Desensitisation and counter conditioning

I often hear about operant conditioning being used to try to change unwanted behaviour, especially in fearful dogs. 

Asking a dog to Sit or Look at Me while unpleasant things happen is not a good way to help him! Would you sit down in a roomful of spiders?

Remember, Pavlov is always nearby. Asking a dog to do something in the presence of a scary thing could lead to that behaviour actually being associated with the scary thing!

Using food during something the dog finds aversive, scary or unpleasant does not mean you are counter conditioning him! You may even cause an aversion to that particular food/toy or treat – remember Pavlov! Feeding food while something unpleasant happens is NOT counter conditioning.

In order for counter-conditioning to occur (changing an emotional response), the order in which it is carried out is essential.

The scary thing needs to be presented FIRST and at a level that does not provoke a fearful response in the dog, then the high-value food/toy or whatever you’re using FOLLOWS.

The SCARY THING leads to a WONDERFUL thing, not the other way around.

Chin targeting – next steps

Our second session of handling with this lovely girl.  She had never worn a harness or collar before and had never been walked on a lead. 

She really loves her fun training sessions and happily comes to them, so we decided to put on her harness for this session. 

She has already had been desensitised to the harness in other sessions. Due to the ongoing work by Greenpeace Kennels, the harness now has a strong association with going out for off lead time in the paddock which is exactly what we want.

She took a little longer to settle down and engage wearing the harness but soon forgot about it.

In our first session, we used quite jerky hand movements when rewarding – she is very tuned in to everything around her and would often startle to sudden movement or noises.  We wanted to do a little desensitisation to jerky hand movements to reduce her startle response.

This session we used less jerky hand movements but start to introduce touch while keeping her chin down.

The idea of chin targeting is to give the animal a say in what is happening.

• Chin down – you can carry on
• Chin lifted up – please stop, I am unsure or uncomfortable

By giving animals a choice, confidence is built. Remember the four C’s:

Calm, Connection, Choices, Confidence

We began training by using a platform for the chin targeting so that she did not have to come so close, in order to build confidence. 

In the first video below, you will see she is listening (sound removed) to the other dogs barking. It takes her a while to zone those out and concentrate.

In this second clip, you will see my hand flat, out to the side. She needs to see where things are coming from so we begin with the hand in sight.  She tries just holding her chin above the blanket so we wait for full engagement.

When I wiggle my hands you can see her watching from the corner of her eyes but her chin remains down.

In the next video clip, you can see her actually checking out my other hand.  Her ears move back in response to movement but most of the time she chooses to keep her chin down. 

In the video clip below you will see the introduction of touch. We deliberately come from the front, making sure she can see the hand as she can startle to unexpected noises or touch. We want her to enjoy the session while we desensitise her to various touches, especially those that would be used in a veterinary setting.

You will see her lift her chin to look at my hand, so we immediately stop as she is communicating she is unsure. She then firmly presses her chin down to re-engage, saying yes you can continue.

The key to this work is patience and small increments. If we rush at this stage we will make her more unsure.

We always end the session on a positive and she gets her well-earned squirt of liver paste 😊

Once we removed the blanket from my knees she came over to me again but did not attempt to put her chin down.  She has already associated the blanket with the chin targeting game which is exactly what we had hoped. The blanket will be able to be used in various settings now.

Fear, Anxiety and Stress

Barriers to care

Fear, anxiety and stress can be problematic in our dogs. We decided to introduce chin targeting to this gorgeous girl to help ensure future handling, grooming and even veterinary care does not cause fear, anxiety or stress.  These can all be barriers to care.

Fear will not go away on its own or improve as a dog matures. If anything, it will get worse and perhaps even spread to other triggers.

This gorgeous girl arrived in rescue very nervous and found new things overwhelming. Through patience, time, and fear-free methods, her confidence is growing. She has already grown used to wearing a harness – something she had never done before and is much more relaxed around people.  However, we know that future handling, particularly in a Veterinary setting, could become problematic so we decided to introduce fear-free co-operative care.

Efforts to protect a dog’s emotional wellbeing begin away from potentially stress-inducing situations, setting the dog up for success and allowing co-operative participation rather than the need to resort to force!

As she is prone to react to sudden noises we decided not to use a clicker. Instead, we use a quiet verbal marker – Yes. The goal of our session is to create a feels good feeling.

Chin targeting is a trained behaviour in which the dog remains in place during an examination, handling, or procedures. We aim to build long-duration targeting of a specific body part (chin) onto a target area (bed) so care can take place. These behaviours may also be called passive cooperative care behaviours.

We begin training using a raised platform with a specific bed.  This allows her to engage in a non-threatening way, without having to come too close to a person.  The bed can then be used in various situations. It is essential to ensure the right height is used to avoid causing discomfort from overstretching or having to lower her head.

The video below shows her learning to approach.  The moment her chin touches the bed, it is marked with a verbal Yes and a treat is delivered.  Occasionally treats are gently thrown away from the bed to get her moving and give the opportunity of choice. Each time, you will see she chooses to engage in the game again.

We gave her a break and scattered tiny treats around the room for her to find.  During the break, she kept returning to me to see if the game was still on offer.

The next step was to introduce the bed onto my lap which required her to come much closer.  Because she already had the feels really good factor about the bed, she quickly began to engage again.

You can actually see her pause to think!  Each time, she chooses to place her chin down and we are already building duration!