Desensitization is the process of gradually exposing a dog to a trigger that causes a negative reaction, such as fear or anxiety, at a low level of intensity. The goal is to reduce the dog’s emotional response over time by making the trigger seem less threatening or important.
Normalization refers to the process of getting a dog accustomed to a wide range of stimuli so that they learn to view these experiences as typical and not worthy of a strong emotional reaction. It’s about helping dogs understand that these stimuli are a normal part of their environment.
The process of requires understanding of few different concepts
Triggers
Outbursts and reactions
Emotional States
Managing our emotional states
Thresholds
Rewards
Triggers
Desensitizing your dog to different stimuli is crucial for ensuring they lead a happy, stress-free life. However, this process can be challenging, especially when your dog reacts negatively to certain stimuli. Understanding and managing their reactions to stimuli—often referred to as "triggers"—is essential to correcting undesirable behaviors in the presence of triggers.
What Are Triggers?
A trigger is any stimulus that elicits an emotional response from your dog. This could be anything from a loud noise, like a thunderstorm, to the sight of another dog or even certain types of people. Triggers are highly individual; what one dog finds frightening or exciting might not bother another dog.
Any experience that produces a strong emotional reaction in a dog, good or bad, can create a new trigger that leads to certain behaviors. For example, say you want to clip your dog's nails and accidentally clip too short, cutting into the quick and making your dog bleed. That will be painful and result in a dog being afraid of the clippers, having their nails touched, or being put into the position you had them in when you cut their nails. One or all of the above could become a new trigger.
Triggers are typically created by association of something (any kind of stimuli or object) with a good or bad experience.
Be very aware of this when working with puppies. When a puppy is wary or unsure of something, don't push or force them right into it; try to encourage or coax them and then reward them with excitement (throw a party), then they act bravely. Never reward fearful behavior.
Recognizing Outbursts and Negative Reactions
An outburst or reaction is any behavioral response that results from a trigger.
A "positive" reaction or outburst could be happy or excited behavior such as the zoomies, jumping up on you, pawing or mouthing you.
A "Neutral" reaction - might include reactions such as calmly bringing you a toy to play with, sitting or asking for belly rubs. These would not be considered outbursts because the dog is exhibiting control of their actions and emotions without energetic responses.
A "negative" outburst or reaction might include anxiety, cowering in fear, drooling and knee-knocking, running away, barking, growing, or aggression - including biting.
It's very important to understand and remember that fearful dogs that react to negative triggers that they find overwhelming will resort to a "fight" or "flight" response. Dogs that cannot flee because they are cornered or too tightly restrained will resort to fighting.
If fighting resolves the negative trigger - your dog will have learned that aggression is the answer and will have more aggressive outbursts in the future for that trigger and others that produce a similar internal emotional state.
It is important when dogs are meeting each other to keep a leash loose and to keep everyone moving. If another dog reacts to them aggressively or they feel too much pressure and become anxious, they need to have the ability to flee - move away from the situation, at least temporarily.
Triggers can be positive or negative:
Positive Triggers: Stimuli that elicit a happy or excited response "outburst." For example, the sight of their favorite toy or the sound of their owner's voice might be a positive trigger for a dog.
Negative Triggers: typically Result in negative outbursts or reactions. A dog might react negatively to the sound of fireworks, the sight of a large, unfamiliar dog, or even specific environments like the vet's office.
Good vs. Bad Triggers
The terms "good" and "bad" are relative.
A good trigger might be anything that helps reinforce positive behavior or creates a happy emotional state. For instance, using a favorite treat or toy as a reward during training sessions can be a good reinforcement.
On the other hand, negative triggers cause distress, fear, or aggression, leading to undesirable behavior like barking, lunging, or hiding.
Desensitization aims to help your dog navigate both good and bad triggers calmly and confidently. This process involves desensitizing your dog to negative triggers by assisting them with changing how they feel about them and reinforcing positive ones that produce desirable actions.
Emotional States
Our goal in the normalization process is to understand and help dogs change their internal emotional state when a trigger occurs. Dogs can have a wide range of emotional states, just like humans. After all, we share the same core mammalian brain structures (but they do not have a cerebral cortex capable of abstract thought and sophisticated executive functioning/planning.) Thanks to the process of domestication, dogs are essentially canines (wolves) that cannot leave an infant or adolescent stage of mental development.
The way I think about them is that dogs are mentally/emotionally on the same level as a three-year-old human toddler. If you've ever raised children, you will know what I mean.
A Dog's internal emotional states can range from fear, anxiety, aggression, apprehension, nervousness, and discomfort to happiness, curiosity, anticipation, and joy.
Anxiety
Anxiety - common when a dog is not well socialized or normalized as a puppy, is a state of nervousness or uncomfortableness with a situation or when in the presence of a specific stimulus.
Anxiety may have become a dog's default operating state in uncertainty or unfamiliarity. This could be because of a lack of socialization as a puppy or because an owner always allowed the dog to retreat from tense situations. Instead of rewarding bravery, they inadvertently rewarded fear through coddling or cooing type "baby voices." e.g., an owner reacts by saying, "It's ok, it's ok." and petting the puppy or picking him up. Dogs will interpret those tones of voice and actions as rewards and reinforcement that their fearful behavior was good and should be repeated. This creates an anxious dog.
Dealing with Anxiety
The only way to cure anxiety is to expose the dog (normalize them) to many different conditions, particularly those where it feels safe, confident, and comfortable or can be made to do so, and then moving on to conditions where they may be unsure. This may require you to desensitize them first.
This is why our conditioning stage of training is so important. Knowing how to perform what we are asking them to do helps a dog feel more confident, particularly when verbal praise/reward is added. So, when we take them to different places to practice conditioning, even if they have anxiety, we can help dispel that anxiety because they are with someone they trust, are constantly moving, and have confidence when they perform the conditioning activities they have been taught to do. Enough practice under uncertainty or unfamiliarity where a dog can feel confident and comfortable and where bravery is rewarded helps a dog reset its default approach from anxiety to confidence. This is why almost every dog (all but one) that has arrived at our Board and Train program on anxiety medication goes home without that medication. Vets don't know how to deal with dog anxiety, so they prescribe medication that turn them into zombies or space cadets. Your dog cannot properly learn to think and regulate on that kind of medication, so we almost always need to remove them from it so that they can learn emotional regulation on their own.
Managing your dog's emotional state
One of the most critical things in Dog training is always to be aware of and actively manage and shape a dog's emotional state. The ability to read a dog is very important (and this skill cannot be taught - it only comes with experience.)
This is far more important than any dog training technique because how a dog will respond to training, whether wanting to work for you or not, will greatly depend somewhat on their emotional state while working with you in various situations. This is doubly true for dogs that are anxious or fearful. This is why Central Texas Dog Trainer focuses on building and maintaining a positive relationship with your dog - careful to build and maintain trust while avoiding unnecessary pressure or conflict. This is one area, in my opinion, that separates Good trainers from Great trainers.
If you are a dog owner attempting to do this with your own dog, you need to take off your "dog Dad or Dog Mom hat" and put on your "Coach hat"
When working through normalization, "You are not a dog parent. You are a coach." Don't coddle them. They are not human infants. Coddling will make things worse. Coddling does not communicate to a dog what you think it does.
To make progress, having someone not emotionally attached to your dog is often necessary to accomplish this type of training.
Emotional attachment will most certainly work against you.
Thresholds
A threshold is the closest distance to a negative trigger without an adverse reaction or outburst. Watch the body language. As soon as the dog gets tense, stop.
If you're using food as a reward, the threshold will be the closest distance to the negative trigger without your dog having an adverse reaction or outburst, but where they will still take food or treats by hand.
When desensitizing your dog to a trigger, you will try to get progressively closer to the trigger without it resulting in an adverse reaction or outburst, so your threshold will change over time until you can be right at the trigger without an adverse reaction or outburst.
Rewards
When trying to change a dog's emotional state regarding the presence of a trigger, it's essential to have something that your dog is excited about.
For a food-motivated dog, that could be food or a high-value treat. (You may need some different kinds to prevent your dog from getting bored.)
For a dog that is not food motivated, it could be a toy, a game, play, or your excitement and enthusiasm. I have a dog that is terrified of thunderstorms, and is not food motivated at all, but he goes bananas for a frisbee. So, any time there is a thunderstorm, we go outside to play frisbee. If I see lightening or we hear thunder while outside I keep his attention off of it by engaging him with the frisbee. He's now okay with thunderstorms as long as he's outside in the front yard. Inside, he still cowers and hides (my wife won't let us play frisbee in the house.)
If you are using food as a reward, it is important to always couple food-based rewards with the positive and happy energy of your verbal praise and deliver both together at the same time.
Dogs that are motivated by food will usually lose their motivation to take food in the presence of something that triggers stress, anxiety, uncertainty, or fear. Their appetite will come back once that stressor is removed.
Managing your Emotions
A dog trainer attempting to change a dog's emotional state must always stay emotionally neutral or positive. Dogs often take their emotional cues from humans - especially if they are unsure how to act or react to something. Therefore, how you respond to a negative trigger is super important.
Dogs are excellent readers of our emotional states via our body language. If we are nervous or afraid, they know. They can read us sometimes better than we can read ourselves (humans, that is.) Maintaining neutrality in body language and tone of voice is paramount. If you also react negatively to a negative trigger that your dog has issues with, you may be the cause of the adverse reaction to the trigger, and if that is the case, you will need to find a professional trainer to do this for you. YOu should, however, practice being the best actor you can be. A good portion of dog training is acting skills - so that we humans mirror the emotional states and reactions we want dogs to have.
How to Handle Negative Triggers
When your dog encounters a negative trigger, managing the situation carefully is essential.
Here are some steps to take:
Identify the Trigger: Pay attention to your dog's body language and reactions to identify what is causing a negative outburst. Common signs of reaction to a trigger include a dog's body posture going on alert (ears forward or back, mouth closing, tail dropping or raising, body muscular tensing) or outbursts from the trigger such as growling, barking, cowering, or trying to escape. You never want to exceed your threshold to the point where you are so deep into or close to the trigger that you are causing an outburst or reaction.
Distance and Control: Once you have identified the stimulus causing the reaction or outburst you want to determine your threshold - i.e. how close you can get to it before your dog has the negative reaction or outburst.
You may have to practice moving towards the trigger and retreating from it multiple times.
With enough experience, you should be able to tell when your dog is on the threshold of a negative reaction or outburst based on your dog's body language.
In dogs' movement typically dispels anxiety. So you many need to practice moving towards a triggering stimuli and then retreating, over and over again, until you can progressively get closer and closer to it without a reaction or outburst.
The first time you do this, stop and just practice relaxing with your dog. Once they are fully relaxed being to approach the trigger.
As soon as you get to your threshold. Stop, relax and reward and praise your dog! If your dog has not had an outburst, you can wait for your dog to begin to relax and then reward him. When he's fully relaxed or at least much more relaxed than before, move away and try again. Proceed to step 3.
If your dog does have an outburst, move away - but don't fully retreat. Then put your dog into a sit or down and wait for them to relax. Stay there for at least a few minutes (but as long as it takes for them to relax), then move way and try again, without going as close to the stimulus as you did the previous time. If you immediately fully retreat you're teaching your dog that the outburst makes the negative experience stop and you'll be reinforcing their negative behavior. It's important that they learn to relax while they can still see the trigger.
Desensitization: This is gradually exposing your dog to the trigger in a controlled manner, starting at a low intensity and gradually increasing as your dog becomes more comfortable.
Start by moving away from the threshold until your dog is completely calm. Have some fun and get your dog excited with lots of rewards. Then, approach your threshold and get just a little closer to the trigger, shrinking your threshold from the trigger by a little bit at a time. For some dogs, this may be 1/2 a foot each time. Go slow. In this situation, slow is fast. If you go too fast, you can make them more afraid instead of less, so take your time.
Counterconditioning: Once you can get close to the trigger without a negative response or an outburst, pair the presence of the trigger with your dog's preferred reward. Praise your dog! Be exciting; throw a party with your exuberant and elated reaction, verbal praise, and high-pitched, happy, and loving tone of voice. Model the behavior you want your dog to have. Over time, your dog will associate the previously negative trigger with positive outcomes, reducing or eliminating its fear or anxiety.
Rinse and Repeat: Keep these sessions short, to a maximum of 20 minutes. You can always leave and come back. After 20 minutes, be happy with your progress, go home, take your dog to the potty, and put your dog in the kennel for a 2-hour nap. Try to end on a high note.
The last part is crucial: A dog will only remember the last 20 minutes of what it did before it sleeps. If you want the lesson retained, put the dog up for a nap! You can repeat this exercise up to three times a day. Each time you go back, reset your threshold to where it was when you first started on your first session, not where it was when you ended your previous session. Then, work back up to where you ended the previous session and try to go closer.
Advice
Be patient—dog training is not linear; it's often two steps forward and one step back. If you get frustrated, take a break. Training, while frustrated, often results in making things worse. The dog will pick up on your energy and negativity, and you'll add tension to your lessons, impacting how your dog feels about training with you. As a result, your sessions will become less and less productive over time, to the point that you will give up.
Remember the note about managing emotional states?
Dogs are context-sensitive, so if you do this for a trigger in a particular environment, it doesn't mean that that trigger will not cause a reaction or outburst in a different environment. (Remember how my dog is okay with thunder when he's outside but not ok with thunder when he's inside? Those are two completely different things to a dog. ) You may have to repeat this multiple times in different environments.
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