Whether they’re looking at you, sniffing the ground, sitting, or even just looking at the dog with no reaction – these are all examples of alternative behaviors you want to nurture. Whenever your dog is offering calm behavior when they have another dog in their sights, you should immediately reward them. This might be yummy treats, a toy they love, or the opportunity to, ultimately, socialize with the other dog. The goal is to teach your dog that calm behavior around other dogs results in rewards. Pick the spot where your dog can see the Stooge, but it’s at a sufficient distance not to trigger an over-excited reaction. Expecting your dog to offer immediate calm behavior in close proximity to another dog is asking too much. The distance you start working from is also crucial. Instead, she suggests you try “scattering some food around the garden or house for your dog to find before the walk, to take the edge off.” Grisha explains that “you don’t have to start your walk with your dog all amped up”. Once your dog gets into a heightened state of arousal, trying to help them learn a new, more appropriate behavior isn’t going to happen. Whatever positive training technique you’re using, one of the key elements to success is to prevent your dog from tipping over their threshold. They can sometimes even bring along calm dogs to create controlled initial setups. Grisha explains that “if you just rely on whatever dogs you meet on the street, the greeting may be rushed or the other dog may be too timid or overbearing.” She goes on to advise that “it really helps to start with Helper Dogs to lay the groundwork for polite greetings.”Ī Certified BAT Instructor can provide further guidance on the subtleties of this training technique. Heading straight to the busy park for training isn’t setting your dog up for success. It’s also worth noting that Grisha prefers to refer to “frustrated greetings,” rather than labeling the dog with the more commonly used term of “frustrated greeter”. It makes sense that a calm dog will likely make better choices. She provides a neat analogy, explaining that BAT lowers a dogs arousal levels much like meditation does for humans. It basically inserts a pause between stimulus and response, so they can do more thoughtful behavior.” Grisha describes how “BAT teaches the dogs to have lower excitement around their triggers. With those that get excited to see other dogs, calm behavior results in them getting to move closer. When creating BAT setups, you want to reward your dog for exhibiting uninterested or disengaging signals when they see other dogs.įor dogs feeling fearful, the functional reward they get for calm behavior is to move further away. It’s an alternative training technique that uses functional rewards for handling reactivity. You’re teaching them that calm behavior when they see other dogs means treats rain from the sky!īehavior Adjustment Therapy (BAT), a form of operant conditioning, has been developed by professional dog trainer Grisha Stewart. This involves rewarding your dog any time they look at the other dog without a reaction. Using traditional classic counter-conditioning is one option when working with frustrated greeters. What is BAT and How Can it Help with Frustrated Greetings? Working on encouraging calmer behavior around other dogs will help reduce stress levels all round. Their reactive behavior could turn from pure excitement to something more challenging to deal with. If they react aggressively, this could cause your dog to become fearful or aggressive back. For some, it’s too much when a dog that’s so over-excited is in their space. While these dogs usually revert to calmer behavior once they say their hellos, allowing them to always charge up barking teaches them this behavior gets them what they want.Īpproaching like this isn’t fair on the other dogs either. They get over-aroused, and the barrier of the leash becomes too much for them. You likely have a “frustrated greeter”, who is just desperate to say hello. It doesn’t make for a relaxing walk for either of you, and you might worry your dog is becoming aggressive. Do you have a dog that plays beautifully with their four-legged friends in the park, but on the leash they start frantically barking, lunging, and spinning?
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