Acclimate

Acclimatization should be part of your routine before every training session and every trial no matter how familiar the location.

It is a crucial foundation piece for successful training, trialing and for the wellbeing of your teammate.

There is more than one way to acclimatize your dog, the following is one example. The important thing is that you make this part of your routine every training session and every trial!

GET ACCLIMATED

Before training (or trialing) let your dog get acclimated. This isn’t a one-time thing, it’s an every time thing no matter how familiar the location. Acclimation is exactly what it sounds like: the time we give our dog to familiarize themselves with the environment and their surroundings. With acclimatization, environments become less and less engaging the longer your dog is allowed to explore, and when done successfully, they will be able to give you all their attention. If you skip acclimation, don’t expect complete focus the way you are hoping, as you’ve set them up to split their focus between you and their surroundings.

Acclimate until confident.

There are layers to acclimatization. First, your dog must feel safe. If they don’t feel safe in an environment, you need to find a new location. The second layer is confidence. To truly be ready to focus and engage, whether you are training or trialing, your dog should feel confident in the location. This takes a keen eye. Many dogs can appear confident even when they’re simply “not freaking out.”

What happens if your dog never gets comfortable, let alone confident, in the chosen location? DON’T TRAIN. You’re in an environment that is overwhelming your dog. If you ignore the signs that your dog isn’t ready, you can break their confidence — especially if you’re asking for behaviors that require focus and precision — and even more so if your dog is sensitive. This is a situation where you need to put aside your “training plan” and do what’s best for your partner.

How should you acclimate?

Start in a comfortable and familiar setting. Your dog may not need to acclimate, but you should give them the opportunity, and a familiar setting provides a great way to find a baseline.

In the chosen location, let your dog explore. Walk them around the training area and let them take it all in. If they don’t explore encourage them to “go sniff.”

Note: Don’t go beyond the perimeter of the area where you plan to train, if you expand the area, your dog may never acclimate because the environment keeps changing.

While your dog is exploring, this is “their” time, don’t interrupt them or do anything to draw their attention. You want their attention to come to you naturally, without nagging.

How do you know when your dog has fully acclimated and they’re ready to start training? When your dog is no longer totally involved in the environment is a good first step. But what you really want is your dog looking at you as if to say, “Let’s have some fun!”

New locations.

Once you’re satisfied with your dog’s ability to acclimate in a familiar setting, (and your ability to read it), it’s time to take it to slightly more challenging spaces. Like going from your living room to your backyard. When it’s good there, take it to a park, etc.

Pay attention to the amount of time it takes in each location. It probably doesn’t take much time in your living room, (which is your baseline). It might take a little longer in your backyard and it might take a while at a park.

Pay attention to whether they are really acclimated, (and confident). Were they error free in the living room? Are they still error free in the backyard? How about the park? For example, you may be getting great engagement and having great sessions in your living room. But when you take it to your backyard or park, your dog keeps working — but with less focus so they start making errors. When that happens, it’s time to end the “training” session and give them another chance to acclimate before you resume.

How long should you allow your dog to acclimate?

As long as it takes! Every dog is different, and every location presents different challenges for your dog. Just because it took 10 minutes last session, doesn’t mean it’ll be 10 minutes every session. Sometimes acclimation takes up the entire time that you had set aside to “train” so be ready to put aside your “plan.” And just because you thought they were acclimated, doesn’t mean that something won’t change, requiring reacclimation.

Extra

I recommend acclimating your dog on a leash/collar/harness that is different from what you use for training and/or competition. The ritual of swapping gear helps create a distinct transition from sniffing time to “our time.” And when “our time” is over, change back to the other gear and let them get back to doing their thing.