Alexandria, VA – As Halloween approaches, ghosts and goblins are popping up all over town. Technology has made for some very scary and lifelike or unlifelike characters. What do our dogs think of all this?
Dogs can be suspicious animals, especially if they have a working or guard dog heritage. Dogs are also not change agents. They prefer routines and rituals. If a house you pass every day on your walk has flowers and a tree in the yard, your dog anticipates seeing that picture. Add a large inflatable purple dinosaur that moves and screeches, and the picture not only changes, but the terrifying monster can startle and scare them, causing them to react.
There are a few things you can start doing every day to help reduce your dog’s stress during this ghoulish season.
- Desensitize and Counter Condition – Stand far enough away from the trigger, and when your dog looks in the direction of the monster, mark it with a “yes” or a clicker, then treat. If your dog is not taking the food, you are too close. You want to see a soft body. Mark and reward them for looking at you, too.
- Play the Go Check It Out Game – Start with simple (novel) objects you may have in your home. Place three or four around on the floor. A flower pot, an upside-down baking dish, a pile of books, a small or large soccer cone, kids’ foam pieces, etc. It can be something they have seen before, but not sitting out on the living room floor. Call your dog over to one of the objects and point to it. If they sniff at it, mark and reward near where they sniffed, not on the object. Call them over to another object and repeat. After a few rounds, take a break, then switch the objects and practice again for a few minutes. As your dog starts to get the game, add the cue, “Go check it out!” You don’t have to say it loudly; use a jolly and upbeat tone. You can also play the game in different rooms of your house, and in your yard or patio. Once they can sniff objects reliably, take them to the streets. Start far enough away that they do not tense up or start barking, lunging, or hiding behind you. Although they can’t sniff close, they can sniff from a distance. Dogs can smell four times better than humans. Say your cue and point toward the object. If they sniff or even look at it, mark and reward.
- Management – Managing your dog’s environment can help to set them up for success and improve the training process. Look for streets that aren’t too decked out for Halloween or drive to a nearby park for their walk. Check out products such as the Thunder Cap, which mutes the vision with a screened cap. https://thundershirt.com/collections/all-dogs?filter.p.product_type=ThunderCap&sort_by=manual
The more you practice these techniques and games, the more you can help your dog to change their emotional state and stay calmer, become desensitized to various yard creatures, and develop new and positive associations with things that often cause fear and anxiety in many dogs. Happy Howloween!
Sandy Modell, CPDT-KA, is the Founder, Owner, and Head of Training of Wholistic Hound Academy, Alexandria’s award-winning, premier canine training and learning center — offering classes and private lessons in puppy training, adolescent and adult foundation and life skills, behavior modification, agility, nose work, dog sports, and fitness, babies/kids and dogs, and pre-pet planning and selection. Classes are starting soon! Visit www.wholistichound.com to enroll in our programs, like us on Facebook.com/wholistichound, and follow us on Instagram at Instagram.com/wholistichound.
