Control Unleashed - The Puppy Program

Control Unleashed : Creating a Focused and Confident Dog was written as a problem-solving book to help handlers with mature dogs that were having behavior problems during canine-sport training or competition. This book is different. Control Unleashed : The Puppy Program is meant as preventive medicine for puppy raisers. Many common behavior problems can be either prevented or minimized by starting a puppy with good foundation training from the beginning. In addition, this book provides a program that will help you create a puppy that is ready for sport-specific training at the appropriate age a puppy with the ability to focus on whatever you want, for as long as you want, whenever you want.

Paying attention is its own skill set and teaching it should be separate from teaching your puppy more complex behaviors. Without attention, you won't get as far as you want with all those other behaviors you're going to teach because it's likely they will fall apart in the face of distraction. So it is wise to teach the attention skill set as the base of operations for your puppy training. The attention skill set includes: Discrimination skills, self-control skills, and arousal regulation skills.

The concepts and suggestions in this book can also be used for rescue dogs that, like puppies, are starting out as blank slates as far as your training is concerned.

Section I: Overview
Chapter 1: What Is Puppy Control Unleashed ? Chapter 2: Getting to Know Your Puppy Chapter 3: A Different Way to Think About Focus

Section II: Pre-requisites
Chapter 4: An Ounce of Prevention: Reactivity Chapter 5: Before You Begin Chapter 6: Premack Principle Chapter 7: The Power of the Release Word Chapter 8: Give Your Puppy a Break Chapter 9: Leslie's Protocol for Food Arousal Chapter 10: Using Reinforcement Wisely: Pressure and Premack Chapter 11: Control vs. Cooperation Chapter 12: Attention is Just Another Behavior Chapter 13: Reassurance-seeking Behavior Chapter 14: Targeting

Section III: Key Concepts
Chapter 15: Default Behaviors Chapter 16: Availability Chapter 17: Biofeedback Chapter 18: Shaping Chapter 19: Integrative Training Chapter 20: Economy of Energy Chapter 21: Bite Threshold Model Chapter 22: Transitioning

Section IV: Games and Exercises
Chapter 23: Reorienting Chapter 24: Leave It Chapter 25: Whiplash Turn Chapter 26: Look at That! Chapter 27: Mat Work Chapter 28: Off-Switch Game Chapter 29: Give Me a Break Game Chapter 30: Parallel Games Chapter 31: Box Work Chapter 32: Puppy Ping-Pong Chapter 33: Watch the Distracted Handler

Section V: Conclusion
Chapter 34: Managing Your Puppy in Classes and at Trials Chapter 35: Arousal Is Not Drive Chapter 36: Finding the Right Teacher When You're Ready for Agility Puppy Classes Chapter 37: Your Puppy Deserves a Custom Fit Chapter 38: Wrapping Up Recommended Resources