Bella is becoming less stressed

[lucyandbella]

For a long time after rescuing Bella I wanted to “fix” her fear aggression, make her into that dog that could be let off leash at the beach. It was only when I started working with her that I got a reality check. The first trainer I worked with said she was a liability and needed to be made into the most obedient dog so I had her under my control…the problem was she already was obedient and what he was suggesting would not change the fear she held towards people. So I quit going to him and began my own research, we came far but I was still too focused on the idea that she needed to learn to accept people. At some point this year it finally clicked that what I wanted to see was a dog that was happy to be in her own skin. A dog that wasn’t jumpy and didn’t tuck her tail and shy away as we passed someone; a dog that didn’t shake and pace when company was over. I realized I didn't care if she had to be on leash if out when guest were over, or if anyone would ever be able to pet her. I don’t care if I have to leave her at my parent’s house when I take Lucy to the coast (a trip to the beach would be far too stressful and Bella would be happier with my parents who she loves). I just wanted Bella to be comfortable. When I accepted that the slow desensitization process became easier for me, and I actually noticed I was less stressed when working with her. She wasn’t a hopeless dangerous dog as the first trainer suggested (at least not to me). I knew her, I could control who came around her and how the acted around her, and I could make those experiences such fun for her!

When I contacted a canine behaviorist a few months ago she was so happy to hear what I wanted for my fear aggressive dog. I didn’t want a perfect reliable dog; I simply wanted to try to reduce her stress. So since Bella clearly loved free shaping and clicker training (at the end of my consultation Bella had become relaxed around her and started free shaping, putting her paw on my foot, touching her nose to the table, anything to try to earn a treat) the behaviorist said “why don’t we make seeing people a game”. I don’t try to do BAT anymore or even “watch me” In fact I try to make less eye contact with Bella since a big part of her fear was people coming “out of nowhere” because her eyes are on me so much when we walk. Now we do sort of a “Look at that game”. I don’t put a word to it but let her figure out that looking at the new person in the house is what’s going to get her a treat. So from far away looking at the person and back at me would earn a treat, she would do this fast over and over. Then she would have to hold a stare at a stranger to earn a treat. Progressively earning a treat took looking at a person at a closer distance, or while they were stretching or some other weird movement. Bella was able to be more comfortable with her people and stay above threshold where she previously wouldn’t have because she saw this as a big game. Her tail was wagging and up in the same way it does when we do trick training. And on walks when we see people in their driveways her old self would have tensed and walked by with her ears back and nervous ( I would say "watch me" as we passed but she would have still been nervous), now she starts earning treats she looks at them and gets a treat, she holds a stare and gets a treat, the whole time she is completely happy and stress free.

Today at Christmas Eve dinner only my grandparents were over at my parent’s house, so I felt it would not be overwhelming to have her out on leash (she has been around them before but they aren’t in her select group of people she likes and can be off leash around). When they first arrived she barked from behind the baby gate, I went and got her on leash and brought her out. She didn’t even seem freaked out they were in our house and we immediately played our “look at that game” when we were done she wanted to sniff at them, so she sniffed at their legs and shoes (and her body wasn’t tensed and ready to run like it would have been before) and then curled up at my feet and fell asleep just feet from them! She never would have fallen asleep near them before, she wouldn’t have been comfortable enough. She didn’t even show fear as they moved around, she did not become jumpy as she usually does when guest are over either. It was a great stress free day for her, not once did I have to put her away because she was becoming too stressed. In fact the only moment she became stressed was when a piece of food dropped and she couldn’t reach it because she was on leash .

I am so happy with where she is at. I still won’t let people pet her, and won’t be taking her to beaches or places like that. I am just happy that her view of people seems to be changing….or at least she is becoming more comfortable and calm in previously scary situations. I am learning so much from Bella and am actually thankful I have a dog like her. I am learning to read body language, becoming a better trainer, I am more aware of how I act around my dogs and dogs I meet; without having Bella I would have missed out on learning all the things I have. I still have a lot more to learn but I am happy with how far the two of us have come .

[Nettle]

Delighted to hear this - well done both of you!

They each teach us so much. Sometimes they set us on a whole new pathway through life. I'd have gone a very different way if I had not had animals to learn with.

[MPbandmom]

Great news! Thank you for sharing. I always enjoy the success stories relating to reactive/fearful dogs since I have one that I am learning how to help be more content.

[OnceInAWeil]

This was such a wonderful story to read on Christmas night. I use the LAT game with my own dog, as well.

[LindaD58]

Hi
I am new here and have been slowly reading the many different stories trying to gain some insight as to what I should be doing to make an extremely stressed little girl a bit happier. Yours was wonderful and I applaud your dedication and patience. I just have one question you may or may not be able to answer.
How do you get a dog that is so highly stressed/frightened to even be vaguely interested in sniffing a treat for doing the right thing let alone eating it when we are outside. Is verbal praise enough even though I doubt she is hearing me?

I have avoided using a clicker as I think the noise will be too much for a dog that is basically scared of nearly everything in the world and all its noises, also people in general except me, and that has probably never been walked.

Any advice would be welcome!
many thanks

[lucyandbella]

LindaD58, post about your dog in the Dog Training Advice section and you will get tons of helpful advice, a lot of us here have, or have had experience with fearful dogs and can offer you a lot of advice. For now I suggest you check out the YouTube channel Kikopup if you haven’t already, she has great training videos and is starting to post some on fearful dogs. I feel clicker training is a must for a fearful dog because you can train tricks, do free shaping, on top of behaviour modification that really helps them gain confidence. In place of a clicker if the noise startles your dog, I would use the word “yes”. I use both when working with Bella because I don’t always have a clicker on me when I want to mark behaviour. I just use a soft happy voice and try to keep my “yes” the same every time I use it.

If a dog won’t take a treat (and the treats you should be using are small pieces of meat or cheese, something very high value) it’s a sign they are over their threshold. So start slow and patiently, I would probably start inside if your dog can’t even take a treat outside your front door. A good game for building confidence in a dog that is scared of everything is the “check it out” game. Later this can be used if your dog is like mine and rearranging the furniture makes them nervous, I now just have to tell Bella check it out and she happily inspects the new or rearranged objects. Kikopup has a video on how to cue and reward this behaviour, one note is only use check it out on objects not on animals or people that can move and startle your dog. But this would be a good way to introduce your dog to new objects in the future. So eventually when you get to walking and suddenly a trash can that was never there before makes your dog stop in its tracks, you can go back to check it out and have the dog go investigate for a treat. I don’t know how I would have gotten bell over her fear of new objects without this one, a stick on the side walk used to stop her in her tracks. Here is the video on kikopups “check it out”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5BjvNScFPs. Once Bella knew this game I would place out any object like a hat she had never seen or a coat on a chair (that really startled her) and I would click and reward for even looking at it. Then taking a step towards it, and so on, until pretty soon she would run up and sniff the object for the treat which is what I was after. Soon she was gaining confidence and I always kept my criteria low, I think fearful dogs have low confidence in themselves so anything remotely close to what I was after was rewarded. I don’t even play this game anymore but sometimes she still needs that cue from me to know something is safe for her to investigate.

Your stressed girl has me thinking of my time with Bella when I first got her, it’s amazing how much confidence they can gain she really recovers quickly now when startled by an object, she used to cower when cars drove by and refused to walk when she saw anything new (including flowers). Now her only concern is people and occasionally other dogs, I have almost forgotten how she used to act. My best advice is working on little games to build confidence and taking things very slowly. And keep posting here, in the dog training advice section you will get so much help.

[LindaD58]

Hi there
Thank you so much for your reply, much appreciated. I will check out the videos too. I will, like you say post in the other section, just wanted to say thanks here. I will definitely be back as this is an amazing site and I am so glad I found it!
I have hope now that I can help my little girl ( Nadya).