Pre-LAT Training & Reactivity Protocol Feedback

[KerryCampion]

Hi everyone! 

This is my first post. I have an adopted 3 year old German Shepherd who, unfortunately, is reactive with other dogs, especially on leash. She does have two doggy friends so I try to make sure she gets lots of time with them. She has never injured another dog but I think I know where her reactivity comes from. Her old owner was once physically attacked by a boxer and Kira (my GSD) had to come to her owner's defence. 

I was so happy when I read about pre-LAT training being important because I had this idea but thought maybe it was silly. Here's how I'd like to tackle it - am I missing anything? 

• Play a recording of dogs barking while she is having her meals or we are doing obedience drills with lots of positive reinforcement(especially big, loud barks because she is much more reactive with big dogs)
  • I think this will go quite well because she doesn't get too reactive when hearing another dog bark, even if they bark at her! Weirdly she's LESS reactive with barking dogs (?!) 
• I'm going to ask 3 people with 3 dogs to let me borrow something of theirs (blanket, toy etc) that will smell like the dog and reward Kira for sniffing it (how often should I be repeating this?) 

As for walks, we live in a city and I walk her early in the morning for 1 hour when very little dogs are around and a shorter walk at midday (20-30 mins) then we go to a empty pine forest for some good, off-leash exercise where she usually never sees other dogs (and if she does she reliably comes back to me when called and can control herself). When we see a dog on our walk I try the Jolly routine and say "Yes!" and give her a higher-value treat than her usual kibble (she's not too motivated by her regular food). I then continue feeding her in quick succession when she isn't being reactive and praise her constantly. I've managed quite a few times to get her from eye-balling another dog to a sit-stay-and-focus to attention heeling. 

Unfortunately, sometimes we're caught off-guard and she will get reactive. In those moments I try to remain calm, let the other person walk past and when she's calmed down a bit I get her into a sit and redirect her attention back to me. I reward her with a treat when she looks at me and try to get her to continue looking up to me for longer periods of time. When I see she's got that tongue-lolling-ears-upright-happy look we continue walking again. My logic here is that while we've lost a reactivity battle I can at least calm her down before walking again which means I'll be more likely to get her attention back to me if we run into another situation. 

I'm also going to start work with an in-person trainer which I can't wait to start but I want to do as much work as I can on my own too. 

One of the biggest issues I face is that she is HYPER vigilant of the environment around her and it's difficult to get her to focus on me. The jolly routine helps but are there any other tools etc that might help just to bring her back from guard dog mode? 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there, welcome to the forums!

It's so nice of you opening your heart and home to Kira and wanting to work so diligently on her "baggage." 

PRE-LAT was designed to help dogs who need some sub-steps prior to jumping into the visual aspect of behavior modification using Leslie McDevitt's LAT. For those  curious about this, this is the section that talks about PRE-LAT:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/pre-lat-look-behavior-modification/
Playing a recording of dogs barking can be a good start, but if we want to go more in depth and cover all basis, I would aim to include several different types of barks considering that on walks dogs encounter dogs who bark from excitement/desire to play, fear, frustration, territoriality etc. So the more types of barks you include, the better. If you know a dog who barks in a certain way on walks that triggers Kira, it may help to go on the walk on your own to just record that barking and playing it back at lower volume. 

To provide clarity, start the pleasant activity (feeding treats) contingent upon playing the barking sounds initially at a low volume in a open bar closed bar fashion:

 https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

Once the recording ends, all good things (treat delivery) end too.

I would start with a tasty food first because food is a primary reinforcer and it has a more direct impact. I would aim to obtain what's known as a POSITIVE conditioned emotional response (+CER):

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/conditioned-emotional-response-cer/

 

Some examples of the "hear that" method are included here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/

In regards to "sniff that" since each dog has a unique smell, I find it more useful to use this approach if there are some specific dogs the dog will eventually encounter and that would be part of the behavior modification plan. As with 'hear that' you can do several reps during the day where you present the scent and pair it with treats with the goal of getting that +CER.

Afterward, one can start preparing for some visual aspects using LAT.

Firstly, it would help to obtain a fluent response to the smacking sound: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/

Then one can do some exercises at a distance from a window with helpers walking dogs back and forth using the LAT by the window exercise making the smacking sound:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

The goal again is to get a nice +CER

Afterward, one can progress with the dog on leash with the door open and helpers walking dogs once again back and forth. Praise and treats for calmly looking at the dogs walking by. 

Then, the exercise can be done by the deck, then on the sidewalk, always with the helper dogs being walked back and forth. 

Important is to always monitor the dog for signs of being over threshold and aiming to keep under the threshold as much as possible. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

Any setbacks (like barking, growling, tensing up) need to be considered and steps should be taken to reduce the chances for these to repeat (increasing distance, walking the dog at a slower pace, avoiding direct eye contact between the dogs). The plan needs to be measured for signs of progress and any repeated setbacks must be taken as a sign that we are working too fast and need to take some steps back. 

Being caught off guard is something that can turn problematic. This also makes dogs more likely to be hypervigilant (I need to be prepared as dogs seem to pop up suddenly from anywhere).

Because dogs who are reactive on walks tend to go over threshold and rehearse reactive behaviors, many behavior professionals suggest now that, when feasible, reactive dogs should take a break from walks around other dogs until they are better under threshold. This helps lower cortisol levels and decreases risks for the trigger stacking phenomenon. During this time, dogs should be provided with mental stimulation (brain games) and some prep training that can turn helpful during walks (smacking sound, attention heeling) 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/)

In general, I find that attention heeling works better than sitting considering that it keeps the dog moving (increasing distance) versus being static which can cause some dogs to feel more vulnerable. It's worth of experimenting whether your dog seems to respond to this better as well and leaving the sits and stays for later on. 

Other methods to keep her more under threshold include scanning the road ahead and walking in areas without corners as much as possible, (just a straight road with plain views where you can always see dogs with people approaching) using distance, and doing emergency u-turns as needed should prevent  a dog from coming too close:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/

Calming aids (DAP collar, calming supplements with l-theanine etc) may help as well. Some dogs are too overwhelmed to be learning and therefore may need prescription medication to calm down enough to open up those cognitive functions. 

Working alongside with a professional can help on many fronts such as reading her body language, keeping her under threshold as much as possible, keeping you, and people and other dogs safe, protecting your hard work from setbacks, and making important judgement calls such as when to progress. A behavior professional may also have access to a 'bomb-proof" dog that can be used for the task and is savvy in giving out calming signals. Some may even start with stooge dogs to act as real dogs before moving into LAT.

I hope this helps! Please keep in mind that the above is just an "example" of a behavior intervention plan for a dog who is reactive towards other dogs. Only a behavior professional working with you directly can provide you with a customized plan after carefully evaluating your dog and her specific triggers.

Keep me posted on how things go and feel free to ask any other questions!

Happy training!

Best,

Adrienne 

Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your puppy or dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping, biting) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques (no shock, prongs, or physical corrections) for direct in-person guidance. Articles, videos and general info found in the forums or course (or any online source) are not meant to replace in-person training/instruction. By using this course and forum, you are waiving any liability claims or other type of claims related to any dogs' behavior against you or others.

[JMFS]

I've been doing some desensitization with Esther and found a wide variety of barks on YouTube.  If you have a Bluetooth or WiFi speaker, those are extremely helpful as they're louder / more realistic than a phone or tablet speaker and you can move them around to gain or close distance, experiment with behind doors, around corners, outside vs inside, etc . . ..  If you can't get the sound through the speaker via its natural coding there is a program I use (I have a Sonos speaker which does not play YouTube, for example) here:  http://www.streamwhatyouhear.com/

With that I can play YouTube through the Sonos speaker now.  I mute my computer so there's no feedback or competing sound.  Not sure if they have it for other devices - I use it on my Win 10 PC.  Phones and tablets should be able to use Bluetooth with no issues, not sure about WiFi as we've only ever had the Sonos for a WiFi speaker.  Bluetooth are so inexpensive you could pick one up for under $10 just for this purpose.

 

[KerryCampion]

Thanks so much for this detailed plan! It's great and I'll take some time to really go over it this weekend 🙂 she does respond relatively well to the smacking sound and now is getting better and better and responding when we are outside, whereas before she struggled a lot to tear herself away from the environment. She's not massively food motivated so I want to up the ante a little with the food and mix in some freeze dried liver with her regular kibble to get her a bit more motivated! I've also found that having a secret Kong on me filled with frozen meat pate is also a great jackpot treat for her, especially when she doesn't expect it haha. 

I love the idea of the Schutzhund turn! Just like you say I think it's more engaging for the dog and for us training them. I'm going to practice this because I can see how useful it can be. I'm trying not  to expect too much too soon from poor Kira but she does enjoy these types of drills and I think we'll have a lot of fun learning it. 
 

14 hours ago, JMFS said:

I've been doing some desensitization with Esther and found a wide variety of barks on YouTube.  If you have a Bluetooth or WiFi speaker, those are extremely helpful as they're louder / more realistic than a phone or tablet speaker and you can move them around to gain or close distance, experiment with behind doors, around corners, outside vs inside, etc . . ..  If you can't get the sound through the speaker via its natural coding there is a program I use (I have a Sonos speaker which does not play YouTube, for example) here:  http://www.streamwhatyouhear.com/

With that I can play YouTube through the Sonos speaker now.  I mute my computer so there's no feedback or competing sound.  Not sure if they have it for other devices - I use it on my Win 10 PC.  Phones and tablets should be able to use Bluetooth with no issues, not sure about WiFi as we've only ever had the Sonos for a WiFi speaker.  Bluetooth are so inexpensive you could pick one up for under $10 just for this purpose.

 

Great idea about the speakers hadn't even considered that. We have Google home so I can play them on there 🙂 What's good is that she can hear our neighbour's dog barking and doesn't bat an eyelash. 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Awesome, I  have a great feel that you'll be working wonderfully as a team! Remember to also make sure that you stay calm, so taking baby steps helps both ways. We are so used to quickly tensing up, tightening the leash and holding our breath when we see a trigger approaching. Schutzhund turns can help prevent that and keep our focus and our dog's focus on something else. 

Keep us posted on how it goes!

[KerryCampion]

Update! Kira is slowly but surely improving. Yesterday I was so proud of her she saw three dogs (and two were quite close and in motion!) with 0 reactions. She still has her bad days but she is definitely improving. I think a big thing is also my energy, I'm much calmer now and just need to continue to demonstrate that calmness around other dogs. The biggest improvement I've seen is being able to bring her attention back to me (thanks a lot to the "look into my eyes" game) and when she looks back at me I reward her. If I see that maybe we have to hang back a bit and let the other dog walk on before we can continue our walk I'll usually get her into a sit and ask her to "watch me" while holding a treat. Then when the dog is gone or we have enough space for her to be under threshold we continue. 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to fearful or reactive dogs. It's a great feeling when we are proud of our doggies! You need to pat yourself on your back as well for a job well done. When you notice a bad day, try to keep track of what may have gone wrong and keep tabs on it, so that you can take steps to prevent exposure to the trigger in such intense form.