I have been working on desensitization and counter conditioning with my dog Eskimo when he sees a trigger such as another dog. I am carrying a plastic bag of cubes of ham in my pocket. When he sees the other dog I tell him to look at me and then I say yes and give him a cube of ham. Do I keep giving the look at me command followed by cubed ham the entire time we are passing the trigger who is on the opposite side of the street? What about other triggers of his such as school buses, trucks, wheelchairs, strollers, people he doesn’t know? Do I need to carry bags of other treats for lessor triggers and save the ham for his biggest triggers (other dogs, buses). Also, on our last walk he walked without passing any trigger and he periodically looked at me without me having given the look at me command. It seems he is trying to condition me to give out ham because he likes ham or he is trying to figure out when look at me gets rewarded. Do I ignore these uncommanded checks ins completely or do I reinforce his look at me anyway and if so, by which method? I do like him checking in with me, but I don’t want to make the counterconditioning mistake of using the high value treat when the trigger isn’t there. We are currently trying to walk when many of his other triggers aren’t likely to be present.
