If your dog is getting the opportunity to practice barking and lunging at other dogs 80% of the time, and is only learning how not to react 20% of the time, then they will still likely choose barking and lunging as their primary tool. A long walk is a lot more like reading a good book than running on a treadmill. Luckily, walks don’t actually count as cardio anyway. Getting your dog the exercise he/she needs will require flexibility on your part and a great deal of brainstorming and creativity. So, for many owners this means no longer taking your dog on walks (in the beginning). This is especially due to the fact that your dog still needs to get at least two 20m bouts of cardio daily, all while not coming in contact with the thing that sets them off. Managing your dog’s encounters to their trigger outside of a training context can be the most difficult part of reactivity training. Tip 1: Prevent Continued Rehearsal Management tools: Prevention of the problem behavior is the first step This is where having a trainer at hand can be VERY helpful to speed along the process. For many dogs this means they will have to be heavily managed to avoid too many encounters with other dogs (or cyclists, skateboarders, children) outside of controlled training set ups. ![]() This means making sure that the dog NEVER (as much as possible) has a reaction to their trigger. The catch is that during the training process we must strive to keep the dog “at & under threshold” at all times until the dog’s negative feelings are successfully curbed. This all makes sense intellectually but as you’ve probably already discovered, it’s not as easy as giving your dog a treat when dogs are around. With desensitization and counterconditioning combined we are able to diminish the dog’s negative emotional response to the trigger and over the process of many sessions change the negative response to a positive response. We then use counter conditioning to pair the sight of the trigger with something the dog really loves such as a high value food reward. Through proper management, counterconditioning and desensitization we can begin to rewire the dog’s negative emotional associations into positive emotional associations.ĭesensitization is the process of exposing the dog to the fear inducing trigger in short and achievable bursts from a great enough distance that the dog is able to perceive the trigger without going into a reactionary state. ![]() In order to curb the reactions we have to treat the underlying cause of the symptom. Many leash reactive dogs are perfectly ok with other canine companions off leash. ![]() When a dog is restricted by a leash while overwhelmed with these unsavory emotions, cortisol spikes in their blood to help them escape the fearful trigger or event, but because the leash is preventing them from “flight” the dog’s only option to cope with this state of panic is to “fight”. ![]() The loud display of a reactive dog is an irrational and reflexive symptom caused by the underlying emotions of stress, anxiety, excitement, fear or frustration. Once you have them walking nicely (check out our guide to three things that will improve your dog's loose leash walking for advice on this) you can introduce triggers with a much greater chance of success.Leash reactivity is an involuntary emotional state that overwhelms the dog’s senses, and is triggered by the fight or flight center of the brain. Spivey says this is important as treats engage your dog's nose more, helping them to focus on positive things which in turn helps them to relax. There are a lot of common loose leash walking mistakes that can exacerbate your dog's reactive behavior, so making sure your'e preventing these will help your dog get into a better state when on their leash, enabling them to follow commands and take treats. "Did you know that when a dog is so over adrenalised they often won’t take food? Did you also know that when you slow that dog down and introduce the concept of pressure through the leash, the dog slows down and the dog will often 9/10 then begin to take food?" Many of us mistakingly assume our dog's simply aren't food motivated when we try to gain their focus using treats, but according to Spivey, nothing could be further from the truth.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |