If you’re a dog parent, you’ll know that sometimes dogs will get scared by or react to things in their environment – even things we know to be totally harmless.
While we can’t stop our dogs from reacting to things, and we can’t control the environment for them when we’re out and about, we can, however, equip them with the skills they need to handle these sorts of situations. Some of the best dog treats can really help here!
In a recent Instagram post, professional dog trainer and behavioral consultant Amelia Steele, or Amelia the Dog Trainer, has offered some valuable advice about what we can do for our pups, so let’s take a look.
In the video, Steele’s dog gets spooked by some Halloween decorations and barks at them. “First we create space,” she explains, “I practice name responsiveness a lot so I use this to get his attention.”
She uses the ‘shake’ cue to encourage him to shake off and reset, but because he’s unhappy he isn’t totally co-operating. “I give him some food anyway to help him feel calmer,” she says, “Food calms the brain and given this is an emotional response it won’t reward his barking.”
When he looks at the pumpkin he was spooked by, Steele marks and rewards to help him form positive associations – even if he still barks, she’ll give him the food. They then go into a game of ‘Look at that’, which they’ve practiced previously, so he knows to look at where she’s pointing.
Again, whenever he looks at the pumpkin she continues to mark and reward. After a while, he looks at the pumpkin and looks back at her automatically. Then, she rewards him again before they move and walk away calmly.
Steele adds in the caption, “You’ll also notice I don’t force him to get closer and closer. I don’t need him to be going up to random Halloween decorations and interacting with them, I just need him to know it’s fine and we can move on. It’s also often counterproductive to continue moving closer and closer in one sitting. If you end up tipping your dog over the edge you might undo what you’ve done.”
She also says that it’s also fine to simply create space in this situation and move on with your dog, but as she knew she’d be walking past a lot of Halloween decorations with her dog for a few days, she wanted to teach him how to handle it.
There can be a lot going on around this time of year, so here are 32 ways to support a scared or anxious pet if you need them. You might also find these ten ways to calm your dog during fireworks useful, too.
