Poor Dave was in survival mode from morning until night. George told me the dog even seemed to sleep with one eye open, and he was clearly suffering as a result. He was thin, despite being well fed. His coat condition was poor, with his hair coming out in handfuls – yet another sign of stress. He had repeated bouts of stomach trouble, for which the vets could find no clinical reason. It wouldn’t be long before his chronic stress began to cause a serious degeneration in his health.
In order to work with Dave and George when they came to my clinic, I had to find a way to move about safely in his presence. Although he was not proactively aggressive, there was little doubt that he would use defensive measures to make me back off whenever he felt scared. Simply crossing my legs was enough to trigger him to bark and lunge at me, and even I find it stressful to be continuously threatened – it triggers my amygdala, too!
Our first strategy was a rather unusual one. Many traditional trainers would have tried to intervene using punishment or a ‘startle’ technique, such as throwing a can of pebbles at the dog, but it was clear to me that Dave needed to relax rather than feel more threatened. Inspired by the work of ‘Tellington Touch’ practitioners, who use gentle ‘body work’ and very specific massage-like touches to calm their animal patients, I sometimes use close-fitting fabric wrapped around the dog’s body in order to give them a sense of security. In the past, I have used bandage-like ‘body wraps’, or have taken a trip to the local charity shop to buy kids’ T-shirts. If you get the right size, the dog’s front paws go through the armholes and, after a little tailoring with a pair of scissors, the T-shirt can fit over the dog’s head and round the chest quite snugly. Nowadays, you can buy actual doggie body wraps designed for this purpose, rather than as a fashion accessory – and their effect can be pretty remarkable.
The way in which body wraps or close-fitting fabric seem to calm anxious or frightened dogs is still up for discussion. It’s possible they alter the dog’s awareness, so that it focuses on its own body rather than external sights or sounds, or they may simply give the dog a sense of security. Either way, they have proved very useful in many cases, especially when the dog is afraid of fireworks or thunder – and with no side effects, they are sometimes worth a try. Dave certainly looked smart in his body wrap and seemed calmer when wearing it when in stressful situations.
Next, we needed to establish a base-line of security for Dave where he would feel safe enough to eat. Eating is important because the very act of chewing seems to calm dogs (part of the reason why anxious dogs chew up the furniture when their owners leave), and the pleasure of eating tasty treats can reward good behaviour. However, offering a fearful dog a dry dog biscuit is a little like offering me five pounds to go bungee jumping. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t entertain the idea for anything less than £50,000.
For this reason, I had a bag full of home-made liver-cake ready and waiting. However, there was no way I could simply put my hand out and expect Dave to take a treat from me. He was far too fearful. Instead, I asked George to take the treats and open the bag. Dave did what any sensible dog would do and turned his nose to sniff the delicious aroma.
Liver-cake Recipe
The ultimate training treat – no dog will be able to resist your charms when you carry a pocketful of liver-cake!
1lb (450g) liver (lamb’s or pig’s)
1 teaspoon of oil
2 eggs
1lb (450g) granary flour
2 cloves of garlic (optional)
A dash of milk
» Liquidise the liver with the eggs, milk, oil and garlic in a blender.
» Add to the flour and mix.
» Put into a microwavable dish and cook in the microwave on full power for 6–10 minutes. The cake should bounce back when pressed lightly, when cooked.
» Cut the cake into slices and freeze. Take out of the freezer when required and defrost before use.
(Note: for dogs with sensitive tummies, you can substitute a tin of tuna for the liver.)
That was good enough. Using a clicker, George marked the head turning and sniffing behaviour, then offered Dave a treat from the bag. Like many German Shepherds, Dave was immediately suspicious. He refused the treat and it dropped to the floor. I told George to leave it there and to show Dave the bag full of goodies. Once again, Dave moved his nose a couple of centimetres towards the food. George clicked again. This time, he didn’t attempt to feed Dave the treat he had earned but instead dropped it onto the floor next to the other one. Dave sat back slightly. He looked at George, then at the two treats on the floor. I could almost see his brain whirring. He looked back at George, then deliberately moved his nose again towards the bag. He got his click and the food treat went on the floor. Dave just couldn’t resist the number of treats on the floor. He bent his head slowly, very slowly, and sniffed them. George clicked and added a fourth treat to the collection. Dave put his tongue out and tasted one of the bits of liver-cake. Click, and another appeared. He took one into his mouth. Looking for all the world as if he were being poisoned, he ate it very tentatively. I tried not to look at him in case it put him off. Deciding that he might live after all, he ate another.
Now that we had a little window of opportunity, it was important to use it wisely. I gave George a running commentary on Dave’s body language and facial expression – which I was checking out of the corner of my eye – as we started, very slowly and deliberately, to click and treat Dave for any hint of muscle relaxation, facial softness, or averted eye contact.
It is well known in human psychology circles that body language, physical movement and even posture can directly affect our emotional state. In a rather neat experiment by researcher Fritz Strack in 1988, subjects were asked to rate how funny they found cartoons while they held a pen in their mouths. Participants consistently rated them as more humorous when they held the pen between their teeth, an action that forced their mouths into a semi-smile, than they did when they held the pen in their lips, which forced a partial frown. This study has since been replicated several times, all with the same fascinating results: facial expression can affect mood, rather than just the other way around. Still sceptical? Sit in a slumped position and hunch your shoulders forward. Let your head droop towards your chest. Sigh deeply once or twice. Look at your feet. How do you feel now? Perhaps it’s no accident that we describe the feeling this posture can engender as being ‘down’. Now, change your posture and see how it changes your state. Just try to be depressed while standing up tall, clapping your hands in front of you, smiling and keeping your shoulders back. Now look up and to the left. Walk about briskly. OK, you may feel a little silly, but humour me – the chances are you will feel much more cheerful.
Fearful dogs tend to keep their heads still while moving their eyes to follow anything they think may be threatening, so George clicked for Dave’s head turns, no matter how small. Scared dogs keep their ears pinned back to their heads, while relaxed and confident ones allow their ears to be in a relaxed but alert position, so George clicked ear movements too. Tension nearly always causes dogs to shut their mouths and hold their breath, or to stress pant – a bit like human hyperventilation. George clicked and treated Dave for a relaxed mouth and, when unsure what else to reward, simply for eating in the presence of someone scary.
In that first session, all I wanted Dave to learn was that good things can happen around a stranger. He had little idea why he was being clicked and treated, but he came as close to enjoying an outing as he ever had before, and despite the fact that I couldn’t risk getting up to see them out, I was pleased with our gentle progress. George went home armed with Dave’s body wrap and clicker, with instructions to reward calm and quiet behaviour whenever possible.
Over the next two months, George