Look at me

[DoryElzaurdia]

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.

[JMFS]

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.

 

That's what you want - for him to do it without you giving him a cue so excellent job to you! You can give him verbal praise to encourage him to keep checking in with you. I don't feel qualified to answer the rest, but I did want to give you kudos for getting him to the point of looking at you without you prodding him. That's awesome!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello and welcome to the forums!

In bold are your questions and below are my answers.

 

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?

 

More than a verbal command, I prefer using a sound like a smacking, kissy sound of my mouth. It is faster and for a good part neutral, almost always in the same tone and doesn't seem to fall on deaf ears as our words do when dogs hear us talk too much. You can do a trial and see if your dog upon spotting another dog at a safe distance looks at you a split second before you prompt him. If he does, I would reinforce that, because at that point, what you are likely seeing is a conditioned emotional response. In other words, your dog has associated other dogs with treats and is therefore giving you the "oh, a dog! how wonderful, where's my treat?" Let's remember that this is behavior modification, so we are not rewarding operant behaviors such as "sits, downs," etc. but we are aiming to change the emotional response, so there's nothing wrong if the behavior takes place unprompted (without you saying it). I actually embrace this moment because I love seeing the change in the dog's facial expression once those positive associations are made! I call it the "Look at That Dog" (LAT) look.

 

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)?

 

This is tricky because, we really need to view things from the dog's perspective. Who is deciding whether dogs are more significant triggers than strollers? If it is you, what really counts is what your dog thinks. If you are absolutely sure that your dog is more intimidated by something than something else, yes, you can try to use lower value food for the lesser intimidating triggers and save the higher value ones for the most challenging triggers. You need to measure results though to be absolutely sure. Is the reactive behavior towards this specific trigger, really decreasing? If so, then most likely the food offered did its job. If results are so-so or there is no progress, you may need to go higher value.

 

Now, you also need to consider other factors. If your dog on walks often encounters dogs, he may be on edge and high alert and therefore more over threshold and therefore a lower value treat may not do its job. Walks on their own may have come to assume a negative connotation, so you may still need to go high-value to get his attention and leave a mark.

 

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.

 

I don't think he is actively trying to convince you to give him ham in a manipulator fashion, but more simply has just learned how rewarding looking at you is, and since there are no triggers, he finds the behavior much more easier to perform. I wouldn't ignore this lovely eye contact, but would actually build on it. I would praise it lavishly and every now and then, I would insert some cued behaviors such as a sit and reward that. Chances are, these behaviors will get stronger so that as some point, you can start utilizing them to your advantage eventually around his triggers.