Counter Conditioning

I have said I do not want this blog to be like a training manual, but I did want to do a post about the main technique I have used to help Ben feel better around other dogs. I will share my experience of using counter conditioning with you because it is a method that helps tremendously. Initially it needs to be really steady and short training sessions.

I started using this technique on street walks as I knew we would not have to contend with off lead dogs. I used treats he doesn't have at home so it was extra exciting for him. When we came across a dog and he looked at it I gave him a few treats, and said 'good boy' as I fed him the treats. After about 3 days of doing this he caught on that the sight of another dog equals a treat. So then he started looking at me after looking at another dog. So, dog walking on the other side of the street, Ben looks at the dog then looks at me, Ben gets a nice tasty treat. Sounds simple enough and this stage was, its very easy to manage situations with street walks as you can cross the road to get some distance. Ben was always generally okay upon sight of another dog in the distance and this is why I started with street walking because I knew he would not be over his threshold. In terms of threshold, this is the point where the dog starts to react to another dog or something else they don't like or are scared of. So I had to make sure he was under threshold (relaxed) so I could associate another dog to a nice tasty treat, to teach him that when he sees another dog it doesn't mean he has to be scared or stressed, it means he gets a reward. If he were to react at a dog whether it was barking, hackles up or a growl, I did not speak to him, I just carried on. The behaviourist advised that as long as 80% of his interactions with other dogs are positive, then it would still help him.

Once I was sure he was associating another dog with getting a treat, it was then time to move onto distance and other situations. I would sit in the car with him in a car park of a busy dog walking area, and upon seeing a dog coming off the park or going on, I would reward him as long as he was relaxed. I also taught him the 'touch' command so I would put my hand out flat and tell him to touch it with his nose and then reward. This was a good distraction technique.

The difficulty came with increasing the distance to another dog as this meant I was needing to go onto fields and parks. This is where I struggled because off lead dogs would run up to him, when he was on lead and it would make him go over threshold. I got quite frustrated on occasion and have had a few arguments with other dogs owners trying to explain that they should put their dog on lead if they see another dog on the lead, its common courtesy. I remember thinking I would never get anywhere because I could not control every situation around me in order to keep Ben below threshold. I needed to get closer to dogs and reward Ben for being relaxed, but it was risky. Every time an off lead dog came running over and he reacted, it almost felt like I was going back to square one. This is what led me to look at other training methods, reading things on the internet and getting advice from others with reactive dogs.

I had trained the basic principle of counter conditioning, Ben knew he would be rewarded upon sight of another dog, he would stay below threshold if the other dog was in control on lead and around 10 metres away. I now needed to figure out how to get him nearer to other dogs gradually, but without the risk of off lead dogs coming bounding over to him.