Fear not! Practical advice for helping your scaredy dog

Reprinted with permission from Journal Newspapers.

Last month I introduced a method for eliminating unwanted canine behavior: Dogs Do What Works. DDWW is effective because dogs learn by consequences – rewarding behavior repeats, and unrewarding behavior disappears. Although DDWW will serve you well in most cases, dogs also learn another way: by association.

One of my favorite examples of association learning, also known as classical or Pavlovian conditioning, is the reaction my dogs have to coffee stands. In the car one day, I became aware of them leaning forward from the back seat and drooling expectantly on my shoulder. I was confused until I realized I had just turned into the parking lot of my favorite drive thru coffee stand, where the staff gives my dogs du jour a biscuit. Having experienced the drive thru/biscuit association enough times, my dogs were salivating in anticipation of receiving their cookies. This is the crux of classical conditioning: a neutral stimulus (in this case, the coffee stand) can come to elicit the same reaction as an inherently meaningful stimulus (in this case, food) after the former consistently predicts the latter.

This knowledge is crucial to making headway with an upset dog. Pretend your dog is frightened of men in baseball caps. Whenever your pup spots a Mariner’s fan, she feels anxious and kicks into flight or fight mode, attempting to create distance by running away or displaying aggressive behavior to get the scary person to move away.

Using classical conditioning, you can change your dog’s feelings about men in baseball caps, and all it takes is a little planning and adequate timing. Before you head out on a walk, fill a plastic baggie with a delectable doggie treat, such as tiny slices of cheese, deli meat or baked chicken. Your goal is to make this delicacy appear immediately after your dog spies a man in a cap (or anything else that scares her). So, man in a cap appears and you dole out extra special treats one by one until the man is out of sight. Soon, your dog will see a man in a cap and feel how she feels when she’s eating baked chicken – oh so good! Always be sure that the sight of the scary person comes before the chicken is introduced; if not, the predictive association is lost and learning won’t occur the way you intend.

While you are working through fears with your dog, it’s very important to keep her in her comfort zone, or bubble. If a man in a hat stands outside the bubble, your dog may be a bit nervous but she’ll still eat treats and isn’t in a full state of panic. However, if the man crosses into the bubble, your dog abandons everything except her desire to get away. When in a state of terror, your dog cannot learn, and who can blame her? So, keep feared items outside your dog’s bubble, with the goal of gradually making the bubble smaller as the conditioning begins to have an affect. As your dog becomes more and more comfortable with the person or thing she previously feared, you can gradually increase her proximity and possibly even invite your dog to interact with the person.

There is a catch. Your dog’s learning mechanisms are operating together at all times, so she is learning both by association and by consequence. In the example above, if your dog growls to express her discomfort, it is very likely that the person she fears will walk away. Your dog then learns that growling works (remember DDDW) to get people to leave, and is apt to resort to growling more often in the future. Although counterintuitive, you should not punish your dog for growling; without a warning growl, your dog will hold in her feelings until forced to snap, lunge or bite. Changing her emotional state via classical conditioning is a much safer and more effective way to eliminate aggression caused by fear. So, when your fearful dog growls, note that you have pushed her outside her comfort zone and immediately increase the distance between her and the thing she fears.

For more information: “The Cautious Canine” by Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. and www.fearfuldogs.com.

Amanda Brothers is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer and owner of Sidekick Dog Training in Bothell. She can be reached at (206) 849-8921 or visit www.sidekickdogtraining.com.