Auto Check-In: The Foundation of a Connected Relationship

Picture your dog, in the middle of something interesting, choosing to turn and check in with you. Not because you called or told them to “watch” or “look” but because they wanted to know what you think.

That moment looks small, and it’s easy to file under “nice trick.” But what you’re really watching is a dog making a choice to connect, and that choice is the ground floor of everything else. The Auto Check-In is where two-way communication begins: your dog learns they can ask you a question, and learns that you’ll always have an answer worth hearing. From there, a real relationship has somewhere to grow.

This Relationship Centered Training technique also teaches something dogs are rarely given credit for being able to do. By checking in, a dog begins to notice their own state and to reach for you when things get big, rather than waiting to be managed through every moment. That’s self-regulation, and it’s the difference between a dog who is managed and a dog who is a genuine partner.

Bonus: the Auto Check-in is easy to teach!

What you’ll come away with

• How to teach Auto Check-In as a true choice, never a cue your dog is obeying
• How to read each check-in as a live gauge of your dog’s arousal in the moment
• How to know whether you’re in a training moment or a management moment, and why it matters
• The four ways you can answer when your dog checks in, and how to choose
• How to build lasting value for connection, without prompting, luring, or nagging

Every check-in tells you something

Once your dog knows the skill, the check-in becomes a kind of arousal-o-meter you can read in real time:

• Checks in easily → your dog is in the Think & Learn Zone, available to think and learn
• Slow or a little sticky → arousal is shifting, and it’s time to change something
• Can’t check in at all → your dog has left the TLZ, and you’ve moved from training time into a management moment

When you know where the dog is on the arousal scale, you make better decisions for and with your dog. Eliminate the frustration of trying to train a dog who can tell you clearly, “I am not in the TLZ.” Enjoy the benefits of a dog who has new options, including a way to ask you, “What do you think? Did you see that? What are we going to do about that?”

Who this is for

Whether you’re raising a puppy, welcoming a new adoptee or foster, navigating adolescence, developing a performance dog, or supporting a worried or reactive dog learning to regulate and trust again, the Auto Check-In is the cornerstone on which the whole relationship builds. Any dog, any age, any stage.

If you are struggling with a distraction, reactivity, impulsivity, disconnect, performance or behavior problems, the Auto Check-in helps build and repair the two-way street of communication between dog and handler.

Join us and find out why so many trainers view Suzanne Clothier’s Auto Check-in a must-have technique for all dogs and handlers.

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