to that, right? So just say you do something every time your dog goes in the car to do an activity you're doing together or even if it doesn't have to be going in the car, you walk down your driveway and you go for a walk.

Is there something you can incorporate at the beginning, middle, or end of that activity? That's, you know, focus on. Maybe it's the hands on work. Maybe it's something to do with training. Maybe it's, you know, sent work, something else, something different. That you can then incorporate into, like, another activity, a different context. So really think about this. Have fun with it. Think about you, you know, whether you're doing, again, different things in different orientations.

Maybe you don't know my work. So you're grooming your dog. Do you always groom your dog when they're standing, like at a lot of grooming shops? Right. The dog is, you know, on those tables, that type of thing. Or do you do it when they're lying on their side or sitting or standing? Like, how do you do it? Can you do it differently? Can you bring in another flavor to this experience?

Again, this can help the nervous system be more resilient to change, to learn something in a way that it sticks more, you know, in a positive way. So the important thing is that you're not doing anything. That's that your dog anticipates as uncomfortable or is uncomfortable. We don't. We want to avoid discomfort or even the threat of discomfort. So really be mindful. Read your dog's body language and introduce things very, very gradually and slowly.

Okay? So have fun with this. Let me know how you incorporate this idea into what you're doing with your dog. And I look forward to talking to you next week. Thank you so very much. I'll talk to you soon. Bye for now.