Bought a basketball to show Thyme what is making those alarming noises in the park.
Just some classic counterconditioning with reinforcement via play to change his feelings about the sound and some good ol’ desensitisation by way of familiarity.
Last week, I got as needed anxiety pills for Cyrus so that we could work on training without an immediate reaction to the sight of a dog. I gave him one today because it’s a sunny day and thus a good day to encounter dogs for counter conditioning.
He did great. Noticing the dog and then doing something else.
He did especially good with a puppy whose owner also seemed to be practicing ignoring us. It barked once and then the owner started managing its attention. Cyrus was pretty calm about this.
He only got upset after watching an off leash dog play with a ball for a while. It’s owner was walking towards us and the dog was running back and forth so it was moving a lot and coming towards us a lot od the time.
He barked after watching alert for a while, but only barked twice and then went back to normal when we walked inside.
Luca’s nervous around men so when I started walking him last year, that’s one of the things that I really wanted to work on with him. I used counterconditioning and desensitization to get him used to ME when I first met him and now he’s my BFF--he lets me snuggle him, always demands cuddles and treats, and most importantly, he trusts me.
Thanks to all my training plus my boyfriend being a willing helper, Luca is a LOT less nervous around men. He actually went up to three different guys and demanded pets! I was so happy I wanted to cry.
I’m always interested in discussions of counterconditioning because of Bosco’s dog aggression. The entire post is really interesting but here’s a quotation from the case study of a dog that had a fear of horses. The horse case study reminded me of the method that Bosco’s breeder had us do early on when we were working on Bosco’s dog aggression (ie. no food/toy rewards were given to Bosco during the training piece).
Instead, Bonnie wasn’t getting better because she hadn’t actually been allowed to heal. Bonnie had experienced a trauma regarding horses, this fear didn’t just pop up out of the blue. Because she’s utterly obsessed with a game of ball, she not only got closer to the horses than she wanted to be, but she essentially blocked them from her mind. Simply removing the ball didn’t do the trick either; training for food is one of Bonnie’s preferred activities and so she shut the horses out then too, going into “training mode.” She appeared trained, but she had not transformed.
When I suggested to Tasha that she allow Bonnie to just look at horses, to just let her observe them from whatever distance she chose, things really started to turn around. No more highly-valued reinforcers, just a long line and a harness, and as much space as Bonnie needed to feel safe. Today she can accompany Tasha at the barn without incident, which is pretty miraculous.
The discussion of this post on my friend’s FB wall was also interesting. A few people appeared to be entrenched in the belief that counterconditioning *only* fails if it isn’t correctly executed and looked to pick at Sarah’s post.
I wish I had done this one sooner, but it is NOT TOO SOON to start preparing for New Year's Eve or whatever the next big public holiday is. Thank you to Sarah Owings and Yvette Van Veen for inspiring...
Today we trained with a dog at a distance, and I accident dropped bacon, which Cyrus had to ignore, and he did so unwillingly but valiantly. I'm sitting on the far end of the cafeteria because I saw the ESA go up the stairs to the cafeteria and not come down (that was the dog Cyrus saw at a distance), so it might be here, but we haven't had any problems so far. I'm also eating scrambled eggs for the first time since my gastric emptying study. Wish me luck!
Ticklishness in dogs is more than just a playful reaction. It has its roots in evolution, serving as a defense mechanism and a form of communication. However, when ticklishness becomes excessive, it can pose challenges for both the dog and the owner.
