• SPACE. Whether inside or out, space is by far the most important asset of a training venue. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, dogs need to have sufficient "personal space" around them while they are waiting for their turn to work so that they can relax and have the opportunity to latently learn what they are being taught in the training session. Secondly, when a dog is working it needs sufficient space so that it can do the exercise without encroaching on another dog's personal space - if the training area is cramped the dog will not do the exercise at full speed or with true enthusiasm. For instance, a dog will not willingly walk or run in a direct line towards another dog (see calming signals) - even worse is doing it in a direct line towards a queue of dogs!
  
  
• SECURE. The training area needs to be secure enough so that the dog can explore the area (particularly on its very first visit to the venue) before it begins training. Dogs need the opportunity to sniff and explore the environment so that they can reassure themselves that there are no threats or dangers around. It also gives dogs the opportunity to leave their scent in the environment (this does not necessarily mean relieving themselves - they can also leave scent from their glands on the equipment/door frames/furniture). The scent that they leave behind not only tells the other dogs that they have been there, it also helps them recognise their own scent when they next visit the venue. This recognition helps the dogs to build up strong environmental photos so that they feel relaxed and happy to train there in the future.
  I have seen many instances where dogs that have been relaxed and calm have left their scent behind in a training area and this scent has relaxed and calmed other dogs that entered the area afterwards. On the other hand, scent left from dogs suffering from high levels of stress have had instant reactions from calm dogs who train in the area afterwards, making them nervous and unable to concentrate as they usually do. In other words, both stress and calm induced scents have a contagious effect on other animals that work in the same area.
  Of course it is not practical to allow a dog to just wander off and explore the training area without being sure that the area is secure and safe. At indoor venues, external doors must be kept shut so that the dog cannot escape into the parking area or the roads - two doors at a venue are ideal as one door can be the entrance and the other the exit for the dogs and handlers. Security is even more important outside when dogs have the opportunity to run so far away that they cannot be caught, or can be tempted to find more interesting things to do (eg. chase other dogs/wildlife/cars/people). Therefore, I strongly recommend that training compounds be made so that the handler (and therefore the dog) feels relaxed and confident in the area. By far the most suitable type of barrier to use around a training area is plastic fencing - which dogs can see through to check that there are no "dangers" near by, but solid enough to deter them from trying to escape. As with indoor venues, entrance and exit management to the training area will also help to prevent dogs meeting at the beginning or end of a training session.
  

• QUEUING or waiting to train, is a particularly stressful time for dogs and can be overcome with a bit of forward planning by the handlers and the trainer. Unfortunately, a great deal of dog training is done with handlers and dogs standing (or sitting) too close to one another in a training area. In these situations the dogs are distracted throughout the training session by -

  • trying to get enough personal space around them so that they can relax, without feeling threatened or vulnerable
  • the body language of the dogs that they can see, hear and scent around them - eg. calming signals or symptoms of stress
  • attempting to escape the situation (eg. pulling on their lead towards the door or hiding under or behind the handler)
  • acting aggressively by pulling towards the other dogs in the hope of driving them further away.

  These dogs will not enjoy the lessons and will remember very little about what they have been taught.
  
  

  A "traditional" dog class	In Dog-Games the dogs stay in the car while the humans chat

  
  
• SEATING. Humans are a lazy lot - if there are chairs around they will use them! Therefore, if the handlers are sitting with their dogs, arrange the chairs around the venue so that they are as far apart from each other as possible. This gives each dog its own personal space so that it can relax. If the humans want to chat while sitting, ask them to leave their dogs in their cars and then they can sit as close to one another as they like!
  
  
• PARKING WELL AWAY FROM THE TRAINING AREA. Unfortunately, particularly at indoor venues, there is not always sufficient space at a training venue for dogs to wait for their turn to be trained and in these circumstances it is better for the dogs to wait outside the training area (see Dogs & Cars which gives plenty of stress-reducing ideas not only for keeping dogs in vehicles but also alternatives to using a car).
  
  
• START/FINISH AREA. As I explained in SPACE, it is important to keep dogs away from the start and finish areas of a training exercise. Dogs need to be able to work without the extra worry of encroaching into other dogs personal space.
  
  
• PASSING IN DOORWAYS/CORRIDORS. Try to ensure that dogs do not meet each other in doorways or confined spaces when they enter or leave the training area - the departing dog will remember more about the lesson if it is not disturbed, while the next dog needs to be calm so that it can concentrate on the lesson. For instance, as one dog leaves, the next can be waiting around the corner and enter after the first dog has gone by.
  
  
• GOOD OR BAD IMPRESSIONS FOR THE DOG? What many humans fail to realise is that dogs do not have memories like us - they have "environmental photos " which enable them to store rewarding and threatening situations in their brains so that they can recognise the situation should they come across it again. Therefore, if a dog has a bad impression or association with the training environment it will repeat its behaviour and anxiety until the behaviour is so deeply imprinted it cannot act in any other way. For instance -

  A dog is brought into a hall to train for the first time. It is overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of all the humans and dogs in such a small area and desperately wants to leave. However, the handler is anxious to make a "good impression" to the trainer and pressurises the dog to follow it across the hall and be on its best behaviour (the dog feels even more vulnerable and trapped) . The dog feels overwhelmed by the whole training session, becoming increasingly unhappy and either begins to show default stress symptoms such as barking, lunging at nearby dogs, or withdrawing into itself, in order to cope with the whole situation. Meanwhile, the handler is expecting the dog not only to "behave" but to learn new exercises and experiences in this stressful situation. As the weeks pass the dog feels more and more helpless and increases its responses to the situation, frustrating not only the handler but also upsetting the other dogs in the training area. Eventually the whole experience is too much for the handler, and they do not return. The dog has not only learnt that being too close to other dogs is unpleasant and claustrophobic, but that the default stress symptoms worked because the dog was always taken out of the situation at the end of the class.

  What we need to do is make the dog's first experience at a training location pleasant and rewarding so that the dog has happy and positive long-term memories and gets into the routine of relaxing so that it enjoys being with their handler, not only at this location but at other times and places - ie. generalising its behaviour, trusting its handler and becoming consistent and focused rather than "doing its own thing" and acting as a lodger. We do this by providing a calm and quiet environment that has no distractions for the first session for the dog (ie. no other dogs, visual or noisy distractions are nearby). We gradually add other stimulus to the training situation which the dog feels relaxed enough to cope with.  This helps to minimise the dog's stress levels, giving it the best opportunity to learn and retain this information in its long-term memory by latent learning.

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