Earlier I wrote that you “can’t reinforce fear” and used a dog who is afraid of thunder as an example. For so long we have been told that we’ll just make our dogs worse if we try to comfort them when they run to us in fear when the skies rumble and the rain falls. In this context, it really is doubtful that comforting your dog is going to make him worse. As I said previously, fear is designed to be aversive, and dogs who are terrified of thunder aren’t going to get worse because you stroked their belly.
Indeed, there is research that some interpret to mean that our petting has little effect at all: As I mentioned in a 2008 Bark column (and an alert reader posted), Dreschel & Granger (Applied Animal Beh Science, 2005) found that cortisol levels, a measure of stress, did not decrease when owners pet their dogs during storms. (The most important factor in decreasing cortisol was the presence of other dogs.) However, note that a study by Odendaa & Meintjes (2003, Veterinary Journal) found that cortisol in dogs doesn’t decrease when we are petting them at other times, (although it does in us when we pet them!). However, it is important to remember that cortisol is not the be-all and end-all of indicators of emotion. The authors found that other indicators of internal affect, such as feel-good hormones like oxytocin and prolactin, increased when the dogs were petted, which suggests that stroking did indeed have a positive effect. And hey, if a dog’s behavior changes such that he is no longer pacing and panting while I rub his belly, I’m going to rub his belly!
Here’s an example of fearful behavior from last night at the farm. It’s not about thunder, but it is still instructive: late last night my farmer neighbor was in the field across the street from me in a tractor the size of Connecticut. As soon as Willie heard something and looked out the window, he absolutely lost it. He ran frantically in circles, barking hysterically with his ears pinned, his eyes twice their normal size and a look of sheer terror on his face. When I first heard him bark I honestly thought something terrible had happened, he sounded so horrifically upset. As soon as I saw what it was I said “Will! It’s okay!” and went to him. I used my voice in a soothing way (soft, quiet, looooooooooong notes), sat beside him and asked him to stay still. I rubbed the area between his eyes and the side of his head with long strokes. His barking decreased, although one BOOOOF would still burst out of his mouth every 5-10 seconds at first. In about a minute he stopped barking altogether and stayed still without me helping him. Eventually he put his head down and buried it between my body and my arm. It looked like he was hiding it, and I remember feeling all gooey when I saw that and said “Awww, honey, it’s okay!” but I suspect he was looking as much for the soothing feeling of being cradled as simply hiding his head.
This example brings up an issue that I didn’t address in my first post about reinforcing fear. I should have, but thanks to several thoughtful commentators, I will here. (You can read their comments on the May 4th, 2009 post). They raised the point that surely it IS possible to increase the frequency of a problematic behavior in some contexts, even if fear is one of the motivators. I agree completely that the issue is a bit more complicated that I might have suggested in my first post–ironically I had started to go into it in more depth and then ended up deleting several paragraphs because the post was getting too long and the topic was getting to complicated. But I shouldn’t have, because the topic really does deserve more nuance than I suggested.
The bottom line is you could indeed cause problems by inadvertently reinforcing behavior in certain contexts. There are two things that are important to remember here: one is that fear is an emotion, and “reinforcement” refers to something that increases a behavior. You can’t, technically, reinforce an emotion, but you can increase the frequency of a particular behavior. In the case of thunder phobic dogs I don’t think there is ever a problem, because you are trying to decrease the emotion, which would indirectly decrease the problem behavior. Besides, if you sit beside your dog and stroke him while it thunders, and he stops pacing in circles but sits beside you, then if you are reinforcing anything it is him sitting beside you and not pacing.
Secondly, motivation is key here. If a dog is barking at visitor from fear, then having the visitor toss treats or toys does NOT reinforce the barking! It decreases it, because the emotion of fear subsides and it is the emotion of fear that drives the behavior. Once the dog associates visitors with treats, her behavior changes to body wags and happy dances. (Visitor = chicken! I love chicken! I love visitors!) This is standard Classical Conditioning, and I can tell you from 22 years of experience that it works incredibly well with lots and lots of dogs. However, if the dog is barking at people not because she is afraid, but because of another reason, it IS possible that you could increase the frequency of the behavior. That’s why it is so important to be able to read dogs and do a good evaluation of a problem behavior. I met a dog once who loved to get right into your face, all body waggy and grinny and relaxed, and then explode in a bark lunge about four inches from your face. I truly believed she just adored it when you startled (I rose at least a foot from my chair), and that is behavior that was clearly being reinforced!
I also think that how you respond to a dog’s fear is critical. First of all, we know that emotions can be contagious, so it is important to not be fearful yourself. Jennifer, in the comments, mentioned the importance of role modeling cool and collected sometimes, and I couldn’t agree more. If I had run to Willie and tried to pet him with an anxious voice and upset affect, it well might have made him more fearful.
Oh, my, I could go on and on, but life continues and I need to get to other things…. But here’s a link to the study on Storm Defender Capes that has just been published (thanks to an alert reader, Chris, for the link!). It looks as though capes in general do indeed have a positive effect, and that there might be something to the Storm Defender cape itself. I haven’t seen the whole study yet, but check it out, even the abstract is interesting. It in Applied Animal Behavior Science.
Meanwhile, back at the farm, it’s been cool and gorgeous and busy. This time of year in the country is never-endingly full of chores. (Did I mention the 150 exams to grade?) The lambs (who, with one exception, are doing beautifully) are thriving but need worming, the grass is growing and so are the thistles which have to be killed one by one, the ram needs to be split out before he breeds Snickers and Truffles, the gardens are full of weeds, the LP tank is leaking, the water tank up the hill needs to be scrubbed out…. and I need to sit in the swing at least a few minutes every day. Can you see it calling to me?
Here’s Sushi this morning. You gotta love the flexibility of cats. I love that Sushi maintained her x-rated yoga pose even while she moved on to licking her legs.
Kate T. says
My Harley has moderate thunderstorm phobias, but calms the minute I let him outside. It’s almost homeopathic. I’d be happy to let him exhaust his curiosity outside in the rain, but AZ thunderstorms are fierce and the lightening is dangerous.
I was reading Temple Grandin’s Animals Make Us Human and think I recognize this as what she referred to as toggling between two of the four blue ribbon emotions — fear and seeking. Can you talk a little bit about why dogs often long to be near something that frightens them? Why would Will want so desperately to go toward something the size of CT that was growling at him?
Jen Germann says
I foster puppies for a local rescue group, and it seems getting scared of something is just a daily part of their young lives. Everything is new, and some things are just scarier than others. There’s nothing more heart-warming or heart-tugging than having 1 or more pups coming running to me and jumping in my lap when they get scared. And I have always comforted them with little “it’s okay’s” and calm petting, and it doesn’t take them long to work up the nerve to go investigate. Inevitably, after a few instances of the scary thing happening, their reaction dissipates and it’s just a part of their normal day. I absolutely agree that comforting a frightened animals is not harmful to their overall behavior. On the contrary, I think it helps reinforce the bond between the animal and the human, helps the animals build confidence and further encourages investigative behavior in the future because they know I will be there if something scary happens again. But it’s the way I do it that I think is most important. It is definitely important to remain calm and work toward helping the animals to get to a calm, balanced state during these times. I also think it’s important not to hold the animals or pick them up or do anything that could be construed as restraining. Instead, I simply allow whatever level of physical contact they want (sitting on me or just being up next to me or behind me or whatever they choose) and I pet or stroke always without limiting their range of motion. It seems that restraining pups increases their anxiety (contrary to me as a human, who wants that hug). But even if it didn’t have that affect, I want them to be free to start investigating the instant they have the courage to go for it. I think all that put together is a good recipe for helping animals overcome their fears.
Michelle says
I was lucky enough to have a fairly mild thunderstorm roll through today. My lab mix shakes and pants during storms and the days surrounding holidays that include explosions (New Year’s, July 4th). Today at the distant thunder rumbling he came to me panting and shaking, tail tucked, and tried running up to his kennel (that’s his safe spot). Rather than him hiding and shaking, I tried coaxing him with treats. He showed no interest. He would listen to commands, though sometimes not until the 2nd or 3rd time, but he was not happy. Then I remembered the turkey in the fridge. Once that was out, it had his attention.
As soon as I heard the next rumblings I said, “Thunder!” in a soft but happy voice and gave him the turkey, which he took gratefully. The storm lasted about a half hour and by about halfway through he’d stopped shaking, and by the end he was no longer panting. In fact, after I thought the storm had passed there was a little extra rumble and he went straight to the kitchen where I’d been feeding him treats, sniffing the floor. Very exciting, since he gets so frustratingly agitated during the 4th of July!
Kelly Sullivan says
My Phoebe has moderate-to-severe Thunder Phobia that didn’t crop up until she was about 5. She’s much better now after a combination of creating a Safe House with her crate away from windows, Kong-therapy with special stuffed Kongs she only gets during thunderstorms, and melatonin. I have just recently added Through a Dog’s Ear, which definitely helps both my dogs relax in the evening. Before that I would play audiobooks, which seemed to calm her down. (Her favorite is Karen Pryor’s “Don’t Shoot the Dog”). She always had a mild sound sensitivity buy I wonder if the Thunder Phobia didn’t start as a reaction to my own fear of lightning. I know that some fears are contagious, but I don’t know if they can be contagious across species.
Linda2 says
I was caught once in a thunder & lightning storm on my motorcycle, no escape, it came up so quick. It’s completely rational to fear something so scary, I did have the benefit of being an experienced rider, knowing I could not outrun the storm, and was lucky to find a tunnel-like bridge to take cover, it was terrifying to see lightning coming down on both sides, crashing thunder overhead.
I can imagine a dog could feel that way panic, and worse if he didin’t have any “tools” to cope. Like remain calm, this will pass, a safe place, another experienced dog “mommy” or human to comfort him. I have always enjoyed storms for their sheer size, beauty, & power, but respected the danger too, from a distance. I think dogs can & do learn behaviors, however rational or irrational, good or bad, we think they are, and they come up with their own solutions. It’s hard for the layperson not to humanize it, or think what’s good for us is good for them.
Trisha says
I think it is common to first run toward something that might be dangerous to get more information about it. If I heard a noise in the middle of the night I would run toward it to check it out. If I had let Willie outside that night I suspect he would have run toward it a few feet at least, but stopped long before it was too close. Usually that’s what animals, including humans do if they are not terrified… move closer to get a better look, but not so close that they are placing themselves in danger. I’m not sure that this is a combo of “seeking” and “fear,” but it’s a very good question. I’ll go back and look at Panskepp again, but in general, the “seeking” circuit is more than curiosity and desire to get more information, and primarily about anticipation of something exciting or rewarding. But I’ll think about it some more and re-read Panskepp.
And, about emotions being contagious across species: it makes good, solid sense that they can be. If you look at the biology of them, how they are expressed and the convergence of expression and physiology across mammalian species, it seems hard to imagine how they wouldn’t be. I would argue that this is especially true of people and dogs, who share so many facial expressions and are so profoundly social.
Liz F. says
Complete speculation based only my experience: I have never had a thunder phobic dog, but family dogs or my own dogs were all camping dogs. From puppyhood (6 months) on, these 10 dogs all spent time in tents during thunderstorms.
I am in no way suggesting that anyone take a fearful dog into a tent in a storm-yikes- only that perhaps some exposure to storms in a safe tent could have been a stabilizing factor in the development of these dogs.
Personally, I absolutely love to be in a tent when it’s storming (knowing where it’s safe to set up camp is essential), the sound of the rain and the security of a little bubble, ooooh it’s just great. When camping, particularly on the western Wisconsin River where it mildly rains at least once a trip regardless when you go, storms mean more tent time, exploring outside has to wait, and we all have no other choice than to hunker down together, just wonderful.
That’s what we end up doing at home now, too, and if it’s really badly storming and windy then we just gather together and wait it out.
Not much help here, just thoughts, but I am sorry for the scared pets (& distressed owners) out there. Wish there was a guaranteed fix.
Jennifer Hamilton says
While the delineation between emotion and behavior is helpful, I’m still struggling a bit with the notion that fear cannot be reinforced, and here’s why…
Our Doberman, since we first got her, has been extremely fearful of anyone on our property and expressed that fear not only in panic barking, pinned ears, hackles up, and a stiff body, but she also included charging, lunging at, and circling the visitor…which is downright terrifying if you’ve ever received such treatment. We knew right away that a simple, “thaty’ll do” strategy would not be effective, so we immediately embarked on an aggressive classical counter conditioning program with high value rewards.
After three months of multiple classical counter conditioning sessions on a daily basis, we made almost zero progress…and trust me, we conformed to the program about as much as anybody realistically could. The only slight improvement we made is that she would stop barking and lunging long enough to eat the treats…although the barking and lunging would resume while she was still chewing and swallowing. I suspect being fearful of strangers was/is pretty hardwired in her breed and/or individual personality.
Planning to continue on the conditioning path, but not seeing improvement, we got a suggestion from agility trainer Susan Garrett, to try a technique she uses when a fear based reaction like this does not seem to be significantly affected over time by classical conditioning.
Following the “thaty’ll do” command and if our dog continued to bark and lunge, Susan instructed to slowly, and without any verbal cues, pull up on the gentle leader so that our dog’s snout pointed straight up into the air. No jerk, no pull, no pain, no verbal cues, no excessive force…just a slow simple movement of her head up towards the sky while all four feet remaining comfortably on the floor. We tried this approach and two amazing things happened, one immediate and one magical.
As I slowly pulled her head towards the sky, the barking and lunging immediately stopped as she realized she could no longer see the scary visitor…which I believe for her actually became even more scary as she was trying hard to adjust her head to try to get her eye back on the stranger (i.e. she would rather see the person than not see the person). So, beat me up here if you want, but I believe I was using negative punishment. As soon as she stopped barking, I released her head and allowed her to look at the scary visitor. She immediately started barking and I repeated. I believe she quickly realized that she valued the ability to see scary visitor more than barking at scary visitor. So in addition to something negative, she also learned that “no barking” was rewarded with “get to keep my eye on scary stranger”. So the technique also had a positive reinforcement component. Within a single session, she learned to, despite her fear, make the choice not to bark and lunge so that she was allowed to keep her eyes on the scary stranger. I was amazed at how much progress we made, but also aware that I had changed her behavior, but not necessarily her emotion (she was still very afraid).
So here’s the magical part, within one week, her emotional fear of visitors was diminishing. Within two weeks, following a brief on leash introduction at the door, we could have visitors in our house and she could be off leash, walking amongst them, bringing them the ball, being pet by them, and lying at their feet. This wasn’t even thinkable during our classical conditioning phase as she was too fearful and too scary to be around…even by our grown children who love dogs.
So, here’s my theory…her barking and lunging behavior were actually reinforcing her body’s emotional feelings of fear. She was basically a big fear snowball rolling down a hill. The more she barked and lunged, the more her body’s chemical fear response engaged. Once we were able to change the behavior, the new behavior seemed to diminish the original emotion.
This same phenamonon exists in humans. If someone who is sad (emotion), forces themself to do something fun (behavior), they can actually change their emotional state/brain chemistry so that they physiologically become less sad.
The way I understand it, based on studies on human emotion and behavior, an emotion can affect behavior (tends to be more immediate), but behavior can also affect emotions (tends to happen over time). These findings suggest that behavior can both reinforce an emotion in a bad way (amp an emotion up) or change an emotion in a good way (affect brain chemistry in the opposite direction). So if it can happen in humans, why can’t it happen in dogs?
In this example, I believe my dog’s change in behavior actually reduced her emotional response. So if fear (an emotion) can be “un reinforced”, why can’t it also be “reinforced”?
I realize none of this is applicable to the thunder phobic dog. I am also embarassed to say I used some component of negative reinforcement as I try never to do so. But here’s the thing…my dog was very afraid and by changing her behavioral response, she has become much less afraid and in many cases, totally comfortable with visitors in our home.
All of this still makes me wonder why fear (the emotion) still can’t be reinforced. Am I confusing issues?
Please feel free to table this post for later consideration or discussion…I realize I may have gone too far off the thunder phobic dog topic.
Trisha says
A brief response to Jennifer (leaving in a few minutes to finalize grades for my UW class, an all day process):
First, the reason that CCC (counter classical conditioning) didn’t work with your Dobbie is because the emotion of fear overwhelmed the emotion you were trying to replace it with (happiness related to food). I talk about this in Cautious Canine; the ‘treat’ must be much more powerful than the ‘trigger.’ My Willie responded the same way as your Dobbie when I used food to try to stop his barking and lunging at unfamiliar dogs. He’d snatch the treat, or ignore it, and go right back to high arousal barking. The ‘trigger’ was too powerful to be ‘countered’ by the food. Luckily, Willie loves to play, almost obsessively, so as soon as I switched to playing tug when he saw another dog it began to work wonders. Now he body wags when he sees other dogs approaching, instead of looking like the Spawn of Satan. Of course, distance between dogs is also a key factor… the farther away the dog is the less intense the emotion of fear, and the better chance you will have of replacing it with another emotion.
Also, it is absolutely true that expressions and movement can affect an emotion. I talk about that quite a bit in For the Love of a Dog. Just putting a pencil in your mouth that causes the corners of your lips to rise can make you feel happier (and sillier!). There is no question at all that a dog’s actions can increase its fear; that’s why I stopped Willie from charging around the living room when he was frightened by the tractor across the road, and that’s why I have asked the clients I’m working with now to stop their Sheltie from running in panicked circles before they leave the house. Panicked behavior can indeed lead to more panic, but that’s not the same as reinforcing it.
Last, but to be continued I’m sure because this is such an interesting conversation, the technique you used on your Dobbie is very interesting. I usually suggest that people teach an operant behavior (turn and look at their owner) which gets reinforced by something the dogs loves… either food or play. That stops the problematic behavior (barking and lunging), stops the emotional feed back loop that high arousal behavior exacerbates and indirectly classically conditions the dog to associate feeling good with the presence of the trigger that used to scare them. I think your suggestion that the head up was actually a kind of humane punishment make sense, but as importantly, it stopped the vicious cycle of emotion which leads to action which intensifies the emotion… but I also wonder if taking away the visual stimulus could also have been a relief of some kind.
By the way, CAAB Nancy Williams uses a technique in which she blocks a dog’s vision (of another dog or person if the dog is fearful toward one or the other) with a board and gets the same results that you did. She’s done some interesting work on heart rate variability and stimulus/response… but eeeeps, I’m going to be late if I don’t get the dogs fed! To be continued, and would love to hear the thoughts of others…..
Khris Erickson says
The last two summers my Mystic has been developing thunder/storm phobia. At the end of the last storm season his pupils would be huge, he would pant, and try to get as close to me as he could (which at 3am meant that all 55lbs would attempt to curl onto ball on top of me). I really didn’t do all that much with him — we did a little bit of counterconditioning, but not enough that I would have thought it would make a difference.
So far this year there seems to have been marked improvement. He’s still a bit anxious (slight panting and startle at thunder) — but no where near where he was last fall. I even watched him lay down and sleep at times during the storms the past few weeks!
I know better than to assume that he’s “cured”. I’m assuming that if I don’t countercondition it WILL get worse. Luckily the last two storms have happened on Agility night — which gave me a great opportunity to do something fun with him while the storm was happening.
I’m wondering if that is typical — that phobias can improve when the trigger isn’t present for long periods of time?
Kate says
Jennifer, thanks for posting your comments about how you deal with your Dobie. I am having similar success with my reactive guy when we need to pass other dogs (15-ft minimum distance) on our walk and no driveway is available to walk up and wait (I’m still trying to find a food or play reward that’s stronger than the trigger). Fifteen feet is too close for him to “watch me” on command, even with a chicken morsel as a reward, but we’re working on it and he’s improving.
Patricia, the “Cautious Canine” and “Feisty Fido” books are permanent fixtures in our living room. Thanks to these books, we can successfully pass pedestrians with no reaction, which is something we couldn’t do until a few months ago. It would be great to hear your thoughts about Nancy William’s work.
nan says
This is a fascinating discussion, thanks so much! I did smile as I read of Willie putting his head into the comfort cave of your side and arm. One of my cats and one of my dogs both do this at the vetrinary and I’ve always allowed it (yes it does make me feel all gooey). I combine that with happy talk and with the dog I’ll ask him to do a few things that I know he can deliver essentially as interrupts so the frightened behavior doesn’t feed on itself. In my beginning classes I start the students out with attention but I also teach them touch in the first class. One reason I do that is because it seems to be a behavior dogs enjoy and that humans get playful with and at the same time it is a behavior that can be deployed at anytime and modified so that the demand made is very small and success is virtually assured. This then becomes one of their tools for redirecting the dog, reducing anxiety and increasing confidence and interaction at a time when more complex behaviors are more than the dog can deliver at that moment.
Jennifer Hamilton says
Thanks for all of your explanation! I completely agree that my CCC program was handicapped as I had three hands tied behind my back. 1) Our property is completely surrounded by an 8′ wall and a single gate. As a result, I could not start by working at a distance that did not result in an explosion of fear. If someone was outside the gate but in her visual field, she exploded…and I couldn’t get any farther away from the stimulus. 2) Strangers were not scary off property. We could go to dog parks, Home Depot, take walks on the street…and everyone was acceptable. They could walk up, pet her, touch me, circle us…no issue, no noticeable fear reaction and a fairly relaxed body. As a result, we could not work this issue anywhere but on our property. 3) There was nothing I could find of greater value than the fear itself. As a puppy, her genetic compulsive disorder resulting in a “yellow tennis ball obsession” had not yet manifested. Had this compulsion for tennis balls manifested at a younger age, I wonder if it would have been valuable enough to overcome the fear. I certainly would have loved to try it! I am not 100% convinced, however, as she will voluntarily still drop her tennis ball for a piece of steak (mmmm), a ride in the car (yippee), and, you guessed it…a scary stranger on our property (oh, oh…I’m worried).
The trainers at our pet resort held a class for reactive dogs using CCC and the barrier boards. The class was never offered again due to it simply being too stressful for all involved. The trainers have opted to work with clients individually rather than to try them all in a room together…mainly due to the clients, not the dogs. Also, I think our trainers would say that, in cases where CCC is not working after considerable attempts, or due to a non-compliant owner, then the technique with the gentle leader is more effective then the barrier boards. They rarely suggest the gentle leader technique as the CCC strategy is very effective within a short period of time in 98% of the reactivity cases. Occassionally, as was the case with my dog and few similar client cases, something else is worth trying after a prolonged period of no progress with CCC. In these cases, it has proven to be effective in both addressing the behavior and reducing the fear emotion in a relatively short period of time.
I’m very interested in everyone else’s experience in this area.
Kate T. says
Is it possible that there’s also some sort of containment phobia playing into her fear? You describe your property being surrounded by 8′ walls and a single gate. Houses present the same problem — no where to run. Could also explain why strangers could interact with her on the street or at the dog park?
Linda2 says
I’m not familiar with the barrier boards, but I have been in a room full of dogs, with mine reacting, a disaster really, in my opinion, I have another challenge that my little guy tends to put on weight rather quick, we’re still trying to slim him down from over winter. I’m not very experienced with the CCC, but learning, the watch, turn, and so reached out for the professionals.
Apparently the groomer’s area is okay, and dogs behind glass doors when we walk aren’t really there, but there’s a slew of problems just outside the fence & yard, loud motorcycles, runners and other dogs walking past. Vet’s office is fine until another dog shows up, I can hand the leash to other people there. I don’t know much about territoriality, only we have been to the Vet’s office more times than the groomer, we just started with that. It’s mystifying. The one thing that I really dislike is people who try to get a rise out of him, so avoidance has worked the best, so far.
Jennifer Hamilton says
Well, our property is nearly 2 acres, so it’s possible but unlikely. Also , she always charges towards the visitor, never in retreat. I suspect the wall better defines the property lines for her, but that she would do the same regardless of the wall. The wall has been a limiting factor in doing CCC work at a non-reactive distance however. Her behavior seems very hardwired, and something we will have to stay on top of her whole life. She will still go after family members she has met hundreds of times if she doesn’t have a controlled introduction each time. She does not seem to generalize that if a visitor is ok 20 times, s/he is ok on the 21st time too. Every visit is a brand new introduction. I will never have to worry about being robbed, or surprised by family. My other dog is a different story. She will invit them in and show them to the treat jar…literally.
Anne says
Are you sure your Dobie is reacting out of fear and not from a protective instinct on her property? It seems like if she were fearful of people she would fear them in other places besides her own yard.
Alessandro Rosa says
Hi Dr. McConnell, I just received your books “The Other End of the Leash” and “For the Love of a Dog” from Amazon today and am looking forward to reading them. Also, this is the first time I have seen your blog, so forgive me if you have already addressed my question before. Does spoken pitch (High/Low) affect a dogs response? I am male and am by no means a baritone, but I don’t think I would say I was high pitched either.
My example: Today I was walking my 4 month-old Beagle, who is beginning to behave particularly Beaglish on our walks, (nose to the ground, hearing shut off), after his first week doing pretty well at loose-leash walking. I think the first week may have been more of the anomally, as he is a fairly confident dog and now that he is familiar with the city street environment is less concerned at being reassured that I am still there.
I have been trying to prompt him to follow by saying “Let’s go,” in my normal tone of voice, then clicking and treating when he catches up and gets to my side and stopping when he pulls ahead and waiting for him to remember that I exist (When we are home, he does a full body wag when he sees me and he loves climbing in my lap, but out on the street, I might as well be a tree… actually the tree probably holds more interest to him.) or even resorting to bribery by holding a slice of American Cheese in my left hand to get him back to my side (that was initially very successful and is now, eh!). I actually had to pick him up and carry him home last night because we would take two steps and he would bolt ahead and be at the end of his leash again.
So today, maybe because it was six in the morning and no one was around, I tried a falsetto “Puppy, Puppy, Puppy” after him not responding to Let’s Go and wham, he was back at my left side and looking at my face as if to say, “Oh hi! I’m down here, just incase you didn’t remember. I’ll even jump up to let you know I am here, now where’s my treat!”
Is there hope that he will ever respond to me in my normal tone of voice, or is it going to be Mickey Mouse on helium going forward in order to keep my pups attention when we are outside?
Thanks!
Linda2 says
Felt the need to revisit the Thunder Fear again, as it’s been pretty rainy lately, and a recent late-night thunderstorm got me thinking… is it the combination of smells, sounds, & sights that really get some dogs panicky? and does the elimination of any one of those things help in the long run, I read about Blue’s igloo
and wondered if the same kind of thing could be tried indoors? what came to mind was those heavy homemade patchwork quilts, and whether that a pile of those would be a good haven during a storm, somewhere the dog could find refuge whether the owner was there or not, that would help combat the sound,
smell, and sight, of a fierce storm?
Quin says
I have been reading these posts and can’t help but think the idea of “reinforcing” fear is too frequently mis-interpreted. I have generally thought the idea behind ignoring fear emmotions and related behaviors means don’t “feed” the behavior OR replace it with another unacceptable behavior i.e., don’t coddle. I believe most people are suggesting owners/trainers not create a co-dependent behavior.
I think about my own situation with my mature dog Jack. Jack initially had a fear of thunder which he, in time, got over without intervention. I then moved out of T-storm country for 4 years. I returned this summer and his fear was renewed. He would walk into a “forbidden” room (not my home) for comfort. Each time I calmly led him back to where he was allowed to roam (repeated as necessary). This is similar to the “safe place” concept, but I used home as the “safe place” I did not need to invent a new place. I did not stroke, pet, coddle, or reinforce the idea he needed ME to survive a traumatic event. Very quickly he learned he must “deal with” or “face” his own fear. Within weeks he was calm and generally ignorant of thunder.
I find it desireable to coach a dog to control it’s own fear emotion. I now know that Jack will be calm when he is alone during a mid-day storm while I am away at work. If he relied on me for comfort, he and I both would be stressed during any storm while we we not together.