Grade School Level (GSL) in Dog Training

It is Memorial Day weekend, a time when we might attend events, go to gatherings, or run into crowds. Many of us want to get out with our dog(s) and maybe even attend an event with them or take them to a bbq. If your dog is well-behaved and listens, then these types of things are likely enjoyable for both you and your dog. If your dog is not a perfect angel, these things can be challenging, stressful, or even impossible. If that’s the case, the idea of the Grade School Level can help you get a more relaxed dog that listens well in a variety of situations.

There was an event at one of our favorite pet stores today, so we decided to take our dogs and check out all the vendors and sales. Of course, this meant that the store was going to be much more busy than normal. At such an event, you can also expect that you might have people you don’t know come up and talk to you and interact with you and your dog (people should always ask first and never assume you and your dog are okay with that, but that’s a whole other topic). The first thing we did before deciding to go to the event with the dogs, was to determine if it was going to be a positive experience for all of us (including the dogs). This meant we needed to determine if the event was something that we could expect our dogs to be able to handle (ie not get too stressed, anxious or overstimulated). We happen to have three dogs in our household this weekend, so we had to make three different decisions, one for each dog. Further, we needed to assess whether taking more than one dog would be more or less challenging than only taking one.

It was a pretty easy determination that one of our dogs would be best left at home. He has enough stranger danger that he only does well at a pet store on a more quiet day, such as during the middle of a weekday. During these less busy times, we both benefit from such a visit by being able to advance our communication and training together. However, this particular dog is not comfortable with people he does not know, and even if he is wearing a “do not pet” vest, today’s event would not have been a good environment for him. So he stayed home and we decided the other two dogs would likely do well.

It’s important to note that if they did not do well, we were prepared to leave immediately. One of the dogs has recently been working through some reactivity and anxiety and doing well, so I determined that the event would be a great opportunity to up the challenge a little. We had been visiting stores, attending classes, and going to many new places for the months leading up to today’s event, so we had put in quite a bit of work and now had the opportunity to test things out.

It turned out that our dogs did fantastic. It was just enough to be a slight challenge, but not enough to push our dogs over threshold. I closely monitored their body language and gave them lots of treats for doing well. Our once-reactive dog approached other dogs and humans with only a small bit of trepidation with certain people and any stress was immediately and easily overcome with treats. Just several months ago, she wouldn’t take treats outside of the store because she was too nervous.

So what does this have to do with the Grade School Level (GSL) and what exactly is the GSL? First of all, this term comes from Training Between The Ears (TBTE), which is one of many training methodologies that I implement in my own training and have seen great results with. The GSL simply means that in training, we work in an environment in which the dog is equipped and ready to handle. This means if you are just starting out in your training, you are going to be starting in 1st grade or even kindergarten or preschool. We always need to start in a very easy environment so that we can be successful in our training. At a lower level GSL, we can establish communication with the dog and foster it’s learning. If we put a dog who is at a first grade level into a fourth grade environment, we are not only setting them up to fail, we could also be unintentionally creating frustration and stress within the dog and ourselves. If we put the dog in an environment with too high of a GSL, we would be speaking a language to them that they don’t yet clearly know or understand and/or giving them a problem that they aren’t yet equipped to work through and handle successfully.

Our holiday weekend visit to the pet store event provided a great example of this. First, we had to consider that the pet store that our dogs had visited many times before was going to be quite a bit different today and had to make our best assessment of whether or not to attempt bringing them along. Once we got there, we were prepared to leave if things proved to be too much for them.

What we did see at the event were many dogs well outside of their GSL. There were dogs barking, pulling, lunging and blowing off cues/commands from their humans. One dog was even getting smacked for reacting to other dogs in the store. Perhaps that dog had been there before and acted great, but with all the other dogs, people and commotion, the environment had completely changed. Or maybe it was their first time at the store or at an event and the dog was simply not ready. I always work from the assumption that people do the best they can with the knowledge they have at that moment. This may not always be true, but I think overall when you really examine a situation, it is more often the truth than not. Their dog was likely unintentionally put into a situation by the humans that it simply couldn’t handle and wasn’t ready for. Unfortunately for the dog, it was taken there by the humans and then punished for not being able to handle the situation. The better option in that moment would have been to take the dog out of the environment (or at least give it some space in a more quiet area) no matter how much the humans wanted to be there and wanted their dog to be there. The humans had simply put the dog in a GSL that it wasn’t ready for. They had essentially skipped from 1st grade to something like 7th grade. The humans of course then reacted to their dog’s reactivity, which ended up just feeding in to a vicious cycle. I highly doubt that was their intention when they went there, so blaming and getting angry at people doesn’t help the dog or humans either. They either didn’t know their dog was going to be reactive or they didn’t consider how such a stimulating environment could have a negative impact on the dog.

So, does this mean that this particular dog will never be able to go to an event such as the one that it attended today? Maybe, but most likely that’s not what it means at all. The dog simply needs to go through each grade school level, successfully completing one before moving on to the next. So in this example, a holiday event with vendors, people, kids and other dogs might be that dog’s 12th grade level. We might start at first grade by making sure the dog is comfortable just being outside of the store. Whether a dog is struggling with some anxiety or is simply super happy and overexcited about being there, doesn’t matter. We have to teach the dog to work through that and become more relaxed outside of the store before we ever step foot in the door. With some dogs, first grade might be all the way at the back of the parking lot. From there we would work on training, engagement and desensitization. We wouldn’t move closer to the store until the dog is successfully calm and doing what we ask at a far distance. Keep in mind that a different day might play a significant role on the GSL as well. On a slow day in the middle of the week, 1st grade might be at the front door, whereas on a busy day or during an event, 1st grade is going to be much further away from the storefront.

Going back to the question of whether the dog will ever be able to go to a busy event will be determined by the emotional state of the dog and how much work the human(s) are willing to put in to help the dog become more relaxed. Most dogs can make a lot of progress and eventually attend an event, but some may not, and for some it just might not be their idea of a good time and that’s okay. When we have a dog, we may have all sorts of visions and goals that we want to achieve, but sometimes a dog’s temperament may end up steering us in different directions than what we initially envisioned. There is no fault and nothing wrong with this. Every dog is different and some dogs might not ever like hanging out at busy events. We always need to assess and balance both what our dog’s needs and wants are along with our own. That being said, almost every dog can be trained to feel more comfortable in various environments if we take the time to work with them and don’t push them into the 7th grade when they haven’t yet graduated from 1st grade yet. That would be setting our dogs up to fail. We want to set our dogs up to succeed, and one of the key components of doing so, is constantly assessing the challenges our dogs are faced with (the GSL) and training at a level that is not too difficult for them. Once a dog is overstimulated, over threshold and/or reactive, it is nearly impossible for communication and learning to take place. We can’t keep repeating situations where our dog is being unsuccessful and think their behavior will eventually improve. The key is taking steps back and getting success in a much easier environment for your dog before putting them in more challenging scenarios.

If you are currently training your dog and/or working through any behavioral issues, try to keep in mind the GSL of each situation and take a few steps back to make things as easy for your dog as possible. Even though this takes a little more time in the beginning, I guarantee you’ll have better and more solid results that will last. :-)

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