The Relaxation Protocol from a Client's Perspective

by guest writer Kaitlyn H

I recently had a surprising training win. Karma is my first dog as an adult, and I knew VERY little about working with and training dogs before her. So it's fair to say, I am not an expert trainer! However, my recent training breakthrough changed how I approach training obstacles. I hope sharing it here might help other new handlers.

I was trying to train Karma to go into and settle in her living room crate, but even with luring her in, she was resisting. I had a silly idea to try, and to my surprise, it worked. In about 10 minutes, Karma was stepping into her crate and settling on her own; she was staying in there even as I took a few steps away! But to explain the quick transformation, I should share some of our training journey.

Karma has done very well with her crate. She doesn't fight going in for a nap or for the night, but she very rarely goes into her living room crate on her own, or stays in it if the door is left open. She's also struggled to settle on her own outside of the crate. Before I brought her home, I watched a lot of BAXTER & Bella recorded classes. In the Service Dog Toolbox course, Amy shares about the Relaxation Protocol by Dr. Karen Overall. The concept made sense to me, and I was excited to try it! The Relaxation Protocol is similar to the mat-work steps in the intermediate course. You have your dog settle on a small towel or mat, and then do a series of steps while rewarding your dog for staying on the mat during each step. 

We practice mat work on her regular bed—which is always available on the floor—but we do the relaxation protocol on a specific small green mat. Originally I had planned to use a lightweight towel, but she struggled to settle on it and wanted to chew on it. The Relaxation Protocol started going better when we switched to a slightly thicker green mat with a grippy bottom. Fairly quickly, she knew if that green mat was on the floor, she should go lay on it. For several weeks, we were stuck on the first day, or set of steps. Karma struggled with the counting out loud steps, so we kept working through that first set until she was able to stay on her mat. Then she struggled with the jogging steps, but again, we finally were able to get past those challenges. By around 10 months, she made it through all 15 days! I was ecstatic ... she was less impressed.

Part of the Relaxation Protocol is to take that mat and go through the steps again in other places. In addition to starting again in other locations, I wanted to work on ways to expand on her tolerance at home by adding other distractions and practicing other surfaces and areas. This brings us back to my failed attempts of luring her into her crate. I thought perhaps I could leverage her success with the protocol to get her to settle in her crate, but we were struggling. Then, my silly idea: What if I put her green mat in her crate? I swapped her bedding for the green mat ... and she walked right in and settled on it! I was shocked but excited. After a few treats, I quickly let her out. I figured I'd have to use her Relaxation Protocol mat in the crate for a few days or weeks, but after a few cycles, I thought I'd try her regular bedding again. Again, to my surprise, she happily went in and settled!

Obviously there’s nothing magical about the green mat we used for Relaxation Protocol, but I was able to leverage her comfort and past training with it. Now, when we face new challenges, I try to think of other successes to leverage—almost like a cheat code. Karma is really patient when waiting for a toy, so I try to mimic that setup for working on other areas of impulse control. She loves smelling things, so I reward her by letting her sniff various items for settling nicely while I'm working in the kitchen.

Here are some of the reasons, as a dog newbie, I really liked the Relaxation Protocol:

• I liked the intentionality and cadence of the steps. It's hard to cook, work, empty a dishwasher AND give treats for settling every few seconds. I also found that when I'm rewarding on my own, it's easy to reward too often or not often enough (I feel like it's gotten easier with time and practice).

  
  

• It's easy to improvise. Sometimes I'd get a phone call while working with her, so I'd start making up similar steps of my own since I couldn't read the sheet. Now that she's done the 15 sets at home, I've also felt more comfortable improvising my own steps based on things that are more challenging for K (like me dancing/acting silly, or while I'm doing yoga or balancing work on the floor).

  
  

• It helped reinforce my "yes" = treat. I often struggle to remember to say "yes" while rewarding, but I think from the RP work and saying "yes" with each step, K responds to "yes" when I use it to interrupt before unwanted behavior.

  
  

• Karma really seems to like it. She'll sit looking up at where I have the green mat and get excited when I grab it. She'll get on it so quickly, often before I've fully set it down.

  
  

• You get your steps in!

  
  

• It also pairs well with the rest of the BAXTER & Bella training. 

My hope is that by sharing our story, that one, some of you may be encouraged to keep trying when you’re feeling stuck … it’s worth it! Second, to think about small modifications you can make to set your puppies up for success (like switching from a towel to the thicker green mat). And third, to think creatively about ways you can leverage success from one area to another. Happy Training!