Episode 332: This Or That’s: Your Dog’s Decision-Making Blueprint

Susan Garrett’s Decision-Making Blueprint begins with This or That games that help your dog learn to make brilliant choices. This episode explores the five stages that grow simple choices into confident everyday decision-making. You’ll also discover the common mistakes that can take choice away from your dog and how to know when they’re ready to progress, so you can grow a confident dog who knows how to choose well, even when life gets exciting.

Join the free ItsYerChoice Summit and be added to the waitlist for the Recallers Archetype Series event coming in late August: https://dogsthat.com/iycsummit-join/

In this episode, you’ll hear:

Why there can be a big gap between teaching behaviors and expecting good decisions around distractions.
How your dog’s behavior gives you feedback about what they actually learned.
Why This or That games pair one well-understood response with another.
The five stages of This or That games: Spotlight Choices, Choice Pairs, Choice Challenges, Choice Chains, and Choice Living.
How Spotlights are used to create clarity, with examples of the ones I use (“cook,” “search,” “chow,” “strike,” and “bring”).
Why I make failure inexpensive for dogs.
How Buzz’s love of swimming became a game of waiting for permission to enter the pond.
How to know when a dog is ready to progress in the 5 Stages.
The common mistakes that can remove clarity or sacrifice joy as the games progress.
How to join the free ItsYerChoice Summit and the waitlist for my Recallers Archetype Series event.