WW593 May 03 - Offering Engagement

Engagement is one of the most challenging skills we ask of our dogs. Sustained engagement requires them to ignore motion, sound, scent, and the pull of the environment—all while focusing their energy on us and the task at hand.

When engagement falters, it’s easy for trainers to try harder: adding cues, helping more, reminding, encouraging… sometimes even nagging without realizing it. Unfortunately, this can add pressure for the dog and make engagement even more difficult.

There’s a better approach.

When dogs offer engagement, the picture changes completely. Offering is empowering for the dog. Instead of being pulled into the work, the dog actively chooses it. And when that happens, the environment starts to fade away.

In this workshop, Petra will show you how to shift from asking for engagement to teaching your dog to offer it.

You’ll explore how to:

• Teach your dog to confidently offer a variety of behaviors
• Build the foundation for dogs to voluntarily check in and engage
• Transition from cued engagement to engagement offered when you are silent
• Develop engagement in multiple training pictures, including:

o In front of you

o In heel position

o When leaving your dog

o When turning to face your dog

• Reduce pressure and create a training environment where dogs choose to participate

This workshop is appropriate for trainers working with young dogs as well as more experienced teams who want stronger, more consistent engagement.

When your dog learns to offer engagement, you no longer have to remind, prompt, or coax. Your dog chooses to connect with you—and that changes everything.