Dog Training: Treating Reactivity, Part 2
The Case of Oddy, The Miniature Schnauzer
This Is Not Oddy
Converting Stress Into Flow
My interpretation of the Natural Dog Training model of canine behavior and learning is pretty simple. First, dogs experience the world through feelings of attraction and resistance. They’re attracted to things like the park, their dinner bowls, their toys, their doggie friends, and their owners. This can be easily seen by the way a dog will approach or move in a straight line towards the things she likes. Even when a dog is chasing a Frisbee or a squirrel or a tennis ball, she’ll always follow the most direct track. On the other hand, when dogs feel resistance to things, like going to the vet’s office, strange people, or aggressive dogs, they tend to either move away from them or move toward them, but in a wide curve rather than a direct line.
Natural Dog Training also describes internal and external stimuli as actual, tangible physical forces that create an emotional charge, felt in the dog’s body, motivating him to act to reduce the physical and emotional impact of those forces. The stronger the charge, the more motivated the dog is to reduce his sudden feelings of tension, pressure or stress.
This means that the purpose of any behavior is always the same: to offload excess energy by converting unpleasant feelings of tension, pressure and stress into feelings of emotional flow. If a dog can’t do that, then the charge is stored in his body as unresolved emotion, either suppressed by the dog himself or repressed by an outside agent such as the owner or trainer.
So the key to solving any behavioral problem—especially reactivity—is always the same: find a way to facilitate a safe, pleasurable release of the dog’s blocked emotional energy. In other words, help the dog convert stress into flow. Acting dominant doesn’t do that. Neither do positive reinforcement or desensitization techniques. In my experience, the only ways to do that are to either give the dog a safe outlet for his pent-up emotions, usually through biting toys in play, or else you have to facilitate a deep emotional connection with the dog so that you and he become part of the same emotional flow system, enabling you to absorb some of the dog’s stress. [1] [2]
Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You…
I previously described the case of a miniature schnauzer named Oddy (short for Odysseus) on my Canine PTSD blog, found here. Essentially, he and his “sister,” Penny (Penelope) were attacked suddenly on the streets of Hong Kong by a much bigger dog. Penny’s wounds were life-threatening. Oddy’s weren’t. Yet Oddy developed clear-cut symptoms of PTSD—including reactivity towards some other dogs, and predatory aggression toward roller-bladers, joggers, and cyclists, etc.—while Penny remained, for the most part, a happy-go-lucky doggie.
When I met them for the first time, Penny was happy to see me, but Oddy was a bit uncertain and barky. So as soon as the human introductions were over, I sat on the floor and held out some treats for both doggies to take. Penny took them right away. Oddy was still unsure about me but didn’t want to miss out on the action.
1) Coming down to the dog’s level (optional, depending on the dog).
I did my intake assessment, got a clear picture of what was troubling Oddy, found out that Penny loved to play fetch and tug; Oddy didn’t. And I outlined a plan of action where I would take Oddy out for training walks of about an hour or so each day, which included feeding Oddy outdoors in the late morning, using “The Pushing Exercise.” I recommended that the owners to do the same for Oddy’s evening meals.
2) The Pushing Exercise (essential).
My goal was to “re-puppify” Oddy, meaning I wanted him to regain his youthful playfulness, which, in my experience, is the most effective way to treat reactivity as well as PTSD. My general rule is: “The harder a dog can bite a toy in play a) the easier it is to get him to obey and b) the sooner his behavioral problems will go away.”
Since Oddy had experience being walked by several dog walkers, it wasn’t too difficult for him to adjust to a new one—meaning me. However, to make sure that Oddy felt comfortable with me, I used treats to teach him to jump up to my knee on command, as well as a game where the dog jumps up and I back-pedal, encouraging him to stay up on his back legs as I move backwards. These two exercises create a strong feeling of social attraction, which is very helpful in establishing an emotional bond with the dog.
3) Jumping Up on Command and “Dance With Me” (extremely important).
Once the dog has learned to enjoy these two exercises, I build on it even more by finding an open space where the dog and I can run around. I tease the dog with some treats (or a toy, if he’s interested in toys). I invite him to jump up, but before he can make contact, I run away, encouraging him to chase me. This does two things: it intensifies his desire to connect to me, physically and emotionally, and lays a foundation for a killer recall.
4) Forming a bond with the dog/increasing his social attraction (essential).
Oddy lived in an apartment tower with two main elevators and lots of other dogs coming and going on a regular basis. For dogs with any kind of anxiety or nervous tension you need to be on guard for an emotional explosion (barking, lunging) if another dog should suddenly appear when any doors in the building open. One way of changing this dynamic is that whenever you’re going through any door—the apartment door, the elevator door, the front door of the building—you should teach the dog to respond to three cues:
“Wait…” (the dog stops momentarily from forging ahead through the doorway),
“Ready…?” (the dog anticipates going through the door), and
“Okay!” (the dog is allowed to go through the door with you).
This can be seen as basic manners; I see it as learning impulse control. (You can also use this series of steps to introduce your dog to another dog he meets on his walks. “Wait…” “Ready…?” “Okay, say hello…!”)
5) Wait… Ready..? Okay! (essential).
Using all of the above steps you can gradually teach the dog two important things: 1) to listen and obey under conditions that would normally be hard for the dog, and 2) to trust you, because you’re not making things too difficult for him. That will come later, during the next phase…
Lee Charles Kelley
“Life Is an Adventure—Where Will Your Dog Take You?”
Footnotes:
1) Believe it or not, I think this is one of the ways Cesar Millan gets his effects with dogs, although I think in his case he’s not absorbing the dog’s stress and converting it into flow—which is what I try to do—he’s kind of feeding off it.
2) Kevin Behan, the creator of Natural Dog Training teaches seminars on "How to become an extension of your dog’s mind, by teaching the dog that you are an extension of his body. It’s a process of entrainment, augmented by proficiency in the 5 core exercises.”
