07/08/2024
Don't underestimate the power of habituation in your dog's learning and training.
Habituation is the process of developing a neutral response to something through repeated exposure with a neutral outcome (I.e nothing particularly good or bad happens, consistently).
For this reason, habitutation only occurs for neutral or non-threatening things, because the repeated exposure to something scary or overwhelming will create sensitisation and compound their fear/overwhelm.
Habituation should feel low key and relaxed, like hanging out with your dog whilst stuff goes on around you, not necessarily engaging, just 'being together'. You might need them on a lead to do this at first, and some dogs need to become habotuated to being still and hanging out with you before we start adding any actual distractions in!
The reason i love habituation is because I think understanding that 'not everything is a party' is a crucial skill for pet dogs these days, and, whilst it's always better to err on the side of making things positive, sometimes having no reaction is the best way to socialise them!
What do you think? 💬
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**When you use food or other reinforcers in the process, this is called 'counter conditioning', which is changing an emotional response from negative to positive by pairing the stimulus with a positive outcome. I always try to encourage people to progress from counter conditioning to habituation when their dog is feeling good about the things around them, so that the neutral response can build from a happy place.
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