Behavioral Medication

I sometimes work with clients whose dogs are extremely fearful or anxious, and recommend that they discuss anxiolytic meds with their vet. Here are two articles on the topic that already say exactly what I want to convey:

Behavior Medication: First-Line Therapy or Last Resort? by Jen Summerfield, DVM, CPDT-KA

Behavioral Medication In Training by Kate LaSala, CTC, CBCC-KA, PCBC-A, CSAT, FFCP-E

Here is an article (PDF) that describes a case study, and gives information on various medications, dosages, and potential side effects to watch out for. This was written by Ilana Reisner, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVB and published in the journal Today’s Veterinary Practice.

 

You may find it beneficial to work with a veterinary behaviorist in conjunction with your primary vet. (This would be like you going to see a specialist because your GP can’t be an expert in every topic.) The UC Davis vet hospital has two certified behaviorists on staff. More information on working with them can be found here.

 
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Resource Guarding

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Leash Reactivity: Foundation Training

 

Exit strategies

Before we jump into set ups and working around triggers, work on these foundation exercises. I refer to these as “exit strategies” because they are most commonly used to prevent your dog from getting into a bad situation, or getting him out when he’s already starting to go over threshold. You should first practice them randomly at home and on walks, when everything is calm and there are NO triggers around. Practice until your dog responds correctly and happily to each cue.

 

Name game: Use to improve your dog's responsiveness to his name.

  1. Call your dog's name.

  2. Immediately after, throw him a little party - happy talk, a treat, playtime, etc.

 

U-turn: Use to cue your dog to turn around voluntarily, without stress and without alerting him that a trigger is nearby. Later on, this will also make it easier for your dog to do the Engage-Disengage exercise (see below).

  1. With your dog on leash, walk forward a few steps.

  2. Say “u-turn!”

  3. Turn around 180 degrees.

  4. Jog forward a few steps.

  5. Reward your dog for catching up with you.

 

Treat magnet: Use to distract and lead your dog away if he’s to too worked up to respond to the “u-turn” cue, or when you really don’t want him to look around and spot a trigger in the area.

  1. Grab a small handful of treats in your hand. There should be enough treats that your dog can lick and nibble for a while, but not so many that they’re falling out of your hand.

  2. Hold your hand into a lightly closed fist or “tunnel” shape, and place it directly in front of your dog's nose.

  3. As your dog starts to lick or nibble at the treats, lure his head to the side and have him follow the treats until he's turned around and walking away from the trigger.

  4. Let him continue to eat the treats as he's walking away.

  5. The handful of treats should act like a “magnet” attached to his nose - he doesn’t look up or away, just keeps his attention fully focused on the food.

 

Climbing up the leash: Use when your dog is at the end of a tight leash, and you need to get closer to get his attention or lead him away.

  1. Place one hand in front of the other along the leash, as if you were climbing a rope. Repeat until your hands are close to your dog's collar. (Make sure that you are the one moving toward your dog, rather than pulling your dog toward you.)

  2. Use the name game, treat magnet, or gentle but steady pressure on the leash/collar/harness to turn your dog away from the trigger.

 

Demo of teaching the “scatter” cue.

Scatter: Use to distract your dog when you are unable to completely avoid a trigger. Also use to give your dog a break and help him calm down (works best in grass).

  1. Say “scatter!”

  2. Scatter 3-5 treats on the ground and let your dog hunt for them.

  3. Repeat as many times as needed until trigger is gone or dog is calm enough to continue walk.

 
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Leash Reactivity: Training Around Triggers

You have the background info, you’ve done the foundational training. Finally, let’s get to actually teaching your dog to be calm around his triggers.

 

Desensitization and counter conditioning

This is one of the gold standard approaches to reducing reactivity, especially when it is caused by fear or anxiety. In brief, we will teach your dog that the appearance of his triggers predicts getting yummy treats. Here is an article with more information on this process and how to apply it.

  1. Dog sees trigger.

  2. Dog gets treat - sometimes just one, sometimes a stream of treats the whole time the trigger is happening/in sight.

 

Engage-Disengage Game

I often begin training with straight desensitization and counter conditioning exercises, but then progress to using the Engage-Disengage Game. There are two stages to this:

  1. Mark and reward the dog as soon as he looks at the trigger (engages).

  2. Let the dog look at the trigger for a few seconds and wait. Mark and reward as soon as the dog looks away (disengages) from the trigger.

Here is a lovely graphic from Alice Tong that explains the Engage-Disengage Game in detail.

If you prefer learning via video, here is one from Charleston Animal Society explaining how to teach this exercise, and here is another one from Bravo Dog Training & Behaviour.

Here is an example video of Georgia performing the Engage-Disengage Game with me while looking at another dog at PetSmart. (Yes, Georgia was very leash reactive before her training started!)

Here is a video of a dog fully trained in the Engage-Disengage (or “Look at That”) Game going for a stroll and “pointing out” potential triggers to his person.

This exercise provides the dog with a specific alternative behavior that they can perform instead of lunging, barking, and so on. It gives them more control over the situation and helps reframe the training exercise into a fun game. It also gives the owner more insight into how their dog is feeling about the trigger (did the dog disengage promptly or after a delay? Are the dog’s movements fluid and controlled or fast and frantic? Is the dog even able to disengage on his own without help?).

 

BAT (Behavior Adjustment Training)

This is another technique that works very well when combined with counter-conditioning and/or the Engage-Disengage Game. I will often use all three in a single session, flowing from one to the next as best fits the moment and the dog’s demeanor.

BAT was developed by Grisha Stewart. It is usually done with the dog on a long line (leash that is 10+ feet long) for better freedom of movement. (Remember that the more control your dog feels he has over the situation, the more relaxed he will be, which allows for greater success in the initial stages of training.) It can also be done on a regular leash if the dog is able to keep it loose.

We start far away and allow the dog to meander around the area. We keep him from inadvertently rushing toward the decoy, but allow him to observe his surroundings until he notices the helper. At that point you:

  • Help your dog come to a stop by slowing down and then halting progress with the leash.

  • Make sure the leash is slack once your dog has stopped.

  • Wait and watch your dog's body language.

    • If your dog is becoming more tense/alert or starting to show overt reactivity toward the trigger, help him move away (use one of the exit strategies explained above).

    • If he is calmly observing the trigger, let him continue watching. (The exception is for dogs who will go over threshold if they stare for too long.)

    • When he disengages and goes back to walking, sniffing, or other calm behavior, praise and continue letting him meander around the area.

This training technique most closely resembles a “real” walk and the final behavior we want from your dog: noticing a trigger, watching for a moment, then turning away and continuing to walk with you.

 

Play Way

This approach, developed by Amy Cook, is different than most because rather than teaching your dog specific alternative behaviors around his triggers, it focuses on helping your dog truly relax and even play with you while out and about in the world. Here is her explanation on using social play for behavior problems, and here is a detailed article on the method. I generally recommend this technique for dogs who have many triggers for their anxiety, and have trouble relaxing and letting down their guard.

Practice playing together both on and off leash, first in the house, then in the yard. Think of your playtime as including lots of back and forth communication: are you enjoying this? Do you need a break? Would you prefer to do something else? Follow the “3 second rule” - after about 3 seconds of play or petting, pause and see what your dog does. If he engages with you, great, keep going! If he turns away or looks around, that means that he needs a break, or is concerned about something in the environment, or wasn’t into the type of play/petting you were doing. Give him a moment to look around, then ask him if he would like to play some more.

Over time, you dog will build confidence and be happy to ignore the rest of the world in favor of connecting with you in play.

Here’s an example video of myself playing with Bodi at PetSmart.

Here is an example video from Tania Lanfer of Cannon Dog Training.

 
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Separation Anxiety Referrals

A very brief intro to working through separation anxiety

Owners often realize that their dog is experiencing separation anxiety because they hear incessant barking (or get complaints from neighbors about it) as they’re leaving or returning home, find their dog has demolished their home, broken out of their crate, or emptied their bladder or bowels. These dogs are not just upset about being left alone; they are experiencing panic attacks. The solution is not to purchase an indestructible crate and a bark collar to suppress their behavior, but rather, to use desensitization techniques to teach the dog that they can be alone and feel okay about it.

The first step is to stop leaving your dog alone for longer than they can handle - which probably means not leaving them at all. That may seem overwhelming, but with help, it can be done. Here are some options:

  • Shifting your family members’ schedules when possible so that you trade off dog care.

  • Having people come over to spend time with your dog while you’re out: neighbors, friends, family members, people within your communities such as church, knitting circles, sports teams.

  • Taking your dog to spend time at someone else’s home - see list above, and consider other dog owners who don’t mind having one extra for a few hours. You could even trade care with them, so other times you’re watching both the dogs when they need a break.

  • Posting on social media such as NextDoor or Facebook to find more helpers not already in your social circle.

  • Bringing your dog with you on errands. (Just mind the temperature of the car on warm days.)

  • Hiring a pet sitter.

  • Taking your dog to daycare.

With that management plan in place, you will now begin the desensitization process. This starts with very, very low intensity doses of being “left alone” - that might be literally just opening the front door and closing it again, without stepping outside. Repeat until your dog shrugs this off as not interesting. Then start opening the front door, stepping through, returning, closing the door. You’ll also need to desensitize your dog to your “getting ready to go out” routine, such as putting on shoes, picking up keys, setting the alarm system, etc. There are many more nuances to this process and it should not be attempted without learning more from the resources or referrals below.

 

Getting help

While I do know how to help a dog work through separation anxiety (and even have personal experience with it), my preference is to refer out to people who specialize in this area. Here are my usual referrals and resources.

 

Hang in there

Working through separation anxiety may seem like an overwhelming process at the beginning, but it has a very good prognosis as long as you carefully follow the desensitization protocol. Best of luck!

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Strangers in the Home

Dogs who are anxious or fearful of strangers struggle when those scary people enter their own home. Knocks at the door or the bell ringing often results in a mad dash to the front door and fierce barking. Some dogs will calm down after a while, only to start up again as soon as the guest gets up from the couch, or returns from using the bathroom. Here’s what you need to know when addressing this problem.

 

Connections with leash reactivity

Most dogs who are scared of people entering their home are also leash reactive around strangers. Please read through this article all about leash reactivity, whether or not your own dog lunges or barks on leash when passing strangers. The underlying principles will be the same during training in your home.

Go ahead and read part two (Foundation Training) and part three (Training Around Triggers) as well. You will want to teach your dog the same exit strategies, and we’ll be using the same principles of desensitization and counter-conditioning, the Engage-Disengage Game, and possibly BAT and the Play Way.

For dogs who are indeed reactive to strangers on leash, I like to address this problem first. I find that it’s easier to teach a dog to accept a stranger coming into their home if they have already learned to trust that people just walking by on the sidewalk won’t hurt them. This part is usually faster and easier. You can still get a head start on desensitization and counter-conditioning to triggers associated with the door (see below)

 

Management

As noted above in the leash reactivity overview, management (preventing your dog from rehearsing the unwanted behavior) is critical to success. That means that you need to keep your dog from barking out the window. Some options are:

  • Close blinds

  • Cover windows with privacy window film

  • Use pens and gates to keep your dog back from windows

In addition, don’t leave the dog out in the yard unsupervised. When outside with your dog, immediately interrupt any barking that happens and put your dog back in the house.

Cover your doorbell with a paper or cardboard, or purchase a smart doorbell that doesn’t give an audible tone and just notifies your phone that someone is at the door. Place a sign on your door that asks people to text or call you when they arrive instead of knocking, and for packages to be left at the door without any knocking.

Avoid having guests over during the training process, or put your dog in a back room before they arrive. Play some calming music or white noise for him, and give him a stuffed food toy or chewy to entertain him.

If your dog has ever nipped or bitten someone, you should be using a muzzle during training. Start on muzzle training ASAP - see this article for resources.

 

Meeting guests outside

Some dogs do much better with accepting a new person coming into the home if they are able to greet them out front or in the backyard. In this case, we will be using the leash reactivity training exercises to do a slow introduction to the new person, then have them go into the house ahead of the dog. This can either become the permanent new routine for greeting guests, or it can be a temporary measure while you work on the exercises listed below.

 

Triggers associated with guests entering

In order for your dog to calmly greet people at the door, we need to teach him to be calm about everything leading up to it - the doorbell, knocking at the door, his owner suddenly getting up and approaching the door, and opening it up. The most straightforward approach to this part of the training is pairing high value treats with the sounds and activities that currently set your dog off in a barking frenzy. Here is a great video by Emily Larlham showing you how to break this process down into little steps:

You’ll need to work on this separately from having people over. Be patient - the more your dog has a history of getting worked up about activity at the door, the longer - and more carefully - you will need to do the counter-conditioning process to reach success.

We may also choose to have your dog go to a station near the door and stay there as you open the door and welcome guests in. This would be integrated with the counter-conditioning process above.

 

People approaching the home

We can work on this part of the training without worrying about any of your dog’s triggers around the door itself, by having your dog in the house and on leash, with the front door already wide open. We’ll recruit a helper to play the role of a guest approaching, and break the process down further by having them start out just standing on the sidewalk, then taking just one step toward the door before retreating, then two steps, and so on. Your dog will be learning to play the Engage-Disengage Game while this happens. Eventually your dog will be able to watch calmly as someone walks all the way to your front door and enters the house.

 

Guests within the home

You can now have someone come into your home - hooray! But that doesn’t mean that your dog will be comfortable right away with the guests walking around, playing an active game, or petting the pup! Here are common triggers involving guests within the home that we will continue desensitizing the dog to:

  • Standing up from a couch/chair

  • Walking out of sight and reappearing

  • Telling an animated story or reacting to a game

  • Hugging their owner

  • Making during eye contact with the dog*

  • Approaching the dog*

  • Petting the dog*

* Note that some dogs cannot progress to the point of allowing new people to approach and pet them, and that’s okay - we will teach them to quietly ignore the guests and receive the same in return.

If your dog has ever nipped or bitten a guest, they will be wearing a muzzle when guests enter the home. Depending on the details of your dog’s behavior and previous aggression, you may be able to remove the muzzle once your dog accepts a particular guest into their trusted “inner circle.”

 

Prognosis

As you can see, teaching your dog to calmly accept strangers entering his home will be an involved process, but it can be done. It will require recruiting a series of helpers who are good at following directions. While you are in the training process, you will need to work around your dog’s needs and avoid having people over, or put the dog away first. The payoff will be a happy, calm family member who is a delight to guests for years to come.

Exactly how long it will take depends on how worked up your dog gets, how fearful or anxious he is, how often you practice, and how well you execute the training plan. I have worked with owners who were shocked to see that after a month of training, their dog was able to sit quietly by their side as a brand new helper waltzed through the front door and took a seat on the couch. Other owners decided that it wasn’t worth the effort to teach their dog not to freak out at activities around the front door, and had all guests greet the dog in the front yard first, then enter the house after the initial excitement had passed. Still other owners kept up the training for several months before it all came together.

We will be doing a series of private lessons in which I teach you, the owner, all you need to know so that you can continue working with your dog to your desired level of success. I will also provide ongoing support after the lessons are done, to troubleshoot any issues that come up.

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Leash Reactivity: An Overview

What is it?

“Leash reactivity” refers to the overreaction of a dog when he sees other dogs or people while out on walks. The dog may pull, lunge, jump, whine, bark, or growl when he sees the trigger. There are a few different forms and causes of leash reactivity:

  • Frustration over being held back by the leash: some dogs really want to run up to the other dogs/people. Their over-excitement turns to frustration, and becomes so intense that it looks like aggression.

  • Anxiety or fear: some dogs are anxious about interacting with other dogs/people, and are taking the approach of “best defense is a good offense.” The leash may be causing the anxiety, as they are unable to control their speed and direction of approach.

  • Many dogs feel a combination of both frustration and anxiety.

  • It's common for dogs that display leash reactivity to be much more relaxed when they are off leash around the same triggers, because they have more control over the situation.

 

How do we fix it?

In order to reduce the undesirable behavior the dog is showing, we need to change the underlying emotions that are causing it. This means that we need to reduce the dog's anxiety or fear, teach him coping skills to deal with the frustration and/or anxiety, and help him redirect his energy to a more appropriate outlet.

It is crucial to not rely on punishment to simply stop the reactivity. Punishment often makes the problem worse over time, since you will be increasing the dog's anxiety. Although you can punish a dog until he stops barking at triggers if you are harsh enough, you can end up with what is called a “silent biter” - a dog who doesn't give any warnings because he is afraid of punishment, but strikes “out of the blue” when he feels he truly needs to defend himself.

 

Management

The first step is to scale back your dog's exposure to triggers so that you can implement a training plan. The more your dog experiences feeling frustration/anxiety around other dogs/people, the more ingrained the leash reactivity will be. While you are training, you should avoid coming close enough to dogs/people that your dog displays the reactive behavior. That might mean crossing the street, or even immediately turning around when you see other people.

You should also prevent your dog from having chances to rehearse reactivity from behind windows, fences, and in the car, as these all feed into the problem. Don't leave your dog in the yard unsupervised. Use pens or gates to keep him away from windows that face the street. Play white noise or calm music if your dog reacts to noises from outside.

 

Equipment

When walking your dog, do not use any equipment that will cause your dog discomfort or pain, as he will associate that with the sight of his triggers. This will make his reactivity worse. No choke chains or prong collars, and use a “no pull” harness if your dog pulls on leash (or a head halter for extreme pullers).

 

Set ups

The best way to teach your dog to be calm around his triggers is to do training set ups: recruit a person (with dog if needed) to act as a “decoy” for your dog to work around. This enables you to start training with a person and/or dog who is quiet and calm, and will go only where you direct them. By carefully controlling the set up, you can create successful practice sessions for your dog. You can also get in many, many repetitions within a short training session. As the training goes on, we’ll move from high controlled sessions to ones that mimic real walks, then to practicing in public.

If you don't have anyone you can recruit as a helper, it's possible to train your dog by just doing “stealth” training around people you see during regular walks - but it's harder to ensure success, and takes longer because of the low number of repetitions per encounter.

The training will always be done with the dog “below threshold,” meaning that he’s not negatively reacting to his triggers. If he does start posturing, pulling, growling, barking, or showing other signs of being “over threshold,” our priority is to get him out of that situation, calm him down, and then try again with the set up changed so he can be successful. This applies to dogs who are reactive due to fear/anxiety AND dogs who are over-excited/frustrated and lunging because they want to greet or play.

LR-risingstresslevels.jpg
LR-triggerstacking.jpg
 
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Leash Reactivity: Training Exercises

 

Exit strategies

Before we jump into set ups and working around triggers, work on these foundation exercises. I refer to these as “exit strategies” because they are most commonly used to prevent your dog from getting into a bad situation, or getting him out when he’s already starting to go over threshold. You should first practice them randomly at home and on walks, when everything is calm and there are NO triggers around. Practice until your dog responds correctly and happily to each cue.

Name game: Use to improve your dog's responsiveness to his name.

  1. Call your dog's name.

  2. Immediately feed him a treat.

U-turn: Use to cue your dog to turn around voluntarily, without stress and without alerting him that a trigger is nearby. Later on, this will also make it easier for your dog to do the Engage-Disengage exercise (see below).

  1. With your dog on leash, walk forward a few steps.

  2. Say “u-turn!”

  3. Turn around 180 degrees.

  4. Jog forward a few steps.

  5. Reward your dog for catching up with you.

Treat magnet: Use to distract and lead your dog away if he’s to too worked up to respond to the “u-turn” cue, or when you really don’t want him to look around and spot a trigger in the area.

  1. Grab a small handful of treats in your hand. There should be enough treats that your dog can lick and nibble for a while, but not so many that they’re falling out of your hand.

  2. Hold your hand into a lightly closed fist or “tunnel” shape, and place it directly in front of your dog's nose.

  3. As your dog starts to lick or nibble at the treats, lure his head to the side and have him follow the treats until he's turned around and walking away from the trigger.

  4. Let him continue to eat the treats as he's walking away.

  5. The handful of treats should act like a “magnet” attached to his nose - he doesn’t look up or away, just keeps his attention fully focused on the food.

Walking hands up the leash: Use when your dog is at the end of a tight leash, and you need to get closer to get his attention or lead him away.

  1. Place one hand in front of the other along the leash, as if you were climbing a rope. Repeat until your hands are close to your dog's collar. (Make sure that you are the one moving toward your dog, rather than pulling your dog toward you.)

  2. Use the name game, treat magnet, or gentle but steady pressure on the leash/collar/harness to turn your dog away from the trigger.

Scatter: Use to distract your dog when you are unable to completely avoid a trigger. Also use to give your dog a break and help him calm down (works best in grass).

  1. Say “scatter!”

  2. Scatter 3-5 treats on the ground and let your dog hunt for them.

  3. Repeat as many times as needed until trigger is gone or dog is calm enough to continue walk.

 

Desensitization and counter conditioning

This is one of the gold standard approaches to reducing reactivity, especially when it is caused by fear or anxiety. In brief, we will teach your dog that the appearance of his triggers predicts getting yummy treats. Here is an article with more information on this process and how to apply it.

  1. Dog sees trigger.

  2. Dog gets treat - sometimes just one, sometimes a stream of treats the whole time the trigger is happening/in sight.

 

Engage-Disengage Game

I often begin training with straight desensitization and counter conditioning exercises, but then progress to using the Engage-Disengage Game. There are two stages to this:

  1. Mark and reward the dog as soon as he looks at the trigger (engages).

  2. Let the dog look at the trigger for a few seconds and wait. Mark and reward as soon as the dog looks away (disengages) from the trigger.

Here is a lovely graphic from Alice Tong that explains the Engage-Disengage Game in detail.

If you prefer learning via video, here is one from Charleston Animal Society explaining how to teach this exercise, and here is another one from Bravo Dog Training & Behaviour.

Here is an example video of Georgia performing the Engage-Disengage Game with me while looking at another dog at PetSmart. (Yes, Georgia was very leash reactive before her training started!)

This exercise provides the dog with a specific alternative behavior that they can perform instead of lunging, barking, and so on. It gives them more control over the situation and helps reframe the training exercise into a fun game. It also gives the owner more insight into how their dog is feeling about the trigger (did the dog disengage promptly or after a delay? Are the dog’s movements fluid and controlled or fast and frantic? Is the dog even able to disengage on his own without help?).

 

BAT (Behavior Adjustment Training)

This is another technique that works very well when combined with counter-conditioning and/or the Engage-Disengage Game. I will often use all three in a single session, flowing from one to the next as best fits the moment and the dog’s demeanor.

BAT was developed by Grisha Stewart. It is usually done with the dog on a long line (leash that is 10+ feet long) for better freedom of movement. (Remember that the more control your dog feels he has over the situation, the more relaxed he will be, which allows for greater success in the initial stages of training.) It can also be done on a regular leash if the dog is able to keep it loose.

We start far away and allow the dog to meander around the area. We keep him from inadvertently rushing toward the decoy, but allow him to observe his surroundings until he notices the helper. At that point you:

  • Help your dog come to a stop by slowing down and then halting progress with the leash.

  • Make sure the leash is slack once your dog has stopped.

  • Wait and watch your dog's body language.

    • If your dog is becoming more tense/alert or starting to show overt reactivity toward the trigger, help him move away (use one of the exit strategies explained above).

    • If he is calmly observing the trigger, let him continue watching. (The exception is for dogs who will go over threshold if they stare for too long.)

    • When he disengages and goes back to walking, sniffing, or other calm behavior, praise and continue letting him meander around the area.

This training technique most closely resembles a “real” walk and the final behavior we want from your dog: noticing a trigger, watching for a moment, then turning away and continuing to walk with you.

 

Play Way

This approach, developed by Amy Cook, is different than most because rather than teaching your dog specific alternative behaviors around his triggers, it focuses on helping your dog truly relax and even play with you while out and about in the world. Here is her explanation on using social play for behavior problems. I generally recommend this technique for dogs who have many triggers for their anxiety, and have trouble relaxing and letting down their guard.

Practice playing together both on and off leash, first in the house, then in the yard. Think of your playtime as including lots of back and forth communication: are you enjoying this? Do you need a break? Would you prefer to do something else? Follow the “3 second rule” - after about 3 seconds of play or petting, pause and see what your dog does. If he engages with you, great, keep going! If he turns away or looks around, that means that he needs a break, or is concerned about something in the environment, or wasn’t into the type of play/petting you were doing. Give him a moment to look around, then ask him if he would like to play some more.

Over time, you dog will build confidence and be happy to ignore the rest of the world in favor of connecting with you in play.

Here’s an example video of myself playing with Bodi at PetSmart.

Here is an example video from Tania Lanfer of Cannon Dog Training.

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Intro to Desensitization & Counter-Conditioning

Here are a number of resources that explain the processes of desensitization and counter-conditioning in training. These are among the most simple and effective techniques for changing behavior, especially when that behavior is motivated by underlying fear or anxiety. Please watch these first two videos:

The Basic Process of Desensitization & Counterconditioning For Your Dog | Dog Training

Counter Conditioning: a Visual Explanation

 

Here are the most important takeaways:

  • You must break your final goal down into small steps. For example, for dogs who don’t like getting into the car, you may work on first getting within a few feet of the car with all the doors closed, then approaching while the back door is open, then taking treats from the ledge where the door opens, then off the back seat, and so on.

  • At each step, your dog should be enjoying the training. If he is reacting negatively (such as running away, being wary of the treat, growling, or barking), that means that you need to go back to an earlier step.

  • Do not move on from your current step until you see that your dog has a happy response (such as wagging his tail, looking at you expectantly, or running to you every time he hears the trigger).

  • We are most likely going to be using lots of treats during this training - here are tips about choosing healthy, effective treats.

  • If you are properly breaking down the goal into small steps, you don’t need to worry that your dog will learn to bark or growl in order to get treats - he’s not rehearsing that behavior anyway, so he’s just learning that trigger = yay, treat!

  • It is critical that you avoid putting your dog into situations he can’t handle. For example, if he tries to bite every time he is picked up, avoid doing so. If he barks wildly every time he hears the doorbell, cover the bell and put a note on your door for people to call you when they arrive instead.

    • For those times that life happens, and your dog starts negatively reacting (barking, growling, lunging, etc), you should get him out of that situation as soon as possible. That might mean that you use treats to distract him. That’s okay, as long as it’s only happening a small percentage of the times that he is exposed to the trigger. The rest of the time, set him up for success with your training sessions.

  • Watch out for trigger stacking:

LR-triggerstacking.jpg
 

Here are videos that show specific examples of behavioral issues being resolved by the use of desensitization and counter-conditioning:

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Puppy Carsickness

Puppies are more likely to get carsick than adult dogs, because the parts of the inner ear used for sensing balance are not yet fully developed. This likely creates a “seasick” feeling. Most will outgrow this eventually, but the anxiety that develops from unpleasant car rides can linger.

 

Common signs of carsickness:

Puppy hiding under seat cover.

Puppy hiding under seat cover.

  • Drooling, repetitive lip licking, gagging, vomiting

  • Panting, whining, barking

  • Sweaty paws, trembling, pacing

  • Gas or diarrhea

  • Hesitance or refusal to get into car, trying to escape from car

 

What you can do to help:

Relaxed and comfortable!

Relaxed and comfortable!

  • Withhold food for a few hours before the car ride, so your dog’s stomach is empty. (Do give water.)

  • Try a few different positions in the car. Most dogs do better when they can see out the front window. On the other hand, one of my dogs is much calmer when he can’t see out.

    • Make sure your dog is safely secured using a seat belt, tether, or crate. A loose dog can distract the driver, and go flying if there’s an accident.

  • Crack the side windows open. (Don’t open the window wide enough for your dog be able to stick his head out - flying debris can hit his eye.)

  • Keep the car cool and play calm music.

  • Drive carefully. Be slow and gentle when you’re starting, stopping, and going around turns.

  • Keep trips very short at first, and lengthen over time. Start with just exiting the driveway and returning. Progress to going down the block, then a mile away, etc.

  • Take frequent, short trips to fun destinations like the park or a friend’s house.

  • Associate the car itself with fun things. Play in the back seat without driving anywhere. Feed meals inside. During car rides (as long as your dog won’t vomit afterwards), give him treats or chews (eg bully stick).

  • Try giving your dog ginger snaps or ginger capsules before the ride. (Ask your vet about proper dosing.)

  • Ask your vet about Cerenia, a prescription medication for nausea, or giving Dramamine or Bonine.

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