Walking in places away from triggers
Some clients come to us with a laundry list of things they would like to work on with their dogs. Things like barking at the window, the neighbors dogs, the wind blowing, alert barking for no actual reason, guarding spaces, humans, treats or toys, picking fights with the other resident dogs for no apparent reason, separation stress. All the things. They have read the things on the internet and asked friends and their dog seems untrainable!
If you are dealing with all the things, your dog might be suffering from chronic stress.
In humans, Chronic stress is the physiological or psychological response induced by a long-term internal or external stressor. The stressor, either physically present or recollected, will produce the same effect and trigger a response. This keeps the nervous system in fight or flight and overtime your body determines that heightened level of stress is the new normal. I will avoid getting more detailed or this blog would take 3 hours to read.
This also happens to dogs. As you train many dogs you begin to notice that sometimes the normal protocols for working through these things do not bring the same results. The difference being the level of stress the dog feels on a regular basis. If a dog reaches the point where they are Chronically Stressed, we must address the stress levels before training can take place. This may also be the reason you are not seeing progress in the training you are doing with your dog.
How to we address this?
There are 2 ways that I tackle each component.
Daily practices – Management of the situation and things that are planned regularly that my dog can find predictable. This can include stopping walks or going on a leash in the yard to avoid barking at things unnecessarily. An introduction to puzzles at meal times, often slowly to avoid frustration. Covering windows or removing access to places where your dog likes to bark at things may also be recommended. We want to avoid the events that are causing the stress as much as possible. Practice makes perfect, especially for events we would like to stop. This also teaches your dogs nervous system to always be on high alert. These episodes are what lead to the new baseline of cortisol in their body.
Puzzles are great stress relief!
In the moment regulation – These are the unintended episodes that we must try hard to avoid but sometimes life happens. Unfortunately we cannot train in a bubble and the amazon guy doesn’t read the sign and knocks on the door.
Here I will help my dog come down from a stressful event. This could include a pattern game to bring down their arousal or a food scatter to get my dog sniffing and breathing more steadily. This also helps teach your dog how to regulate their emotional state so that every little thing does not have to be a panic situation.
Removing them from the situation, if i have guests and my dog won’t stop barking at them or acts like they might want to bite them, I might have Fluffy spend some time in a bedroom to deal with the situation safely.