Relaxation therapy

At the advice of our trainer, Erica, we're putting Zorro through the Protocol for Relaxation, a 15-day program that's supposed to teach anxious dogs how to relax. It was developed by Dr. Karen Overall, a veterinary behaviorist. The idea, as I understand it, isn't to teach discipline: it's to teach the dog how to block out distractions and chill. Not sure what it does for anxious owners.
Basically, you're supposed to put your dog in "sit" or "lie down" position and go through a series of activities, such as a 5-second "stay," a 10-second "stay," etc. After each activity, the dog gets a treat (I think a dog came up with this, because by the time the day's activities are finished, he gets A LOT of treates).
Here's the activities for the first day, which I went through yesterday:

DAY 1:
o Sit for 5 seconds
o Sit for 10 seconds
o Sit while you take 1 step back and return
o Sit while you take 2 steps back and return
o Sit for 10 seconds
o Sit while you take 1 step to the right and return
o Sit while you take 1 step to the left and return
o Sit for 10 seconds
o Sit while you take 2 steps back and return
o Sit while you take 2 steps to the right and
return
o Sit for 15 seconds
o Sit while you take 2 steps to the left and return
o Sit while you clap your hands softly once
o Sit while you take 3 steps back and return
o Sit while you count out loud to 10
o Sit while you clap your hands softly once
o Sit while you count out loud to 20
o Sit while you take 3 steps to the right and
return
o Sit while you clap your hands softly twice
o Sit for 3 seconds
o Sit for 5 seconds
o Sit while you take 1 step back and return
o Sit for 3 seconds
o Sit for 10 seconds
o Sit for 5 seconds
o Sit for 3 seconds

Day 2 follows a similar sequence, but also involves walking halfway around the dog, jogging in place, then jogging halfway around the dog. Each day involves more complicated activities. By Day 15, I may be doing the chicken dance.
One of the challenges is that you need to keep referring to the list while keeping the dog from wandering away. But since it only takes about 15 minutes and doesn't hurt (and Zorro doesn't seem to mind), I guess it's worth a try.
OK night, although I ended up having to shut the windows and turn on the AC because someone in the neighborhood thinks it's still the 4th of July and the lovelorn fox was on the prowl.