Fenzi Food For Thought

Life is complex. Dogs are one piece of the puzzle of complexity. Be open to the challenge of varied perspectives. Be respectful! And try to make things better. Dog trainers can do that. You’re more than a dog trainer. You can change lives, and I’m not just making that up.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Your words are your power. Do not take someone else’s words to placate them. Choose your words carefully. Explain what you need to explain. And reserve the right to say… It depends. I need more information. Getting a group of people together is easy when you simplify complex topics. Who doesn’t appreciate simplicity? Well. Me. As long as life remains complex, I will explain in as many words as I need to say what I want to say. Don’t give your power away. Choose your words thoughtfully, and insist that others respect what you said as opposed to what they think they heard. or maybe what they wanted to hear. what words did you say? Pain, uncomfortable? Aversive? Management? A training tool? Be specific, and insist that others respect your words, or end the conversation.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Continuing on with basic principles around force free training. Here I introduce counter conditioning, desensitization and habituation. Xen was along for the ride, so he illustrates some of the principles - what do you do when it gets too intense?   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Does reinforcement history or emotion/instinct drive behavior? Both. Emotion drives “behavior” - the general category of things we do. And reinforcement history drives the specific behavior which the learner chooses, from amongst all of the available options. The challenge here is that the word “behavior” means both the general category and a specific choice of a specific behavior. Both are happening. I spend a few extra minutes talking about this during this live. Plus - note how adorable my dog is. I mean…I can barely stand his cuteness!

Today, I explored where most force free behaviorists would start looking at a problem behavior… At the root! What matters less than the behavior in front of you is where it’s coming from. What instincts or emotion are fueling it? If you can identify that, and do some thing about it, your behavior problem might simply disappear. Obviously that’s your best case scenario but… It’s still where you want to start. Because more often then you might think that is the solution.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Today I talk about the difference between training and management, and I give several examples to help you on your way.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

So appreciate those of you who gave your thoughts about the difference between discomfort and pain in my Instagram stories! In this live, I also explained why I like the word adversive. I like that it centers the experience of the learner and that it recognizes how individual that experience might be.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

How do you show up on social media? How do you balance your authentic self with the demands of the communities where you participate? Do you have an internal compass to guide you? And…how did FDSA start anyway?  If you struggle to find peace of social media, this live might help.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

I decided to show you what a training session looks like today. Just the flow of it in real time. I hadn’t planned to save it, but then I came in the house and we just talked. We talked about all kinds of things. So if you want a random grab bag of conversation, this is your live.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

No simple answer to this one. Depends on the goal, type of training. specificity of what you want, and what you mean by trained.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy