Helping Maggie cope with her fears
Background: Maggie is the happiest dog in the world at the dogpark or on a dog-friendly hike in nature. But she has always been noise sensitive and very reactive in town settings. And it has been getting worse, particularly after getting Henry. He's cool as a cucumber but I think Maggie feels some obligation to protect him. It has gotten to the point where she can be too nervous to even pee in the backyard at night. She's afraid mostly of noises -- trucks, buses, construction sounds, traffic, etc. But she's also nervous when people and/or dogs on leash approach. My old approach had been to model taking it all in stride and tell her confidently she's OK while walking through whatever situation. Maggie was distracted/inattentive but ok. . . until she wasn't. She would suddenly unexpectedly lunge at people or dogs - sometimes. Not all the time. It seemed unpredictable to me. Judy and Val in St. Louis saw this when we were at a sidewalk restaurant. She put herself into the most protected corner and would lunge if someone came near the table.  I know this really great trainer/behaviorist we've worked with in the past so I brought her in to work with Maggie one on one for a few weeks and then this week, I got to see them in session together. She said that Maggie's outbursts were not at all unexpected -- it was that she was spending all of her energies trying so hard to keep it together and then something would be the final straw and all of her anxieties would come out. Poor Maggie! She says that it is her opinion that Maggie is never going to be a dog who is happy or at ease in a sidewalk or outdoor cafe situation (she's just wired to be a nervous dog) but that we can work to help her learn coping skills so she can do the things I need her to be able to do. New Harness. The first thing she suggested was to use a harness that has both a front attachment and also a rear martingale style attachment. I have a leash that has connectors at both ends. That keeps her physically in control. The new approach: Maggie tends to freeze when she notices something scary. We let her stop and study the situation. For example, we were approaching a street where there was a guy doing construction on a house. She heard the noise and got nervous and froze. We let her stop and study the situation without saying anything. As soon as she exhibited a calming signal, such as turning her head away, sniffing the ground, licking her nose or "shaking it off", we then encouraged her to turn and walk away to get distance from the scary thing. The idea is that distance from the scary thing is a reward. She gets the reward when she does something calming. While she's frozen - no reward. We had to wait and she would always offer up a calming signal. She was then really happy to move away from it. Then we turn back and approach again and do the same thing. The thing that was magical was that each time, Maggie would go a little bit closer to the scary thing. We probably went back and forth 4-5 times and then eventually, she went to the scary intersection with a big smile on her face. It was amazing. And then, she saw something new that scared her (guy sawing wood) and we did it all over again. The key is not to reward her when she is doing the nervous thing -- freezing, lunging, or pulling to get away. She gets to stop and focus and then gets rewarded when she makes the effort to calm herself. As an aside, if you haven't read "Calming Signals" it is a fascinating read and really useful to know. This is not an approach to use when there is someplace you need to go. But it is something I can do with her in minor chunks of time and help her develop confidence in approaching things because she knows that she will be allowed to retreat. It is also something I can do offleash at home when she hears a scary sound. I just have to pay attention and reward her when she attempts to calm herself. I think it is really helping because she is looking at me alot more on our walks (it used to be so hard to get her attention) and she is also smiling alot more too.  |
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| Valerie~~ I have the same issues with Coz. And I love the information and the reasoning behind it. It makes perfect sense and I will be trying it on Coz. Coz is such a sweet boy, but since we got him at 6 months old, he has always been skittish and unsettled when we have visitors. I can honestly say, that he has gotten better with age, but he is no where near the relaxed, happy, joyful personalities of Heart and Pearl. It's almost like he WANTS to be OK.....and there are times I can see he is happy being 'normal'..but then his fears take over. I am sad that he cannot be a happy pup~ and I am always trying ..I can't give up on him ~~ I know somewhere deep inside him, he CAN be !!! Again, thanks for the tips...any other suggestions, please post and I will be reading it~~~~~  |
| Thanks for sharing this, Val. Fortunate for us, Bumble loves people and is good with other dogs he can see. Is there a picture of the harness you're using? I've got one for Kaytee that has a front loop but I haven't seen the rear martingale attachment. Quote: The key is not to reward her when she is doing the nervous thing I was kind of doing that with walks but maybe the wrong way. On a walk, as we head home or back to the car, he'll start to really pull. I think he wants the security of home or the car. So I change directions and walk away from home/the car again. He's usually walking very close to my side, pressing into my leg as we do this... maybe trying to turn me around. I then turn back toward home/the car. If the pulling starts again, I change directions again for a bit, then head back toward home/the car. Each time I tell him "walk nice". So I was rewarding his "walk nice" with continued steps toward home. So it looks like I need to try to do this as we go toward something he's nervous about and watch for the calming signals. But like I said, put another dog with him and he's more at ease. I've read about the calming signals before but have not used them to desensitize or try to help a dog get through his/her fears. I want to go this over more when I have a little more time over the weekend. |
| This is the harness. They actually both walk beautifully with it. And the colors are nice. Henry has burgundy and Maggie has purple. I know exactly what you mean about pulling towards home and I've always done the same thing. I stop and if the pulling doesn't stop, I back up and, if needed, turn around. When there's slack, we keep going. People waiting at the dog park think I am nuts but I will not let them drag me to the park. A couple of reversals and they walk very nicely. And on a normal quiet walk, they stick right by me. In the training, we've been focused on the pulling to get away from the scary thing -- not pulling towards the safe or fun thing. I'll ask her about it and let you know what she says. |
sheepieshake wrote: Valerie~~ It's almost like he WANTS to be OK.....and there are times I can see he is happy being 'normal'..but then his fears take over. I am sad that he cannot be a happy pup~ and I am always trying ..I can't give up on him ~~ I know somewhere deep inside him, he CAN be !!! I know what you mean! I know that Maggie wants to feel ok and she is constantly doing things to try and soothe herself. . . but she is really jumpy and fearful. And sometimes her unexpected bursts of barking stress me out. But I am really trying to learn how better to help her. And she seems to appreciate it because she is being extra smiley and cuddly. I love my sweet, complicated girl!  |
| Thanks, Val! I'll be trying one soon  |
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