#so uh: 0 behaviors i've fixed in one go actually

[hazard-and-friends]

i see so many people turn up in forums and say “i’ve tried everything with my reactive dog, can i use an ecollar now??” and first of all, what were you doing, looking for an excuse?, but second of all, let’s talk about that “everything” and how you’ve “tried it”.

if we’re working with reactivity (vague), aggression (even more vague), barky-lungey (better!), or just plain frantic dogs, we’re working with a dog with HUGE FEELINGS. they might have huge feelings about other dogs, about people, about non-dog-non-human-animals, about the world at large, about cars, about bikes, whatever.

but all of this boils down to they don’t like their distance from some Thing, and they want to get far away (fear-based, some forms of defensive aggression) or get up close and personal (over excitement, the rest of defensive aggression, prey drive). (occasionally they want to get up close and personal in order to make sure that they can get far away, which is fear-aggression and it’s a bastard.)

so: big feelings, gotta move about it.

in very very short, when training dogs you can either work on their thinking brain (operant conditioning, cause-and-effect learning) or their emotional brain (classical conditioning, associative learning). when training BIG FEELING dogs, sure you can settle for operant conditioning and teaching them that despite their BIG FEELINGS, they’ve still got to behave in polite society and not sing the song of their people about the lab across the street. for some dogs, this is all you have to do, because if you smile you get happier, you teach your dog to behave in a relaxed manner, they become more relaxed.

except that won’t always work. i have ptsd and had a therapist tell me to be less scared of new situations, which went over like a lead balloon. some dogs are not capable of behaving in a relaxed manner until they are genuinely relaxed.

and all of this is just setting the stage for my actual point here which is: changing emotions? is a long fucking process.

if you come into a forum and say you’ve tried everything and you’ve had the dog for four fucking months, my response will be “how many methods did you try and how long did you try each method for” and if the answer is not “at least 3 weeks for each of them” i will tell you to go back and try again, do not pass go do not collect $200.

i say 3 weeks for 2 reasons.

1, because in humans it takes at least 3 weeks to make a new habit and longer than that to break old ones, so why the fuck would we cheat our dogs of that time? slow down and put in the goddamn work.

2, because 3 weeks is enough time for a trainer to get something done with you. the first session is establishing the foundations, clearing up your misconceptions about how learning happens, and generally making sure nobody will get hurt in the next week. the second session is where the trainer goes through their toolbox to find the best setup for this dog and this owner. and the third session is where they find out if it’s working and adapt. so if after all that, you are not seeing improvements, something needs to change. the method, the trainer, a vet consult, something. but 3 weeks is enough time to see change, and if the trainer can’t see it, it’s not there.

(a sidebar: i also heard about 3 weeks to see change in a separation anxiety forum, where separation anxiety trainers use it as the litmus test to refer for medication. that’s 3 weeks of training, each week has 5 sessions, each session is 20-30 minutes. 6 to 7.5 hours of training. something should change by this point, and if it’s not, and you’re following the subthreshold method, something is never going to change without pharmaceutical intervention.)

okay so: 3 weeks. if you just got the dog in [spins wheel] june, that’s 3 weeks to decompress. 3 weeks to try BAT 2.0. 3 weeks to try CAT. 3 weeks on click to calm. and 3 weeks to work on control unleashed. that’s 15 weeks since the dog came home, or a week from today, give or take. and that’s just the methods off the top of my head, i’ve got 2 or 3 more on my bookcase. you’re probably looking at 6 months of dedicated work (with a week or two for personal time), bare minimum. if you really want to do it right, add time between each method for decompression.

and if you’re going “but julis the dog BIT my NEIGHBOR’S KID I CAN’T HAVE THIS HAPPENING FOR THE NEXT 6 MONTHS” you’re right! you can’t!

put a muzzle on the dog (train it first, ideally). get a DO NOT PET vest (for the dog AND you). if the dog pulls you down, work through the anti-pull devices. rent sniffspots. go walking at 10 pm. drive into the woods to walk. do nosework in the backyard or closest grassy area (aka: scatter treats there). put a muzzle AND an anti-pull device AND a backup harness AND a chain leash if you’re really worried. get a (very very good) friend and have them get people out of the way for you. talk to a vet for medications earlier rather than later.

but these are all management, not training. training is slow. training is slow, and boring, and has these tiny amazing moments where you go HEY MY DOG JUST MET A HUMAN WITHOUT GROWLING and then realize that you sound absolutely insane to anyone else.

dog training doesn’t involve quick fixes. quit asking for them.