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Helping Fear Aggressive Dogs
Meet Benny!
Benny is a three year old Sheepadoodle. He’s originally from Boston so he has a wicked accent. Benny and I met because he needed help with leash reactivity and fear aggression. He had one minor bite incident about a year ago and the owners were unhappy with some of the techniques of a previous trainer who used some aversive techniques. Fast forward to yesterday when Benny was so relaxed during our session- which involved door work and outdoor greetings with a neighbor who he used to find very scary- that he flipped on his back for belly rubs, then simply relaxed in front of the neighbor and played with his toy. He has come such a long way and I cannot stress enough how hard his mom and dad work to follow through on lessons. They are amazing! Benny is even mastering keeping his cool around novel objects like skateboards! We use lots of positive reinforcement, counter conditioning, and a LOT of the hangout hack/”sit around and do nothing”. What techniques do you like to use for dogs with big emotions?
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9 Replies
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Congratulations on Benny’s amazing progress @LisaOMy ! Reading your post brought the first morning smile to my face. ????
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Oh AWESOME @LisaOMy !!!
I second what @virginiad said. Smiling!!! He is lucky to have found you for a trainer extraordinaire. ????
I simply love hearing about these kinds of dogs getting a new lease on life. Could you tell me a brief overview of how you worked with him? If that’s OK to ask?! Just wanna keep learning.
Thank you for sharing Benny’s progress.
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Of course it’s ok to ask! Happy to share. We started with working on calm behavior when he sees people on walks. I taught the owners how to notice the moment he sees a person or unusual thing (bike, etc.), then to immediately click and reward. We talked about appropriate distances to keep him under threshold and how to slowly move closer to triggers over time. Worked on this with novel objects as well like a skateboard with people riding. Then we started door work in the house (very reactive to people coming into the home). Same idea, appropriate distance and environmental setup, mark, reward for noticing triggers. We worked on a strong “place” cue and once that was achieved we started asking for place when they or I entered the home and then moved on to using other people, but with new people, we start from scratch- ex. Benny sees them through the window at the door-click/treat. Eventually Benny goes to place when he sees them through window/screen door. Then works up to staying in place when they open and shut the door, then take a step inside and so on. We then moved on to working in the yard. Tossing treats into the grass for him to snuffle for when the neighbor was out on the other side of the fence. We started with Benny on leash so he couldn’t charge the fence and could be gently moved away if too aroused. Mark/reward for noticing neighbor. Eventually Benny was unleashed and we’d snuffle in the grass, play fetch, practice basic behaviors while neighbor moved around. Increased difficulty by having neighbor talk, dance, etc. Eventually neighbor threw treats across fence for Benny (treat/retreat) and is now able to hand feed Benny. Benny has been a very quick study! I hope this makes sense! I’m typing on my phone and my thumbs are tired lol
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Awww yay Benny!!! ???? ????
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@LisaOMy Congrats to Benny and his pawrents for all the work. I love reading on how you accomplished this and coaching the pawrents through the steps. Benny is adorable and I love his Boston accent????
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He is such an awesome dog! I love him ???? Wicked awesome lol
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This is EVERYTHING!!
Well done, @LisaOMy – this post makes me weepy in a happy way. How wonderful for everyone. Keep up the great work!
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Amazing and wonderful story! So beautiful! I’ve had major success with my reactive dogs using a lot of these methods but this inspires me to work more and be more consistent (w my own pups!)
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❤️
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