Does your deaf dog react to cars, bikes, scooters, other dogs, or people while out walking? Does your deaf dog  bark hysterically, pull on the leash, or jump up on you in response to these things while outside? If these questions are something your dog struggles with, this post is for you!

The answer is to use the tools of desensitization and counter conditioning to change your deaf dog’s conditioned emotional response (CER) –aka his reaction– to the situation.

DESENSITIZATION: What does it mean?

Desensitization is working at a pace that your dog is comfortable. How do you determine this pace? You will know that your dog is relaxed when he does not react inappropriately. If he responds by barking, lunging, or freezing this means that you are moving too fast, too close, or too soon.  Your dog will provide feedback in the form of his body language. If his behaivor indicates stress you need to make it easier for him to be successfully calm.

What does it look like in action?

Let’s say when your dog sees other dogs he pulls on the leash, barks incessantly, or otherwise demonstrates behaivors which indicate anxiety. You want to begin at a distance where he does not react in this manner.

This might mean parking at the far end of the parking lot, remaining in the car, and watching and waiting for a dog to pass far away in the distance. If your dog responds with the unwanted behaviors you are too close and need to move further back. 

When your dog can calmly look at the object of his anxiety—in this case a dog—and respond peacefully you will know you have begun at the right distance away. 

COUNTER CONDITIONING: What does it mean?

Counter conditioning is pairing something that your deaf dog finds high value and worthwhile—like a yummy treat—with the potentially scary “trigger” object. The order is key when doing this. You want the scary “trigger” to predict the treat vs. the other way around. This point is an important one to make sure to grasp as you don’t want treats to begin to predict the scary trigger.

What does it look like in action?

To use our dog reactive example, while incorporating desensitization and starting at a distance that your dog can respond calmly and remain below threshold, pair the sight of another dog with a meatball. 

In other words, your dog sees a dog without reacting and you immediately pop a meatball into his mouth. Over time your deaf dog will begin to associate the sight of another dog (or which ever other trigger we are talking about such as a car, bike, stroller, etc.) with good things occurring.

The next step is to cue or mark and reinforce an alternative behavior. This means that your dog sees the other dog and orients back to you. Often times the error that people make here is trying to ask for something too difficult. Skipping the first part above folks try to ask for a behavior like a “sit” and frequently cue the sit at a distance that is also too close. The dog can’t respond because he is already reacting to the trigger and many times people are at a loss as to how to handle the situation.

Instead, try an easier behavior such as your dog turning to focus on you. Mark and reinforce your dog turning back to you. This way the sight of another dog (or other trigger) becomes the cue for your dog to orient towards you. Now instead of barking, lunging, or pulling, your deaf dog will perform the incompatible behavior of focusing his attention on you instead. Be sure to you mark and reinforce this alternative behavior which you want to see more often.

To imagine what the whole scenario looks like, consider that you start off at the end of the parking lot (desensitization). Your deaf dog sees another dog and turns to you and you give your starfish hand flash (marker) and deliver a meatball (reinforcer). Viola! This new replacement reaction becomes more reinforcing and over time turns into your dog’s default response.

BEHAVIOR THAT IS REINFORCED IS REPEATED!

Eventually this new behavior will replace your deaf dog’s previous undesirable reaction. Think of every new chance to practice as an opportunity where you have the chance to get another rehearsal of the version of the behavior you want to see repeated. Keep in mind that patience and consistency will be the keys to turning this preferred reaction into your dog’s default behavior!

Does your Deaf Dog like to chase your cat? Can you safely change this interaction? Often people end up with advice which might make the situation worse. Here is a training solution which works!

MANAGE:

Step one is to set everyone up for safety and success. This means that you want to employ management procedures to avoid your deaf dogs practicing this unwanted behavior. Using crates (if your dog voluntarily will go into his crate), baby gates, and/or tethering him to you with a leash are easy ways to avoid continued rehearsals of the behavior that you don’t want to see continue. 

PAIR:

Step two is to pair the sight of the cat with something positive. This way your dog begins to associate your cat with good things. There are two key points to this step. The first is to be sure that you give your dog a treat before he reacts to the cat. That is, when he first sees the cat, but before he begins to vocalize or pull (*key) pop a high value, soft treat in his mouth. This way the sight of the cat starts to equate to a yummy treat. 

The second key point is that you want to be sure that your deaf dog sees the cat before you give him the treat. The order is important as you want “scary cat” to equal yummy treat…not the other way around. Eventually when your dog sees a cat, the cat predicts a treat. Now your deaf dog will begin to look forward to a cat appearing.

REINFORCE:

The final step is when you mark and reinforce an alternative response to the cat. Instead of seeing the cat and beginning to bark, jump, howl, or chase instead you want your deaf dog to see the cat and turn to you! This behavior of orienting to you instead of the less desirable response is what you will reinforce.

It looks like this: deaf dog sees cat and turns to look at you. You mark and reinforce with a high value, tiny, soft treat. Your dog has now just learned that orienting towards you is much more worthwhile than bothering with the cat. Over time this new response to the cat should become your dog’s default behavior. 

With this in mind, work on consistently building this new skill set. Remember to:

• Manage the environment to set everyone up for success
• Pair calm cat interactions with high value treats
• Reinforce alternative behaviors you want to see repeated

Soon your deaf dog and cat reactions will be relaxed and mellow and allow for peaceful co-existace in your home!

If you’d like more help, please contact Positive Animal Wellness for one on one assistance.

Moose’s mom’s chart showing progress over time/Moose relaxing during a SA exercise!

Separation anxiety is a panic disorder associated with your dog feeling anxious, stressed, and afraid when left alone. Each dog may manifest this anxiety differently. However, the hormonal and neuro-chemical processes which occur when fear and/or anxiety are triggered means that your dog is unable to control his resulting behavior. 

Have your neighbors complained about your dog barking when you aren’t home? Do you return to find shoes, pillows, couches, or walls chewed up? Does your dog become stressed when you begin to get ready to leave the house?

These could be indicators that your pup might be suffering from separation anxiety. With true separation anxiety a dog is only comfortable with one specific person, however a more common scenario is where the dog is relaxed as long as there is (any) human accessible. This version is known as isolation distress, however also falls under the umbrella term separation anxiety.

Getting Started

To begin, the good news is that separation anxiety work is done remotely—as to be present changes the dynamics of the situation. A computer, wifi connection, and smart phone are all the tools and technology needed to get under way.

Step one is to do an assessment. This enables you to determine the starting point. It allows you to decide where to begin the training. The next step is to manage the situation so that your dog is not left alone for longer than he can handle. This is important in preventing rehearsals of the unwanted behavior while working on the problem. Finally, step three is a carefully crafted program of desensitization. To recap: 

1. 1. 1. Assess
      2. Manage
      3. Desensitize

An assessment is generally done via a platform such as Zoom or Skype. The goal of the assessment is to determine the point where your dog demonstrates an escalation in anxiety .  Now  you know where to start with the desensitization process. 

Management can be comprised of many collaborative components. Doggy day care, pet sitters, neighbors, and friends can help in avoiding more alone time than your dog can currently calmly handle while you work on the issue. 

Lastly, helping your pup to feel more confident and comfortable when by himself is possible via a specific program of desensitization. This means very, very, very slowly you will begin to build alone time duration. You’ll work at a pace that your dog dictates via his body language responses.

At the start it might be desensitizing to your movements—before you even leave the house. Later it may mean working in increments of seconds, then minutes before gradually putting those seconds and minute blocks of time together to get to real, appreciable absences. 

Desensitizing to micro-criteria breaks may look something like this:

Noting and working on pre-departure cues (PDQs) is a key factor too.  Your dog may start to feel anxious before you even leave while you begin getting ready to depart. Exposing your pup slowly and intermittently to the relevant PDQs and adjusting criteria in tiny increments can eventually lead to a dog who is relaxed for longer and longer durations.

Working as a team includes liaising with your veterinarianalso. Often a combination of medication plus behavior modification can help to yield the results you are seeking. The goal of medication  is not to sedate the dog, but  to allow your dog to relax enough to be able to gain some traction on the behavior modification protocol.

Resolution is generally reached via a lengthy process. But, in the end you will feel less trapped and isolated and more calm and confident in the fact that the chronic anxiety often associated with separation anxiety will be replaced by peace in your home.

If your dog is struggling when alone, you can schedule a brief 30 minute (no cost) consult to discuss how I can help! 

https://positiveanimalwellness.com/separation-anxiety/