Reactivity Outdoors

I do understand the intensity of the reactions people often describe to us. Dogs may exhibit some distress at being separated form owner, a dog's lifeline. The same dogs may exhibit fear aggression toward other dogs/other people. From what such owners have described, I don't necessarily perceive that to be territorial aggression. Here's an illustration of a dog who was very reactive when outdoors.  Click the "read more" link below.

What I'll propose to modify that behavior takes some real effort in the very beginning, but the dog makes such rapid progress that any owner is heartened to see the changes and willingly complies.

I had one young foster collie here for a while who, when he first  arrived, was intensely fearful of environmental stimuli outdoors -- *any* stimuli, such as a leaf blowing. We could attribute some of that reactivity to just arriving at a new home and being a bit unsure of himself, but this behavior seemed really extreme. I gather that you other dogs owners may feel similarly about your dogs' very reactive behaviors.

I chose to reward incompatible behavior. Reward calm, even just seconds of calm. We need to help the dog build up a reward
history of calm behavior, but we do it in tiny baby steps.

When working with Danny, I did *not* send him into the yard; I took him instead. He needed my physical presence, and he also needed to learn that the yard was "mine." <grin> If he could have 5 seconds without barking, he earned a reward (coming back indoors again for a dog cookie treat, which he loved). Then out we would go again. Perhaps this time he could stay 10 seconds without barking, then back indoors again for a reward. Stay inside perhaps 15 minutes, then I'd take him out again. In order to reward an alternate behavior, it was important for me to intervene *before* he had a chance to start barking.

Now, during this week's plan, a couple of times I goofed on the timing. He began his intense, frantic siren-like howl/bark while still outdoors. So I grabbed hold of the leash and unceremoniously brought him indoors again for a brief time-out. As it happened, I didn't have a utility room to put him in, so I simply used his dog crate. Put him in his crate, without saying a word, and left the room for 5 to 10 minutes.

Then I'd come back, ask if he wanted to go out, open the crate, leash him up and out we would go to try again. Within only about 3 to 4 days, Danny was able to extend his time in the yard alone, by himself, to 10 minutes and then to 20 minutes. He plateaued there for a while. That's okay. That was the limit of what he could tolerate outside in the yard alone at that time. I was extremely consistent in rewarding him every time he managed to be in the yard without barking.

A side benefit was that if Danny saw something really scary, he didn't bark but simply trotted to the side door to come indoors. That's okay.

Then over the next few weeks, he gained more and more confidence when outdoors. He began to make some friends. This was a dog who had never had a yard before. A little history. He'd been lost or abandoned as a youngster. A Good Samaritan found him by the roadside with a broken rear leg and took him to the vet clinic. At that time, the vet assessed him to be about five months old. He recovered from his injury swiftly, but I think the remnants of being alone and frightened were very strongly imprinted in this dog.

Danny's progress was remarkable!  His yard barking behavior diminished so rapidly one could actually chart it. If there were thirty incidents in one day initially, then after approximately five days practice, as I outlined above, his barking episodes had diminished to no more than once a day.  Soon that , too, was extinguished.  The behavior was gone and it did not begin again.  I'll grant you that maybe he made such good progress because he had a great temperament underneath. Perhaps so. But I also think that rewarding an alternate behavior was the important key to resolving that problem.

For the other part of the concern pet owners describe, fear reaction to strangers, the dogs don't yet know that strangers can be friends when we meet them one at a time.  Dr. Patricia McConnell's booklet, "The Cautious Canine: Helping Your Dog To Overcome Its Fears"? would be a really good start for you. It's available from dog wise. http://www.dogwise.com/

Fear aggression is quite a common thing in dogs, and I imagine it would be common in the herding dogs. German Shepherd Dogs and Australian Shepherds, for instance, are genetically programmed to be alert to anything strange in the surrounding environment. If they were not, they would lack the ability to attend to their flocks.

So let's just say, from a breed's heritage, there may be a natural sort of suspiciousness until your dog has a chance to get to know someone. She may be the type of dog who aggresses first and asks questions later, an offense as defense strategy, is the way Jean Donaldson describes it in "Dogs Are From Neptune."

We want to help your dog learn that her plan doesn't work, that barking and aggressing does *not* cause other people to go away. It'd be wonderful if you could enlist some dog-training friends to help your effort. Then arrange a dog-training date. Friend comes by, but remains at a distance of perhaps 20 yards from your house. The friend may walk on a path at right angles, so she never faces your dog or comes closer to it, while you offer luscious food treats to your dog. Friend could be on a sidewalk across the street, for instance.

Make sure your dog is still at her comfort distance, alert but not growling. Then when friend comes into view, start stuffing some good roast beef or little bits of cubed cheese. I've even used spoonfuls of canned Mighty Dog food. Whatever gets those gastric juices flowing. Keep the first exposure brief, for a few seconds only, then stop feeding, turn her around, and walk home again or go into the house with her.

This part of the approach to desensitization takes repeated practice. First, simply work with exposing her to one new person at a time, several repeats over the days until she begins to relax just a tad. Then start decreasing the distance. Soon you'll be able to stand still, keep handing her some luscious food treats to eat, and begin to carry on a conversation with the other person while your dogis present. Make sure that close contact is of short duration. Leave that close contact while your dog is still relaxed, in a happy frame of mind.

Then very gradually up the criteria by exposing her to another new person, such as another neighbor. When you raise one criteria for this desensitization effort, you need to lower another. So, when iyour dog will view a new stranger for the first time, go back to the increased distance from the subject of her fears. Over a few days, begin to decrease the distance again, but do not yet increase the duration of the exposure. Always try to quit while your dog is succeeding. That's how you start building that reward history for her: good things happen for for your dog in the presence of other people. Good things (luscious food treats) stop when other people leave/ are no longer in view.

Pretty soon your dog will learn that whther other people come into her view or not is not this dog's decision to make. She'll learn that she *can* handle things and need not react.

With the reactive fear-aggressive dogs that I take in for foster care, I actively seek out opportunities to practice, instead of avoiding them. Each new stranger is a learning opportunity, hurrah! This process is called classical conditioning -- that is, the pairing of two things, which helps the dog to associate good
things (food) with seeing other people.

Just for clarification: the other people aren't the ones who do the feeding. The owner is the one stuffing the food treats. This method really works!!!

During these days, also use reward-based training to teach your dog some basic skills, -- i.e., rewarding  her whenever she is calm in the house, when she settles on her own. Try really hard to notice any behaviors at all from her that you may reward. That will increase her confidence in the relationship and also help her to learn your expectations.

I've seen dogs make tremendous and rapid progress when using these approaches to behavior modification and training.

Best wishes,.

© 4/15/2001. Barbara D. Brill, Reward Training, North Chili, NY. All rights reserved. No further reproduction permitted without express written consent.