Distraction to other dogs

[ELIZABETH LINCICOME]

When on walks, both of my dogs (one is a puppy, one is an old man) overreact to seeing other dogs. It’s particularly bad if the other dog is barking and lunging on its leash. How do I teach my dogs to calmly approach or ignore other dogs?

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Elizabeth, welcome to the forums!

When it comes to walking two dogs together, I have a saying: "Walking two dogs together often means double the trouble, walking two reactive dogs together means quadruple the trouble."

If your dogs are overreacting to seeing other dogs, to tackle this issue you'll therefore need to take a break from tandem walks, and start walking each dog individually. 

The reasons why I don't recommend in general walking two dogs at once are several. When we walk two dogs together the following is likely to happen:

-Dogs Will Feed Off Each Others' Emotions

In other words, if one dog alerts to something, the other will become emotionally charged as well, and soon you'll have two dogs overreacting by pulling and maybe also barking and lunging.

Here's the thing: dogs living together become very in tune with each other.

All it takes sometimes is just one dog twitching the ears in one direction or tensing up and looking at something specific, that the other dog alerts to that and automatically tenses up as well.

After all, we see this happen as well in humans. Last time, I saw a family of ducks and watched them swim in a pond and all other people who walked by oriented to where I was looking and stopped to admire them as well.

In another scenario, when I was on vacation as was walking on the boardwalk, I saw several people looking in one direction and walking towards the edge with an alarmed look in their face. I automatically looked there as well, and there was a senior having difficulty swimming in the water and another person had jumped in to help her.

It's therefore natural for dogs, just as in people, to alert each other about happenings in their environment.

-Dogs Getting into Teamwork Modality
When two or more dogs are bonded, they also engage in "unison." In other words, it's almost as if they adhere to the "United we stand" modality.

I was reflecting on this the other day, when I met two stray dogs I knew well who normally would greet me, but this time they both unexpectedly barked at me. The reason for this is that, there was a third dog who barked at me first and alerted them, and the other dogs backed him up.

After a while, they recognized I was no threat and were back to their normal selves, although this third dog kept his distance and acted wary, and the two other dogs didn't approach to be pet as they usually did.

We see this often in dogs who bark at triggers. There is often one dog who is more on the alert and the other dog joins in, despite the fact he had no interest in the past in reacting towards triggers.

-It's Difficult to Train Each Dog
When it comes to training dogs to walk nicely on leash without overreacting to stimuli, they need lots of individual attention, and this is even more true with dogs who are on the reactive side.

With a reactive dog, you'll need to not only train the dog to engage in calmer, non-reactive behaviors, but you'll also need to change his emotional state.

This entails keeping an eye on body language so to ensure the dog doesn't go over threshold, implementing behavior modification and training important cues that helps the dog learn coping skills and the ability to make good decisions.

On top of this, to train a dog, you'll likely be juggling a variety of items such as the leash, treats, and possibly, a clicker.

-Leashes Can Get Tangled
When walking two dogs, there are always risks for the leashes to tangle. This is even more probable with walking two dogs who are excitable and reactive towards other dogs/people etc.

While there is a solution to this (a lead splitter, also known as a coupler), it too has some disadvantages. The main one is that, having two dogs, placed so closely together, may put them into a more competitive state, which may lead to more pulling.

On top of this, it doesn't help that the splitter puts the dogs often in a front position which can cause them to act a bit like sled dogs, where they may team up and forget all about you.

-Difficulty Gaining Control
When it comes to walking two dogs together, safety may also be a concern. If the two dogs become reactive, they can drag you to the ground causing a fall or they may get too close to other dogs or people putting them in danger.

Also, should an off-leash dog approach and cause a fight, or something unexpected happens, dealing with dogs tied up so close to each other without many options to give space can spell disaster leading to a redirected bite (which we can be the victims).

So my biggest piece of advice is to walk two dogs separately. I know this is inconvenient in many ways, but it paves the path towards better walks with the dogs being less emotionally charged. This, at least not until they have proven themselves to have their emotions better under control and being responsive to cues and capable of walking on a loose leash.

Even having a helper walk the other dog is better than walking the dogs together. This way, there's one handler per dog,  and each dog can get the attention he or she deserves. This may not work as well as if each dog was walked individually, but it can lower a bit more their emotional arousal.

However, the best results are attained by working on each dog individually. Interestingly, you may discover that one dog may be less reactive on solo walks than in company of the other dog. This dog may therefore need less training, compared to the other one.

What type of training should each dog receive if they are overreacting upon seeing other dogs? I will post details in the next post. 

 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

So in most cases, leash reactivity in dogs doesn't just happen on a whim. Rather, the behavior of barking and lunging has some specific underlying function that fuels and maintains the behavior alive.

It can be said that in general, dog leash-reactivity behaviors can be classified into two main categories: escape and access. 

-Escape

Escape, as implied, involves dogs attempting to escape from some stimulus or circumstance that they perceive as unpleasant or aversive.

When dogs are on a leash, they become more vulnerable as their choice to flee is removed and often this puts them into the situation to choose "fight" versus flight. These dogs are therefore trying to put distance between themselves and the trigger, but since they are prevented from fleeing, they are forced to put up a threatening display in hopes of scaring the trigger away.

For sake of an example, imaging a person being terrified of mice. A mouse makes its way in the home and is approaching the person. The person cornered, will stomp her feet in hopes of scaring the rodent away. The mouse perceives the threat and rushes back to its original hiding spot, a crack of a wall.

Since this behavior "works," this person will repeat this behavior in the future should a similar circumstance happen again.

Among dogs, we see rehearsal of this behavior quite often in the case of dogs barking at the mailman. Bark, after bark, the dog soon realizes that the mailman eventually leaves and therefore his barking ultimately "works."

Of course, this is from the dog's perspective, us humans know for a fact that the mailman isn't really escaping from the dog but just going on with his postal duties!

Cases of leash reactivity where the dog feels threatened, require changing the dog's emotional response so that manifesting all the associated stress/anxiety/fear-related behavioral manifestations becomes redundant. 

-Access

Access, as the name implies, access-driven behaviors involves dogs trying to access some stimulus that they find appealing.

At a first glance, it may seem odd for a dog to bark, growl and lunge when they want to reach something appealing, but in reality those angry vocalizations are triggered by frustration. 

These are typically dogs who are social butterflies and have a history of playing well with other dogs at the off leash dog park, but put them on leash and they will throw the canine equivalent of a "temper tantrum" when they can't go to greet and meet dogs on walks.

This type of leash-reactivity is quite different than the one elicited by fear and therefore requires a slightly different approach. Rather than changing the dog's emotions, we give them something else to do. In other words, If you think your dog is barking out of frustration because he can't go meet people or other dogs, check out the guide on barrier frustration in dogs: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/barrier-frustration/

So here is the "meaty section." An example of behavior modification for dogs who overreact and their behavior stems from an underlying state of stress/anxiety/fear. 

It goes without saying that, to stop a dog from being reactive on leash, you'll need to take a multi-pronged approach, tackling the issue from a variety of angles. This because, behind the lunging and barking, there are underlying emotions at play. It's no more a simple matter of just training, but behavior modification is involved. 

As mentioned,, barking and lunging are simply the external manifestations of an internal turmoil, and therefore it's important getting to the root cause of the behavior, which is the underlying emotional response towards evoking triggers and situations.

Following is an example of steps to ameliorate the situation. 

-Ensure health

It's always good at a first step, ensuring the dog is feeling well and healthy.  There are certain medical conditions that can lower a dog's threshold for reactivity making them more likely to react showing signs of excess arousal, fear or aggression.

A through vet visit can help rule these things out. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/medical-causes-aggressive-behavior-dogs/

-Prevent Rehearsal of Problematic Behavior
Just like actors get better and better in their recitals the more they practice, the more your dog's lunging and barking behaviors establish and become more and more habit-forming, the more he gets to repeat them. As the saying goes, "practice makes perfect."

It therefore goes without saying, that a fundamental part of the rehabilitation process will entail preventing your dog from engaging in barking and lunging behavior. 

Here's the thing: even if your dog gets to lunge and bark occasionally as he doesn't always encounter his triggers on walks, those occasional rehearsals maintain the behavior alive, because escaping from fearful or stress-inducing situations is an adaptive behavior that will persist because it's associated with survival.

Preventing rehearsal can therefore mean no more walks until your dog is better equipped with coping skills and has demonstrated the ability to tolerate very low intensity exposures towards triggers. Taking your dog off the reactivity fog will allow both of you to get some relief and destress.

No worries, this is not a permanent solution and there are many ways to keep your dog active, and happy in the meanwhile through brain games, food puzzles, clicker training, foraging opportunities, fun games in the yard (fetch, treasure hunts, use of herding balls for dogs), sniffing adventures, canine sports, possibly hikes in rural areas (where you are absolutely sure there are no dogs).

- Familiarize With Desensitization and Counterconditioning
These are two very powerful behavior modification techniques that are also used in humans to treat fears and phobias.

Desensitization is simply the process where you expose your dog to his triggers in a systematic manner so that they don't evoke his lunging and barking behavior. This often means presenting them at a distance if the trigger is visual or playing recordings at a low volume if the trigger is auditory.

More about this is covered here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

Counterconditioning is instead the process of creating positive associations with the trigger. The goal is eliciting what is known as a conditioned emotional response, where the dog goes from dreading the trigger to looking forward to it because it leads to wonderful things. The most common implementation of this is through the use of food. Basically, every time the trigger is seen, the dog is fed something high in value.

More about this is covered here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

When desensitization is combined with counterconditioning you therefore get the best of both worlds: low level, more tolerable exposures to the trigger and wonderful associations with food (remember to go very high value outdoors, I like to use baked liver strips, low sodium-organic beef hot dogs, chicken breast-the white meat only, no skin or bones-check with your vet if your dog has allergies/dietary intolerances/ a sensitive GI system).

- Become a Pro In Reading Your Dog
In order to implement behavior modification correctly, it's important to familiarize yourself with your dog's body language. Recognize when he is in an emotional baseline level and when he's starting to rev up.

If you have recordings of your dog's reactive behavior, watch them in slow motion and watch carefully the precursor signs. There may have been a quick lip lick, wrinkling of the skin on the forehead or he may stopped panting focusing on something in the distance. You mentioned whining, but what happens right prior to the whining or turning the head?

A good behavior modification plan will have your dog orienting towards the trigger, but without causing him to react. You therefore need to pay extra attention that your dog doesn't go over threshold. Here is how to know when a dog is over or under threshold (hint, when your dog spits treats, he very over) https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

-Train Replacement Behaviors
The goal is to gradually train an alternate behavior for your dog to engage in and obtain a fluid response so that it can be then eventually prompted in face of the trigger.

This training should be started in the comfort of the home away from distractions. With cases of reactivity, I have found more success in using dynamic behaviors (like attention heeling) rather than static behaviors (like sits, downs and stays) because I find that dogs struggle more staying still when they are concerned about their surroundings.

One of my favorite replacement behaviors is to train is attention heeling (where the dog looks at me while walking past distractions). If your dogs pull, you'll want to work on this any way so there's a double whammy of benefits (tackling the pulling, giving the dog an alternate behavior to engage in rather than barking and pulling). Here is the guide:

You should start training in the hallway possibly using kibble, then move to then garage and then fenced yard using high-value treats (since there are more distractions),as long as you are sure there are no triggers.

I would also recommend again working on conditioning your dog to respond to a smacking sound. Train this by making the sound and then tossing your dog immediately a treat. Smacking sound/treat, smacking sound/treat. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/

Practice in low distraction areas, gradually adding in distractions (not the actual trigger though). You want your dog to immediately orient towards you for his treat.

-Train The Emergency U-Turn
The emergency U-turn is an important skill to train considering that one day, you may find yourself stuck in a sticky situation where your dog's trigger is walking your way.

The emergency U-turn teaches your dog to turn on cue. If you practice often enough, your dog should quickly do an about-turn with you saving you from a potentially challenging situation. Here is a guide: how to train the emergency U-turn: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/

- Keep Your Dog Under Better Control
As mentioned, just a plain buckle collar attached to a leash in general will give you poor control of your dog.

This can also personally cause us humans stress and anxiety when going on walks because we're concerned about falling, or our dogs dragging you too close to the trigger or tugging strong enough that the leash slips through our hands. Our dogs may sense this stress, and this can travel down the leash to the point where both you and your dog are feeding on each others' emotions.

By having a better sense of control, we can feel more confident.  We can gain some of that using a front-attachment harness where the leash attaches to the front ring of the harness.  For cases where I am particularly concerned about safety, or there's a struggle in walking the dog, I may even invest in a head halter.

Prong collars, choke collars or shock collars are a big no-no as these do the total opposite of what we are trying to achieve (create positive associations) since they cause discomfort/pain.

- Start With Easy Systematic Exposures
Once you have learned how to read your dog's body language, the basics of desensitization and counterconditioning, how to keep a dog under threshold, acclimatized your dog to wearing a harness (or muzzle training if necessary for safety) and practiced a replacement behavior, it is time to start working with systematic exposures.

These are again low-intensity exposures where you can control the intensity of the trigger through set-ups (like volunteers walking back and forth with a dog at a subthreshold distance).

You won't ask for trained replacement behaviors yet, because it's not easy for a dog to perform operant behaviors when they are concerned about a potential trigger (think about trying to focus when a big spider is about to crawl on your arm!), and on top of that, you want your dog to focus on the trigger so that you can pair it with good things.

There are several games and exercises that use desensitization and counterconditioning that come handy when working with reactive dogs.

These exercises/games are rather easy for the dog to perform since they don't involve much thinking but just looking at triggers and forming positive associations with them.

A great game to play to create positive associations with a trigger is the Look at That Exercise. In this exercise, you just feed treats when your dog sees the trigger, aiming for a positive conditioned emotional response. If I have a dog who isn't very territorial, I can even start this exercise indoors, by looking at the trigger from a window at a distance. Skipping the leash may help initially.  Here is the guide on that: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

If you want to make things crystal clear, you can use the Open Bar/Close Bar method, taking advantage of visual obstructions. For example, if a dog is reactive towards other dogs, one can have a helper walk a dog parallel to parked cars. Feed treats when your dog sees the other dog, stop feeding treats when he no longer sees him (as the cars block the view). Here is the guide on this: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

Another helpful game that aims to provide positive associations is a "Treasure Hunt game" with a twist. Upon noticing the trigger at a distance, toss a handful of treats and and say "go get em!" in a happy tone as you point towards the treats.

A Treat Toss game instead consists of the dog noticing the trigger at a distance, I then make the smacking sound tossing the treat a little ahead on the road for the dog to catch. I have found some dogs respond better to tossed treats rather than hand-feeding as it stimulates their prey drive and allows them to release some energy too.

For dogs worried about dogs and turning around repeatedly when worried about other dogs, I created a form of LAT on the go, you'll find a video in the case study section: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/03-homer-homers-reactivity/

Tip: If your dog has been exhibiting reactive behavior always on walks around the neighborhood, it may be worthy to start working on the issue in a new place so to establish new routines/habits.

- Progress to Actual Training
Once your dog has shown signs of associating the trigger with tasty treats and he is in a calmer state, you can start asking for the replacement behaviors.

Right upon passing by the trigger, make your smacking sound, hold the treat at eye level and ask your dog to do some steps of attention heeling, looking at you as you feed him treats every step. Once past the trigger, no more treats. Make it clear that the trigger is what starts all the fun!

-Have a Plan for Setbacks
If at any time, your dog becomes reactive, take that as a sign that you have progressed too fast or the trigger was at a too intense level.

If caught very early, if possible, interrupt the behavior at the earliest sign by making your smacking sound or tossing treats telling your dog to "get them" increasing distance from the trigger. If the trigger is approaching head-on, prompt the emergency turn immediately,

Always end the session on a positive note, feeding treats as your dog sees the trigger from a distance that doesn't evoke a reaction, and call it a day.

Once home, make a mental note of presenting the trigger at less intense levels. It could be the trigger was presented too close or for too long or was too animated. Each of these elements should be presented one at a time, as too many elements presented at once can easily push a dog at the edge.

It could also be that your dog has endured other stressful events at home (hence the importance of reducing stress at home too) and due to trigger stacking his threshold for feeling reactive has temporarily lowered. Maybe he is not feeling well, or the exposure was just too much incorporated various elements at once.

- Consider Calming Aids
For cases of reactivity that aren't too responsive, you may need to add some calming aids. Examples include calming supplements, DAP collars, calming sprays etc. These options can be discussed with a vet.

In certain cases, where the dog is a bite-risk or the reactivity occurs across various contexts, or when the triggers are difficult to manage and there is no improvement, the use of medications prescribed by the vet may be recommended along with behavior medication.

- Consider Professional Help
It goes without saying that ideally, reactivity in dogs should be tackled with the in-person help of a professional for safety and the correct implementation of behavior modification. It is important to seek help by professional committed to force-free training and behavior modification. Professionals to seek out include dog trainers specializing in reactivity, board-certified veterinary behaviorist and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists.

-Importance of Improving the Dog's Emotional Wellbeing
On top of working around the reactivity, it's important to not forget to also tackle the dog's overall emotional wellbeing. Improvements can be made by decreasing the overall stress in the dog's life, promoting relaxation (relax on a mat), increasing the dog's confidence  and helping the dog develop coping skills.

Particularly beneficial may be adding enrichment under the form of brain games and food puzzles, promoting positive experiences, shaping, clicker training, impulse control training, letting the dog explore the world at his own pace, building frustration tolerance, splitting exercises in easy steps, teaching the dog to relax.

Any noise phobias should be tackled as well: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/ 

I hope this helps reduce the overreactive state of both your dogs! Please keep us posted and don't hesitate to ask if you have any 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.

[ELIZABETH LINCICOME]

Thank you so much! I’ll get to work. 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You're very welcome, keep us posted on how things go!

Best,

Adrienne