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what hasn't worked

01/16/2024

ignoring her reactions

ignoring her was the first response i tried. i would calmly continue walking down the sidewalk, dragging her along as she barked incessantly. needless to say, this did not help.

collars

i walked her on a martingale collar for the first few months. we were fleeing from a dog when she stopped and lowered her head. off came the collar. it never went back on. martingales are not supposed to be able to come off like this, but she was about twenty pounds overweight, and her fat neck made for an easy escape. i was too afraid to repeat this. she now walks in her running harness.

many people believe that harnesses will encourage pulling. goose pulled me more walking in her collar than in her harness. it isn't because of the gear, but because of her training. she knows to pull me when we're running and to stay by my side when we're on a walk.

flooding

flooding is sometimes used in humans to treat phobias. it involves exposure to the feared scenario until relaxation is achieved. this is fairly common on the dog training side of youtube because it is fast, dramatic, and entertaining to watch in comparison to CC/DS, which is fairly boring when done correctly. essentially, the trainer will muzzle a dog-reactive dog and place it in a contained area with other (friendly) dogs. in the case of youtube dog trainers, the dog might be issued verbal or physical corrections if it reacts. the idea behind flooding is that the dog can only be panicked for so long. once the fear response subsides, the dog might realize that it is safe.

i never intentionally put goose into this kind of situation, but her week spent with her foster family and trip to the adoption fair was an accidental flooding scenario. goose's behavior was altered—she was shut down and not reacting to other dogs for a few days—but it did not remain that way. it may have even reinforced her fear of dogs. for this reason i have not considered going further down this route.

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