HOW TO DESENSITIZE A DOG OF NOISES

The first step in desensitizing a dog of noises is identifying the reason behind your dog’s reactivity. For example, if you suspect that your dog has fear based reactivity to noises, try to think of the possibilities which could have triggered this behavior.

Was he rescued from an abusive home?

Did he have a traumatic experience related to that noise?

These are the kind of questions that you should be asking yourself.

If you are aware of WHY your dog started exhibiting this behavior, then your training protocol to solve it will be much more accurate. The processes of desensitization and counter conditioning can seem confusing at times so it helps to know what the triggers are of the reactivity.

In essence, counter conditioning means training a dog to display a behavior that is different than his current reaction to a stimulus. Desensitization is the process of exposing the dog to a stimulus beginning at a very low intensity.

Counter conditioning and desensitization need to be used together to be effective and are often used to change unwanted behavior in dogs, especially fearful and aggressive behaviors.

How to use counter conditioning and desensitization with your dog:

1. Be Aware

Think of instances in which your dog has reacted. Why is he reacting (excitement, fear or confusion) and what is causing him to react?

2. Begin Where Your Dog Is Least Likely To React And Slowly Increase The Difficulty

The training should start in an environment where the reactivity will not occur (in this case, no noise) before introducing the stimulus (noise).

3. Continually Associate The Situation With Positivity

Help your dog associate good things with the situation rather than negative things. This can be food (especially your dog’s favorite treats), toys, and social reinforcements like petting, attention, and praise.

4. Don't Increase The Difficulty Until Your Dog Is Calm

Dog owners always want to know how long they need to stay at an intensity level before moving forward. This will depend completely on your dog, who should be demonstrating that he is associating the situation with positivity. This means that the dog is looking to me and focused on me or the treat instead of the stimulus—in contrast to his previous reactions such as barking, trembling or other fearful responses.

5. Take Your Time & Practice Consistently

Counter conditioning and desensitization take a LOT of time and should be done very gradually. Think through the steps you need to take. Rather than expecting progress in leaps and bounds, look for small, incremental change. It can be incredibly helpful to keep a log of your results, since day to day changes will likely not be big. As always, patient and consistent practice will be your best friend! Every dog will progress at his own pace and it’s crucial that you’re understanding of his unique learning capabilities. The only way you’re going to get through this process successfully is by putting in a ton of work and staying optimistic throughout this long-term process.

Tag someone who could use this advice in the comments below!

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Kaelin Munkelwitz is the dog trainer of the new age.

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[soup-cowp]

My dog is scared of a beep. He climbs on top of all of us and shakes a LOT. It’s happening rn and idk what to do because he won’t leave us alone ;-;

[OurPetsHealth]

you should definitely do a similar video targeted around fireworks, it would help so many people

[audnbob]

We've had dogs all our lives. We've fostered, rescued, owned many that were considered 'throw away dogs' sadly, but each of them came around beautifully and we worked with them to become wonderful, calm, well trained pet's for others. We just rescued a beautiful bully, an older girl who is 'extremely sound reactive to everything' which comes across like she's going to maul whatever it is and we are in the process of a 2 week shutdown with her. Its working slowly but surely. We don't have any other dogs except her since losing our beautiful Duke 10 months ago to an aggressive cancer. Our new girl, Hippo tried to attack our adult daughter through the front door when she knocked 2 days after us getting Hippo here. Today is day 6 btw. I explained the shutdown to my daughter who will not come back until this works, which I explained to her, no one can come around during this vital time, no walks, no car rides, just acclimating her to trust in us as her pack leader's and her immediate surroundings. She is a very happy, goofy, silly and amazingly loving dog, so we hope she conquers her fears with our help.Today, it was the washing machine, yesterday, the hot water tank, the T.V. last night, you name it....She goes into her crate with no problem or hesitation as the dog in this video does which is a great help when necessary. This is a good video and distraction is a good method as well as they are showing. It's all about being persistent and patient. Good video :)

[chanelcrawford]

Can you please do a video about dogs barking at the tv? My dog has a severe reaction to any animals on TV and we’ve had no luck trying to work him through it

[kateereaut]

What if people are in posing on their safe space and staring them up why they're in their safe space like a secure cage or something like what do you do then Place their feeling safe and they are being imposed on

[christianpascual]

So many views and the comments now are less than 10