27/04/2023
TW: Mentions of aversive “training” methods.
Flooding is unfortunately still common in dog training. It consists of forcing a dog to be in the proximity of something (e.g. humans, animals, objects, handling) with no choice to escape, create distance, or to make the event to stop.
It’s also flooding if a dog is deprived of a basic need, like food or water, and has no way to get to it other than to put themselves in a scary situation.
Sadly, it’s typically used with dogs that display fearful, reactive, or aggressive behaviours, when they need more understanding, more agency, systematic desensitisation with counter-conditioning, and definitely NOT flooding.
- A dog-reactive/fearful dog being walked in a large group “packwalk" on an aversive tool
- A human-reactive/fearful dog forced to take treats from a strangers
- A fearful dog being dragged into scary situation
- A fearful dog being forced to eat their meals somewhere they’re scared of
- A fearful/reactive dog forced to down/sit-stay in a crowded area
- A touch sensitive dog only getting their meal if they let themselves to be handled by a person.
- A touch sensitive dog on a tight leash and tight muzzle forced to put various equipment on.
(Note: I’m using these labels in an effort to save character space.)
Sometimes flooding may seem to work at first because the “problem” behaviour is suppressed, but it is an incredibly stressful procedure and it also teaches a dog their behaviour doesn’t work, that they no longer have agency.
For dogs that display more fearful/reactive behaviours, this can backfire, as they can become even more sensitised to the thing they are worried of. They may learn that they have no way to communicate or move away from scary stimuli and their only option left is to shut down or bite.
Some people might think: “I went for flooding therapy and I turned out fine!” But remember that humans can consent to having this method, which still has ethical concerns, used on them, but our dogs can’t.
We want our dogs to learn that their behaviour has power and that we can be trusted to go at their pace. That is how we help them feel safe with something that may be scary or overwhelming to them.

ID: The background photo is of a large black and tan dog looking fearful, display whale eyes, hunched over while sitting, and looking away as a hand is touching their head. A leash is attached to the dog’s collar and it appears to be snowing. The text says “Flooding removes agency from the very dogs who need it to learn to feel safe.”
