Fear Based Behaviors - Part 1

Flower – the giant dog afraid of tile floors
Slippery floors are often a cause for fear based behaviors, especially in large breed dogs. It is important that puppies experience many different flooring types during their socialization period, so that they can learn how to walk on and adapt to new surfaces.

But, some puppies and adult dogs have a hard time with slippery floors. Some adult dogs have slipped and been injured and this leads to avoidance of the slippery floors. Some dogs will barely walk/crawl across slippery floors and others will make a mad dash across them.

Dogs that have lost a leg need to relearn how to walk on slippery floors. Extremely overweight dogs can have a fear of slippery floors because their legs are not strong enough to hold them up on the floor (in this case, the dog needs to lose weight while working on the floor issues).

It is important to manage this problem while desensitizing the dog to the floor. Management would include placing carpet strips (with non-slip backings) on the floor for the dog to walk on. Management might also include keeping the dog out of the room with the slippery floors during the behavior modification period. There are also products on the market, such as Paw Pads (http://www.puppylovepawpads.com), which are applied directly to the dog’s feet to give traction. This product is very useful for dogs that have lost limbs and are adapting to the new way they need to walk.

Flower’s owners tried the flooding technique in order to force Flower to get used to their kitchen floor. They dragged Flower to the middle of the floor and left her there. Flower just stood there and trembled until her owners dragged her back to the carpeted area. After that, every time they tried to get Flower onto the kitchen floor, she would fight against the leash. Her owners were afraid that she would hurt herself.

Flower needed to gain confidence on the floor. Since her experience with the flooring was very aversive, even using food to try to lure her onto the floor did not work. Neither did placing carpet samples and luring her onto those. She would not go into the kitchen at all.

After thinking about this issue, we decided to desensitize Flower to linoleum in the living room. This meant getting a piece of linoleum and placing it on the carpet and working with Flower there. We put the linoleum away while not working with Flower.

Thankfully, Flower was not afraid of the piece of linoleum, so we were able to start out by using desensitization and counterconditioning (DSCC) across the room from the linoleum. At all times, Flower was given treats for being in the same room as that linoleum. In one session, we were able to bring Flower right up to the linoleum.

The next session, we worked with carpet samples and the linoleum samples, still in the living room. In this session, our goal was to get Flower to step on each sample (our criteria was one foot). We used food to get Flower close to each sample. The carpet sample was easy. The linoleum one was a bit harder and we used a lot of food. At first we just tossed food around the sample. Then we tossed food onto the sample so that she was touching it with her nose. Then we lured her over and onto the sample with food. We did not force her to step on the sample. She was off leash at all times and could move away from the sample when she needed to (increase of distance to reduce stress).

After the first session, Flower’s owners were instructed to practice with her each day. Their goal was to have Flower be confident about walking over the linoleum sample while it was on the living room carpet.

After they were successful with this, it was time to start working in the kitchen. At first, we did not really work in the kitchen, but in the doorway to the kitchen. When Flower was comfortable in the doorway (again, using DSCC), we placed a carpet sample on the kitchen floor. We used food to get her to step on the carpet sample. By placing one sample next to each other and always allowing Flower to retreat to the living room when she needed to, we were able to bring her a few feet into the kitchen on the carpet samples.
The next step for the owners was to continue doing this with Flower until she was comfortable walking through the kitchen on the carpet samples.

Once that happened, we went back to the living room doorway. We placed Paw Pads on Flower’s feet (and used food to get her used to them). Then, we placed a carpet sample a short distance into the kitchen. Flower would need to take a step onto the real kitchen floor in order to step onto her safe carpet sample. Allowing her to back up into the safety of the living room when needed, we used food to have her place on foot on the floor. We repeated this until she was comfortable walking 1 step to the carpet sample, then 2 steps, then 3 steps.

Flower's owners continued with this process until Flower was successfully walking around a kitchen peppered with carpet samples. Then, they slowly began removing one carpet sample at a time until she was walking in the kitchen comfortably. At that point, they removed the Paw Pads and worked with Flower in the kitchen.

While Flower is still careful about moving around the kitchen, she will willingly walk through the kitchen to get to the back door. She will also come into the kitchen to greet her owners and to get treats. As time progresses, I expect that she will become more and more confident about the flooring.

And, Flower’s owners are now able to take her to places with slippery floors and have her feel confident about them.

Note: This same technique is used to help dogs learn stairs. We start with one stair, then two stairs and increase the number of stairs until the dog is able to go up and down easily.

Fear Based Behaviors - An Overview

What are fear based behaviors?
The easy answer is that it is a behavior caused by fear. Fear is a stressor and the dog will
often try to reduce the stress in a way that works for it. These fears can manifest in many
ways, but tend to fall into a couple of categories: aggressive type behaviors and
avoidance type behaviors (please note that I am generalizing here for the sake of brevity).

What are aggressive type behaviors?
These behaviors include, but are not limited to, barking, growling, lunging, and
nipping/biting.

What are avoidance type behaviors?
These behaviors include, but are not limited to, hiding, running away, and avoiding the
object causing the fear.

Can a dog display both categories?
Yes. Many dogs will show a combination of both.

How do we treat fear based behaviors?
We use a technique called desensitization and counterconditioning. Basically, we pair the frightening object with food. The important things to remember when working with a fearful dog is that the food should be high value (no kibble) and that the distance between the dog and the frightening object is very important.

To recap: food and distance! Food and distance!

The Basics of Desensitization and Counterconditioning (reprinted from a previous
article)

• This is not luring or bribing.
• Food does not make aggression worse.
• The dog does not need to do anything but take the treat (no sits, downs or stays)
• If the dog takes the treat and spits it out, some benefit will still be seen.
• Distance between the scary object and the dog is critical. Start with more distance
• at first and slowly work up to being close to the object.
• Do not force the dog to be close to the object.
• Food fundamentally changes the emotional response that the dog has to the scary
• object. Praise and petting does not do this. Punishment will make the fear worse.
• Remember this equation
• Object = scary
• Object = food
• Food = good
• Object = good

When to use desensitization and counterconditioning:
When the dog is extremely shy or fearful.
When the dog is afraid of objects or things that are unclickable (like wind and rain noises).
When the dog is afraid of the clicker
Anytime!

Flooding
Flooding is a technique that forces the dog to be next to the object it fears until it stops fearing the object. Food is not involved with this process. Many people see the dog shut down and think that the dog is over its fear. In reality, the dog has given up. Flooding is considered to be aversive by many positive reinforcement trainers. It has been shown to backfire in many instances, since the dog does not overcome its fear, but,
instead, either shuts down completely (given up) or becomes even more fearful.

Some examples of flooding:

• Hunting dog is afraid of gunshots, so owner forces dog to be in a kennel next to the firing range.
• Herding dog is afraid of sheep. Owner forces dog to stay in the pasture with the sheep.
• Dog is afraid of strangers. Owner forces the dog to allow pats by strangers.
• Dog is afraid of being outside. Owner forces the dog to be outside.

In each of these instances, it is a rare dog that overcomes its fear and gets used to the objects. Instead, we tend to see more behavioral issues: inappropriate urination/defecation, avoidance of the object to the point where the dog will hurt itself or the owner in order to get away, aggression towards the objects it fears.

Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety (SA) is a behavioral disorder where a dog feels severe distress when separated from its group. This can often be in the form of a panicky reaction or depression.

The common signs of separation anxiety are being a velcro dog, showing anxiety when an owner gets ready to leave, destruction, vocalization, elimination, excessive greeting behavior (over excited), self destructive behavior, drooling, vomiting, and/or the inability to eat while owner is away. Usually, if a dog displays just one of these behaviors, it is not automatically assumed that the dog suffers from SA. Instead, the dog needs to show a
few of these signs. And, there are varying levels of SA (some dogs suffer more than others).

Crating often leads to self harm because dog tries to escape the crate. The same can happen in a home—some dogs jump through windows to get outside.

There are some behaviors that people perceive as separation anxiety, but are not. Barrier frustration is one. Lack of stimulation leading to destructive behavior is another. Incomplete housetraining is a third. It is important to obtain the correct diagnosis in order to treat your dog appropriately.

Separation anxiety stems from lack of confidence and, according to Dr. Nicholas Dodman, it is very prevalent in dogs with dysfunctional backgrounds (multiple homes, etc). There is a strong association with noise phobia, so if you have a dog with SA, then you will want to keep an eye on him or her firework and thunderstorm season approaches.

Things that can trigger SA: boarding, bereavement, a change in an owner’s schedule, multiple relocations. Some dogs will go years without experiencing SA and others will experience it the first time they are left alone.

Those random departure/densensitization of leaving cues instructions that you read about on the internet? They do not work (according to studies done by Dr. Dodman). The problem is that the dog is actually having panic attacks when left alone. Having longer and longer absences doesn’t work, either. These things don’t work for true SA. A lot of dogs have a pseudo SA and this treatment does work.

Here are the basics for treating SA:
• Break the anxiety cycle
• Make leaving fun
• Environmental enrichment
• Low key returns (everyone should do this, even it their dog doesn’t have SA)
• Build their confidence
• Medication

So, let’s take each one step by step. Each step needs to be done in conjunction with each other – doing one step will not solve the problem for most dogs.

Break the cycle!
Doggy daycare, pet sitter, friend or relative takes care of dog, dog walker.

Make leaving fun!
Or, “oh, good, you are leaving now!” Make sure that you do not sympathize with the dog - this can change our entire demeanor, so the dog reacts to that. Keep your goings upbeat and fun. Give instructions - sit, be a good dog, etc. Make sure that leaving = good things, so Kongs, Buster cubes, interactive toys, etc are key here.

Environmental Enrichment
All food comes out of toys (well, except training food). Morning meal comes when you leave. All uneaten food gets picked up when you get home (and not given at the next meal). Most dogs will not go hungry for more than a few days. The critical time for SA is the first 30 minutes. If you can have them eat and work to get their meal during this time, then that will help a lot. Also, feed the evening meal at least an hour after you get home so that your arriving home doesn’t mean food. This meal should be out of toys, too.

Low Key Returns
Only respond to the dog when she is calm. The goal here is to even out the emotional rollercoaster that coming and going elicits in a dog (this is a quote-ish from Dr. Dodman). Obviously, no punishment - this makes SA seriously worse.

Build Their Confidence
Work on stays. No close contact while resting. That means the bed is off limits, too. We need to make the dog less of a velcro dog, so we do that by encouraging independent behavior while we are with the dog. Do not respond to demanding behavior. Work on Dr. Overall’s Relaxation Protocol (e-mail Stephani for a copy of this). The later days of this have out of sight stays. That will help a lot with confidence. Take the RP as slow as needed - you might have to repeat days for a long long time before moving on to the next day’s steps.

Reward calm, independent behavior.

Think about doing obedience, rally or agility training. Some of the tasks in these venues means that the dog works away from you. Herding classes might be a good idea, too. Anything to increase your dog’s life experience will also help increase her confidence. And, if she shows fear, give lots of food so that the fear lessens over time.

Try to exercise your dog immediately before leaving.

Medications
There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving a dog medication to help with this. It is very effective to medicate at the beginning of the SA program and then wean off the medication as the dog becomes more confident and learned behavior is changed to confident behavior.

The FDA approved meds are Clomicalm and Reconcile. Please do not use Acepromazine. It is on the MDR1 list (bad for those herding dogs that suffer from SA) and it has been know to make the dog’s body relaxed, but not their mind, so the dog is still feeling fear (shudder).

Some people have had good results with melatonin for anxiety. This drug is over the counter and easily given in food. Tryptophan is also used and some say that it works great.

Overall, treatment for SA has a fairly good prognosis, but, like anxiety that humans suffer from, it will mean dealing with it for life.

Barking - Part 4

In general, we can use the “Look At That” (LAT) game interchangeably with basic desensitization and counterconditioning (DCC). However, there are instances where one technique will work better than the other. The LAT game is essentially pairing DCC with a clicker and retraining the dog to have an appropriate response at the same time.

Remember that all treats need to be high value and pea sized. Milk bones and dry biscuits will not work. Use a high value treat such as chicken, cheese, beef, liver or peanut butter (in a tube).

The “Look At That” game in more detail (for a really detailed description, please see Leslie McDevitt's Book Control Unleashed):

Items needed:

• Treats
• Clicker (or use a marker word)

Basic Instructions:

• When the dog looks at something, it gets a click and a treat. When the dog looks back at the item, repeat. This is a fast game (you will give a lot of treats).
• If the dog stares at the item and refuses to look at the trainer, then more distance between the object and the dog is needed.
• If the dog is already reacting, then the dog is too close.
• Only play the game for a few minutes at a time.
• Only proceed closer to the item when the dog displays a Conditioned Emotional Response (i.e., looks at item, looks back at owner for treat). This is often called the “Whiplash Turn” since the dog will eventually look at something and whip back to look at the owner for a cookie (we want this behavior).

When to use:

• During class, when your dog barks at other dogs.
• While walking – barking at strangers, cars or other items.
• While in the car – barking at other cars (this will require a driver).
• Anytime a dog is being reactive.

The Basics of Desensitization and Counterconditioning

• This is not luring or bribing.
• Food does not make aggression worse.
• The dog does not need to do anything but take the treat (no sits, downs or stays)
• If the dog takes the treat and spits it out, some benefit will still be seen.
• Distance between the scary object and the dog is critical. Start with more distance at first and slowly work up to being close to the object.
• Do not force the dog to be close to the object
• Food fundamentally changes the emotional response that the dog has to the scary object. Praise and petting does not do this. Punishment will make the fear worse.

Remember this equation

o Object = scary

o Object = food

o Food = good

o Object = good

When to use desensitization and counterconditioning:

• When the dog is extremely shy or fearful.
• When the dog is afraid of objects or things that are unclickable (like wind and rain noises).
• When the dog is fearful but not reacting
• When the dog is afraid of the clicker
• Anytime!

Fear of the Hair Dryer (or vacuum cleaner or other noise making objects)

When working with dogs that react to noisy objects, I do not start out with the LAT game. Instead, I use the DCC technique to reduce the dog’s reaction. Once I get a quieter reaction, then I start playing the LAT game, if needed.

Let’s use an example. Dutch is a dog that barks at the microwave beeper. He also reacts loudly to the hair dryer. We start by figuring out how far away from these objects Dutch needs to be in order to not react. Dutch also has anxiety issues and is a demand barker.

In Dutch’s case, we needed to have the hair dryer in the garage and Dutch across the house in a separate room (about 25 feet, with walls in between).

We started Dutch out with the hair dryer on the lowest (quietest) setting and all doors between the garage and Dutch shut. One person turned the hair dryer on and Dutch was given treats by another person while the dryer was on (about 1 minute). The treats were given one at a time, one right after the other. During this first stage, Dutch did react a little bit at first (muffled growls and quiet barks).

We stopped the dryer and gave Dutch a break (did some training, played with some toys). Then, we repeated the process. We noted that Dutch growled less and did not bark at all. We repeated this process (hair dryer on, treats, hair dryer off, and then some play time) a few more times.

At this point, Dutch needed a break. So, Dutch’s owner was instructed to repeat this exercise in the same place for the next week – once per day. During this time period, Dutch’s owner also had to agree not to use the hair dryer inside. She decided to not use it at all until Dutch was retrained.

After a week, Dutch’s owner was able to move Dutch into the next room (i.e., closer to the dryer) and repeat the process.

Over time, Dutch was able to be next to the door leading out to the garage and listen to the dryer while taking treats. This took about a month, with the owner working about 5 minutes a day.

At this point, Dutch was able to be around the dryer without reacting. So, we now needed to train Dutch to stay on his bed while the owner dried her hair. This part was easier – Dutch was given his morning breakfast out of a Kong while Dutch’s owner dried her hair.

This same technique can be used for a doorbell, a vacuum, or any other noisy object that a dog reacts to. However, some extremely noise phobic dogs might need more work and medication.

Out for a Walk: Barking at Cars

Many dogs bark at cars during walks. This can be problematic if they pull, twirl, lunge or redirect frustration onto their owner. Just like with noisy objects, we can use LAT or DCC techniques to change the way or dogs behave.

Cooper is a big dog who lunges and barks at cars. He scared his owner on one particular walk when he dragged her into the street after a loud car. In all other ways, Cooper is a normal dog – he is not afraid of strangers, he is not hyper: he is a calm, gentle dog.

The first thing we did was put Cooper in a front clip Sense-ation Harness (an Easy Walk harness would work well, too). This type of harness works by turning the dog back to the owner (and loosening the leash) when the dog pulls forward. When used in conjunction with loose leash walking practice, they are extremely effective and can give an owner more control over the dog. I do not recommend Gentle Leader head harnesses, because they limit a dog’s ability to communicate with other dogs and a lunging dog can hurt its neck.

The second thing we worked on was Cooper’s sit. Because walking near cars can be dangerous, we needed Cooper to focus on his owner when around cars. Having Cooper sit meant that the owner had a bit more control. For a dog that does not lunge at cars, but just barks, a sit is not needed.

Finally, we needed to determine the distance that Cooper needed to be from cars in order to not react. In Cooper’s case, we needed a lot of distance – at least 50 feet. So, we practiced with Cooper in a local park that was near a quiet road.

We used the same technique with Cooper as we did with Dutch above. Except, this time, we were able to incorporate the clicker. Every time Cooper watched a car go by, he was clicked and then given a treat. At first, we aimed to click when the car first appeared. This helped cut off Cooper’s reaction and distracted him as the car passed, since he turned his head to us for the treat.

After a few minutes of practice, we started walking Cooper back and forth in the field. Every time a car went by, Cooper got a click/treat. We kept our distance at 50 feet. We needed to work on this technique while walking because it would be counterproductive for Cooper’s owner to always have to have him sit when a car goes by. She can use the sit when needed, but she also needed to practice walking, clicking and treating.

Now, we don’t know why Cooper barked and lunged at cars. It may have been fear. It may have been some prey drive. Whatever the reason, we decided to take a gamble, since Cooper is so well adjusted in other ways. In the same session, we moved Cooper 10 feet towards the cars and continued walking parallel with them. While walking, we clicked and treated. After about 10 minutes, we moved even closer. By the end of the session, with a very full Cooper, we were able to walk down the sidewalk with cars passing by. Treats were given to Cooper every few steps or so at this point, since we were working on both loose leash walking and changing his reaction to very close cars.

Is Cooper completely issue-free at this point? No. We were near a quiet road. Not a lot of cars went by and Cooper was tired. So, Cooper’s owner needed to continue practicing with him in different spots at different distances. She needed to go to less quiet spots and practice. She needed to make sure that their daily walks were on quiet road and that she had her treats with her.

Eventually, she was able to walk Cooper on busier streets, but it took time and patience. The things that she told me that she needed to remember were:

• Distance: If Cooper was reacting, she needed to increase her distance between them and the cars.
• Level of Distraction or the number of cars that go by (and how fast they were going). When retraining Cooper, she needed to keep in mind that he was not ready for busy roads. So, she kept an eye out for quiet roads and would drive to places that worked for them.

Stays: What does distance mean?

There are two types of distance in stay work.

Type 1: Distance between you and your dog

This type seems pretty obvious, right? This term can also mean where your body is in relation to the dog. So, standing in front, standing to the side and standing in back are all important. Be sure to practice distance from your dog at each spot!

The distance between you and your dog needs to be built up slowly. The amount of distractions in an environment can impact how well your dog does with distance stays.

Type 2: Distance between your dog and distractions

It is important when training stays to remember that low distraction environments are easier to train in than high distraction environments.

But, we can help our dogs learn to work in a high distraction environment by increasing the value of the reward and increasing the distance between ourselves and the distractions.

For instance, if I am working on stays near a busy playground, I will first pick a safe spot far away from the playground. Then, over time, I will slowly decrease the distance between the dog and the playground. It is far better to proceed too slowly than to go too quickly.

If the stay becomes difficult for your dog (they are not paying attention or break the stay a few times), then move 5 feet away from the distraction and try again. If you are still not getting a good 1-2 second stay, then increase distance more.

Breaking stays are a sign of:

• Too much distraction
• Length of stay is too long
• Distance between you and the dog is too far
• Not enough reward
• Not enough practice

If you constantly have to put the dog back in a stay, then try changing one or more of the above to lower criteria (shorter length, distance, fewer distractions) and using a higher value treat.

Stay - Part 1

A very brief overview!

Stays have three major components: distance, duration and distraction.

Distance: This is the amount of space between you and your dog.

Duration: This is the amount of time that a dog holds its stay.

Distraction: This is what is going on in around the dog while it is doing its stay.

For beginning stays, we only change one component at a time. So, if we are standing close to our dog, we can ask for a longer stay or we can add a distraction, but not both at the same time. If we are standing away from our dog, we should have the duration and the distractions as low as possible.

For more advanced dogs, we can change more components at a time.

When working on stays, we need to be able to reward in position. This means into the dog’s mouth when the dog is doing a sit-stay or between the dog’s front feet when doing a down-stay.

If you are using a clicker, remember that a click marks he end of the behavior, so your dog will/can break the stay. Training a release word (OK), which is different than your clicker/marker word (YES), is useful.

Some do’s and don’t’s:

Do reward in position.

Don’t drill too many stays at once (or boredom will set in).

Do treat before the dog has broken the stay. In fact, it is better to treat long before you think your dog will break its stay than to keep re-cueing the stay.

Do work with one beginner dog at a time.

Don’t try to lump stay behavior. In other words, take your time! A five second stay is great at first, but don’t try to jump from there to a 2 minute stay! Or, one foot away from your dog does not translate to 20 feet.

Give that dog a job!

This is my version of this technique.

Many dogs need jobs. And, as owners, we do not want to have our dogs invent their own jobs, since dog-defined jobs like car or bike chasing, fence running, cat herding, barking or other problem behaviors can hinder the human-canine bond. Some of these dog-defined jobs can be quite dangerous for the dog, too!

So, we need to give our dog a job. Or, in some cases, we give them more than one. One way to give a dog a job is to feed him each meal out of interactive toys, such as Kong products, Premier products or Buster Cubes, to name a few. This is an easy way for owners to slow down eating and to give their dog a mental job.

Another way to give a dog a job is to work on obedience behaviors. This includes behaviors such as sit, down, stand, stay and heeling (or loose leash walking), but should also include fun tricks. Even 5 minutes a day of training will improve a dog’s confidence, improve the human-canine relationship and mentally stimulate the dog.

A third way to give a dog a job is to institute a Nothing in Life is Free Program (or Work to Earn). Now, many people think that asking a dog to sit before giving a cookie is NILIF. Well, NILIF is more than that and requires a bit more from both the dog and the owner than sitting for a cookie. It is a way to establish rules around the house (house manners). It is a way to establish benign leadership without the use of force, pain or fear. It is also a great way to give a dog a job.

So, what does NILIF look like?

You are sitting in your chair watching TV. Your dog comes up to you and wants some attention. You could just reach out and pat him. Or, you could make him earn the attention by asking for a sit first. That is working (sitting) to earn attention.

You are preparing all the dogs' dinners. They are racing and running around. You could just feed them. Or, you could wait until they are quiet and in their crates before you feed them. That is working (quiet, calm behavior) to earn food.

You are throwing the frisbee. The dogs are very excited. You could just throw the frisbee again. Or, you could make them sit and lie down before you throw the frisbee again. That is working (sit and lie down) to earn play.

You are getting ready for bed. Your dog wants to sleep on the bed. You could just allow him up there. Or, you could ask him to sit before he jumps up. And, if he misbehaves on the bed (growl/snark at the other dog or the cat or the spouse) then you could not allow him on the bed at all. Good behavior earns a place on the bed. Bad behavior means you sleep on the floor. The same goes for the couch.

You are getting ready to go for a walk. The dogs start barking and getting excited. You could just clip the leash on and go. Or, you could make them sit and stay (while being quiet) before you clip the leash on. This is working (sit and stay while being quiet) to earn walks.

You are getting ready to let them go outside. You could just let them go outside. Or, you could ask them to sit and stay while you open the door and then release each one to go outside. Release each one at a different time. This is working to earn being outside.

You decide to give them a treat. You could just open the treat container and ask them to sit for a treat. Or, you could ask them to sit and stay BEFORE you get the treat out and then give them a treat. This is working to earn treats.

Do you see how Nothing in Life is Free (Work to Earn) is MUCH different than holding a treat in your hand and asking for a sit? It fundamentally changes the way your dog sees you - you control all resources and you decide what the dog needs to do to get them. You can not allow herding breeds to be in control or they will control everything - so, we have to be in control and this is how we do it without pain or fear.

When a dog is showing behavioral issues, then I immediately start a ?Nothing In Life is Free/Work to Earn program, obedience training, and physical and mental exercise. Once those steps are implemented, I work on the problem behavior itself, if extra training is still needed.

Barking - Part 3

Alert Barking Review: The dog barks because of something. Typical examples of this type of barking are: Barking at the UPS driver, barking at activity happening in the neighborhood, and leash reactivity—barking at things while on leash.

Alert barking tends to be an environmentally reinforced behavior. In other words, it is reinforced by something that happens when the dog is barking.

Examples of Alert Barking

The mailman approaches the door. The dog barks at the mailman. The mailman leaves, which is rewarding, so the dog thinks that the barking made the mailman go away.

A car approaches while you are walking your dog. Your dog barks as the car approaches, continues as the car passes and barks until the car is out of sight. The car goes away and so your dog thinks that the barking made the car go away. This behavior is also a component of fence running.

You are walking your dog and another person approaches with a dog of their own. Your dog starts barking and continues barking as the dog and owner walk by. Sometimes, your dog will nip the owner or the other dog once they are past you.

Basic Training for Barking

As with any barking or other behavioral problem, we start with a few basics:

Don’t yell, speak, or in any way shush the dog. Most alert barkers will consider to this to be rewarding (you are barking along with the dog), so the behavior will increase.

Don’t use a spray bottle to punish the barking, especially of you use a spray bottle to groom your dogs.

Do practice a Nothing in Life is Free Program (also called Work to Earn) with any type of barker. NILIF gives the dog a job and is easy for owners to implement.

Do have clear rules for the dog and a steady schedule.

Don’t use a shock collar, citronella collar or other physical punishment. While these methods can reduce the barking, there is often behavioral fallout from them.

Behavioral Modification of Alert Barking: Case Studies

Prim, the leash reactive dog

Prim is a young adult sheltie who tends to be a little fearful and quiet, until she is walking on leash with her owner and spots another dog. At this point, Prim becomes a completely different dog – she now pulls hard on the leash, barks quite loudly and does not respond to her owner. Prim will sometimes try to nip the other dog when passing them on the sidewalk. Off leash, Prim does OK with greetings, but does stress out at them and can nip when her rear end is sniffed. When this problem first started, Prim only barked at larger dogs, but now barks at every dog she sees, so Prim’s owner, Kate, contacted me for help.

When working with a leash reactive dog, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. One is that a high value treat should be used (chicken, cheese, etc). Another is that the distance between your dog and the thing they are barking at is important. Start with a large distance and slowly decrease the distance over time. And, finally, it is important to be fast with your treats (don’t be stingy).

Session 1 (1 hour): In every session with a client, I discuss the importance of appropriate mental and physical activity. In Prim’s case, we also discussed how to build Prim’s confidence. After discussing this, Kate and I spent some time walking Prim with no distractions at all. Prim was given a small, pea sized bit of chicken each time she looked at Kate (basic loose leash walking practice).

Then, it was time to bring out a neutral dog. In my case, this is Ella.

Kate had her treats ready. As I brought Ella out of her crate, Kate treated Prim just for looking at Ella. I brought Ella out of her crate and had her sit, so that Kate has a few minutes to treat Prim while Ella was stationary. The distance between Ella and Prim was around 30 feet and Prim was given a treat every few seconds, regardless of whether or not she made any noise (she didn’t bark). Then Ella went back into her crate and we let Prim have a bathroom break outside.

Once Prim has had a break, she and Kate got ready for the next part of our training. This time, I brought Ella out of her crate and asked her to heel next to me. Again, Kate gave Prim treats for watching Ella. Ella and I were still 30 feet from Prim, but we were moving, so this was a different lesson than before.

After a few minutes, I started to walk with Ella closer to Prim. Kate gave Prim treats as Ella and I came closer and then walked away. After a few minutes, I put Ella back in her crate and Prim got to take a break.

The final part of our session involved Prim and Kate heeling on one side of the room while Ella and I heeled on the other (about 30 feet apart). Sometimes, we walked in the same direction (parallel walking) and sometimes we walked towards each other, but we were still 30 feet apart. During the entire time, Kate rewarded Prim for walking with a loose leash and for looking at Ella.

Prim’s homework: Find a couple of places where Prim usually reacts and practice rewarding for quiet behavior.

Session 2 (1 hour): The beginning of session 2 mimicked session 1, except we spent less time with Ella stationary. Once Prim was focused, Ella and I started heeling across the room. This time, Ella and I were able to shorten the distance between us to about 10 feet.

At that point, we let Prim take a break and started heeling again, with Kate and Prim heeling on one side of the room and Ella and I on the other. Slowly, over the rest of the session, Ella and I decreased the distance between us until we were five feet from Prim.

At this point, we ended the session.

Kate was able to take the skills that she learned during the sessions and apply them to her walks with Prim. This is what she did:

When approaching a strange dog, Kate would cross the street with Prim to increase distance. At the same time, she would reward Prim for walking next to her and also for looking at the other dog. The treats would start long before they reached the strange dog, as they passed the strange dog and after the strange dog passed. Note: This same technique can be used for dogs that bark at cars while on walks.

If the dog was loose, then Kate was prepared to do an about turn and go the other way. If the dog followed, then Kate was prepared to drop pieces of dog biscuit to distract the other dog until she and Prim could walk out of sight.

After a little practice and also working on this same technique in classes with other dogs, Prim and Kate are able to go on a daily walk without spending the entire time reacting to other dogs.

Scout: VISITORS!

Scout is a middle aged mixed breed who needs a lot of exercise. Scout’s owner, Ruth, takes Scout for a long run every day. She and Scout really enjoy agility classes and make a great team.

However, Scout barks at everyone who comes to Ruth’s house. And, he often does not stop once visitors have been there awhile.

Ruth and I set up a time when we could meet to help Scout. Since his problem happened only at home, we made arrangements to meet there. I gave Ruth instructions to crate Scout in a bedroom about 5 to 10 minutes before I arrived. She has a stuffed Kong ready for this.

Once I arrived and Ruth and I chatted about Scout, I asked Ruth to bring Scout out to see me on leash. Ruth has treats ready and as she and Scout approached me, she gave Scout treats for being quiet. I ignored Scout (no eye contact) and sat quietly. After a minute or so, Ruth put Scout back in his crate.

I left the house and then came back in. Once I was seated, Ruth again brought Scout out on leash and treated him for being quiet. Since Scout is not afraid of people, Ruth allowed him to greet me and I gave him a few treats after asking him to sit.

At this point, Scout was behaving very well. He was not trying to get attention from me and was happy to lie quietly on the floor eating another stuffed Kong.

If Scout had continued to bark or would not lie quietly, then Ruth would have put him back in his crate with a Kong and we would have repeated the greeting.

If Scout was afraid of people, we would have added additional steps and I would not have given Scout any treats until her was completely comfortable around me.

In Scout’s case, Ruth needed to manage Scout’s behavior when people arrived and reward good behavior once they were settled. This is fundamental in changing how alert barkers behave towards guests.

Additionally, Scout barks at delivery people. One or two alert barks are OK, but more than that was not. So, Ruth and I worked with Scout on this issue. We did this by rewarding Scout for watching the delivery person approach (this was a person we recruited for the job – a friend). After a few sessions, Scout was able to watch the delivery person approach and then leave with only a couple of barks.

Barking - Part 2

Demand Barking Review: The dog barks at a person in order to get something. This type of barking is very easy to fix. Typical examples of this type of barking are: When playing, the sheltie will bark at the owner to throw the ball or Frisbee again. The barking stops when the play resumes. Some shelties will bark at other shelties to try to initiate play. Some shelties will demand bark when they want attention, food or to go outside.

Dealing with Demand Barking – Do’s and Don’t’s

Do ignore the behavior by turning away from the dog while it is barking and then immediately reward for quiet (treats, praise, throwing the ball, etc).

Don’t yell, speak, or in any way shush the dog. Most demand barkers will consider to this to be rewarding, so the behavior will increase.

Do use appropriate time outs to calm a particularly enthusiastic barker. Times outs are a few minutes in a quiet room or a crate, if the dog is comfortable in a crate. The time out ends when the dog calms down and stops barking.

Don’t use a spray bottle to punish the barking, especially of you use a spray bottle to groom your dogs.

Do practice a Nothing in Life is Free Program (also called Work to Earn) with this type of barker. NILIF gives the dog a job and is easy for owners to implement. A short article on NILIF is included in the newsletter.

Do have clear rules for the dog and a steady schedule.

Don’t use a shock collar, citronella collar or other physical punishment. While these methods can reduce the barking, there is often behavioral fallout from them.

Case Study 1: Bruce, the demand barker

Bruce is a middle aged sheltie who tends to be a calm sheltie, until he becomes excited by something. Bruce does not tend to show much alert barking, but is quite a demand barker, especially for attention, when practicing obedience behaviors and when playing. Bruce’s owner, Chris, contacted me for help.

When playing ball, Bruce would bark constantly at Chris. He had learned that if he barked enough, Chris would throw the ball again, just to get Bruce to be quiet. So, to change this behavior, we needed to change how Bruce would be rewarded. I warned Chris that there would be an extinction burst of barking before Bruce stopped, but that we needed to make sure that we worked through the issue all the way. An extinction burst is when the unwanted behavior increases right before a decrease. It is important not to reward during that increase!

Session 1: First, Chris and I discussed the amount of exercise that Bruce got each day. Exercise is important, but the trick is to find the right amount of exercise. Too little and you get behavioral problems and too much can also cause issues, too. Then we discussed mental exercise. With smart herding breeds like the sheltie, daily mental exercise is important. So, feeding meals out of Kongs, the Kong Wobble, Buster Cubes or other interactive toys can be one way to meet a dog’s mental needs. Practicing obedience behaviors for at least 5 minutes daily is another way to exercise a dog mentally.

Then, Chris and I started playing ball with Bruce. We waited and waited until he stopped barking. The second he stopped barking, we threw the ball. We played ball with Bruce for 30 minutes or so until he would bring the ball back and not bark at all.

We also worked on obedience behaviors that day, since Bruce liked to bark a few times before lying down or paw shaking. So, we gave the cue, waited until Bruce stopped barking and then rewarded the behavior.

Finally, we worked on Bruce’s attention demand barking. This is where Bruce barks at Chris in order to be touched. In this case, Chris had to ignore the barking, just like with the ball, and then immediately reward the quiet with praise and touching.

Between sessions, I asked Chris to practice what we had worked on that day.

Session 2: Chris and I started to play ball with Bruce again. This time, we did not need to wait long at all for Bruce to stop barking. Instead of 5 minutes of barking, he barked once or twice and then stopped. Great! We also reviewed the obedience and attention aspects and Bruce has greatly improved.

Session 3: Bruce now barks about once per throw. Chris is OK with this, so we will allow Bruce one bark. If we did not want that bark, then we would repeat session 1. Instead, we decided to add in a NILIF component to the ball game. This time, we asked Bruce to sit before we threw the ball. We waited until he sat (this can be very hard for some dogs, since ball chasing is very fun) and then immediately threw the ball. Asking for a sit, down, sit-stay or down-stay gives Bruce a job to do besides just chasing the ball. It also teaches impulse control, since he must think about what he is doing.

Now, Chris is happy that Bruce is not constantly barking at her. Their relationship has improved and Chris feels like she can take Bruce to class and actually work with him.

Please note that the names, ages, and breeds of the dogs featured in the case studies have been changed.

Barking - Part 1

Types of Barking

Barking is one of the most common complaints that owners have about their shelties, whether it is a rescue sheltie or not. There are a lot of different types of barking, but I group them into 4 major categories. Any dog can exhibit any of these types of barking—sometimes at the same time. The first part of reducing barking is to identify the type of barking.

Demand barking - The dog barks at a person in order to get something. This type of barking is very easy to fix. Typical examples of this type of barking are: When playing, the sheltie will bark at the owner to throw the ball or Frisbee again. The barking stops when the play resumes. Some shelties will bark at other shelties to try to initiate play.

Some shelties will demand bark when they want attention, food or to go outside.

Alert barking - The dog barks because of something. Typical examples of this type of barking are: Barking at the UPS driver, barking at activity happening in the neighborhood, leash reactivity—barking at things while on leash

Boredom based barking - The dog barks at everything. These dogs do not tend to be fearful, but are very smart and very active.

Fear based barking - The dog barks at a person or thing, but it is fear based. This type of barking often includes the other categories, but also has a fear element. In this case, we train a bit differently than for non-fear based barking issues.

When working with a problem barker, we first need to evaluate the dog, its environment, its health and activity levels and its overall outlook. Then, we need to set up a well-rounded training program, since problem barking is solved through a combination of training and often minor changes in the dog’s household and how its owners interact with the dog.

Next time: Case Study 1: Bruce, the demand barker!