It’s been a while since I took stock in all the training and work we’ve been doing since we really started to tackle Brodie’s reactivity…6 months to be exact. So I thought I’d look back, reflect, and see where we are going to go next!
To fill you all in a little, in the last 6 months, I’ve taken a bit of a step back from the photography-don’t worry! I still LOVE photographing dogs and their families, but I’ve found an even deeper passion for working with and training dogs. I started working towards my professional certification and training some dogs that aren’t just Brodie or our friends’ pups, and have started to put my all into learning the science behind dog training! I’ve even started to volunteer at my FAVORITE shelter (the shelter we got Brodie-St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center!) And I think the one person to get the most out of this shift so far isn’t a person…it’s Brodie!
The last post I made, we discussed learning about Brodie’s triggers, which was a BIG game changer! We’ve since learned that his triggers, other than hats, are bikes, loud motors, and strangely the boat anchor…yeah, we don’t fully get that one, but it’s his feelings and who am I to judge? We went to work by making a training plan for him and looking back at his behavior and reactions 6 months ago, I’m pumped to say that although we still have a ways to go, he’s totally killing it when he’s not over his threshold (and even sometimes at it)!
The biggest thing we introduced into our training was the concept of clicker training. We use a clicket to mark behaviors that we like. We used this with the concept of capturing the behavior we want to see, marking it with a click, and then rewarding for a job well done. We vary the rewards depending on the situation and what’s the most motivating at that time. When we’re out on a walk, the 2 most rewarding things for Brodie we have learned are getting to keep walking or getting to sniff, so that’s what we use! When we’re at home working on skills, we use his favorite Salmon Treats from Pupford or an all beef hotdog! We FINALLY taught Brodie to reliably drop something in his mouth by using a frisbee or a tug toy! It all depends on what he feels is rewarding.
While “release” (our “drop it” cue) may have been one of the most exciting cues we’ve worked hard on with Brodie, his loose leash skills may be what makes me the most proud. Brodie was a typically puller on leash, always wanting to go where he wanted, when he wanted and meet whoever/whatever on his terms. And while I respect his choice to choose if he doesn’t want to meet a new human, he doesn’t get to meet everyone and every dog…which is also made worse by his reactivity EVERY time he sees a dog he doesn’t know.
From our observations, his massive reactions were mostly out of frustration of not being able to meet the person or dog, sometimes it was out of fear (typically if it was a human either wearing a hat or giving those “keep that pitbull away from me” vibes), so I set out to work on his reactions and behaviors in those moments, while respecting his feelings and threshold. We switched back to using his harness and at first decided to focus on his loose leash skills and responding to cues while out on walks. I used the clicker to mark when he was walking without pulling and rewarded by allowing him to keep moving forward. If he pulled I either gentle pulled back with the cue to slow down, stop walking all together until he loosened his leash, or occasionally I would just start walking backwards. The last I didn’t do very often because his rewards were moving forward and the act of moving backward became aversive and would typically result in him planting his whole weight into the ground and refusing to move…not exactly the desired result. (Also not fun with he’s 75lbs…)
We saw SO much progress after we started using the clicker to mark the desired behavior! We had been working on the heel position at home and I started to work on him moving between heel and a loose leash position during our walks. I introduced a “go sniff” cue for when he would sniff things on walks and used it frequently enough to help with distractions. Using that new cue helped SOOOO much with his reactions towards trucks, bikes, and other really loud things that would walk by (as long as I saw them before he did or at the same time). I cue the sniffing and he focuses on that while the other passes. We’ve also started to use this with people from time to time.
We do still struggle with his reactivity towards dogs on leash. We think its partially out of frustration from not getting to meet them and sometimes out of fear of the other dog. BUT we have had some success in walking past dogs with only a little pulling and some vocals! Which to me was a BIG win over where we were six months ago! He used to bark, growl, lunge, pull towards and at every dog we walked past if he was on leash. (When he’s not on leash, he’s super sweet and friendly with 90% of other dogs…) We use the cue “forward” and click when his head orients in the direction we are walking and away from the dog he’s focused on. Right now we’re at about 60-70% accuracy with that cue and about the same with being able to walk past without a big reaction. When I can, I create enough space and reward Brodie for displaying calm behavior as a dog walks by. His progress with this is what I’m most excited to see in the next 6 months!
The last big improvement we’ve had over the last six months is his reactions to meeting new people. This was a BIG deal for us. When he was a puppy, he was SO so friendly with people. Loved everyone and everything and as he got older and grew up, he became more protective of his humans and space and became more skeptical of new people. After those 3 big reactions last fall to people, we were nervous to let him meet strangers for a long time. But with some new cues and allowing him to choose if he wanted to meet the new people or not helped him to be comfortable when meeting people again!
We worked on 2 cues specifically for this-one that is a traditionally taught cue and one that my husband made up and I absolutely love! The first was the touch cue. We used this to show him that hands were a good thing and not something to be scared of. We have people get down on his level, put their hand up and say touch, and if he chooses to go say hi and touch their hand, we click and he gets a reward (in these instanced, it was typically a treat).
But the best thing we ever taught him was the “friends” cue. My husband called it this because I was re-watching Friends for the 10000000000th time. Whenever we met new people or saw new people on the street, we would get all excited and say the word “friends”. He wouldn’t always meet the person, but he started to recognize that word, combined with new people equaled excitement!
Now I know I waited 6 months to catch you all up on our progress and what we’ve been doing, but I promise I won’t wait so long next time!
Reflecting on how far you’ve come in your dog training journey can be so beneficial! It helps you see that even though it doesn’t feel like you’ve made a lot of progress, you’ve definitely come further that you think!
Tell us about your training wins and fails in the comments below!