But the CATS. We've had very mixed success.
In the last few weeks I've seen Murphy ignore a cat (saw it, turned and walked away) and two weeks later lunge after the same cat full force with noise and spit and the whole thing, and everything in between. So...
I decided that a) I'd done plenty of avoidance and we were ready for desensitization, and b) peanut butter was a good reward for some things but not enough for this. I had grilled turkey with me and the other night did a few reps of "watch me" (I used "look") to plant the seed that I had good stuff in my bag. After a couple of blocks he was checking in happily, more often than normal.
Encounter #1: Cat sitting across a very wide street, easily 50 feet or more. It took several seconds to get him to see it, and when he did I said "look" and he made eye contact with me, tail wagging, looking like he does when we're clicker training. We did a few reps of him looking from the cat to me. Happily moved on...
#2: Half a block after #1 we came across a cat accidentally. It was lying under some stairs, considerably closer at about 15 feet, and he saw it before I did. And I only noticed because he stopped and looked at me expectantly! Whew! We did a few reps and I actually never had to ask him to look this time. He freely looked at the cat, them me, etc., with tail wagging and face relaxed.
#3 At the end of this walk we were sitting on the porch. A person was walking on the sidewalk and would eventually pass our house, so I got the peanut butter out. I asked him to look but he didn't (he usually does with no problem). Instead he continued to stare and his face inched forward ever so slightly. I looked and saw a cat walking next to the guy coming up toward the house. Before he could react further I put the peanut butter jar to his mouth and turned it so that he was licking it and facing me instead of looking toward the cat. When it was gone I gave him some turkey.
So, success that walk!
Yesterday morning, I skipped one cat that I saw in someone's garbage. I decided maybe I'd skip cats that were doing anything out of the ordinary, such as rustling around next to a bag of trash. But near the end of our walk I saw one lying on someone's lawn. I crossed the street away from it first then brought him around closer, but staying 20 feet away. I was doing "look" and giving him turkey and had his full attention but I actually wasn't sure if he even saw the cat. So I changed position slightly and as soon as he saw it, he lunged and snarled. I'm talking split second. Whoops!
I body-blocked him and moved him back several feet and he stopped reacting. He sat down and looked at me and I gave him turkey. He looked at the cat and after 2 seconds he looked at me - and it appeared as though he decided to look at me, if that makes sense. He was definitely a little more intense than when he saw the cats the day before. I did a few reps of looking from the cat to me. When he relaxed we moved on. He didn't seem distressed after that so we went home.
So obviously I pushed it, I should have given him a day or two of no cats before I tried it again. I guess I thought we should move forward so as not to regress. Do I have that wrong?
Should I have taken him away from the last cat altogether instead of attempting to work with him again after he settled a bit? It seems his reaction distance varies depending on the cat, if it's moving, if there are other barriers such as a fence, etc., so I need to work that out.
I do similar sometime stoo. I haven't shared this yet because I wasn't quite sure it was really working and am still playing with it. I think of it as "priming" Jack. getting him in a good mood by earning a few treats before he encounters dogs.