Protocols for living with fearful dogs, part 2

As I was describing in part 1, living with fearful dogs is not an easy task.  It requires constant management of some kind, and constantly assessing how comfortable the dog is at a given moment when presented with the scary stimulus. There is so much that one can do (and I would argue should do) in order to help these dogs out, as well as to make life easier for the people involved. However, I will comment here on four really important aspects of behavior modification and management that needs to take place with the aim of teaching the dog to relax when people (if this is what scares the dog) are present in the home.

1. Predictability in how the person is introduced into the environment (the home)
2. Moving from (almost) full predictability to more realistic scenarios when it comes to approach/avoidance from the dog towards the guest, the mere presence of the guest, to a more active and thus less predictable person.
3. The dog becoming more comfortable; that is, less threatened with this particular individual to…
4. Generalization of different demographics so that the dog is now able to relax because it is not feeling threatened by a number of different people in the context of the home, and has also learned a more socially acceptable behavior to signal discomfort.

Throughout the steps above, the pet parents are learning exactly what to do, what to avoid, and to read their dog’s body language and vocalization if present, so that they can quickly make things easier for the dog.  Of course, the number one concern is always to keep the dog from feeling so threatened that it might injure someone.

I recommend folks keep their dog on a leash, and for most cases the dog must wear a head-halter.  Once the dog is comfortable with wearing one and the people have learned how to use one appropriately on the dog, this is the safest way to influence the dog’s behavior.

The more space there is between the “stranger” and the dog the better, so it makes more sense to have the dog become aware and more comfortable with the person outside the home.

In addition, the dog has learned a simple yet effective protocol by which to approach the person up close with restrain of the leash and the head-halter for a very short introduction. As the dog is successful, he is reinforced by creating more distance from the stranger and offered a high value treat. The scary person is also instructed as to what exactly to expect from the dog and what they need to do to help the dog out.

Again, what I am looking for is predictability for the dog.  Once the initial introduction has taken place we can move inside where the dog will remain at a safe distance from the visitor and on a leash.

We begin with the guest sitting down to an almost choreographed set of movements such as moving the hands, arms, legs, sitting/standing to walking. These might be all the dog can take, if this is the case, the dog can be put away in another room, in its crate with an interesting project to keep the dog not only occupied, but also relaxed.

I encourage my clients to be very diligent in not pushing the dog. They must then cut the training session short when they can tell by observing their dog that the dog (or the guest) has had enough. If this happens in the context of an actual training session with me, we give the dog or person a break, and re-assess and resume again for the duration of the training.

Once the dog and family have acquired more experience as a result of our work together, and are now more confident that the dog will be successful they can begin to work with their dog in “real” life.  Real life must however, be based on the exercises and routines that we established for the dog during the training sessions. This here is the key to success.  If we deviate too far from what the dog now considers “normal” and safe because now it is less predictable, most likely this will make the dog regress and potentially aggress.

Secondly, I would much rather the dog get five minutes of really good behavior mod. and excellent management than the folks training for the duration of the visit.  Besides, most people are really not that interested in coming to a dinner party and have to train the dog throughout the evening!  Yes, indeed I tell my clients they must get the consent of their guests prior to them arriving for dinner etc.; not only because this is fair, but because we need people to be willing and able to follow precise directions, instead of them deciding what is good for the dog.  This is a big no, no!

One of the biggest mistakes folks make is to push too hard, too soon.  Slow and well managed is always better.  Remember, the goal is to teach the dog to truly learn to relax because it is not feeling threatened, rather than the dog “keeping it together” – barely.

The most complicated aspect of teaching dogs to trust a myriad of different people and not just a few is that dogs do not generalize as we do.  So, what we need to do is to have many, many, many (I am tempted to continue writing “many”) exposures where the dog and family get to practice so that the dog learns that all sorts of people: men, women, tall, short, loud, fast moving, etc. are safe. On the bright side, over time as the dog becomes more comfortable with having people acting as people in the home, each successful incident makes the next one so much easier for the dog, and I would argue the people too. 

Generalization and Discrimination - Two Important Concepts

These two concepts really shed some light as to how dogs learn. They are important for us to understand because it will help us feel less frustrated when things with our dog are not going our way and to maximize learning.

Dogs do not generalize:
Here is an example of what generalization means: If I see my friend Candy at the grocery store, I still “remember” that Candy is the friend I met when I joined the book club a few months ago. Different contexts, but I can still “piece together” that Candy is the same person I met at the book club and now she is at the grocery store. We can do this so easily that we think dogs should too!

Here is where we get into trouble when we ignorantly believe dogs operate the same way. I teach a dog to sit or lie down (or whatever the case might be) in the kitchen.

The dog is performing the behavior quite well, so I surmise that he has really learned sit, etc. Now, I go to take the dog for a walk and ask him to sit before crossing the street but he does not! Well, what happened? Short answer: dogs do not generalize.

From the perspective of the dog, sit happens in the kitchen, not when going for a walk unless of course, I also teach it when going for a walk… Ahh… it all starts to make sense, right?

So what do we need to do in order to make sure that the dog sits when going for a walk, saying hi to a stranger at the arts fair, etc? Well, we must practice in those contexts until the dog has learned that sit actually can take place in the kitchen, the sidewalk, and when saying hello to people.

Lack of generalization, by the way, is one of the many reasons why dogs “work” for the trainer but not for the owner… the dog must generalize the new learned behavior with the owner.

So when my client tells in frustration (or perhaps embarrassed?) that her dog should do “x”, “y” or “z” behavior because she has seen the dog do so at home I tell them that the dog is under-trained under the new circumstances. There might be, of course, a million other reasons why the dog is not performing, but generalization is often one of them.

Discrimination:
Dogs are MASTER discriminators! They are so good at this that often professional trainers must find ways to “beat the dog" at this game … Think about it. You must become a very good observer in order to very quickly assess if someone or something is friend or foe because your life depends on it. That is reason #1.

Reason #2 has to do with domestication. There is a lot to say about this. But suffice to say, that with the process of domestication, came along the fact that dogs are always observing us (okay, they do take long naps - so when they are not napping…). They pay close attention so that they do not miss their dinner, or the walk, or a chewy or snuggle time on the couch with you. In other words, they are looking out for #1.

Try this experiment at home: When you are around and your dog is sort of relaxing or even kind of snoozing do something that you know your dog has associated with either getting a treat, go for a walk, etc. Say, for example, that you keep your dog’s leash in the closet by the front door, so now, when your pup is minding his own business open the closet door. Did your dog open half-mast his eyes to ascertain if the leash is now in your hand? Did he come into the room just seconds after he heard the closet door opening?

The same happens when we use poor mechanics in training and we reach for the treat before the dog has finished the behavior we are planning on rewarding. It does not take too many of these bad moves for the dog to now stare at the treat bag. The dog has learned probably with one trial where the good stuff is kept (of course he can also smell it) but he has learned that we can produce the good stuff by reaching into the treat bag and as a result of this, we now have a dog whose eyes are glued to the treat bag…

The good news is that now the place of discrimination in learning we can use it to our advantage. Because of discrimination, dogs can learn that this response and not that one gets them what they want.

If we become keen observers of what the environment in general, and our behavior means for the dog, we can much better manipulate consequences for them which, by the way, it is consequences- and not the cue (or command) that produces behavior in the first place and keeps it going strong once learned.

The same goes for generalization. By incorporating generalization in our dog’s learning we are “proofing” the behavior, which means they can actually perform where it matters.

Lassie, Go Home

It has been a month since I began to work with Deuce’s recall in a more structured manner. Most people might have been happy with their dog responding at the speed that Deuce was responding, but me… I want faster and often recalls from my dogs.

Now its the end of the month and time to “test-drive” the new recall. John has taken Deuce and Rioja out for hikes with Deuce of leash. His report of Deuce’s recall is that it is just “okay”. This might be due to the problem of [lack] of generalization. You see dogs are not good at taking one learning experience (taught by this person in this place, etc.) and engage in that behavior in a complete new context. No, the dog is not being stubborn! He just has not learned to generalize that the behavior being requested must be performed in a myriad of scenarios and contexts. In short, the dog is under-trained. No surprises here, it is me who constantly is working with the dogs when taking them on walks not John; so the chances of Deuce returning to John are proportional to the times that John requests and reinforce Deuce returning to him.

I took both dogs last week for a short romp with Deuce off leash and guess what? He remained glued to me (by choice and with no reinforcement in sight). It was as if I had a different dog all together!!

Almost at the end of our walk I spotted a rabbit - I find it funny that most of the time I see the rabbits before they do… sometimes I point them out to them and sometimes I don’t. Well, this time I saw the rabbit and seconds later both dogs spotted it.

Deuce left my proximity in hot chase after the rabbit, with Rioja in tow. Ah, a perfect example on when NOT to call your dog back. They are running full charge with a prey in sight; chances of them actually hearing you are close to nil. And even if they do hear you the chances of a turnaround towards you is very slim for most dogs. Hence the importance of being very careful when letting dogs off-leash.

As I saw them take off I relaxed - no danger in sight and I also knew that they would not catch the rabbit - did they even get close to the rabbit? I don’t know because they took off running up hill and out of my sight. I continued to walk in their direction and once I was on top of the hill I called them. Rioja was close by and she came to me. I could not see Deuce but he turned up in a matter of seconds and I took a breath as I converse with them about their fun adventure.

So how long is too long for a dog to be out of sight when off leash? Well, the answer might surprise you. I have had clients in the past tell me that their dogs are gone for 10 min., 30 min. even so long that they (client) decide to get in the car and go home!!!

When I hear these kinds of stories my heart drops. In fairness, I hear these accounts as we engage in teaching their dogs a more reliable recall. My time limit for my dogs being away from me is…. 2 minutes! I actually time them and so far Deuce - who is the one that has struggled more with this behavior has come back under the 2 minutes.

So what should a person do when their dog is gone for longer? Should they stay put hoping their dog will return? Should they go looking for him/her? Should they go home?

I guess there is not one good, one-size-fits all answer. Some people claim that dogs are very good navigators and find “their way home”. I am not so sure this is true for most dogs. Sure, some dogs tend to roam and as such they might be very familiar with a certain territory… but why is that dog roaming?????? Dogs, just like people, can get disoriented very easily and not being able to find their way back to the car if hiking on a trail of a parking lot, or even their home.

For my part, I much rather put my eggs in the “training” basket instead of hoping that if one of my dogs decides to take off far away he or she might know how to come back to safety.

So, in addition to constantly working on their recall (every outing that is) I take very calculated risks before I let them off leash. Sure, there are no guaranties but the reality still is, that the more we use proper opportunities for teaching our dogs that coming when called pays off the better chance we all stand in returning home all together after a fun time outside. No magic potions! Just ongoing
and consistent training…