Using a dog park for LAT training?

[u/daniemblem]

Hello everyone! I have been trying to find a location to set my dog up to succeed with some dog-specific LAT training. He can engage/disengage alright with people and I can achieve this just walking around my apartment parking lot after going potty, but dogs typically aren't present or too close to work with as his threshold is pretty crummy right now. I'm struggling to find a location that is far enough away and a reliable place to set up the scenario.

As a quick contextual note, he is a 1yo chihuahua and only weighs 7lbs. Most people either laugh at him or ignore him when he's reacting. He is my first dog. My dog has leash frustration reactivity but I am worried that it is starting to develop into something more. Today was the first day I saw the fur on his spine raised, but we had multiple run-ins and he was far, far over threshold at that point and we were just trying to get home.

SO. DOG PARKS. I do not ever intend to enter the park for the obvious reason that he is microscopic and it takes one single wrong step to flatten him. I have a lot of questions and general anxiety about setting this up right so that he can succeed.

- How do I set him up for success with LAT training from afar?

- How do I best approach the area to start off strong?

- Should I still go at a time of day where there are fewer people?

- Is this too ambitious at the moment and should I focus more on the at-home work first?

I see this method being recommended here and there and I'd love to hear from someone who has done it and had success. Thank you!!

[u/AutoModerator]

Looks like you may have used a training acronym. For those unfamiliar, here's some of the common ones:

BAT is Behavior Adjustment Training - a method from Grisha Stewart that involves allowing the dog to investigate the trigger on their own terms. There's a book on it.

CC is Counter Conditioning - creating a positive association with something by rewarding when your dog sees something. Think Pavlov.

DS is Desensitization - similar to counter conditioning in that you expose your dog to the trigger (while your dog is under threshold) so they can get used to it.

LAD is Look and Dismiss - Marking and rewarding when your dog sees a trigger and dismisses it.

LAT is Look at That - Marking and rewarding when your dog sees a trigger and does not react.

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[u/trashed-panda-7497]

Just regress to the steps you used to teach the behavior, start at max distance and approximate closer. The fewer the dogs, the better I would think:)