There are many dogs who are reactive to visitors and dog owners seeking for help. One of the most important steps when dealing with dog behavior problems is preventing the dog from rehearsing problem behaviors. The fact is, dogs are good at rehearsals, the more they engage in a problem behavior, the more that behavior will put roots and therefore quite difficult to eradicate. Management of your dog’s environment is an excellent start as you get ready to start behavior modification with the help of a dog behavior professional.
Strong Reinforcement at Play
Unless you nip bad behaviors in the bud, established dog behavior problems are habit-forming and therefore become more and more difficult to eradicate, the longer your dog has been exhibiting them. The fact is this, whether your dog barks and lunges as to attack or barks and then backs away, your dog’s behavior of acting reactive towards visitors has a strong history of reinforcement.
If your dog is reactive towards visitors and barks and lunges towards them threatening to attack and bite as they approach the house, your visitors most likely will try to leave or move away. Your dog has possibly been rehearsing this behavior a lot already from the window when he has seen delivery people or strangers near his turf. What happens when he barks madly and approaches the window acting like Cujo? These people leave, either voluntarily because they are frightened or just because they have delivered their package or are walking past the home to get to somewhere else.
Regardless of why these strangers move away, in your dog’s mind he has scored big time. “Every time I bark and act mad, people leave, I will keep doing this anytime there’s somebody near my turf.”
Now dogs don’t exactly really think cognitively this way, but you get the idea. In training science, the barking and lunging behavior can be said to be negatively reinforced, meaning that the behavior repeats and becomes stronger, because the negatively perceived stimulus goes away. In other words, the behavior works, just like your behavior of shooing away an annoying fly from your sandwich works and you keep doing it every time there’s a fly near your lunch.
In fearful dogs who hide, similar dynamics take place. Only, that, when visitors come into the home, these dogs take a more passive role. Yes, they may bark, but they may also back away and go into hiding mode once the visitors approach. These dog may hide under a bed or behind the owner. When these dogs hide, they feel a sense of relief and security because they have increased distance and feel safe.
Even in this case, the behavior of hiding is negatively reinforced, because the dog gets out of negatively perceived situation. In other words, the behavior of hiding works in keeping the dog safe from a scary situation, just like you may hide in your car if you were to see a person you do not feel like meeting one day. “Pheww, feels good to not be seen!”
A Long Path Ahead
Whether your dog barks and lunges when visitors arrive, and/or your dog goes into hiding, these behaviors as mentioned have a history of reinforcement, and the more they have been rehearsed, the more difficult they will be to eradicate.
Even though some dogs make look quite confident when they act reactive, in most cases, their behavior is driven by fear. Confident, well’adjusted dogs do not tend to see strangers as a threat. They have been socialized with many types of people and have learned that people are normal parts of their lives.
It is the undersocialized dogs or the dogs genetically prone to act fearfully who are more prone to this type of behavior. In some cases, the dog may have been fine with visitors but may have endured a negative experience involving strangers in the yard or nearby the home (being teased or frightened by people passing by the property) which has shaped his reactive behavior.
Behaviors stemming from fear, aggression and anxiety are behaviors that may take a while to change. This delayed gratification makes many owners feel discouraged and some eventually give up. Owners dealing with these problems need support, clear instructions and realistic expectations on time frames necessary to overcome the problems and what to expect during the process. Consulting with a force-free dog trainer or behavior consultant is important for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification.
Preventing Rehearsal of Problem Behaviors
An important step in behavior modification is preventing the dog from rehearsing the problem behavior. This may sound easier than done. Many dogs are very prone to rushing towards the door or window as soon as they hear voices. They may be difficult to control and in some cases, if they are held by the collar or restrained in some way, their frustration and high arousal may even lead to a bite.
If they bark, but then tend to hide under a bed, these dogs never have an opportunity to learn being near visitors. If these dogs too are held by the collar or restrained in some way to prevent them from hiding, they may bite defensively because they are overly stressed and their threshold for aggression is lowered.
There are several options that can help keep prevent rehearsal while keeping dog owners and visitors safe. Allowing distance between the dog and the visitors is one of the most important steps in behavior modification.
[adinserter block=”1″]With distance, dogs are calmer and less likely to be over threshold. This paves the path to the process of implementing the core of the program which is behavior modification which should be implemented as soon as possible.
If your dog acts actively reactive, meaning that he barks and lunges with the intent to scare the intruder away and possible even bite, you may want to keep your your dog closed in another room when visitors arrive or securely crated in an escape-proof crate at a distance from where the visitors are received.
If your dog is passively reactive, meaning that he barks and lunges, but once the visitors enter the room, he has a need to hide, keeping him behind a baby gate may provide him a safe haven with the freedom to flee, while allowing him to hear and see the visitors through it.
Creating Positive Associations
Helping dogs who are reactive towards visitors requires a behavior modification plan that tackles changing the underlying emotions. Desensitization and counterconditioning works best.
The behavior modification process is the same for both the active reactive dogs and the passive reactive dogs. For the active reactive dogs, you should find a distance from which your dog sees the visitors but yet he is not so aroused by them. Keeping the dog leashed (and possibly muzzled) at a distance while visitors are around may be needed.
For the passive reactive dogs you should also find a distance which your dog sees the visitors but yet is not so apprehensive about them. Keeping the dog leashed at a distance while visitors are around may be needed.
Once you have found a distance where your dog is calmer, you should start behavior modification and gradually progress by decreasing distance and exposing to different scenarios. There are different protocols you can use.
The most common entail creating positive associations with visitors by feeding treats. Treats are fed when visitors enter and exit the home and when visitors engage in behaviors that may have made the dog nervous in the past, but now presented in a less threatening form and from a distance. Having a force-free dog trainer or behavior professional guide you through these techniques for safety and correct implementation is important. Following are some resources for owners of dogs who are reactive towards visitors.
Resources for Dogs Who are Reactive Towards Visitors
- Learn how to keep your dog under threshold so that he can cognitively function and allow you to work on the problem.
- Learn the basics behind what desensitization and counterconditioning entails.
- Jean Donaldson’s Open bar-closed bar can be used for brief appearances or brief visits done under a controlled setting.
- Dog barking when visitor enters the room: this article provides a detailed sample of work that can be done with dogs who are reactive when visitors enter the home.
- If your dog has problems with male visitors in particular, you may find this guide helpful: dogs fearful of male guests.
- If you keep your dog leashed while the visitors are around at a distance, you can try using Leslie McDevitt’s LAT (look at that game)
- Something to be aware of with fearful dogs is the approach/avoidance trap.