Hi all, We took Harvey to the Ludlow Food Festival today. It was absolutely jam-packed with people (certainly the most he has ever seen at once) and he coped incredibly well. At one point we sat to listen to a demonstration from one of the guest chefs. I sat on the outside of a row of seats with OH on the next seat to my left and Harv next to me on the right. He lay down for ages at a time and put up with random people walking by, stepping over him or stopping to fuss him. He would sometimes sit up when another dog approached but there was no lunging or barking (I did grab his collar in these situations as if he has chance to build up speed to the end of the lead he'd be quite capable of pulling me from my seat in his efforts to say hello! ). He also settled really well when we stopped to eat at a cafe within the castle grounds. The only slight blot in his copybook for today was when he decided that a scary looking balloon, that blew past when we were sat at the cafe, needed to be barked at quite loudly! : One poor old dear nearby felt the need to turn her hearing aid down In terms of socialisation / desensitisation what would be the best approach for helping Harv to get over his Globophobia (yes, it does have a scientific name - I was going to go with balloonaphobia ) ? Start with uninflated balloons and gradually increase the level of inflation (sort of the reverse approach of the B of E ) ?
Re: Scary balloons! I would think just having an inflated balloon and find the distance at which he doesn't react to it, and use the clicker (or marker word) and treat for no reaction, gradually moving it closer so that eventually he doesn't react. Do you think it had something to do with the fact it was moving? If so, you might have to do the same thing but maybe outside and tying it to a tree so something.
Re: Scary balloons! He sounds like he did really well! Good boy Harv! It's impressive to get a proper settle in a place like that. I'm sure you'll get the balloons sorted.
Re: Scary balloons! Well done Harvey. A flying ballon is an unexpectedly exciting object. Not sure we have come across one. Outside of the house anyway. I think Lilly burst a couple quite early on. Got a fright but no long term issues. You might want to consider bursting balloon noises too as part of your training at some point if all goes well with the rest of it.
Re: Scary balloons! Well done Harvey I took Harley to the beach a few months ago (tide was out really far!), but there were a lot of windsurfers and sand gliders. We sat and watched them from a distance and slowly moved forward. It took about half hour, but she now ignores funny, floaty things on the beach
