In order to understand and identify your dog’s predatory trigger it is highly beneficial to know what breed(s) of dog you have and to know what that breed was bred to do. For example, my Vizslas were bred to locate birds and other small game. Most dogs are not born with impulse control and so it must be taught otherwise they will see a trigger (or what I also call a stimulus) and want to chase after it. The chase part of the predatory motor sequence is only the beginning of the upswing for the undesired portion of the PMS on dopamine, and other feel good hormones. The peak is if they are successful in grab biting. That is when the dopamine and other hormones will start to come down and the dog will start to relax in satisfaction. Depending on what your dog is bred for, prefers on an individual level and personal experience the types of triggers will vary. Some dogs learn to use their eyes heavily to look for that exciting trigger. Some dogs will use their nose to sniff out a critter trail and some will use their ears to listen for a disturbance to bolt after. Many dogs will use all 3 of these approaches but not all at equal levels all of the time. Paying attention to your dog while out on walks (even while on leash) is very important. This is the best and safest way to teach your dog how to be safe and have impulse control around wildlife. So be sure to not be on your phone and if you have to take an important phone call do your best to be in as little of a distracting area as possible while that call takes place (even if you are using Bluetooth or otherwise hands free). So now let’s talk about threshold levels. There are three different thresholds that we should be aware of: under threshold, at threshold and over threshold. You can think of them this way: - Under threshold = green light - At threshold = yellow light - Over threshold = red light Green light threshold, a dog is able to think, be engaged with you enthusiastically and listen to you when you give a command.

Hello y’all! I do apologize for taking so long but I have finally uploaded the predation substitution games from the presentation as separate videos with one of my dogs. We had some funky weather, storms, new dogs arrive, household stuff to catch up and learn the new device I bought to help me with recording. It is a nifty little device and so far I like it much better. Please feel free to leave feedback on the videos. There will be more coming and those will probably be behind a subscription but I will still provide some free content as well. The videos can be found under the Anti Predation Substitution Presentation.

**Before we get into it I do want to make a disclaimer: the information provided will be general information. Breeding, individuality and experience may change how a dog reacts to certain situations. This does not mean the information provided here is incorrect. The exception does not negate the rule. I have always believed that you should train the dog in front of you not how the dog should be trained because they are x, y ,z, but it is important to have an understanding and a baseline to work off of.** Something I hear a lot when listening to dog owners talk about their dogs and wildlife (or domesticated animals such as cats) is that their dog hates them. “My dog hates squirrels”. “My dog hates rabbits”. “My dog hates cats”. When in fact that is not what is happening at all. First let’s define predation and aggression: - Predation: instinctive, biological, behavior to chase, capture and sometimes kill. This is established based on their ancestral hunting instincts. - Aggression: behavior intended to oppose or defend against a threat but does not kill for food necessarily Something to consider when trying to figure out the difference between the two are what is the purpose, behavioral sequence, target perception, outcome and emotional state of the dog. Understanding the difference of these things will help tremendously on identifying what is going on in your dog’s mind and how you can properly address it. So, in the world of predation the purpose would be to obtain food which is key for survival. This drive to try again and again even when the dog fails is so engrained in their DNA that just providing your dog with good quality food at home is not enough. Your dog will not put two and two together that they don’t need to hunt after an interesting critter because you feed them good food at home. Whereas with aggression the purpose isn’t survival it is to eliminate competition or a perceived threat. This could be a threat to their territory, themselves or their pack.

The Australian Cattle Dog aka Heelers have also been called Queensland Heeler, Halls Heeler, Blue Heeler and Red Heeler. The Australian Cattle Dog earned their other name, Heeler, due to moving cattle by nipping at their heels. This trait is present due to their dingo ancestry. What breeds were used to make up the Australian Cattle Dog is up for debate due to the records being disposed of but it is thought that some breeds include: Blue Collies, Kelpie, Bull Terrier and the Dalmatian (although the Dalmatian has been questioned). How a wild dog would breed with a domesticated dog is not entirely known but a popular theory is that a litter of Dingo puppies were abandoned and raised domestically and from there was able to breed with domesticated dogs. While the theory is a consideration it is in fact a man named Thomas Hall who is credited for developing the breed. It is said that Hall, a cattle rancher, imported dogs from the United Kingdom, such as the blue-speckled Highland Collie, other sources say bob-tailed drover dogs with a blue coat, and crossbred them with the wild Dingo. This crossbreeding created a dog that was sturdy, tough, robust, active and could handle the Australian Outback but also work alongside their human. It was in 1825 that Hall was first successful in breeding this new breed of cattle dog. Through continual and selective breeding, he had developed an extremely handy cattle dog by 1832. It wasn’t until after his death is 1870 that his dogs would become available to other people aside from friends and family. This is also where the breeding records of how the cattle dog came to be is lost to history due to the details of his breeding program being thrown away. Sometime between 1845 and 1855 another type of Heeler was developed. These were known as Timmins’ Biter and were leaner than Hall’s Heelers, were blue and had stumpy tails. Cattle dogs were also said to be mixed with Kelpie which helped further develop their herding abilities and changes to their markings.