REACTIVE DOG MODULE ONE
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Our first step in rehabilitating a reactive dog is to work on changing their internal conditioned response to the trigger by using CLASSICAL CONDITIONING to lay down a new association in the dog’s brain TRIGGER = REWARD. Watch the video to see examples of using classical conditioning. Many people do not understand in the beginning stages the difference between Operant Conditioning and Classical Conditioning, but the short of it is, in Classical Conditioning there is no required behavior from the dog to receive the reward, only the presence of the trigger controls the rewards. In Operant conditioning you would reward depending on how the dog responds to the trigger. It’s VERY important you understand this difference as many people fail to help reactive dogs as they approach their threshold because the dog is too triggered to respond to cues.
UNDERSTANDING THRESHOLD
What does “threshold” mean. Your dog’s threshold means the distance in which you no longer are able to control their response to the trigger. So once the triggers gets inside your dog’s perceived personal space bubble they will react to drive the trigger away, or if your dog’s reactivity is based on frustration and over arousal and excitement the distance of which they just can’t keep it together.
CHOOSING FOOD TREATS
Let's talk tips about food! Attached is a video showing you the bulk of the treats I use for training and for CC with a dog. This is going to change a little as we start to push for more, but when starting CC your distances should be far enough away it is easy for your dog, so you want to use mostly low to medium value treats. (see the examples in the video)
However you also want to have with you in a separate pocket a stash of high value treats like maybe string cheese, chicken, hot dogs, etc - really smelly tasty treats your dog rarely gets! You want to have these incase a trigger surprises you and your lower value rewards are no longer enough.
Many people make the mistake of always using high value rewards for everything and then you have nothing to build to if the environment gets more challenging. So in general use the lowest value reward that does the job so you always have room to move up. Some dogs might start reactivity training already at such a heightened state that it seems like they need the highest value food for all your work and that is ok, we will address ways to help your dog decompress to reach a less overall reactive mindset in the coming modules. Once you find your dog is beginning to be more responsive don’t be afraid to try lower value rewards to see if they are happy to take less. MOST of the time the issue is not the dog’s food drive, but the fact people start out over threshold and ask too much for the food they offer.
What if your dog has no food drive??? They do, all dogs have food drive, they need to eat food to survive, it is hard wired into them! But some dogs have less natural enthusiasm for food and are more quickly and easily satiated. Many dogs have never had to work for their food and so they haven't developed the natural relationship with seeking and working to eat. But you can develop that! So step one DITCH THE BOWL. This isn’t about control, this is about making seeking food fun! USE the food they have to eat to survive to build behaviors, engagement and help them decompress. Hand feed or put the food in games and puzzles with all of your dog's food for a week and watch their relationship with food and you change.
BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION VS TRAINING
One of the biggest debates and arguments when it comes to dog trainers vs dog behaviorists is using punishment when training reactive and/or aggressive dogs. Below is a lecture that goes more deeply into the subject and explains why I do not use punishment or tools that rely on causing a dog pain or discomfort to correct a behavior. If you have multiple people in your dog’s life and you disagree on using punishment this is a good video to watch together so everyone in the dog’s life is on the same page.
WHAT EQUIPMENT I USE AND WHY
Below are two videos explaining the equipment and tools I use while working with reactive dogs and why i have chosen them. While I do not require you use or don’t use any particular tools, I will share why I choose the ones I do. I do not recommend using e-collars, prong collars or choke chains and since I do not use them and do not recommend them I cannot offer you and specific guidance as to their use in this course. If you have chosen to use these tools that is your decision and many people have still taken the course and have found helpful techniques and information even though we may disagree on what tools to use. But I also know many people have resorted to using tools maybe would like to get away from using them if they knew how. I will also share articles on fallouts from using aversive techniques especially in regards to aggression so you can also do your own research in the weeks to come. Not to make anyone feel bad, but because some of you might already be in this space where some of the issues you are facing might be fallout and relate to how you have been addressing their reactions in the past, hampering your training now. So regardless of what you decide to use I just want everyone to be educated so you can make the choices that best suit you and your dog.
Above all else training techniques should not rely on a physical control tool, the tool should be your safety net and not the manner in which you teach your dog.
My first choice for dogs is using a well fitting body harness, a harness that allows for either front clip or back clip makes for a very versatile piece of equipment that is the safest option for your dog’s body.
If you are worried about aggression, pairing a harness with a muzzle is a very safe option. I will use head collars in very specific cases, but it's not a tool to be used lightly and should not be used to correct leash pulling or be the tool you teach leash walking with, rather a last line of defense with a dog much stronger than you if they do aggress so you can get prevent a contact bite. When using a head collar you must understand how to use one safely, most importantly they should only be used when walking a dog on a short leash next to you and never on a long line or full length of the leash, you never want them to be able to build speed and momentum or they can damage their necks. A nice option if you feel like you need that help if your dog does go over threshold is to have a two lead system, so you walk the dog with a leash attached to their harness, and have a second leash attached to the head collar you only use when an unexpected trigger pushes your dog over threshold.
HOMEWORK MODULE ONE
Scout out locations that allow you to work your dog sub-threshold. I cannot stress enough how important it is to find successful locations to work in! Even if you have to get in the car and drive to a park, often the locations you normally walk in are already so filled with known triggers for your dog and you may need to find better places. It is FAR more effective to drive to a better place a couple times a week and avoid trigger hot zones for the first week of training than to try and make it work walking everyday in an area that is too much for your dog.
Have EVERYTHING you need ready before you get your dog out! Have your treats ready to grab in large quantities quickly! Have your leash untangled and ready to go. Take a moment to look around and see what’s in the area.
If your dog’s reactivity is based on frustration and excitement it can help to play with your dog in the house or yard first to help off load some of their excess energy.
When a trigger enters the area and your dog sees, hears or smells it, start offering reinforcements. If it is a visual or auditory triggers continue to offer the reinforcement until the trigger leaves the area and your dog no longer sees or hears it. If it’s a smell keep offering as you move your dog beyond the target odor area.
Remember stage one we are using CLASSICAL CONDITIONING so your dog does not need to offer you any specific behaviors, they don’t have to sit, or lay down, or look at you or do anything other than NOT react. If they react you are too close and you need to move further away and then offer reinforcements. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! It is so common for people to want to skip this step and begin to ask the dog to look away from the trigger and focus on them and their food, this will lead to you not changing the dog’s emotional state but rather just being distracted by the food and not registering the trigger is what makes the food happen. Also many people push for too much and the dog gives up on the reward and starts reacting. This is the number one reason people who say “food doesn’t work, my dog is too focused on the other dogs to care about food”, it’s because they ask for too much when the triggers are too close.
How long you need to stay at stage one depends on each individual dog, some it only takes a week or two, some it takes months. It all depends on how engrained the reactive behavior has become and the motivations behind it.