Master of Their Own Backyard... or a Few Thoughts on Taking Our Work Beyond the Comfort Zone part 1.

It’s been a while since I’ve written a post in this style, but it used to work, so let’s give it another shot! Today, I’ll share some thoughts on building comfort and engagement in work under more challenging conditions. Our approach to training with dogs evolves, and seeking new perspectives on old, well-known problems can be quite refreshing. For me, the turning point was working with dogs that have the soul of a terrier 😉. Meet Bułka, my border-staffy, and Ravka, a random mix of bully breeds.


I’ve had the honor of working with border collies that could perform exceptionally even in discomfort, creating a “safe bubble” during work, even under very challenging conditions. Before them, I worked with a boxer who, when he felt uneasy, simply… didn’t work 😈. And then came the turn of the “amstaffs”!


Bułka has excellent drives, and I adore training with her. She’s incredibly intelligent, generalizes behaviors well, and even in high arousal, she thinks and draws conclusions. So, what’s the problem? When she’s out of her comfort zone, her performance changes significantly. It shows in her movements (she stiffens, her running stride shortens, and her jumping worsens) and her mood—she slows down, moves awkwardly, seeks constant feedback from me to avoid confronting the environment, and makes mistakes.


My dream was to showcase her true potential at competitions—the brilliance I see during training. This year, I think we managed to achieve that a few times 🙂. Observers noticed that she matured as a competitor, sped up, and moved better. Of course, we don’t always nail it; we’re still learning what not to do during competitions 😉, but progress is evident.

🚀 What to Keep in Mind When You Want to Showcase Your Dog’s Genius?

1. Learning vs. Refinement (speed vs. mental comfort)


The functioning of the body operates according to its own rules. For example, if we are training in canine sports, where speed and efficiency are essential, or teaching a basic recall and want our dog to run to us as quickly as possible, we must respect certain principles that are dictated by how our dog’s nervous and musculoskeletal systems work.


First and foremost, we should distinguish between learning a behavior or skill and refining it! The process of teaching a new task, motor patterns, or reactions to a specific cue should be done in an environment that is comfortable for our dog, one where they feel safe and during training sessions where they can focus on interacting with us. We cannot expect what we haven’t taught them, and rushing to transfer behaviors to more challenging environments is one of the most common problems leading to the development of poor habits that are difficult to change. But we need to look at it from another perspective as well – at the learning stage, depending on the chosen training method, it is completely normal for the dog to perform the task more slowly and calmly! At the initial stage, they require more attention and focus to complete the task correctly, especially if it involves coordination of movement. Speed hinders motor coordination, so if we demand speed too early, in too difficult conditions, something will suffer... There are two main paths. First – the dog performs the exercise quickly but "sloppily," making mistakes. Second – the dog does the exercise carefully and thoroughly, but slowly. And again – if we deviate down one of these paths and don’t notice it soon enough, we will develop a motor habit and association with that exercise, which will be hard to change!


As it is in sports – maximum speed should not interfere with technique. If it does, we should ease either the conditions or the task!

2. The First Signs of Discomfort and How to Read Them – Your Dog Doesn’t Have to Escape to a Distraction for It to Be Meaningful


Training with distractions is a very popular type of session, and rightly so, because well-chosen distractions can increase your dog’s confidence and improve their understanding of the exercise. However, the key phrase here is “well-chosen”! A distraction, stimulus, or cue that causes a behavioral change in your dog usually affects them long before we, as handlers, notice it “with the naked eye.” It has become accepted that a confrontation with such a stimulus (staring, moving away from the task or handler, overt interest) is a sign of distraction. In reality, signs that a stimulus is affecting your dog appear much earlier, and it is our responsibility to learn to read these signs and respond appropriately to the situation.


So, if we want to organize training with distractions for our dog, we don’t need to, and shouldn’t, aim for the dog to lose focus during the exercise in favor of the challenging stimulus. We don’t need to push for confrontation. We don’t need to aim for a situation where we must call the dog away from the distraction. If we focus on observation, we can notice earlier: a change in the dog’s demeanor (not necessarily to “sad”! Many dogs react by "escaping" into training, becoming excited, pushing forward, and offering excessively), delaying a return to eye contact after being rewarded, looking around, turning their ears in a different direction, moving towards sniffing, nibbling when taking treats, increased vocalization, breaking static positions before the release cue, slowing down movement, or changing gait (e.g., from a gallop to a trot in dynamic exercises). At this point, it’s time for our response – depending on the established routines, tools, and the dog’s sense of safety in training, our reaction will differ, but even these small changes should make us pause and think. We need to be aware that our dog has already reacted to the distraction.

3. Sessions Where Nothing Happened


The next point is closely related to the previous one. Remember, we don’t have to aim to “prove to the dog” that they can’t handle something. We don’t have to force them into difficult conditions that will cause changes in their behavior.


Training sessions where “nothing happens” are good sessions. If you took your dog to a new place to practice under different conditions, and they performed excellently... that’s great!!! This is also (or perhaps even more so!) training that brings your work to the next level. Your dog felt comfortable enough that they didn’t need to change their behavior, were in a good mood, and worked “as if at home.” This was also a training session with distractions! :))) Such training can help build a sense of security during sessions with the handler, which directly improves the quality of the work.

4. The Impact on the Session – When Your Dog Asks to Be Taken Out of a Situation


Everywhere we are encouraged to have a plan for our training. A plan is a great thing – we know what to do, how to reward, what we want to achieve. Additionally, after the session, we can “review” whether the plan was executed! However, a plan can also be a trap. When working with a dog that has significant issues with transferring a good mood to unfamiliar places, we must be flexible and show the dog that they have an influence on the course of the session. There might be situations when your dog shows you, through their body language, that they are not ready for training – for example, they won’t “respond” to your warm-up routine, they won’t want rewards, or they might completely refuse to interact. In this case, performing the simplest task (e.g., responding to their name, always a good choice 🙂 ), rewarding them in a way they enjoy (e.g., from a bowl or from the ground so they don’t “have to” stick to you), and ending the session could be the best solution.


Our flexibility should apply to changing the plan for the session and adjusting our expectations, but not changing our communication because even very insecure dogs hate that! That is, if you always release your dog from a position with a release cue or end the session with a specific word that means the dog can “do whatever they want,” use it, but release them much earlier!!


Consistency, but with maximally lowered criteria, can have the effect that the dog will realize that you’re not expecting “superhuman” (superdog?) efforts from them when they are not ready.

Ending the session at this point and going for a shared exploration of the environment or retreating to a safe space like the car or home shows your dog that they can “turn to you” in difficult situations. 🙂

5. Adjusting Rewards to the Situation – Maybe Your Dog Doesn’t Want to Be Close to You with Their Back to Heavy Stimuli, Maybe They Want to Look Around?


At some point, generalizing behaviors in various conditions and taking our training to less comfortable places becomes necessary. For example, if you plan to compete with your dog in events or attend workshops, it would be inhumane to never show them more difficult conditions and then expect them to perform in them! At this point, it’s worth considering whether the way you reward your dog during such sessions is even a reward for them. If the dog doesn’t want what you have for them, how can it function as a reward?


This is when expanding your reward system with types of rewards that provide the dog with relief comes in handy. My favorite is, of course, rewarding from a bowl, which I’ll probably write a separate post about 🙂 But detaching the reward from your hand gives the dog the opportunity to: eat calmly and “hunt” for their kibble, detach their gaze from you and scan their surroundings for potential threats (so they don’t have to do this during the task!), take a break from you, and return to interaction with you in a better mood for the next repetitions. Remember, lack of eye contact does not mean the dog is “not with you.” For many dogs, eye contact is a difficult criterion, but they respond perfectly to communication from the handler without constantly looking at them!