For all the dogs who've touched our hearts
The slow or fast path to changing behaviour?
Julie van Schie 
Using rewards instead of punishment can take more time, but slower is better if the dog enjoys the process and feels great on the inside.
Bonnie learns to smile around other dogs
I couldn’t believe my eyes! Bonnie was looking at my husband with a big grin on her sweet face. He reached into his pocket and fed her a handful of food. The small white dog continued up the path while Bonnie ate and softly wagged her tail.
I was thrilled! Not long ago a strange dog appearing would have made Bonnie hysterical. I have, on several occasions, had to carry her home after a close encounter with a dog.
Seeing her happily turn to us rather than bark, was like magic.
Only it isn’t magic. It’s positive reinforcement training, and it took 2 years to get to this point.
Today I want to discuss different paths to reaching the behaviour you want. It can be tempting to take the fast lane, especially when you feel desperate, but there are costs with moving fast.
Changing behaviour so the dog enjoys the process and feels good on the inside may be slower, but it’s worth it!
Fast path - punishment
One fast route people commonly take is punishment. Punishment can seem to work quickly but there are hidden costs to pay.
Take Bonnie barking at other dogs. I could apply an aversive (yell, hit, jerk on the leash) each time she barks, and it may work to punish (stop, reduce) her barking – it may even do it quickly. However, what’s happening to the way she feels?
Punishment has been shown to increase fear and aggression. Although the outward signs may have stopped, her fear of dogs is still there or is worse because the approaching dog now predicts something nasty happening.
Bonnie’s happy face, her bright eager eyes, her open smiling mouth showed us that the dog appearing made her feel good. She saw it and knew she would be showered with good stuff – praise from happy humans, great food, and plenty of space.
Even better, the appearance of the dog prompted the behaviour; we didn’t have to ask Bonnie to do anything. In fact, we only realised he was there when Bonnie began bouncing happily in front of us.
Fast path - flooding
Flooding involves directly exposing a dog to the thing that worries it, without any attempt to lessen that fear and without the possibility of escape. The idea is for the dog to learn the scary thing doesn’t harm them and therefore they get over it.
Sometimes flooding works, but the more likely outcome is an increase in anxiety, fear, and aggression.
Flooding is more common than you might think. Walking a fearful dog in places where they’re continuously exposed to and cannot avoid other dogs, (think leash), is flooding.
This includes taking a fearful dog to the dog park for “socialisation”. Your dog is unlikely to “get over” their fear in this way, so for the sake of your dog, give them the space they need to feel safe.
Space, space and more space is essential for your dog to happily learn new associations and better behaviour.
Punishment and Flooding - a terrible combination!
The growling Border Terrier
While I was learning to be a dog trainer, I shadowed a qualified trainer at her day-care centre. A young Border Terrier was growling and snapping at other dogs, so she leashed him, put him in the middle of a bunch of playing dogs and yanked and scolded each time he growled.
Flooding combined with punishment is a terrible combination. The poor fellow could not escape nor express himself, and as I watched, his growling grew less, but his body became stiffer, his eyes harder and he began to silently lunge at the other dogs – which was also punished.
I don’t know what happened to this dog, but I doubt he left behaving better and he certainly wouldn’t have felt better. Punishing the visible signs of a dog’s feelings is how they learn to bite “without warning”.
The longer but better road - change feelings
My husband and I have been using positive reinforcement and classical conditioning with Bonnie on our walks. The aim is not for her to like other dogs, just to feel safe and know how to behave when she sees them.
It’s taken time – 2 years! – but I’m delighted to say it’s working, and best of all Bonnie’s showing us she’s happy too.
Here’s a quick run-down of what we’ve been doing:
The Antecedent arrangement
Help Bonnie feel safe
Space, space and plenty of space!
We’ve carefully chosen places to walk where there’s little chance of meeting off leash dogs and plenty of room to avoid leashed dogs. This means we can give her the space she needs to feel safe and be able to follow simple cues.
The first step in teaching or changing any behaviour is to organise the environment so it’s easy for the dog to learn, and in the case of a fearful dog, to avoid flooding.
Check out this blog explaining antecedent arrangement: Set your dog up for success, make training easier
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Walking in quiet places gives plenty of opportunity for reinforcement and helps the dogs feel safe
Positive Reinforcement
Teach Bonnie what to do
Teach and practice some simple behaviours:
- Respond to her name
- Look at me – not taught as a cue but rewarded each time she offers it. Looking at us is highly reinforced with food, smiles, play, pats, and all the lovely things.
- About turn
- Follow and Transport, which we keep classically conditioned to prevent a negative association with strange dogs
- Nose target, jump on a rock, spin, and food chase game. Life isn’t perfect and sometimes dogs get a little closer than we’d like. These behaviours help keep her focus and allow us to give heaps of reinforcement for alternative behaviours to barking.
Classical conditioning
Help Bonnie fell good about seeing other dogs
- Feed her whenever dogs bark in the distance without expecting any behaviour
- Feed her whenever dogs bark at gates (which we try to avoid) without expecting any behaviour
- Take her aside and feed her when anyone passes
- Take her aside and feed her when any dog passes
- If for some reason we get too close to a dog and she barks, we move away and feed her anyway
More good news!
I’m just back from a walk and have more evidence of our training working. A family with a noisy, excitable dog walked past, then a couple of large dogs barked loudly and continuously at a fence as we passed by. In each case Bonnie turned to us smiling and looking for her reward!
Don't do it alone
One reason people choose the fast roads of punishment and flooding is because the slower, better road takes a certain amount of knowledge and skill. It also goes against human nature to leave perceived transgressions unpunished but is it kind? Does it honour your dog’s needs and help them feel better about their fears?
And how does it make you feel?
The slower, better road of positive reinforcement can create a dog who spins to look at you with a smile on their face – just like Bonnie, and that feels great!
A positive reinforcement based, fear free dog trainer can help you with the basic skills to teach your own dog. They can also put you and your dog into safe environments with carefully selected non-reactive dogs. If you do have a dog with aggression issues, it’s always best to work first with a skilled trainer who uses methods that support the emotional health of your dog.
Even then most of the work will be up to you. You will need to maintain the training and protection so your dog continues to feel safe, and together you can practice what you’ve learned.
Further Education
There is no replacement for knowledge and skills. You don’t need to be a professional dog trainer to do this well, but the more you understand and practice, the better you will be able to communicate clearly with your dog.
Take a little time to learn how dogs learn, how they express themselves through body language and how to teach them in a way to build a strong and trusting relationship.
What if you have a friendly dog?
If you’re fortunate enough to have a friendly dog, still teach your dog the behaviours from the positive reinforcement list above. This will make it easier to walk together in a variety of environments and make life better for those of us with scared dogs.
We really appreciate it!
References and further reading
Flooding
A.P.A. Dictionary of Psychology: Flooding
What is Flooding?: Avanti Dog Training
Psychologist World: What is Flooding?
Eileen and Dogs: Sink or Swim 9 Ways you Might be Flooding Your Dog
Punishment
Is Punishment an Effective Way of Changing the Behaviour of Dogs? Use of Punishment in Dog Training
Leads to Increased Aggression, Psychology Today, Stanley Cohen
University of Bristol. Managing the risk of aggressive dog behaviour. ScienceDaily. 17 June 2019
Bad Dog? Think Twice About Yelling, Science, AAAS, Eva Frederik, 6 November 2019
Classical conditioning
Simply Psychology: Classical Conditioning
Positive reinforcement
Positive Reinforcement and Operant Conditioning, verywellmind, Kendra Cherry, 2021
What is Positive Reinforcement in Dog Training? Companion Animal Psychology, 2017
Dog Language
How Well Do You Know Your Dog? Quiz, City of Charles Sturt
Dog Body Language Posts and Videos, Eileen and Dogs
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