Clean Run - October 2014 - 60

ing and generalizing, which could
develop into fear or, at the very
worst, a phobia.
I once observed an accomplished
handler show her young dog in
Novice. The dog was (and still is)
a well-trained, fast, and amazing
little agility dog. He was entered
in a games class and the judge
was using a microphone to call
out points. This dog did not have
any prior history of sound sensitivity. For some reason the voice
in the microphone scared him.
His startle response was minor,
barely apparent, and the handler
did not think much of it and kept
running. The stimulus continued
throughout the rest of the run.
Subsequently, after attending
several trials, the dog ended up
developing a severe reaction to
the judge in the ring (avoidance,
zooming, lack of focus) and had to
take a long break from trials while
the problem was worked through.
This is not the handler's fault.
The handler is experienced and
made a decision to continue running the dog since the dog's initial
response was not severe. It is difficult to know whether a stimulus
will habituate or sensitize.

Identify the Trigger
and Assess the Response
If your dog has a fearful response
to a noise or an event while in the
ring, it is important to consider to
do the following:
the trigger(s) or
· Identify the dog to react: whatit
caused
was
the electronic timer, a buzzer,
a loud voice, microphone feedback, a whistle... the list goes
on? Was the trigger minor or
major? I consider something
like a low voice in a microphone to be a minor trigger,
but if that microphone had a
wiring problem or there was
audio feedback, that same
voice might be a major trigger.

· Assess the dog's reaction to
the trigger: did the dog startle
slightly, and then shake it off
and go about his run? Did the
60

dog panic and try to run out of
the ring or stop moving completely?

· Assess the dog's recovery time
after the event: was he fine immediately or soon after leaving
the ring or did his response
continue for a length of time
after the event? If the dog has
a big response to a minor trigger and a long recovery time,
especially for a dog that was
previously fine, I recommend
seeing a veterinarian for a
health check-up and to discuss
seeking the help of a veterinary behaviorist.

Before You Start
Addressing the Problem
Please note that the exercises in
this article should be done only
with dogs that are experiencing
minor distress and that recover
quickly from a negative experience,
or dogs that have had a natural response to a frightening event.
Also, I recommend that before
doing any of these sound sensitivity exercises, you work through
Dr. Karen Overall's Protocol for
Relaxation. This protocol is widely
available on the web through a
Google search and in her book
Clinical Behavioral Medicine For
Small Animals, pages 413-423.
The Control Unleashed® (CU) program, explained in Leslie McDevitt's book of the same name, combines Dr. Karen Overall's Protocol
for Relaxation with the dog lying on
a mat. Through this mat work, the
dog will start to associate a mat
with relaxing so the mat becomes a
"conditioned relaxer." Having a dog
in a relaxed state while working
through desensitization and counterconditioning is very beneficial to
the process so I recommend teaching the CU mat work first as well as
the relaxation protocol.

Desensitization
and Counterconditioning
Once you have identified what is
causing the fear/startle response
in the dog, your next step is to

change your dog's mind about
his trigger by using desensitization and counterconditioning.
"Desensitization" is the process
of presenting the trigger at a low
level where your dog can perceive it, but not react to it-we
call this keeping the dog "under
his threshold." "Counterconditioning" happens when the dog
pairs something positive with the
stimulus, such as a high-value
food treat or toy. Desensitization and counterconditioning go
hand in hand. It is important that
you gradually increase the level
at which you're presenting the
trigger, and only when the dog
develops a happy response to the
trigger as a result of your counterconditioning.
Clean Run sells a variety of sound
desensitization CDs on their
website, including one for agility trials. I would recommend
purchasing one or several different CDs. Be sure to pick out the
sounds you are going to use while
listening on headphones. You do
not want your dog to be exposed
to these sounds while you are not
desensitizing him to the noise.
If you cannot find the specific
sound, you may need to record
it yourself. Luckily, most smartphones have built in recorders
so that you can easily record the
sounds you need to work on with
your dog.

What you use to countercondition
must be of high value to the dog.
Do not assume that all dogs like
peanut butter; my Sheltie prefers
something sweet like Pop Tarts.
Also, counterconditioning does
not necessarily need to be done
with food; you can use whatever
Clean Run | October 14

Clean Run - October 2014

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