Hi all! It's been a long time since I've been on here in regards to my pup, Cassie. She's now just almost 13 months old and we have been doing VERY good. She's been a real pleasure, seeming to love everyone, walks on a leash loosely, and drops her toys for me and guests alike! Recently, however, since she turned 1, it seems as though she has become very spooked by things she's never noticed before, or things she can't figure out what they are, or when she is paying attention to something else and then realizes something is there. For instance, we were taking a walk, the same route we always do, and she never noticed a street sign...that's always been there and she froze...then started barking, grumbling, and cowering a bit. She has done this with signs, bikes going down the road, people (when it's dark out and she sees something moving down the road before she realises its a person) or just generally when she becomes startled by something. To be honest, sometimes it looks like she is seeing ghosts because I can't figure out for the life of me what she is barking at! For instance, at the dog park the other day, there was a woman walking around the outside of the park, far away wearing a hoodie, glasses and a big jacket and she was totally freaked, as soon as the lady got close enough for Cassie to see she was a person, she stopped barking and loosened up and started wagging her tail. It always comes off as a bark that says "Whoa! I didn't see that there, ok, that's freaky and I don't know what it is!" Rather than an "aggressive" bark. I have worked my hardest to expose her to many types of people, we go on walks and when we see people up ahead I say "Yes! Good Girl! And give her a treat". But, she also never used to bark so it was easy! It was seeing them, treat, good to go. I always tried to make passing people, dogs, bikes a positive thing...see stimulus, mark (clicker or YES!) And treat. It's a bit different now, because I know she has a threshold and she won't take a treat once she's frozen...I've already crossed that. So...I ask, what's the proper timing/sequence for this sort of situation? Do I encoursge her to approach if it's an object to check it out? Do we walk the other way? I don't want to reward the barking...I want to help her understand these things are scary, and reduce stress on her end. Are there any things I can do going forward to help continue to counter condition and desensitize her to things so this doesn't become a bigger problem? How do I handle this when I can't figure out what she's barking at.
I'm just about to go out with my lot, but I didn't want to read and run. You won't. She is barking because she is startled, frightened or unsure. This is a result of her emotional state. Change the emotional state and you'll lose the behaviour. In your situation, I'd probably train an about-turn in increasingly difficult situations (starting off, as ever, in a completely bland location like your kitchen). Have treats in your right hand, slide your left hand down the lead, give a verbal cue (I use "this way!") and put your right hand under her nose, feeding her treats as you turn 180 degrees and walk away. Once you have fluency with that, you can drop the lure and feed her after the turn. Make it into a game. Then, when on walks, introduce it every now and again. Remember to slide your hand right down the lead, go back to luring at first and practice, practice, practice until you both have the mechanics. You can then use this in increasingly stimulating environments, but make it gradual - so you might go round a corner and immediately do an about-turn. Or as soon as you see a lamppost. Or a person on the other side of the road. Or a parked car. These things don't have to be triggers, just things that are different. The more you do this, the more she'll get used to doing it so that, when you come across something that you can see she's starting to react to - you should be able to see the precursor to the freeze or bark - then you can do the about-turn, get to a distance where she can cope and let her assess the situation from there, to realise that it's not scary. This means she will learn to trust that you will get her out of these scary situations rather than forcing her into them.
That is a great idea! Thanks for taking the time to reply. So, once I can get her to turn about and start heading the other way...what should the process look like? I have been reading and saw your "Look at that game" could I use that after a turn about to begin desenitizing to that stimuli, or would I simply click and reward straight after we walk away? Thanks!
