27/08/2026
Stopping escalation in the predation cycle. Olives owners had tried the food rewards, the avoidance, the distracting with food and toys but nothing worked and the behaviour was constant and escalating. Owners wanted to understand at a deeper level of what was going on in little Olives’s mind. We determined the cause and stopped the escalation that could have put everyone’s safety at risk. Advised changing from harness to collar to improve touch communication down the lead to the dog. Harness’s are designed from a working operation so the dog can safely work forward of the handler. When a pet dog is not under safe control the dog should be on collar for training and ease of communication between dog and handler. Both owners did great work with Olive and this resulted in a transformation in Olive’s behaviour outside with vehicles. We were all delighted to walk without worry and concern and enjoyed the walk! Olives future safety walking on pavements and anywhere near vehicles is now under control. Plus future training objectives of one day teaching recall with Olive is now a stronger possibility than before. Cheese 🧀 sausages, 🧸, avoiding situations and presenting a passive energy as a handler alone will not work to interrupt and create new neural networks in the dog’s mind to switch off escalating in the predation cycle. We have to work closer with the dog’s instincts and chemical neurobiology because that is what is driving the behaviour- a very powerful cocktail of chemicals and unfortunately cheese and sausages are not strong enough.
