Desensitising a dog to people!?

ladyt25

ladyt25

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Ok, thought i'd ask all you helpful people for ideas (I will try keep it as short as possible!)

Some of you may know I got a 9mth old rescue dog (Molly) back at the beginning of December. I was told she was reactive to other dogs on the lead and I am working on that (she's still reactive but maybe not quite so much). Since having her I realise she is actually absolutely fine with dogs when she's off the lead so, to be honest, this behaviour doesn't concern me as I can see improvement and we are attending training classes each week which is helping her anxiety and she's doing well (we've even moved up a group!)

Anyway, my problem is with people and i don't think the rescue had her long enough to know she had this issue. Essentially she is a big wimp BUT she puts on a good act of being 'tough' and her reaction to anything she is scared of is to bark at them/it (she does it with plastic bags in hedges!). I have and am trying distraction techniques and, fi I do chat to anyone I try tell them to ignore her as if they do she is ok. She normally starts if strangers try stroke her/talk to her or look at her. I know she will not bite or anything BUT it is not nice for people obviously as she can look scary. I hope with time she will improve but I was wondering if anyone had any other tips to overcome this that I may not have tried?

I am considering tomorrow taking her to a small market town where there are a lot of people just so I can walk her round and she will then maybe not feel as threatened as she does when she has time to think about that one person walking towards us on the footpath? Do people think this would be a good idea or a bad one??!

Thanks in advance! :)
 
A good idea:) don't stop to socialise just walk on past the crowds.
Its always best if you do stand and talk that people don't attempt to approach her/speak or give eye contact and that she becomes inquisitive and starts to sniff around them of her own accord. Pass them something tasty to drop on the floor, not only will this act as a positive but it will redirect her attention to sniffing around the ground and finding the treats. If she tries to hide just step away so she is once again exposed but still ignore her and chat and scatter goodies around the floor, even if you also join in with the scattering it will get her interest and she will stop focusing on her target.
A clicker could also prove handy for you to redirect her attention when she is barking.
For now walk her through people but try not to stop and chat until you either get some clickering in:) or you have your goodies at hand.
Don't let her dictate when you move on if you are chatting otherwise she thinks barking= people dissapearing, always move on when she is quiet.
 
Did you go to training classes with her? Just that a trainer who knows her could assess her for what she can cope with - I am a big fan of taking the dog somewhere busy and feeding it/praising it the less reactive it is but the trick is finding a happy medium, somewhere with a steady flow of people but not so busy and noisy that it blows their brains, for example, an out of town retail centre rather than a bustling high street.
 
I think its a good idea to take her where there are plenty of people coming and going. Perhaps after a while you could sit down on a bench(if it dosnt freeze your butt off) and watch the world pass you by. I wouldnt allow people to approach and pet her because that will make her more fearful. Take some really tasty treats and dont allow her to focus too much on anyone or lunge or bark, everytime she looks from them to you treat her.

Good luck and I hope the weather is kind.
 
Thanks - that gives me a bit more confidence in doing it! I intend on taking her to a small market town near me - steady flow of people but definitely not manic/to scary.

The thing is what she does is, say we're walking on the pavement or even just about to put her in the and someoen approaches, she pulls on the lead (will get on her hind legs) and she will grumble and bark if they stop or she feels they're too close. I try just walk on and ignore her and, if she does stay quiet then praise her but, when she is in this 'zone' no amount of food distracts her (well, on occasion it's working which is an improvement I guess). Also, if I do meet anyone I know (and she doesn't) it is very hard for them to ignore her!!! I tell them to not look at her or speak to her and do NOT try and stroke her, she will approach them no worries, sniff them etc and then will be fein but if they try and interact with her that's when she starts.

Once she knows someone and knows they're ok then she remembers and is fine but obviously we meet strangers when out. I now call her back if she's off lead and we meet people out walking who don't have dogs (if they have dogs she ignores the people). This is working to some extent but I'd like her to be happy walking past people or at leats dealing with it in a less people-threatening way! i didn't realise she had this issue until we met some people on her first off-lead walk! Doesn't help she's black and tan so many people keep thinking she's a doberman cross! (she's about half the size!!!) still, to them that makes her more scary seemingly.

I'm going to give the two walk a try and speak to the trainer again. She also suspects she has kelpie in her and this is why she has this behaviour in her nature.

In all other respects to be fair she's doing so well and her recall is pretty spot on so i guess i can't complain, they can't be perfect and I've had her so little time really (I forget it's only 8 weeks, seems she's been here ages!)
 
I am having a similar problem with Sprocket at the moment (fine off lead but reactive to dogs and people on lead) and am working with my instructor/behaviourist. What I am doing (and it is already working after only a week) is to get him to watch me every time he sees a person or dog coming towards us and then he gets a food reward and lots of praise. Clicker training is great for this as you can click as soon as the dog looks at another dog/person and then they will automatically look at you for a reward. Taking him to a place with lots of people may work as long as you can keep him far enough away so that he is sub-threshold. I know what Sprocket's triggers are and so can walk him around dogs and people but I know when it is time to move him away.

I also have some games to play with him in the house to build up his confidence (he is a big girly wuss) - PM me if you want any details.
 
ladyt25 said:
T Also, if I do meet anyone I know (and she doesn't) it is very hard for them to ignore her!!! I tell them to not look at her or speak to her and do NOT try and stroke her, she will approach them no worries, sniff them etc and then will be fein but if they try and interact with her that's when she starts.
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This is EXACTLY what Sprocket does. He will go up to people and try everything he can to get a response but as soon as they make eye contact with him or bend down and touch him he gets stressed and starts to growl.
 
Her "watch" is quite good and I find this works when we're at training (we did the 'weave' thing last week for the first time and she was very good at watching me when dogs walked round her). However, I don't think a clicker will work for me mainly because I am just too disorganised!! Having the dog on the lead, poo bag in one hand, treats in the pocket is about enough! Our dog trainer has said to use a word (ie "yes"/"good") as opposed to a clicker so I do use this. Problem is if she spots something it is hard to get her to get her brain back on focusing on me. I have had the odd success with dogs but with people we dont get as much chance - I think I need some stooges!!

I think I will try the throwing food on the ground as I had thought about this yesterday funnily enough. It's frustrating as obviously I don't want people to be scared of my dog and I know she's harmless but I fully appreciate others don't and she can look scary.
 
Get a bodywarmer/fishing jacket/camera jacket. Training lead you can clip around yourself. Poo bags in pocket. Treats in pocket. Clicker on elastic band around your wrist. I can't even walk in a straight line but I am pretty impressed I can cope with all that :p :D
I've dropped the clicker for pretty much everything but in the foundation stages it was a brilliant way to immediately mark good behaviour and unlike the voice it is unaffected by tiredness, anger, temper, lateness etc.
 
weevil said:
This is EXACTLY what Sprocket does. He will go up to people and try everything he can to get a response but as soon as they make eye contact with him or bend down and touch him he gets stressed and starts to growl.
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It is just nerves isn't it! Thing is, once mine knows the person and has 'accepted' them she's then very cuddly, wants to play games and is great really so it's a shame she shows this nervousness and it manifests how it does. Our other rescue was similar with men (mine's worse with men too) but she would run away/ skirt round someone as opposed to barking at them and appearing threatening. She is much more confident now so I have hope with mine!

You'll have to let me know if you find anything particular that really works!! The thing i find hardest though is getting people to ignore mine - people are harder to train sometimes! they see mine and immediately try and appease her barking by bending down and talking to her - this just makes her worse!!
 
CaveCanem said:
Get a bodywarmer/fishing jacket/camera jacket. Training lead you can clip around yourself. Poo bags in pocket. Treats in pocket. Clicker on elastic band around your wrist. I can't even walk in a straight line but I am pretty impressed I can cope with all that :p :D
I've dropped the clicker for pretty much everything but in the foundation stages it was a brilliant way to immediately mark good behaviour and unlike the voice it is unaffected by tiredness, anger, temper, lateness etc.
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Ha ha, I think I may just be too special for all that!! I may try it though. Just for pretty much everything else she's been really good and she picks up new commands so quickly so I am hopeful she's be perfect eventually! I guess they've all got to have one quirk! :D
 
i haven't much experience of this so I'm not much help but on channel 4 theres an episode of its me or the dog where they deal with a bichon with a similar problem. Her method was to keep changing direction before the dog had the chance to get worked up. It might be worth a watch as you get to see her methods work on the dog etc.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/its-me-or-the-dog/4od#3111506

the bid where she tackles the dog walking is in the second half.
 
I've been to a few training workshops lately where they show how having a stranger give your dog food does not help and does not work towards building a possitive association.

Get and read the book Control unleashed. And read and re read the bit about "the look at that game".

My dog Abe had similar issues and once he realised i was not going to make him interact with people even to take a treat from them it became a whole other game.

I taught him a soild sit behind my legs so that if i was talking to someone he wasn't right at touching level to them and then we started work on the look at that game.

Basically what you do is everytime your dog looks at its stressor (in thise case the person coming towards etc) you click and treat.
The idea is that it turns what would be a reaction process into a game.

Now with Abe we have been doing this for a long time and he is grand with people now but he still likes to play the game. When he see's someone on a walk he looks and them then back at me like he is trying to get the treat slot machine to work.

here is some advanced use of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byPqy3yzzXI
 
Thanks soloabe, I may give it a whirl. My only problem is, is she becomes un-bothered by food at these times (even though normally is pretty greedy) but i guess it's all about my timing really! I am going to try it!
 
ladyt25 said:
Thanks soloabe, I may give it a whirl. My only problem is, is she becomes un-bothered by food at these times (even though normally is pretty greedy) but i guess it's all about my timing really! I am going to try it!
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Thats because you are trying to work her over threshold. You are to close to her stresser.

You really need to read the book to get a real understanding of it before you try anything.
 
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