Control Unleashed

[jennypenny]

Hi Everyone!

 

I just found a gonga of a deal for a Control Unleashed book and DVD set on my local Craigslist.

 

My question is how to use it! Do I read the book cover to cover first (fighting the temptation to to stop and try the games!)? Do the chapters build on each other, or can I skip around. How do the DVDs fit in, should I wait to watch them until I finish the book? Or, should I read a little, watch a little, repeat? I realize these are kinda silly questions, but I have yet to see this book in person, despite my many atempts to find it locally. I am just not sure what to expect, and I want to get the most out of this for my dog.

 

A little background on the doggy. We adopted Hutch from the Michigan Humane Society, last August. He came from Tennnesse on the Petsmart Resuce Wagon, we were told. He was very lucky to make it up here. We found him right before closesing, so I went home and researched Border Collies about as well as you can in a night. I decided to go back for him, I took my 4 year old and with me. We spent about half an hour with him, then a "behaviorist" came in she spent about 45 mins with us. I talk to her about my concerns with the breed, she addressed those, gave me a ton of papers with helpful training tips. We walked out with a 4/5 month old BC X:) In the last year and half or so, we went to doogy school, took our CGC and TDI test (and passed) and started agility.

 

So back to CU, I want this to help with some of his PITA behaivors, he still jumps on some of our guests, pulls on his leash while walking ( he is fine,while he is in a store with us, which I think is how he passed his CGC/TDI) outside. Most of all he has a terrrible recall, that I really want to work on before agility starts again. Maybe a little help, re-training some things, I would have trained differently now that I know how a BC will use the things he knows to get the things he wants!

 

Thanks,

Jenny and Hutch

[desertranger]

I would start by reading a few chapters then applying what you have learned. Watch the DVD at the same time. Do the same thing, a couple of chapters then apply what you have learned. I did that with the book "The other end of the leash" and it worked wonders.

[Root Beer]

This is my suggestion - and I know this particular program pretty well.

 

1. Skim the first two chapters of the book. Don't get hung up on anything that doesn't make sense. Just skim through and get a little bit of a feel for what you are doing.

 

2. Read Chapter 3 thoroughly and try the exercises with your dog. After that, go back and read it again. Then watch the first couple of sections of the DVD. Go back and re-do the exercises with your dog.

 

I know it sounds very tedious, but once you get into it, you will find it's not!

 

3. Read Chapter 4 thoroughly and try the exercises with your dog. After that, go back and read chapter 4 again. Watch a little more of the DVD. Re-do the exercises with your dog.

 

You will learn a lot from watching Leslie on the DVD. I'd pay close attention to the way she interacts with the dogs. I suggest re-doing the exercises from the book after watching parts of the DVD because it will help you to better understand the exercises.

 

Etc. until you finish the book and the DVD.

 

Then - go back and re-read the first two chapters of the book thoroughly! I promise - after going through the rest of the book, watching the DVD, and doing the exercises with your dog, the first two chapters of the book will make a lot more sense!

 

If you need further help or support, there are a couple of yahoo groups out there that can help, although the main one is read-only now. Feel free to PM me if you want more info on those.

[Alaska]

So back to CU, I want this to help with some of his PITA behaivors, he still jumps on some of our guests, pulls on his leash while walking ( he is fine,while he is in a store with us, which I think is how he passed his CGC/TDI) outside. Most of all he has a terrrible recall, that I really want to work on before agility starts again.

While I am a huge fan of CU, it may not be the most direct method to address these specific issues. For a better recall, I recommend the Really Reliable Recall DVD (or do a search for various versions of RRR on the web). If you have spent time trying to train loose leash walking using the normal methods (be a tree, etc.) and it hasn't worked, you may want to get some kind of training aid to help create the behavior you want to reinforce. By trainng aid, I'm thinking of something like the Easy Walk harness. As for jumping on people, I am coming around to the viewpoint that for a dog who can't seem to resist this behavior, you should firmly correct each and every time it happens. (In case it's not obvious from the preceding sentence, that means you must enforce a rule that it is never okay to jump on anyone, yourself included.)

 

By all means, follow Kristine's advice and do the CU program too. It's just that I think you'll need to do more than CU to improve these specific behavioirs.

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

This is my suggestion - and I know this particular program pretty well.

 

1. Skim the first two chapters of the book. Don't get hung up on anything that doesn't make sense. Just skim through and get a little bit of a feel for what you are doing.

 

2. Read Chapter 3 thoroughly and try the exercises with your dog. After that, go back and read it again. Then watch the first couple of sections of the DVD. Go back and re-do the exercises with your dog.

 

I know it sounds very tedious, but once you get into it, you will find it's not!

 

3. Read Chapter 4 thoroughly and try the exercises with your dog. After that, go back and read chapter 4 again. Watch a little more of the DVD. Re-do the exercises with your dog.

 

You will learn a lot from watching Leslie on the DVD. I'd pay close attention to the way she interacts with the dogs. I suggest re-doing the exercises from the book after watching parts of the DVD because it will help you to better understand the exercises.

 

Etc. until you finish the book and the DVD.

 

Then - go back and re-read the first two chapters of the book thoroughly! I promise - after going through the rest of the book, watching the DVD, and doing the exercises with your dog, the first two chapters of the book will make a lot more sense!

 

If you need further help or support, there are a couple of yahoo groups out there that can help, although the main one is read-only now. Feel free to PM me if you want more info on those.

 

Thanks Kristine!

I thought you posted that somewhere before, but I couldn't remember. I've been reading the book off and on, plus watching the DVDs when I get a chance, but this will make it a lot easier.

 

jennypenny,

I think Alaska is right with the PITA behaviours though...

[jennypenny]

Thanks Everyone,

 

 

RB, that is exactly what I needed! I was happy to see that you chimed in since, I think I decided to get to the book based off of your reccomendation to others! I can't wait to get started. Any other tips/advice on getting some focus out of my goofy pup would be much appreciated.

 

Alaska, Ms. Dasiy, I will take to heart being a little more stern in correcting some of the PITA stuff. We only really have trouble with him jumping on two specific people (softies!) I will have to correct them a little better! His pulling I think will be helped with a little focus, we do have both the easy-walk harness and gentle leader, I would like to wean him off of those sooner or later. I will look into the Really Reliable Recall program. We are starting a new training class in January and one of the focuses is recall, so I thnk I will see where we stand after that.

 

Thanks,

Jenny and Hutch

[Emma H]

Not to go OT but I am someone who does not believe it is fair to "firmly correct" a dog who jumps up. This is a very normal, acceptable doggy behaviour and physically punishing a dog for jumping up is not necessary. If there are only two people who the dog still jumps up on than it should be relatively easy to fix. Just ask those two people to get on board with teaching your dog some people manners. Ask them that when they see your dog not to interact with him at all unless all four of his feet are on the ground. No eye contact, no touching (including pushing him off), just don't react in any way until he is firmly on the floor. Once he is there they can greet him with gentle strokes and soft, unexcited voices. He should learn that to get the greeting and attention he's craving he must first perform a trick...keeping all four feet on the floor. Because, remember, this is a trick. It's not normal for a dog to see a person and remain on the floor, it is something we must teach them.

[Rave]

I'm curious about Control Unleashed because I've heard so many good things about it. Is there a summary somewhere of what the book is about and maybe some examples of what it teaches? Thanks.

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

Rave, there is a yahoo group, it's read-only as Kristine mentioned, but it is still accepting members. If you become a member, you can read all the notes and files etc. It's still very useful IMO.

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/CU_Dogs/

 

Jenny, I've taken a recall class (2 times actually, working on focus in a high paced environment, my dog has issues!) they work wonders provided you have a good trainer...I really enjoyed mine both times I took it and the other dog owners did really well with their dogs!

[Root Beer]

I'm curious about Control Unleashed because I've heard so many good things about it. Is there a summary somewhere of what the book is about and maybe some examples of what it teaches? Thanks.

 

I don't know of anything "official". but this would be my general description.

 

Control Unleashed is a book geared toward helping a dog learn to be confident, focused, and in the right frame of mind to learn. It is kind of known as a "reactive dog program", but it really is not. It is an appropriate program - and my program of choice - to help reactive dogs learn to interface with the world in better ways, but to think of it as just for reactive dogs would be missing out on a gold mine!

 

In the book, Leslie McDevitt describes much of the learning theory behind the Control Unleashed program, and she outlines the basic games that one teaches his or her dog in the program. Some of the exercises that Ms. McDevitt describes will be familiar to someone who has used desensitization and counter conditioning before, but there are some elements of Control Unleashed that are quite unique. Among the best known of the CU games are: Look at That, Mat Work, and Give Me a Break. There is quite a lot of Parallel Work and there are Off Switch Games that can be used with certain dogs.

 

The games of Control Unleashed are not an end in an of themselves. Once the dog learns the games in an environment of low distraction/low stress/low pressure, etc., the games are taken into real life situations to re-frame the dog's experiences in those situations.

 

The applications are endless. CU can be used to help a reactive dog remain calm in the face of the things that cause the dog to react. CU can be used to help a zoomie dog remain focused. CU can be used to help a nervous dog learn confidence. CU can be used to help a perfectly normal dog become a superior sport partner and companion. CU can be used to help a dog who is prone to overstimulation learn to keep his head. CU can be used to help a dog who is motion sensitive (think cars, dogs running Agility, bicyclists, etc) learn to notice and then mentally dismiss them. CU can be used to help a shy dog come out of his or her shell. CU can be used to help an overly friendly dog learn to wait to be invited to greet. Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc.

 

The DVD is a supplement to the book. Ms. McDevitt does not re-teach the whole program and the behavior theory behind the program is not really discussed. The DVD provides a visual aid to learning CU and teaching the games to one's dog. There are some details about teaching the games - particularly Mat Work and Look at That - that are not really covered in the same detail in the book.

 

I hope that helps!!

[Rave]

That does help. Thanks Kristine.