Program
THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2024
Adam Skandarani CCUI KPA-CTP
CU on the Road for Creating a Resilient Travel Companion
Do you have a dog who you'd love to take with you on all your travel adventures? Did you know that temperament, resilience, and skills are involved in creating the perfect conference buddy? Join Adam as they discuss the steps they take to create a happy and compatible travel companion who you can take to conferences or vacations—even by plane!
Sarah Owings CTP
Lessons in Resilience: What My Cows Teach Me
Sarah discusses how to nurture organic start buttons and build context cues that mean "you are safe now." She also talks about all the ways cows are naturally resilient in ways that teach us some good lessons.
FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2024
Kathy Murphy BVetMed, DPhil, CVA, CLAS, MRCVS & Bobbie Bhambree CDBC, CPDT-KA
The Resilience Rainbow: A Framework for Behavior Modification & Training Plans to Help Build and Maintain Resilience
Resilience is an individual’s ability (human or dog) to recover quickly from, and resist, the negative effects of stressful events, situations, and conditions. It is a positive adaptation or “bounce back ability”. Whether a professional in the behavior field or a competitor of dog sports, we must consider resilience when creating training programs or addressing behavior issues. Most dogs around the world no longer live quietly by the fireside, roaming open spaces, without restrictions; and as society continues to change, our cities get busier and our lives more hectic, it's not only humans that benefit greatly from an ability to adjust and adapt. Neuroscientist and veterinarian, Dr. Kathy Murphy, and Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, Bobbie Bhambree, discuss the framework they developed for creating individualized resilience conditioning plans or schedules. What are the seven domains of resilience conditioning and why are they essential for our dogs and our training plans? What interventions and exercises are most effective in building resilience? How do they help, and how can you implement them?
Leslie McDevitt MLA, CDBC, CPDT-KA, TAGteach Level 2
What's on Leslie's Mind?
Wondering what's been on Leslie's mind lately? Leslie will be passion-talking about a few topics she's been thinking a lot about, including how the concept of agency and the Degrees of Freedom model work in Pattern Games, and how to use eating-related behaviors such as Lick, Sniff and Forage to access the nervous system.
Danielle Beck MSc Registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist
Meerkats Unleashed!
In this presentation, Danielle will guide us through how the power of the pattern can be used to help our dogs to control their meerkat, particularly those dogs that have been impacted by trauma. The meerkat is an analogy developed by Danielle to help canine caregivers understand how the brain affects your dog’s behavior. The meerkat represents the parts of the hindbrain. Often our dogs react so quickly we lose control, they’re like a different dog and treats just don’t work. This emotional “high jacking” is the meerkat and she can show you how to control the meerkat so you can train your dog.
Jessica Hekman DVM, PhD
Probiotics for Behavioral Health
Probiotics are starting to be recommended by veterinarians to help manage behavioral issues in dogs, either as support in addition to behavioral medication or just on their own. Are they actually effective? How could adding bacteria to the GI system affect the brain? How long term must they be given? What changes might you expect, and what diagnoses are they helpful for? Are there side effects? What's the best brand to buy, or can you make your own? Join Jessica, a research scientist who specializes in the biology of behavior, for a deep dive into the crazy new findings coming out about probiotics and behavior in dogs.
Lab: Leslie McDevitt
LATTE and an Introduction to the Lick & Learn
Leslie has taken her always popular and always powerful Look at That game and added a new twist: LATTE, which stands for Look at That Then Enrichment. Treat your dogs to a relaxing counterconditioning experience in an enriched environment that encourages them to lick, sniff, chew, and decompress while playing a sloooowed down version of your favorite game. Leslie will also introduce the brand new Lick and Learn product that she created with Clean Run. It allows any pattern game to become an opportunity for decompression.
Lab: Julie Daniels
Chair Games
What’s with CU and chairs? Leslie always said chairs are everywhere at dog events so it’s important for our dogs to feel safe around them. We want our dogs to think good thoughts about people sitting in chairs, getting up from chairs, moving chairs around, etc. When I go to a dog event, setting up my chair is establishing my home base, and that’s how I look at this game for my dogs, too. The chair is a touchstone. The dog learns that each venture out to a target in the environment will be followed by a return to the chair, the safe personal space. So the concept of Chair Game is to use the chair as our dog’s home base, that’s the foundation concept. From there we expand the distance from the chair, complicate the path back to the chair, manipulate the challenges in the environment, and even substitute what constitutes our chair. The bumper of my car is my favorite ‘chair’ as I progress this pattern into the big world away from home. The all-important feelings of safe space expand out from the chair as you learn and practice the Chair Game pattern.
Lab: Kim Palermo
Creative Reinforcement Strategies to Apply to Your Patterns
There are a number of different ways that you can reinforce your dog with food rewards that will help to lower arousal. This lab will allow you to experiment with these strategies to determine the best fits for your dog, while practicing (or learning) some of the most useful CU patterns. Kim will use concepts from ACE Free Work to create a reward system for your dog that is emotionally and physically comforting for both you and your dog!
SATURDAY, JULY 13, 2024
Hannah Branigan
Bounce Back Plans Unleashed
Everything is going as planned while working with your dog, but then something happens to derail you. Do you just need a quick regroup, do you need to step away from the skills work and address the emotions and environment, or do you need to evacuate and run? Hannah discusses how to develop contingency plans and training for recovery so that you don’t start down the path to feeling out of control (either dog or human).
Laurie C. Williams BA, CCUI, Fear Free Certified, CDTI
Implementing CU in Your Manners Classes: As Easy as 1-2-3
Laurie will be livestreaming directly from one of her classes so we can see how she incorporates CU into a basic manners program curriculum.
Lab: Adam Skandarani
Red Light, Green Light
Join Adam as they take you through their favorite ways to help dogs go from peaceful rest to being ready for action through attention and connection games inspired by Control Unleashed. Dogs should have basic mat work skills.
Lab: Angie Madden
Requested Approach Training
Do you have a dog who struggles with triggers approaching them? Learn how to put your learners in the driver's seat of their own counter conditioning using these protocols.
Julie Daniels CCUI
Unleash the Scenic Route! Variety over Difficulty
Variety is more than the spice of life. It’s the best and fastest training route to performance reliability. Vary your variables from the beginning and you can get to full competence through fun and games rather than through ever-increasing levels of difficulty.
Lab: Kim Palermo
Look at That
Kim will coach you and your dog through the process of teaching the wonderful skill called “Look at That” or LAT. She will take a two-pronged approach, beginning with teaching your dog the skill of “looking at something” in order to earn reinforcement. Once that skill is in place, you’ll use a training sequence with a helper that will demonstrate to your dog that they can use this new skill with stimuli in the environment. The goal will be that you’ll have a thorough understanding of the steps to teaching LAT to bring home and generalize to real world applications.
Lab: Angie Madden
Take a Breath
Taking a deep breath helps calm your body and mind because it stimulates the parasympathetic system (the system that takes over when we are at rest). Likewise, taking a breath (TAB) can do the same for your dog.
Lorenzo JW Fox FDM, SAPT, PDT, Fear Free Trainer
Expect the Unexpected: CU with Non-Food Reinforcement and Co-Regulation
Health issues, chronic elevated stress, and learning history can all leave us a bit stumped when we can't train with food. Let's talk about building resilient patterns with functional reinforcement, environmental cues, and the anticipation of novelty. Additionally, learn some tips on helping clients advocate for their dogs' health and physical welfare as an essential component of shaping resiliency.
Blythe Neer CDBC, CNWI, CSAT, CPDT-KA, CCUI, Fear Free Trainer
I CU Tasking: Using CU to Train Service Dog Tasks
Learn how to train service dogs to perform tasks for their disabled handlers using your favorite CU games. You'll learn how to use games like mat work, take a breath, and superbowls to teach and perfect tasks like pressure therapy, finding an exit or chair, medical alert, and more.
SUNDAY, JULY 14, 2024
Angie Madden CPDT-KA, CCUI
Unleash Resilient Thinking
You've learned the games. Now what? Many people struggle with applying CU to tackle real life challenges. Learn how to take the overall picture, separate out the different components, and reframe it for your dog. Resilient thinking is responsive, fluid, and flexible.
Paul Grosart BS, CPDT-KA, IAABC-ADT, AKC CGC Evaluator
CU in Public: Building Resilience in Public Access Training
Get perspective on ways to use Control Unleashed games to foster resilience in service dog teams. Paul will break down common games used for public access training, explore creative strategies for handling tough situations, and problem solve fading out games as teams progress.
Lab: Julie Daniels & Kim Palermo
Give Me a Break
Give Me a Break (GMB) is a pattern game that helps dogs learn how to relax and focus. If your dog is uncomfortable or unable to work off lead around other dogs, easily distracted and has difficulty concentrating, or gets easily aroused in trial situations, GMB will be a very useful tool.
Lab: Blythe Neer & Paul William Grosart
We CU Accommodating: Modifying CU Concepts for Disability & Environment
No food on the floor? Mobility limitations? Dropped leash protocols? Join service dog trainers Blythe and Paul for an interactive workshop on errorless learning in service dog training. Through this hands-on problem-solving session, participants will learn how to adapt games based on common scenarios and limitations. Get real-time guidance as you apply strategies for breaking down the components of CU games, ensuring a seamless and effective training experience for service dogs and their handlers. Participants should have moderate experience with a variety of CU games.
Samantha DeJong CTB.ccs, IPDTA-CDT, CCUI
CU Under Pressure: Competing & Performing at Big Events
Samantha discusses our journey using Control Unleashed games to go from being complete dog sport newbies to performing at big events, and from building confidence and motivation as puppies to creating the predictability and resiliency required to withstand the pressure of big stages.
Kim Palermo CPDT-KA, CCUI, Level 1 TagTeacher
Unleash a Pattern Upgrade: Building Resilience into Your Patterns
Patterns are the foundation on which habits are built. There are many small changes that you can make that will improve your dog's fluency in, confidence with, and commitment to their patterns. By presenting how to focus on handler mechanics and aids, maintaining optimal arousal, and introducing Free Work into your training, Kim will help you create a fresh, solid foundation of patterns that will build habits for yourself and your dog that are strong, self-regulating, and resilient.
THE SNIFF SPOT
Does your dog need a break? Do you? Come visit Merissa Dubraque-Kreidler at our Sniff Spot! For dogs that are new to scent games, we will hide yummy snacks (hot dogs, cheese, etc) for them in the boxes. For dogs that are pros, we will hide your choice of birch, anise, or clove (or a cocktail of all three) for your dog. Is Barn Hunt something you are curious about? We will have rats and tubes there as well! Either way, it’s a chance to relax, play with your dog, and try something new!