E409: 사라 로드리게스(Sarah Rodriguez) - 훈련을 더 쉽게 접할 수 있게 만들기

And she really helped me to just really experience unconditional love and just no judgment of, like, she had no preconceived ideas of what I should be able to do or any of that. And it was really just an amazing experience. And I think that she really understood me and just, like, she, you know, I had no idea of training. No one in my family did. And so she was so smart. She would figure out a way to play fetch with me. And she would, like, put the ball in my lap. And she would, like, stand on her hind legs. She's a very small dog. She was, like, 12 pounds. But she would put the ball in my lap. And, you know, I can maybe, like, throw it, like, one, two feet max because of my disability. It was, like, a muscle weakness. And so she would, like, shove it into, like, between my knees to make sure it wouldn't fall. And then I would get it and, like, throw it just a little bit. And she would, like, time it perfectly so that she would, like, leap up and push it. And so it would fly across the room. And it would make me feel, like, wow, like, I did that, you know. And then she'd, like, bring it back and do it all again. And it really made me excited that, like, I can play with her and interact with her in that way. But also that she would get very excited and happy about it. And, you know, just growing up, it really made me realize animals really understand so much about us. But we don't really understand much about them. And so I had started volunteering at the animal shelter from a very early age. And I realized how many people really do not understand their dogs or have a deep relationship with them. And so that really became my mission to really help people understand their dogs more, build deeper bonds, because then they wouldn't want to, you know, get rid of a family member because they would have a really close bond. And so that's really what got me into dog training. Have you always kind of approached things from a positive training perspective? If not, you know, kind of how did you get started there? Yeah. So I always have been a positive trainer. But I think even more so now is, like, my skill set has grown and I've just gained more experience. And I think every animal that I work with has really taught me something. I think for all of us, every animal that comes into our life, we learn a new lesson and we learn new skills. And I think that has really helped me. So over the years, I think I've really learned a lot more about offering animals choice in training and learning ways to really give dogs agency over elements of their own lives,

because that's something that they really we don't often give them. So so that's definitely something that I have changed throughout the years, just even as a positive trainer. Can you share a little more kind of about your background with making trainer training, excuse me, more accessible? Like, why is this such an important topic? Yeah. So I think first off, you know, having a progressive disability, it was kind of a necessity. So, you know, when I first started out, I had a little more like upper arm strength than I do now, for example. And when I started out, you know, as a child, they had no treatments whatsoever. So now that has changed and now they have treatments for my disability. And so that has been huge. But for the longest time, it was a progressive disability. So if I couldn't do something one way that I was able to previously, then that really kind of helped me learn to just be creative and come up with new ways. And, you know, I think also just, you know, with my own necessity of working with dogs, but, you know, also like using a wheelchair and working with small dogs most of the time that were the ones in my own life anyway. You know, it's hard to reach them. So I had to get really creative with just adapting the training to meet my needs. But then also to now as a professional working with clients with disabilities, I see how empowering it is. And I know firsthand how empowering it is to be able to teach your dog on your own something and then see that behavior really come to life. So and I see that with clients as well, where, you know, maybe it's a family with even just a child who has a disability and they think that they're not really going to get to be a part of the training. And then to really open up that world for them to bond with their dog in that special way has also really helped me to realize the importance of making training accessible. But also to just adapting training to meet the needs of clients as, again, as a professional, we see different people from all walks of life all the time, whether they're elderly and they got a puppy and they don't want to bend completely over to try and lure their dog. Or somebody has an injury that's maybe new and different and they've been training a certain way, but now they have to do it a different way. So there's there's people from all walks of life who need some creativity to be able to adapt the training to their needs. And then also to just being in the shelter environment, working with dogs who are fearful and dogs who are reactive, dogs who may have traumas that we know nothing about.

We don't know their triggers and the things that will make them feel afraid and like they're not safe. So really being able to adapt the training to meet their needs as well. And then again, just like being a certified dog behavior consultant now, I get a lot of like there's really unique kind of weird cases where you just really got to think outside the box. And I think that making training accessible really helps you to really think outside the box and be creative so that when you have unique cases, you can really be creative just not only to help the dog, but also the person as well and meet their needs. Because there's going to be a ton of combinations of, you know, people and dogs and you want to be able to, you know, help them in the best way possible. And what works for one person and one dog might not work the same for everyone. So just really being able to broaden your skill set and be able to help everyone from all walks of life. So, you know, kind of to further that point or to talk a little more about that, you know, how do you think about adapting the training to the dog and handler team in front of you? What kind of adaptations do you feel it's kind of useful having your toolkit or to kind of think about? Yeah. So I think the first skill set that we really want to have is being observant. Because I think as dog training professionals, we're often very good at watching the dog's body language. But oftentimes we don't think about the client as well. So if we see them struggling with a particular training method or even maybe it's not physical, maybe they're not struggling to bend over to lure the dog. But maybe they're struggling because they're getting frustrated because it's not working. Even for the animal as well, sometimes the animal gets frustrated because the way that they learn is just not fitting that particular technique that we're using. And so being observant really helps us to see what does this particular team need and how can we adapt the training so that everyone succeeds and really has a good time and a positive experience. And also just making it easier to breaking it into smaller steps. I think that goes back to being observant. If we're seeing that they're struggling or there's some frustration on either end, the handler or the dog, then we're able to break it up into smaller steps and make it easier. But I know even just in my own experience working with a variety of different clients, you see sometimes like, okay, this technique is not working for whatever reason. Not that the technique is bad.

There's probably a zillion other situations where it's going to be super useful. But they're just not getting it for either the person or the dog. So let's switch gears. And I find that when we're able to do that, clients really feel empowered because it's like, oh, okay, there's not just one way to do this. And so also having an open dialogue with clients to really find out if they are having a more challenging time doing something or, you know what, does this technique work for you or would you rather try it a different way? And just kind of opening that conversation to really help them feel like, oh, there's other ways to do this. Yeah, absolutely. Because I think a lot of times even, especially like in group settings, they're just like, well, everyone's doing it this way. So I need to do it this way. But it's not really working and it's frustrating. So, you know, just being able to have that open dialogue to really say, you know, we've got like a lot of ways to do this. Let's tackle it together and really come up with ways. And I think, too, just, you know, some little adaptions sometimes could be, you know, raising the dog up higher so the person isn't bending over. You know, especially like when you're working with a client who's elderly or I think really for anyone who's working even just with a little puppy, they're like so low to the ground. And nobody wants to be contorting themselves just to, you know, get the dog into a specific position. So just little things like that that we can do to really help clients and dogs to really understand what we're training, but in a very simple way and really tailor it to their specific needs. So part of the reason that we're chit-chatting is that you're doing a webinar for FDSA about a week after this airs. Do you want to share a little bit on kind of what you're covering during the webinar? Maybe who might consider joining us? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm really excited to offer this webinar because I think it's going to help a wide range of people and really be something that everyone can gain from. So what I'm going to be covering is luring in untraditional ways. So when you think of luring, you tend to think of like the treat to nose kind of luring. But I'm going to be talking about a lot of different ways in which we can utilize luring. And that's going to be in very untraditional ways. And also adapting and using the environment and props to really get the behaviors that we're looking for. Utilizing food placement to facilitate behaviors. Associative learning. And it's really going to go beyond.

So what I'm going to be talking about also really goes beyond capturing and shaping, which is the kind of traditional things that we think about. So we're also going to go beyond that to cover these topics as well. And I think it's really for a wide range of people. Like I said, it kind of, there's something for everyone. I think for people who want to learn just to be more creative and have different ways of doing things. Also just people with mobility challenges or injuries as well. Professional trainers who work with a wide variety of clients. I want to be able to know just a bunch of different ways that you can teach behavior. And also people who have recently adopted a new dog. Maybe you don't really know their traumas, their triggers. And you just want to start by building confidence, having fun together. I think that this webinar is for you as well. So the webinar, I think it has in the title of the term, a hands-off approach, right? So since that's kind of the focus, how are you defining hands-off for the purpose of the webinar? Yeah. So that's a really good question. And probably a lot of people are asking that. I think, you know, as professional positive trainers, we are kind of hands-off already in the sense that we're not like pushing the dog's bottom down and like forcing the dog into certain positions. But I think there are a lot of ways that we are still very hands-on in the sense of like, again, luring, putting the treat right in the dog's nose. And really trying to get these behaviors by being kind of right there and very involved. So this webinar is really more about combining a huge variety of different techniques and really getting creative in a way that gives the dog space away from us a little bit and really helps the dog to think for themselves and offer behaviors. I know kind of thinking about the topic when I was putting together questions, it kind of immediately like the thing that I thought of was how empowering it would be for some dogs and how helpful, you know, maybe for building more independent behaviors and to teach the dog how to be a little more independent if you're using kind of that hands-off approach. Even if it's maybe not necessary for the team, right? Can you talk to that a little bit? Are there other advantages here that, you know, people may not think of? Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a lot of different benefits. And one of them is even just reducing equipment that you might have to fade out later.

So you might think about like, you know, foot targets and those kinds of things that you really try and get this like precision heal work and those kinds of things that you're going to have to eventually fade out. And it's just an extra thing to buy, an extra thing to include. And so we can reduce some of this extra equipment that we might not need. Also, distance work actually becomes a lot easier because a lot of times when we're working a little bit more hands-on, the dog is very, very close to us and it's very close proximity. So then once we try to, you know, they're getting their reinforcement right next to you. So once we try to kind of take that out a little bit, the dog has a really hard time working at a distance. So I do find that distance work becomes easier with this type of training. Also, building confidence. So especially for newly adopted dogs, for dogs who may be a little more fearful, but really any dog can really benefit from building confidence. And the handlers too. The handlers build confidence as well as they grow their skill set too. And then also just you really get to see the personality of the dog because you're really encouraging creativity, encouraging offering behaviors. And it's a lot of fun to really see their personality come to life. I know with my own dog, Danny, he is so funny, like the way he adds his own flair to different tricks. And it's a lot of fun. And he gets very excited when he knows that we're going to learn something new. And he loves to just like add in his own little flair every time. Like I have an image in my mind of what that end behavior is going to look like. And it's a lot of fun to see what he comes up with for it. And then also too, just it really helps us as the handler, as the trainer to have a creative mindset in training. So I think that also can sometimes reduce frustration a little bit. Because if a technique isn't working and you think that's the only way to get the behavior in a positive way, sometimes it can be really frustrating. And so knowing that there's like tons of ways to do this in a fun way, in a positive way, that can also be really empowering as well. I can certainly see how if you're feeling stuck with something, sometimes just taking a completely different look at options, at creative solution problem solving, you know, can be really beneficial. Yes, exactly. Any final thoughts or key points that you kind of want to leave folks with? Yeah, I think mostly that would just be that really anything is possible.

So if you're struggling with a behavior that you're trying to teach or you're physically having challenges with teaching a behavior, there are just so many ways to get to your end goal. And you can do that in a positive way. So I just want to encourage anyone out there who's struggling and frustrated to just know that anything is possible. And there are always solutions out there. And so training should be fun. And it should allow us to really be creative and have a good time as we build deeper relationships with our dogs. I love that. What a great note to end on. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Sarah. Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely. And thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in. We'll be back next week. Don't miss it. If you haven't already, subscribe to our podcast in iTunes or the podcast app of your choice to have our next episode automatically downloaded to your phone as soon as it becomes available. Today's show is brought to you by the Fenzie Dog Sports Academy. Special thanks to Denise Fenzie for supporting this podcast. Music provided royalty free by bensound.com. The track featured here is called Buddy. Audio editing provided by Chris Lang. Thanks again for tuning in and happy training. Bye.