
You’ve reached out looking for In-Home Dog Training sessions for your dog’s reactive or hyper-aroused behavior. Over the phone you were convinced to start with a virtual consultation prior to in home lessons. Now you’re second guessing whether this is the right training for your dog. After all, doesn’t the trainer need to see the behavior in order to understand what they’re up against?
You Know Your Dog, We Know Behavior
The reality is that WE BELIEVE YOU when you describe your dog’s problematic behavior! You and your dog definitely have a unique and special relationship. The motivations and expression of behavior, on the other hand, generally falls into stereotypic patterns. Your trainer can rely on the experiences they’ve accumulated over the years. There’s no need to stress your dog out in order to see the behavior problem. We know their behavior stresses you out, too! Going forward we want to avoid putting you and your dog in those stressful, frustrating situations.
Your Time is Valuable!
Help us make the most of the short time we have together. Keep your dog calm so we minimize the time waiting for your dog to decompress after a stress reaction. You pay a lot for our attention and expertise. A virtual consult minimizes exposure to stress. Meanwhile, we effectively educate you to set your dog up for success. We won’t waste time on needless behavior outbursts. Our goal is to never see the behavior you called about. This means your dog learns effectively during our training sessions and you receive the best return on investment!
The Motivation for Behavior
Barking, lunging, playing tug of war with the leash, etc. are behavioral responses to stress. Your dog is under the influences of a release of chemicals into their blood stream. Adrenaline, Norepinephrine, and cortisol are designed to help your dog survive in life-or-death situations. Your dog literally thinks their life is in danger! It doesn’t matter that you know they’re not. By the time you see the problematic behavior, the opportunity to teach the alternate behavior has already passed.
Time is of the Essence
All those stress hormones pumping through their body is going to take hours or even days to leave their system. Every bout of reactivity is a setback. Let’s keep them in the right state of mind from the beginning. There’s no reason to start from a deficit just to see the behavior. Exposing them to the thing that stresses them out is harmful to the training plan. First, learn how to mitigate potential stress and avoid making their behavior worse.
Attempting to suppress your dog’s behavior by chastising or leash popping adds discomfort to an already stressed dog. The anxiety they associate with the trigger then becomes associated with you, as well. Effective punishment reduces the frequency of behavior almost immediately with little fallout. If you keep utilizing the same ineffective methods, eventually your dog may lash out violently and dangerously.
A Cry for Help
When your dog reacts to triggers, they are expressing a need for space or time to decompress. Often the motivation of their reaction is due to fear or frustration. They’re letting you know that they are in over their heads and don’t know how to swim. You can anticipate your dog’s reaction long before you see the behavior you’re trying to eliminate. Pushing your dog over the deep end teaches them that no one has their back.
Behavior Serves a Purpose
While your dog’s initial outburst was instinctual or reflexive, they quickly learned that their behavior reduces the perceived threat. Repeated behaviors such as barking or lunging are reinforced behaviors. Your dog has learned that their outburst works to keep them safe! Placing your dog in stressful situations will continue to reinforce the behavior you seek to eliminate. Either way, the answer is to avoid situations you see the behavior you want to modify. Then we’ll teach your dog an alternate behavior.
Why is My Dog Reacting?
We never actually know exactly how your dog feels about certain triggers. We’re dog trainers, not psychics, after all. All we do is read the subtle signals your dog exhibits that warn about a larger reaction. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter exactly why your dog is behaving poorly. All behavior falls on a spectrum that ranges from calm, cool, and collected to out of control and potentially violent. It’s important to intervene BEFORE they reach the point where you see the behavior problem.
Generally speaking, though, reactivity or biting is rooted in fear or frustration. Putting your dog into a state of fear or frustration reinforces behaviors they’re currently using to cope with their feelings. If we want to change your dog’s response to triggers, it’s important to teach them that they have alternatives. They can only learn this when they’re calm.
Treating Reactivity Proactively
Creating long lasting behavior changes means recognizing your dog’s current limitations and operating under their threshold. Once your dog exceeds their ability to tolerate certain triggers, training is over. We use a protocol called Desensitization and Counter-Conditioning to modify your dog’s problematic behavior over time. Desensitization means sticking to a level of stimulus that your dog can tolerate while remaining rational and calm. Early signs of stress means your dog is approaching threshold rapidly. Loo for behaviors like avoidance, fidgeting, yawning, lip licking, or panting. You want to see these behaviors as it means you can avoid the bigger reactions. Missing early signals mean you’ll see the behavior you want to eliminate more.
Counter conditioning helps your dog achieve a positive emotional response to something they previously found unpleasant. You can’t do this if your dog is in a state of stress. Positive associations are formed with your dog is calm and relaxed. Exposing your dog to a trigger beyond their capacity to tolerate calmly will maintain the negative association indefinitely. This is why management is emphasized during a behavior modification protocol.
Conclusion
We believe you when you describe the problems you’ve experienced. Our trainers don’t need to see the behavior you’re talking about. We NEVER want to see the behavior you hired us to fix! Instead, we’ll first teach you to recognize early signs of stress in your dog to help keep them calm. A virtual lesson eliminates stress on your dog before you’re prepared to set them up for success. Then you’ll learn how to effectively navigate away from triggers so your dog maintains a state of calm. Next your dog learns to utilize alternative behaviors when presented with a trigger. Help us start your dog on a path to success. Avoid the situations that cause you to see the behavior you want to go away!
About Us
Canine Solutions trainers specialize in Positive Reinforcement and are all Fear Free Certified. We want to help you and your dog achieve the best behavior and maintain healthy, happy, mutually beneficial relationship. Call us at 913.712.8742 or schedule a Free Discovery Call today to learn how we can best assist you.