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my dog, a golden retreiver  of 6 years, has always been terrified of thunder and lightning…..in itself that doesnt bother me, but now that we have a newborn baby in the house, it is quite dangerous when storms come(very often in singapore) as he will climb all over anyone in the hopes that he can escape the impending storm. i know this is not uncommon but does anyone have success in breaking the phobia?  ive tried patiently calming him (no effect) to harsher discipline (i dont like it but he’ll stop at nothing if he thinks itll help him get relief).  ive changed his metal choke chain to a nylon web one even. hes a great dog  and such a part of our family but a definite hazard to the baby and anyone carrying him when hes like this.  locking him up just causes him to scratch the floor furiously and bark non stop. does anything else help? please reply directly to me and thanks for any help john (and Mo)

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> my dog, a golden retreiver  of 6 years, has always been terrified of thunder > and lightning…..in itself that doesnt bother me, but now that we have a > newborn baby in the house, it is quite dangerous when storms come(very often > in singapore) as he will climb all over anyone in the hopes that he can > escape the impending storm. > i know this is not uncommon but does anyone have success in breaking the > phobia?  ive tried patiently calming him (no effect) to harsher discipline > (i dont like it but he’ll stop at nothing if he thinks itll help him get > relief).  ive changed his metal choke chain to a nylon web one even. > hes a great dog  and such a part of our family but a definite hazard to the > baby and anyone carrying him when hes like this.  locking him up just causes > him to scratch the floor furiously and bark non stop. > does anything else help? > please reply directly to me and thanks for any help > john (and Mo)

Hello John, You should try to associate something pleasant with the oncoming storm. Do this by creating a signal in conjunction with a particularly pleasant and relaxed state of mind you determine he is in. You could use touch or sound or any stimuli, used in precisely the same manner each time you notice the appropriate state of your dog’s mind…to mark a behavior that is relaxed or counter to the feeling he has when he gets nervous with the approaching storm. You can set a multitude of appropriate different anchors in this manner, and trigger them one after the other to create a relaxed feeling. When he gets disturbed, trigger those stimuli and use the following sound distraction and praise technique to interrupt the nervous behavior so you can proceed with the trigger mechanisms. Using the come command would also be a good distraction.  If he won’t come to you when he’s worried about a storm, that means you need to work on it. Perhaps it’s because he only wants to hide. Put him on lead and keep him on command at your side on stay, so you can get him used to being out in the "open" I don’t suggest you go outside to show him the lightening is safe, it might belie you… . Using this technique is the easiest and fastest way to break any behavior. There are a number of things that have to be considered when beginning this approach. A few preliminary exercises in the Wits’ End Dog Training Method manual available for free at: http://www.doggydoright.com will explain the basic handling techniques you should learn. Using them will insure that the method will work to a high degree of proficiency. The problem is that not many people understand how to use the sound distraction and praise techniques correctly. When you are told that it has been tried and didn’t work, rest assured that whomever "tried" it and for whom it  did not work, did not "try" doing it correctly. I often hear the "experts" here saying they’ve tried it, and it didn’t work for them, or it made their dog nervous. There are people that do not follow directions and get lousy results, and there are people that do not allow the technique adequate repetition to be successful. Those problems will occur if the technique is not done precisely. There is no excuse that these techniques will not work if done correctly, they are a scientific fact. Any sound will suffice. Ideally, the sound would be the same each time, but that is not often possible. A single clap of the hands or snap of the fingers would do, if it were followed by praise, and as long as it does not happen twice in succession from the same point of origin. That’s why several cans are required. You cannot use the same can for more than two occasions in succession. The sound must always be accompanied with praise. The sound must never occur from the same point of origin twice in succession. The sound must be brief. The praise must continue constantly for several seconds following the sound to allow the thought process to be completed. The behavior must be allowed or made to be repeated and interrupted using sound and praise until the behavior is broken. And most importantly,  the moment the dog thinks of resuming the behavior, you must praise him. That’s right. When the dog thinks about resuming the behavior, if you praise him at that exact moment, the previous corrections will be restimulated in the dogs mind, and the behavior will be extinguished. That seems to be the real hard part for the trainers here to understand. They want to make it happen, and they interfere with the dogs thought process. The dog will learn through the process of elimination of alternative actions or behaviors. It takes a few minutes, and the behavior is eliminated, rather than repressed and seething to resume. The trainer will confound his efforts when they insist on telling the dog NO!, instead of relying on the conditioning that has been established. Shouting at the dog will often trigger the opposite of the desired effect. What further complicates the process for the trainer, is that they break the conditioning when they respond with a different corrective technique out of a reflexive reaction of their own, such as screaming No!, or reaching out to grab the dog and physically correcting the dog for a further instance of malbehavior, rather than taking the moment to think about the best way to address the problem, and if necessary search for a can and follow through with the appropriate sound and praise. The process must be carried out using an alternate source of sound for the next interruption. An associate could be enlisted and instructed to clap their hands on signal to accomplish the desired sound interruption. We want the dog to exhaust all of the alternative malbehaviors he can pull out of his bag of tricks, in order for us to extinguish them each in turn. Any time we interact in a behavior by telling the dog no, or physically restrain or correct him, we are becoming part of the behavior, either as a player or competitor in the dogs mischief. Using sound as a distraction must always be followed by immediate, prolonged, non physical praise. Interrupting a behavior with sound should never be associated with us, as in voicing no, or telling the dog to stop it. The behavior should not be distracted with any intervention. We want the behavior to begin again, so that we may have another opportunity to properly address the behavior with another sound and praise. That way, we can completely end a problem while the dog is thinking about it, and we are prepared to address the issue before it becomes out of control. The sound must never occur twice in a row from the same direction. In other words, if you snapped your fingers in front of the dog to stop him from chewing on your shoelace, you’d praise him for five to fifteen seconds immediately upon snapping your fingers. The behavior will hopefully resume, and the next sound of the snap of your fingers must come from behind the dog, or even from a friend assisting from across the room, from a soda can with a few pennies in it, or any source of sound (except our voice!), followed by prolonged non physical praise, until the dog is no longer thinking about the behavior or resumes it. The third interruption of the behavior usually gets the message across, and the dog will think about the behavior for just a moment before engaging in it once again for the fourth and last time… That split second thinking about engaging in the behavior requires praise. Do not react to it with a challenge of shouting no, or physically removing the temptation. That moment of thinking about resuming the behavior and the praise it earns him will validate the prior interruptions of that behavior. The dog then needs to test it out, to be sure that the same behavior will be dealt with in exactly the same manner. They will usually make a fourth attempt at the behavior, and if you follow through appropriately, he will learn not to do that behavior anymore. But only on the one shoelace! He must take that behavior to other instances to fully cease the desire for the behavior. The behavior will not be completely broken until he has taken the process of elimination to the second, third, and fourth opportunity to explore that behavior. And, even at that, you may need to repeat the process in four completely different places. That means that the worst behavior may need up to sixty-four properly timed interruptions and praise. Usually it happens much quicker than that. Breaking a behavior in this manner reduces stress, takes us out of the position of negative enforcer or competitor or playmate, and allows the dog to extinguish a behavior because he simply doesn’t get any satisfaction from it. The other secret is giving the dog a payoff for every time they look at you. Each time you notice eye contact from your dog, you must praise him verbally, to prevent his idle mind from doing the devils work. DRAINING THE SWAMP, AND RELOCATING THE GATORS… J>>> "CUSTOM WILL RECONCILE PEOPLE TO ANY ATROCITY." G.B. Shaw. "I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives."                                              Leo Tolstoy Is it any wonder that the following sig file has generated more complaints to my personal email than any other controversial post I have made to date, bar none?:                                             caveat If you have to do things to your dog to train him, that you would rather not have to do, then you shouldn’t be doing them. If you have a dog trainer that tells you to jerk your dog around, choke him, pinch … read more »

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->my dog, a golden retreiver  of 6 years, has always been terrified of thunder >and lightning…..in itself that doesnt bother me, but now that we have a >newborn baby in the house, it is quite dangerous when storms come(very often >in singapore) as he will climb all over anyone in the hopes that he can >escape the impending storm. >i know this is not uncommon but does anyone have success in breaking the >phobia?  ive tried patiently calming him (no effect) to harsher discipline >(i dont like it but he’ll stop at nothing if he thinks itll help him get >relief).  ive changed his metal choke chain to a nylon web one even. >hes a great dog  and such a part of our family but a definite hazard to the >baby and anyone carrying him when hes like this.  locking him up just causes >him to scratch the floor furiously and bark non stop. >does anything else help?

Calming him just reinforces the behavior. You might want to try desensitizing the dog to the sounds. Get a tape of thunder, etc, and play it…turn up the volume bit by bit and praise and treat the dog when it is NOT behaving badly. Laugh and sing and act like an idiot, because storms are good and fun. Keep turning the volume up until the dog can deal with the sounds without getting nervous. When the storms are coming, do the same thing. Laugh and sing and dance and be happy. Give the dog treats for being happy and calm. Play games, etc. Do obedience exercises. Do whatever it takes to keep the dog’s attention. If the dog is freaking out, you have to ignore him. Don’t pet him & don’t punish him. Just ignore him. Make him sit in front of you, give you a paw, whatever, and praise the dog for that. Maybe come up with a special game you play when there’s lightening. If it’s really that bad, you can also get doggie tranquilizers. Use them to calm the dog, but at the same time, work on getting the dog desensitized to to sounds. He’ll probably never love storms, but if you can get him to sit, stay, play, chew a bone, it’s better than having him leaping around and being scared to death. Good luck.

Response:

I have an old collie, Dino, who was very afraid of thunder.  He’s much improved from what he use to do. He would practically try to claw his way inside you to escape. One thing I did which is sort of far out, is based on…..argh… I can’t remember her name!  I just hate it when my memory shorts out. Oliver Sacks wrote about her in one of his books "Anthropologist on Mars", I believe). She’s a professor at CO State and is also autistic.  She has done much study on squeezing type of confinement and how that calms an animal.  I took the info and when Dino started to get into a panic, I would sort do a big hug on the old guy, using a sheet to swaddle him and give more even pressure.  No I’m really not into Collie bondage.  I didn’t constrict his legs but I noticed that firm pressure over his back, chest and rump would calm him down.  His breathing would slow and he would tremble less.  Interesting is that after a while (six months) of doing this, I didn’t have to do it much at all anymore.  He now just sleeps during storms.   A trick I’ve learned from Jean Levitt, the president of AWCA (American Working Collie Association) who has Collie Service Dogs, helps prevent the phobia from starting.  When a storm is brewing, I get a big bowl of REALLY good treats (bits of roast beef or some such) and wait for the lightening.  When lightening flashes (and only then) I reach into the bowl to get the treats for the dogs. Thus the lightening becomes a signal that treats are coming, thus a good thing.  I did this with Pablo during his puppy hood and (knock on wood) he’s a mellow dude during storms. Chris and the S&M Collies (no not really) Dino, Zeffie, and Pablo

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Yes I know it’s bad form to follow up ones own post.  The name of the CSU professor is coming to me…Temple Grandon?  The last name doesn’t seem quite right.   Chris and the trio of silly smoothies Dino, Zeffie, and Pablo

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snip > A trick I’ve learned from Jean Levitt, the president of AWCA (American Working > Collie Association) who has Collie Service Dogs, helps prevent the phobia from > starting.  When a storm is brewing, I get a big bowl of REALLY good treats > (bits of roast beef or some such) and wait for the lightening.  When lightening > flashes (and only then) I reach into the bowl to get the treats for the dogs. > Thus the lightening becomes a signal that treats are coming, thus a good thing.

snip Fascinating! I wonder if this would work on a dog already terrifed of thunder? (You give the treats for lightning, or for when you_ hear the thunder)? Sometimes he can hear the thunder long, LONG before I do, and sometimes I can’t see the lightning that precedes it, especially when the storm happens during the afternoon daylight house, which is frequent around here in the summertime. Terri

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>Yes I know it’s bad form to follow up ones own post.  The name of the CSU >professor is coming to me…Temple Grandon?  The last name doesn’t seem quite >right.  

Temple Grandin. A truly fascinating person. Cris Waller Fast Fourward Flyball Team www.flyball.com/fastfourward/index.html Flat-coated retriever art gallery http://members.tripod.com/antique_fcr/index.html

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>Fascinating! >I wonder if this would work on a dog already terrifed of thunder? >(You give the treats for lightning, or for when you_ hear the thunder)? >Sometimes he can hear the thunder long, LONG before I do, and sometimes >I can’t see the lightning that precedes it, especially when the storm >happens during the afternoon daylight house, which is frequent around >here in the summertime. >Terri

Hmmm, I’m a simple sort.  I just focused on the lightening only.  I knew it was working well, when the lightening flashed and Zeffie and Pablo scampered  to the treat bowl, drooling and barking happliy.  Jean Levitt had suggested it as more of a measure to prevent Storm Phobia, not to treat it. When I started doing this lightening/treat thing, Dino was so freaky about storms that he couldn’t seem to focus on the treats at all.  And this is a dog that lives for food.  It was only after I had done a lot of the swaddling or "collie bondage" (as we refered to it around here;-)) with him that he was able to calm down and think about anything during storms. IMHO, I do think it helped him, however it could be that he would’ve gotten better on his own. Chris and the smoothies, Dino, Zeffie, and Pablo

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