Look at the Scary Thing

Look at the Scary thing

By using classical (Pavlovian) conditioning, help your dog change his/her mind about the trigger

Prerequisite

It’s helpful but not mandatory if your dog has some experience with the clicker.
It’s helpful if your dog knows a few easy behaviors like sit, touch, and down.

Tools

Clicker
Treats
Treat bag
Space
Patience

Training Environment

Depending on how sensitive your dog is, you may need a large area for this. Unused sports fields, parking lots, or other open areas where you can get far enough away from triggers that your dog is not upset are good options.

You need a space where you can control your proximity to the trigger. If you cannot get a distance between your dog and the trigger and maintain that distance, you need to find a different environment to work. Accidents sometimes happen, but we need to do our best to not allow the trigger to cause our dog to go over threshold.

Recommended Treat Position

When you first start the exercise, you’ll be treating right in front of your dog’s nose.
After a few minutes, begin treating next to your dog’s muzzle so he/she must turn their head away from the trigger in order to get the treat. If your dog can’t look away, keep treating in front of the nose.

Steps

When your dog notices the trigger and is looking at it but not lunging, barking, or is acting relatively calm, click and treat when your dog looks at the trigger.
Repeat this several times (or until the trigger goes away).
When your dog is ready, start treating next to your dog’s muzzle so he/she must turn their head.
After 5-10 repetitions, try clicking and withholding the treat for just a second and see if your dog doesn’t turn their head in anticipation. If he/she does not, go ahead and treat them next to their muzzle.
Once your dog is turning his/her head at the sound of the click, withhold the CLICK until your dog turns his/her head in anticipation.
When you’re getting the sequence: Look at the trigger, look at you, click and treat – get closer. Move in a zig-zag, not a straight line or your dog will be wise to what you are doing.
Move around the area, sometimes getting closer, sometimes getting farther away, always doing your best to keep your dog under threshold.
If / when you get your dog to stand close to the trigger without reacting, start over with a new trigger (this may be a new person or dog that you haven’t worked with). A variety of different variations of whatever your dog is afraid of will help him/her generalize.

Homework

This can be a difficult session to fit in, but do your best to practice every day if you can, and if not, as often as you can.

Keep your training sessions as short as possible – 15 minutes or less if you can.

At the End of This Step

We are working up to having your dog see the scary thing, look at you, and get a click and treat. This is not so much about the exact behavior but rather is about your dog being able to relax around his triggers.

Troubleshooting

My dog won’t look away from the trigger or is reacting.

You’re too close. Your best bet is to go home and try again at a greater distance another day. It happens. Don’t feel bad about it.