07/03/2024
WHY I CHOOSE TO ASK FOR & REWARD DISENGAGEMENT AS THE ANSWER FOR LEASH REACTIVITY
Continued from yesterday’s PART 1:
I choose to teach the dog to acknowledge the stimulus (i.e. glance at it) and then to look away from it by using a “leave it” cue, followed by a reward. In addition, I also focus heavily on rewarding the dog any time they look away from the stimulus voluntarily.
Here’s why.
✅ We are giving the dog clear direction: here, do this. “Leave it” in this case means “look away from whatever has your attention.” I mostly use luring in the beginning stages. Just as you teach sit or down with a food lure, you can also teach “leave it” with a food lure.
✅ We are preventing escalation. The whole “Ladder of Aggression” typically starts with staring as the first rung. The longer the dog stares, the more likely they are to react. We want to turn the dog around and get them off the ladder or at bare minimum to start, keep them at that lower level.
✅ It’s a coping skill. Any dog who is being reactive is having a hard time dealing with whatever underlying motivators are present in the environment. As discussed previously, when something is in our environment that makes us uncomfortable, we do want to keep an eye on it. That helps us feel more safe and in control. Therefore, I want the dog to learn to glance, see that the stimulus is there, then look away, and be rewarded. And then I want them to glance again, see that the stimulus is now over there, and then look away again. We repeat this sequence as many times as needed to pass the stimulus (later on we have the option of building duration if needed but most times it’s not). Acknowledging it’s there and looking to see where it went is totally ok. Staring, is not. Staring is what gets you into trouble.
✅ This skill can be used for more than just what the dog sees. It can also be used for anything the dog fixates on or alerts to that is a sound or scent as well.
✅ “Pavlov is always on your shoulder,” so there’s still counter conditioning happening here if the dog does actually have a negative association with the stimuli. Even though the focus of the exercise is an operant behavior, the positive associations are along for the ride.
✅ And even if the dog doesn’t have a negative association with the stimulus, the choice of doing an operant behavior as a coping skill covers all our bases for all the underlying motives.
✅ A variety of rewards can be paired with the “leave it” cue. High value food is the easiest thing, but we can also use sniffing, space, free time, toys, play, movement, and more as rewards IF the dog is not as interested in food.
✅ Finally, this is a skill that ultimately, the dog can learn to execute on their own. The end goal is to have a dog who notices a potential trigger in the environment, moves on, and minds their own business voluntarily without us having to micro manage forever. The beautiful thing here is that it leaves us the room to reward the dog each and every time they glance at the stimulus and then look away from it. Most “reactive” dogs actually do this already, it’s just not in the owner’s awareness to reward. And the dogs will absolutely catch on and start doing it on their own for the reward, before the owners can even spit out the cue, because they are much faster than us. It’s common for people to miss this part or skip it, thinking that the dog is doing “what they should be doing.” But, that’s not how the dog is thinking. So we absolutely need to reward it. This includes giving at least one reward *even if* the dog completely ignores the stimulus while passing. If they choose not to acknowledge it at all, on their own, that’s also a win.
Now of course there’s way more to this including leash mechanics, set up, working with the environment, etc. And yes of course every dog is an individual and there will be occasional dogs that just don’t do well with this. But, this component truly is the most effective for the largest majority of dogs in my opinion and experience of thousands and thousands of these cases. By allowing the dog to acknowledge what typically makes them upset and then rewarding disengagement (either via a cue or voluntary behavior) it really covers all the bases and empowers the dog to be able to cope and eventually work through the big feelings.
