Before moving on with my training of Daisy, I wanted to share a wonderful book for treating dogs with fear and aggression issues. Behavior Adjustment Training – BAT for Fear, Frustration & Aggression in Dogs, by Grisha Stewart.
Having a wide array of training books on hand, this is my go to for getting past those most embarrassing situations, case in point Daisy’s aggression.
When I married my husband he had the cutest little Boston Terrier named Daisy. She was great and we never seemed to have a problem around other dogs when off-leash, nor did I notice anything when she was on leash. But for a few months when we moved back to California she stayed with Grandma & Grandpa in Utah. I believe that the separation triggered something in her, and it seemed like overnight she became leash reactive. So reactive to the point that we didn’t like taking her places. I think the title of “frustration” actually has to do with us… because inevitably that is how we end up feeling with a dog who has issues.
BAT teaches the owner to look at growling, lunging, or fleeing as a function of learned behaviors that have helped them cope with the outside world in the past and in turn teach us to replace those unacceptable behaviors with socially acceptable behaviors that serve that same function. She teaches us to build confidence in our dogs and showing them to learn to control their behavior. I like to think of it as this, we teach our children to control their temperaments and behavior in social settings, but we expect our dogs to know how to do it naturally, unfortunately that is an unrealistic expectation. Ms. Stewart teaches you to learn and understand your dogs “triggers” so that both you and your dog can enjoy social situations.
If you do not have an understanding of canine learning theory, don’t worry! Ms. Stewart has a way of combining counter conditioning, desensitization and positive reinforcement methods in easy to follow steps which are very useful to everyday pet owners. In addition she makes many wonderful suggestions for tools and equipment to help people and dogs to succeed. And if you are a fan of Lili Chin and her wonderful illustrations, this book is loaded with them!
This book is available in a wide array of e-book formats and paperback, it can be found at Dogwise.com!
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I’d never heard of this book but will definitely pick up a copy.I have my own reactive dog and it looks like the type of advice that I would be comfortable following. It’s also always helpful for me to know which books I can recommend for clients with similar problems. Thanks for a great review!
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I know you will love this book and it’s a great book to recommend to your clients, heck I’m sure you can carry it in your clinic 🙂 It’s very easy to read and understand. I love the fact that it is positive reinforcement. It made the training process so easy for our Boston Terrier, she developed a great deal of trust with me using these techniques.
I might order this book, sounds like a great one for some really common issues in dogs. It is sometimes easy to see how the behaviour is learned and becomes self-reinforcing, but not so easy to find strategies to fix the problem. My little dog has always lunged ferociously at other dogs when on the lead, and of course most of the time the other dog will back off, which is exactly the result he wants! And like you, it means that often I don’t take him places there are other dogs.
How did you find the training, is your Daisy a bit better now?
Daisy is much better now! I didn’t dive into a lot of the technical stuff in my quick review. But she describes identifying triggers, which most of us know and also setting up thresholds, the point at which the dog goes from calm to crazy and working those. A basic knowledge of clicker training is needed but she gives great instruction in the Appendix if you have never used a clicker. So I highly recommend this book, I believe you will enjoy it 🙂
This is cool – I LOVE Lili Chin’s illustrations. I haven’t read this book yet but certainly will. Impulse control and leadership are definitely invaluable when combined with desensitization and counter-conditioning and it sounds like she does that. I’m sure people see wonderful results!
BoingyDog recently posted…My Dog’s Training Wishlist
This is my favorite method, very easy to use and you see great results!!
Sounds like a great book, might have to check it out! 🙂 Niles isn’t exactly reactive but we do need to work on her barking back at dogs that start barking at her. By the way, love Lili’s work!
Nailah Bone recently posted…Thursday Training – Competition Heeling: Stuck on You!
I love this book… it has taught me so much and makes a big difference in the dogs. I think you will be able to get Niles to stop the barking at others, she makes it very easy to put concepts into practice.
This is kind of silly but before your post I hadn’t even thought of Dogwise offering ebooks! Genius! Our last dof, Sully, would often react aggressively toward other dogs and we had HUGE success with the books: Cautious Canine by Patricia Mcconnell and Help For Your Shy Dog by Debroah Woods. He was able to compete successfully in obedience and rally, thanks to BAT-style reconditioning.
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I love to hear success stories!! Especially when they go on to compete in dog sports & obedience. But I congratulate you to for being a great pet owner and teaching him the proper way to behave. It’s sad that so many others will give up on their dogs.