Desensitization threshold??

[jocomoreno]

Ive been working with a dog who has a bite history of strangers not belonging to the pack. A category three dog.
Ive been working on desensitization/counter conditioning for the past 6 months using steak as a reward, which she loves, and have hit a wall. Weve been able to work up to proper introduction with new people where she holds her obedience command while I say hello, shake hands, etc. I follow up any non compliance with "no", with R- leash pumps and place her back into the original command which is usually a downstay or sitstay. Tool used is a pinch collar.
The problem were having is when the person then makes eye contact, walks by, or even speaks to the dog the dog reacts, however she reacts selectively. Its as if she is determining who is a threat and who isnt. Some strangers she loves, others not so much.
Ive desensitized her to a muzzle in a similar fashion as the video on the site here and she wears it just fine. Weve been working with the muzzle on for the past few months with no change in her reaction.
Now I understand that perhaps this dog just isnt comfortable being around new people and that I shouldnt force her into uncomfortable situations. However its not possible to have people over at the house without crating the dog, walking by strangers (you know how adults and kids run up and want to pet the dog), or to have any type of social communications with people without the dog being on edge. To me this behavior is not compatible with a functioning household.
HX of the dog: She is a 3 year old Am. bulldog/black lab mix. One owner since she was a puppy. Lives with a dogo/pit mix and gets along fine.
Pack structure is followed to a "T" in the household. No health issues, owners attitude is do whatever it takes and is very compliant and genuinely interested in doing whats best for the dog, no seperation anxiety or housebreaking issues of any kind, no history of mistreatment, and obedience is strong until she reacts; does not break commands for any other distractions ; ie; balls, food, toys, etc.

Any ideas?

[Teresa]

Are you doing a drill like the one seen in this video of a "greeting drill" which is done in our aggression support group class:

http://www.selfhelpdogtraining.com/V...sexercise.html

If you notice in the video we use resistance to help the dog and to make it easy for us to tell what the dog is doing without having to have the dog in eyesight at all times. You can try having the dog in a sit and walking out to the end of the leash (with resisitance) to shake hands and talk to the person. This will give the dog more distance, and distance generally raises the threshold for aggression. Ideally you want to work with her in a stepwise manner to reduce potential for her being uncomfortable to escalate to aggression. Does she respond aggressively from a distance of 6ft or greater when a person looks at her, talks to her etc? This is the place to start to desensitize and countercondition.

Aggression never completely goes away. It is always a management issue. The goal is to successfully decrease the amount of management needed. That being said, every dog is different on how much management they will ultimately need. It involves many things, like genetics, socialization (environment), past negative experience, and experience in being successful by showing aggression at getting rid of the threat.

You could train with the remote collar, by completing Phase 3 training before doing work with the remote and aggression rehab. This can increase the motivation to comply with obedience, but will not make the dog more comfortable with strangers. This still relies on counterconditioning and desensitizing. The remote will eventually be necessary to work on a solid "place" command (if your goal is that the dog is not crated for visitors) unless they are really good at handling a lightline. For strangers walking up to the dog and wanting to pet it, you want the dog to be reliable not to lunge but it IS the owner's responsibility to the dog to not allow people to run up to the dog and expect to the dog to accept petting. A common drill we teach owners in aggression rehab is how to keep the dog in a sit behind them, so they can block people from running up and petting the dog.



You can also work on an "easy" command as well. A muzzle of course is prerequisite for all aggression rehab. Safety first


Best,
Teresa

[jocomoreno]

Yes that is the greeting drill ive been working on. I apply the resistance as you stated. Its worked very well up to within 6 feet. From there on in the dog gets very tense and targets whoever may be in the circle; all a precursor to her lunging so I can read her and stop her before it gets there but I cant seem to make progress within that 6 foot radius. The e collar will definitely be used for the "place" command and for further obedience.
She does not react to anyone outside of that 6 foot circle. I guess it just takes more desensitization/cc from inside that circle. A slow and arduous process:/

[jocomoreno]

Now do you recommend applying resistance with the pinch collar? That doesnt seem right as I would guess that the dog would become more tense with the pinching. Perhaps a flat buckle with an E collar? And then how do you react when the dog lunges? Correction for breaking original position?

[Teresa]

Yes DS/CC is a slow and arduous process. It takes lots of patience for sure.

As for resistance, yes I would use the pinch collar. If you are putting slow steady pressure forward it's not going to cause a reaction from the dog. Remember, when using resistance, you are just applying gentle pressure. Just enough for the dog to feel the pressure in that direction, and for you to feel tension or slack in the leash. Also no pulsing on the leash just steady forward pressure. If the dog breaks you should pivot at the hips toward the dog, and slide your free hand smoothly up the leash , like a leash ninja

Also, have you tried this with just one stranger or only in a group setting? Any difference in success rate? Multiple triggers tend to lower threshold.

If you have not practiced using the pinch collar for resistance, do so before applying it to aggression rehab.

[jocomoreno]

Ive tried individual people and multiple people. Definitely more success with multiples. Ive been using a starmark collar with the resistance. It just seemed counter productive to me so i thought id ask.