Egnition®: State-Driven Dogmanship

EGNITION® is a system of State-Driven Dogmanship built on a simple premise: Behavior Begins Beneath Behavior. Most training systems focus on teaching behaviors. EGNITION® focuses on the conditions that make those behaviors possible in the first place. Why does a dog perform flawlessly one moment and seem unable to complete the same behavior the next? Why do some dogs appear focused, confident, and engaged in one environment, yet distracted, conflicted, or unavailable in another? Traditional training often treats these as obedience problems. EGNITION® approaches them differently. At the heart of the system is the concept of state—the emotional, psychological, and physiological condition from which behavior emerges. When state changes, behavior changes. By understanding how states are created, influenced, retrieved, and ultimately placed under cue control, trainers can dramatically improve clarity, reliability, and performance. Through concepts such as paradigms, programs, behavioral availability, anchoring, reinforcement systems, cue development, and state retrieval, EGNITION® provides a framework for understanding not only what dogs do, but why they do it. More importantly, it provides a practical system for identifying desirable states, retrieving them on cue, and channeling them into the construction and maintenance of behavior. Inside this book, you will learn: • Why behavior cannot be fully understood apart from state • Why dogs sometimes fail behaviors they clearly know • How emotional states influence learning, performance, and decision-making • The relationship between paradigms, programs, and behavior • How to identify the states most conducive to learning and performance • How desirable states can be intentionally created, amplified, and maintained • How anchors are formed and how they can be used to retrieve specific states on cue • How to channel retrieved states into the construction of new behaviors • How to use state as a reinforcer to strengthen and maintain existing behaviors • How to establish powerful conditioned reinforcement systems • Strategies for developing engagement, focus, confidence, intensity, and motivation • How to create greater behavioral reliability across environments and distractions • How to transition from teaching behaviors to creating dependable performance Drawing from decades of practical experience and thousands of training sessions, EGNITION® offers a unique perspective on canine learning and behavioral development. Rather than treating behavior as the starting point, this system begins where behavior begins: with state. When state is right, learning becomes easier. Communication becomes clearer. Motivation becomes more accessible. Performance becomes more reliable. Whether you are a pet owner, competitor, working dog handler, or professional trainer, EGNITION™ will challenge conventional assumptions and provide a new framework for understanding canine behavior from the inside out. EGNITION® State-Driven Dogmanship