More Lessons Learned

I promise to not ramble on so much today.  :)

Some of the other things I learned this past weekend from Suzanne Clothier were:

• The dogs are always telling you what their truth is.  They can not lie.
• If a dog's gaze orientation is constantly changing, they are unsure.
• Play is the first thing to stop if a dog is uncomfortable.
• It is very rare for a dog to not be food motivated - it is probably more stressed out than we think.
• Books worth reading - Why Zebra's Don't Get Ulcers, and The Invisible Gorilla 
• Being in motion can help the recovery of a stressful situation
• You can decrease arousal by getting a dog to sit or down. - We use this all the time at the daycare, but I had always thought that putting them in a sit was just a way of getting them to stay in one place until they calmed down, not that the sitting itself was contributing to the calming.  I wonder if that is what makes Stand Stays harder than down or sit stays?
• Attention or alertness is often the first shift in increasing arousal.
• Fine motor control isn't as good when aroused (may notice this in the way they take cookies - while they can sometimes take them gently, as they get more excited they tend to be rougher)
• Arousal can narrow your focus so you may miss other things - that goes for the handler and the dog.
• If too aroused they'll see threats in things that don't exist.
• Be the Birthday Cake, not the Rice Cake!  :)
• If they can't sleep, they aren't comfortable.

Sorry. I realize some of these probably only make sense to me.  But I wanted to have them down somewhere where I couldn't lose them.  :)