Action and Reaction

Action and Reaction

It has been some time since I wrote anything on this blog page and even longer since I took Storm on a hike with me. The sad fact of the matter is, Storm has become what is known as a ‘reactive’ dog. I didn’t know what that was myself at first, which only served to make the situation worse, unfortunately. Let me explain.

When we first brought her home, we made very certain that she was well socialised and met lots of people, dogs and situations. But she was always a rather shy and sometimes nervous dog. If a plastic bag blew into the driveway from the road, she would jump nervously. If people suddenly appeared when she wasn’t expecting it, she would be very wary. If people came to the house, she would circle them, keeping her distance, and studying them suspiciously. Not knowing any better, we tried more 'socialisation', giving her more opportunities to meet people and experiences usual and unusual.At first, the tactic seemed to be working.

But then we made a massive mistake. We had the opportunity to go to Venice for a few days. Obviously, we couldn’t take her with us, so we decided to leave her with the person who ran our obedience class, as she took small numbers of dogs into her home that she already knew from class. It seemed ideal. The trainer had three dogs of her own and a doggy friend from Storm’s class was going to be staying there too for some of the time, plus a ‘day care’ dog that Storm didn’t know. We went on holiday believing we had done the best thing for our 8 month old pup.

When we went to collect her, she seemed more nervous than ever. Instead of rushing out to greet us as we expected, she cowered under the table and refused to come out to see OH. It was only when she heard me speak that she ran out to see us and became excited that we had come for her. We put it down to her having not seen us for nearly a week (6 days) and maybe thinking we had abandoned her.

After that, things started to go downhill rapidly. We met a group of school children in a park who were keen to stroke her. At first, she accepted their attention, but then suddenly and without warning, she snapped at one of the girls. Again, we excused the behaviour, thinking she had had enough and was tired. But it didn’t stop there. When people came to the house, she behaved so badly, she had to have a lead on and eventually to be crated away from the visitors. Any loud sounds – the doorbell, a dog barking, the TV, etc - invoked a cacophony of barking. Meeting people, dogs, horses, children, cyclists, joggers while out walking – she became a lunging, growling, snarling whirling dervish! Training went out of the window (she still is unable to walk nicely on a loose lead, particularly when she sees a ‘trigger’). And there are so many triggers!

We didn’t understand it and thought she would ‘grow out of it’ – another huge mistake. A reactive dog does not just ‘get over’ it. Storm had been nervous before and now she was acting aggressively at anything that dared to move or enter what she thought of as ‘her’ territory.

Last summer, we went as usual to Scotland in the motorhome. I was more and more worried about how Storm would react to other people, so she was more often kept on the lead, even in the woods and on the beach. Then I discovered a lump on her head. A day later, it was still there and had grown to twice what it had been. We took her to the vet – and that was our first experience of ticks! She had three – two on her head and one on her shoulder. I held Storm and the vet said she would try to remove the ticks. Storm went for her, growling very aggressively and snapping. Thankfully, she didn’t actually bite her, but she was way over the threshold – we are learning a whole new vocabulary in relation to dog care and training these days! The vet said she thought Storm was more than just nervous and we could probably benefit from the services of a dog behaviouralist. I was sceptical. While I was concerned about her behaviour, I still didn’t think there was anything seriously wrong, or that a shrink was necessary.

But by the end of the summer, I was researching animal behaviour and dog psychologists. It was then that I discovered the term ‘reactive dogs’. Put simply, it means a dog that over-reacts to ‘normal’ stimuli. So when a bus goes by, instead of walking normally by your side, a reactive dog might (they are not all reactive to the same things) lunge, growl and try to chase it away. Of course that is self fulfilling. A bus is on a journey, taking no notice of your dog, but the dog thinks that as the bus goes away, it is a direct result of him or her having chased it, or growled at it. 

We realised we too had a reactive dog. Storm would react to anything that moved, so we began avoiding places where there were buses, cars, cycles, joggers, horses, dogs, children - you name it! It reduced drastically the places we could go and the times we could go there.

The theme that ran through most of the internet searches I found was that the dog needed to be ‘socialised’. If they had been socialised as puppies, then they needed more socialisation. I had done my best to socialise her from the moment we got her, and had tried the additional socialising, so I was not convinced that this was the right thing to do for her, but I did try putting her in situations that caused her to react, in order to try to train her to react differently. Needless to say, that method didn’t work at all! In fact, it made her worse. I was inadvertently training her to react to stimuli, not to overcome them. This technique is known as ‘flooding’. A dog is scared of or aggressive towards a certain item; so you make them face that item over and over and over. But doing the same thing and hoping for a different result is crazy! If you are scared of spiders, the theory of flooding says you need to be exposed to spiders more and more – better still, put yourself in a room full of spiders. Chances are, instead of overcoming your fear of spiders, you will curl up in a ball in the corner and scream!! And you will be all the worse for the experience. Same with our dogs – flooding really does not work. But it seemed like the correct thing to do at the time, so we tried it and failed.

Then of course, the internet was flooded with ‘the dog whisperer’ – the trick, he claims, is to teach your dog who is the pack leader. If they behave badly, then it is because you are not dominant enough and your dog doesn’t see you as the Boss. I have since discovered that the ‘pack leader’ theory is nonsense. Domestic dogs do not run in packs; human beings cannot be a pack leader in a dog’s world. Besides the so-called ‘expert’ has actually no training in dog psychology and has been videoed hitting a dog in the side of the head. I didn’t want to use methods like that; better to be kind, not harsh.

We also began avoiding places where people walked their dogs. Which meant no walks along the railway path near our home. Far too many dogs there are off lead – with owners who shout ‘he’s well trained’ (while their dog totally ignores their attempts to recall them), or ‘don’t worry, he’s friendly’ – well it isn’t YOUR dog I’m concerned about; it’s mine!

Finally, Storm and I went for a walk. She was let off the lead and was running happily around. Then I noticed a woman coming the other way, just around a corner. I couldn’t see if she had a dog with her as tall grass obscured my view – but yes, she had. I called Storm, intending to put her on the lead, and she was coming towards me, when the woman kicked a stone or something. Storm’s head flicked round and she saw the woman and the dog, just as they emerged from behind the tall grass. Storm went into ‘collie mode’ and did the collie crouch thing – crawling along on her stomach, as a dog would that is herding sheep. She was totally deaf to me calling her or trying to get her attention and completely focused on the other dog – which was on a lead. Storm has never really understood leads and is much worse when either she or the other dog is tied to one. I started to run towards Storm; Storm started to run towards the woman. I called out to her to ignore Storm and just keep going. To her credit, she did exactly as she was told (more than I could say for Storm), but Storm, seeing the other dog was on a lead, ran at it, growling and snarling something terrible. I am sure the poor woman thought she or her dog was going to be savaged! I jogged on past, calling Storm, who decided I was much more interesting at that point than a dog on a lead and came after me. I put her straight on the lead and sher stayed that way for the rest of our walk.

It was at that point, I knew I needed some help! Storm’s behaviour was way out of control and things could not continue as they were. By this time, we were more than a year after our holiday in Venice and things were just getting worse and worse.

My research eventually (not without some mistakes along the way) took me to an internet site called CARE, a facebook page called Reactive Dogs UK (it's a closed group, so I can't link to it) and to a dog trainer who really understands and works with reactive dogs (Jamie Muir, at Durham Dog Care). He’s quite expensive, so we haven’t had loads of sessions with him, but we do know now what to do and some training techniques to use to help. It is important that Storm is not placed in situations that put her ‘over the threshold’ – ie where she can’t cope, is on high alert and as a result is incapable of listening to instruction or of being distracted. It is also important that she learns to trust me to keep her safe – if we see a ‘trigger’ (ie a stimulus I know will cause her to over react), then it is my job to ensure she doesn’t feel threatened by it, so we need to keep a ‘safe’ distance. I have learned about CARE (excellent website with a video showing how counter conditioning works), DS/CC, BAT, distraction techniques (it is hard to stop your dog reacting to the TV!) and T-Touch, wraps, as well as methods of getting people/strangers to keep their distance. For instance, I now have a fluorescent yellow tabard with the words ‘DOG IN TRAINING; DO NOT APPROACH’ printed on it. It is never a good idea to say ‘my dog is nervous’ or worse ‘my dog is aggressive’, as then you are liable under the dangerous dogs act for having an out-of-control dog.

We also have a Baskerville Ultra muzzle. I said to our trainer that I would feel I had failed Storm if she had to wear a muzzle; he pointed out that I would have failed her more if she bit someone and we were forced to have her put to sleep. I went straight out and bought a muzzle after that! She still isn’t 100% happy wearing it, but it did save the day when she had to go for her inoculations. I dread to think what she might have done when the vet stuck the needle in had she not been wearing it! Rather than seeing it as a restriction and something that is ‘nasty’ for the dog, I have come to look at the muzzle as something that keeps my dog safe. And really, that’s what it is all about – Storm needs to know that I am able to keep her safe, no matter what the situation. When people ask why she wears it, I simply tell them that it stops her from eating things she shouldn’t – of course that also includes people’s legs and children, but I don’t tell them that bit!! Not that I think she would actually bite someone, but if she felt cornered, then who knows? It is better to be safe than sorry. The Baskerville allows the dog to eat treats, while preventing him/her from biting/eating things it shouldn't.

Another term we have learned is ‘fear aggression’. The dog might respond aggressively, especially if they cannot run away, but they are not actually aggressive dogs – they are simply afraid of whatever the situation is and they respond in the only way they know how – barking, growling, or attempting to bite. Growling is a warning: keep away; barking is a louder warning: you didn’t listen; I really want to you keep away. Biting is the last resort of a cornered dog.

So what caused it for Storm? We can only speculate. Her mother was a shy dog too, so maybe high stress levels run in the genes. But more often than not, reactivity is triggered by an unpleasant event and the dog responds in fear (hence the term  ‘fear aggression’). But more likely, it was during our time away in Venice. Was she attacked by another dog? Was she frightened because we weren’t there to protect her? We really do not know, but we can pinpoint the change in her behaviour to that few days away – starting with her hiding under the table when OH approached her on our return.

We have made a lot of mistakes – tried the wrong techniques, gone to the wrong classes, seen the wrong people, flooding, dominance and so on. But finally, having found a good trainer, who is only a phone call or email away, I finally believe we are on the road to recovery. I understand that we may never have the wonderful, calm dog we had hoped for (and it isn’t just because she’s a border collie!!), and she might never do agility (can't go to classes), but at least we can now understand what is going on with Storm (she is not just being naughty) and start to work on her issues, desensitising her and counter conditioning her to have different responses.

I will end this post by posting a cartoon I saw. It describes exactly what I am trying to achieve. 

The idea behind it is that we condition our dog to associate good things with the thing that scared them. We have a long way to go, but I am hoping Storm will one day think ‘cheese van’, or ‘cheese horse’ or ‘cheese children’ whenever she sees a stimulus.

And we are STILL working on loose lead walking J