Advice For Dealing With Your Dogs Scary Triggers.

Make life less scary for your dog.

Our dogs are naturally nervous and pessimistic. It has been bred into them as evolved mammals over many hundreds of thousands of years.

If you imagine, all of us as living animals, had ancestors who have survived long enough to procreate.

Ambiguous things will have occurred during these individual lifetimes that will have involved either investigation (“is this a food source?”) or avoidance (running away). Unless the animal was starving, running away would be the best option for survival.

After all, what is saying that noise is not a predator? What is to say that berry is not poisonous?

Those that avoided the things they were not sure about lived to see another day and to create more generations of slightly more cautious offspring.

Millions of generations of cautious offspring later, we have our domestic dog.

Except in our day and age, there are a lot fewer things for our dogs to be afraid of. Sure, some other dogs will bark and some humans are cruel, but on the whole, our dogs do not need to panic about imminent danger or death as much as their ancestors did.

Sometimes, because of the way the brain is wired, our dogs develop irrational fears, and things that we know are easily explained and safe are terrifying to our canine counterparts.

Noises like fireworks, the vacuum cleaner, the jangling of metal … The whoosh of traffic coming past, or perhaps another dog barking … There are unlimited things that can become triggers to our dogs and cause a “fight or flight” response.

The fight-or-flight response is our dog’s way of keeping themselves safe from triggers. They generally prefer to run away (flight) and avoid confrontation. But, if that is not possible, such as a dog on lead, then they will bark, air snap and growl to make the trigger back away. If the trigger doesn’t accept the invitation to get lost, then a bite will be their last resort.

So, as a result, on lead dogs can appear more reactive than off lead dogs. However, the lead is the best way of managing a dog and so must remain in place for everyone’s safety.

How do we help our dogs to overcome their fears and triggers?

First, we consult a vet to be sure our dog is healthy and not in any pain. A dog can mask all kinds of pain and illness, but it can manifest as a behavioural struggle. Like with humans, feeling rough can make you grumpy!

We make sure our dog is eating suitable food and has water, is warm and comfortable, their living area is clean, is groomed where needed, and has plenty of opportunity for doing dog things such as chewing, sniffing, playing and taking appropriate exercise.

Then, we get in touch with a qualified and force-free behaviourist. They can help you uncover the triggers that your dog is being affected by.

Next, we often begin a process of desensitisation and counter-conditioning. In layperson’s terms, this means making the trigger as small, weak, distant or as unscary as possible. Then exposing our dog to it at a level they are no longer scared by it.

We then pair that low-level trigger with something the dog enjoys, so that the trigger becomes good news.

This might mean the dog seeing the trigger and immediately being told “Good” and given a treat, or a favourite toy appearing.

It might mean playing a sound quietly, then pairing that with something wonderful.

It might mean allowing the dog to experience a hint of a smell, or a slight flicker of a light, or any number of reduced level triggers.

We will know when the dog is starting to think the trigger is good news as our dog will be visibly relaxing and looking to you as if to say, “Well I saw it, now where is my reward?”

At that point, the dog can perhaps be allowed to experience the trigger at a slightly higher level. Or not, depending on the situation.

For some dogs, just seeing the trigger, and calmly walking away is enough to help desensitise them, allowing them to sniff or do what they feel they need to as you go.

If they bark or react, they are telling you they are too close and you need to create distance.

In human terms, I am not too keen on scorpions. If one ran at me, I would be terrified. But if there was one in a tank, that could not get to me, and I was 100 yards away from it, I would no longer be so scared.

Now if someone then paid me £10 to look at it, and did this on repeat, soon I will think “actually, this is not so bad.”

I might not like the scorpion particularly. While I may never want to touch one, I could eventually become tolerant and even curious enough to examine it closer if nothing bad occurs.

What used to be a threat is now minimised to something that does not concern me, and I am excited about the potential reward.

If we can do the same for our dogs and their triggers, we can make their world so much more enjoyable, healthy and happy.

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100 Day Challenge — Day 87