We get what we condition.

There's a popular saying in the dog training world, "we get what we reinforce." And this is a truth! Whatever is marked and rewarded will continue to occur. This is far more difficult than most realize, as we're oftentimes completely unaware of what our bodies may be doing in connection with the reinforcement, our criteria may be a bit vague, and the process tends to be a bit sloppy overall. "Reinforcement"speaks to the mental aspect of the dog in more structured settings and deals with the shade of behavior I call "Classroom Behavior", which is more task-oriented and performance-based. All the brain training stuff (i.e. obedience training, agility, detection, search and rescue, etc.).

Now, when it comes to state of mind (and what falls under the 2nd category of our behavioral umbrella: "Real World and Functional Behavior"), "we get what we condition." This speaks to a complete different aspect of the dog, and is happening in various ways throughout the day. When I say "state of mind", I'm referring **intensity** and a dog's level of arousal. State of mind is the fuel that underlies and intensifies that nature of any association, trigger, response, reaction, or behavior. What most folks don't realize is they're often conditioning excited, amped, and overly aroused states of mind in many ways, which translates over into- essentially- anything and everything.

How are we conditioning state of mind?

Firstly, we need to redefine what "excitement" means. To many, this word means "happy". There are various shades of excitement. Yes, there's "happy" and "joy" on one end of the spectrum, but there's also "aggression" on the other side of the spectrum.... and everything in between.

We condition state of mind when the dog is gaining in any way while they're practicing any level of it. Attention. Affection. Privileges. Accesses. Meals. Treats. Getting let out of the crate. Getting let out into the backyard. Getting leashed up to go for a walk. Crossing through the door into the outside world to go on said walk. Having the leash removed to play. And so on.

What folks don't realize is many dogs don't know how to self-regulate. They've been conditioned to be amped and hyped about anything that happens in their lives... and, to be honest, most "pet" dogs lead generally rather boring lives, so anything that does happen is SUPER exciting. Excitement and arousal can quickly turn into aggression, "reactivity", or another not-so-stellar shade of excitement given the wrong look, trigger, posture, or the slightest state of discomfort.

I'm a big fan of conditioning calm in our dogs. This is their baseline feeling and nature, is a more instinctual way of *being*, and is exactly the state of mind we want to nurture (especially since they're sharing our living spaces).

There's a time and place for excitement. I'm not saying our dogs shouldn't ever practice it.... just that there needs to be a *balance*.

Train the "on switch" (channel and direct the arousal).....condition the "off switch" (nurture calm and regulation)..... and don't forget the in-between.

When it comes to state of mind, we get what we condition!