Navigating Fears and Phobias in Working Dogs
In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw discusses:
- Timing the puppy training early and with directed purpose and handling the fear periods in dogs.
- Habituation, spontaneous recovery, sensitization, and learned irrelevance.
- When to reorient and when to address fears.
- Understanding your dog’s phobias to learn how to solve the problem.
- Common fears and phobias seen in police and sport dogs.
Key Takeaways:
- Too many people restrict social and experiential learning in puppies during the critical stages of development out of fear.
- As a decoy, as a handler, as anyone working with a young dog, you need to be attentive to what you’re doing and always be surveying your environment to avoid unintended consequences.
- Avoid creating a problem that doesn’t already exist. Take a systematic approach to expose your dog to everything they need to be exposed to.
- Generally, fear periods are short-lived. Take your dog into more familiar places, more natural spaces, where it’s not going to encounter a lot of things that are going to be super unusual or might provoke a fearful response.
“I have a phobia about creating phobias. I don’t want to create a phobia in my dog, because the road is going to be super long to try and systematically desensitize to any type of stimuli that’s been created as an avoidance response.” — Jerry Bradshaw
Get Jerry’s book Controlled Aggression on Amazon.com
Book Reference:
The Decoy Book by William Garrido – amazon.com/Decoy-Book-Collaborations-Some-Industry/dp/B08T6YGWSD
Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training by Stephen R. Lindsay –
amazon.com/Handbook-Applied-Behavior-Training-Vol/dp/0813807549
Excel-erated Learning by Pamela J. Reid –
amazon.com/Excel-erated-Learning-Explaining-plain-English/dp/1888047070
Contact Jerry:
Website: controlledaggressionpodcast.com
Tarheel Canine Training: www.tarheelcanine.com
Youtube: tarheelcanine
Twitter: @tarheelcanine
Instagram: @tarheelk9
Facebook: TarheelCanineTraining
Protection Sports Website: psak9-as.org
Patreon: patreon.com/controlledaggression
Slideshare: Tarheel Canine
Calendly: calendly.com/tarheelcanine
Sponsors:
PSA & American Schutzhund: psak9-as.org
ALM K9 Equipment: almk9equipment.com
Tarheel Canine: tarheelcanine.com
Train Hard, train smart, be safe.
Show notes by Podcastologist Chelsea Taylor-Sturkie
Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You’re the expert. Your podcast will prove it.