Fear Reaction in Therapy Training

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Guinness just attended the second of eight Therapy Dog training classes.  He got his CGC and has been doing great with the therapy training, until yesterday.  The instructor left the room and can back dressed totally in "fire fighter" gear including the helmet and face mask.  There are six dogs in the class.  Guinness and one other dog totally "flipped out".  Guinness was barking like crazy at her and completely ignoring my instruction.  It continued until she took the mask off.  So, she put the mask on the floor and put treats on it and asked me to bring him over to it.  He didn't want to go near it, even with the treats.  He finally got to the point where he would smell the mask, but he never got comfortable enough to go to her while she had it on.  While he may never encounter someone wearing a fire mask on a therapy visit, he could run into situations where people are bandaged or just look very different from what he is used to seeing.  I'm sure he was having a total fear reaction.  Has anyone else experienced this?  Any thoughts on what I can be doing to desensitize him?

[Winnie's Dad]

First of all, it sounds like you're in a great class. Desensitization is the same for most things. Find Guinness' threshold, work "just outside" the threshold, making things very rewarding. SLOWLY push the edge of the threshold and it will lower.

In addition to working on specific triggers that you know about, you need to continue to work on non-specific stuff, basically trying to have GOOD exposure to as many things as possible. Eventually Guinness will know to trust you, and know that you'll keep him safe.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I agree, although I really thought that Guinness did trust me to keep him safe. I know he thinks of me as the "pack leader". I was very surprised that he would be so afraid of the mask and fire gear with me right beside him. We need so much more exposure....that's clear now.

[Eva]

Wow, that is a tough one for a dog. As Winnie's Dad said to slowly push the threshold. Who knows what will trigger them to act the way they do. One goofy thing for Malibu was adjusting to slippery tile floors. Different surfaces can "weird" the dog out. For a great place to go is the short term parking area of an airport. We went to McCarren in Las Vegas, and she was afriad of open grate type of stairs. (the ones you can see through) So it's exposure, exposure, exposure to all the weirdest places you can find. Our other dog Willow, didn't think twice about the tiles. But.... at a nursing home, there are wonderful scents everywhere and her nose was working overtime. Somehow she really liked to visit people who still had their dinner trays on the tables!!! Many corrections later, she realized she couldn't have their food. Best of luck and keep us posted on his progress, Eva, Malibu and Willow.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Great point about the food issue with the nursing home. I'm focusing more and more on "leave it" because I know that will be a great temptation for him. I can just picture him trying to "lap" the food off of some poor little old lady's lap. I'm trying to get a local nursing home to let us "practice".

[Sandra Griffith]

If you are concerned about what Guiness's reaction around people with bandages on might, be you could start desensitizing him at home. Get some gauze bandage and start getting him used to it. Ist when not on a person, then slowly wrap a person in your household: start with a hand or foot, then move on to more extensive bandaging. Eventually start bandaging the head just a little at a time. Don't move on until he is comfortable with what you have done so far. If he becomes uncomfortable back track to where he was comfortabe. Slowly work up to more extensive bandaging and proximity. Have the bandaged person deliver the treats if he is comfortable with this so that he begins to associate bandaged people with treat delivery. Sounds as though you are in a great class. You might also visit your local fire department. They often love to have visitors (when they are not working) and my experience has always been that they love to help out if you explain the issue to them.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Yes, I think that's a good idea. I bought some surgical masks, and I'm going to start with that. It may not be totally effective, because he knows who we are, but it is a start. Then I'll move on to the bandages. Our trainer said she would continue to work on him with the mask each week until we feel he's comfortable. I'm thinking I'll see if I can find a local nursing home that would let us in to practice.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Thanks, Jane. We did take him to a large park in Hartford (our closest city) last week. He was a little freaked out at the beginning with the bikes, skateboards and just different people than he's used to seeing. He settled down after a while, but I definitely can see that I need to widen his exposure.

[Linda and Murphy]

What a great idea about NYC or Boston.
I live right outside of New Orleans and my Murphy has never been to the French Quarter. Think of all the sights he is missing! ;-)

[Linda and Murphy]

Jane, sounds like you have a great instructor. Murphy doesn't care for cowboy hats. Baseball caps are okay (my boys wear them) but not cowboy hats.
Does Guinness do "touch it"? Murphy hates the handheld vacuum. I put it on the floor and got him to "touch it" with his paw at first and I would give him a treat. We worked up to nose, but he still isn't really okay with it. Though this is a similar but different approach, maybe it would help Guinness.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I just started working on "touch" when I saw the earlier post about using this command to get them in place for meeting patients in the therapy setting. Once I get this command down, this might work. Thanks! Murphy is a great name! Our new puppy is "Murphy"....do you find yourself calling him "Murph" all the time?

[Linda and Murphy]

I have been following your Murphy and I am so happy for you. Yep, we call him Murph...but we call him Goofus just as much ;-)
BTW, we started this with clicker training, if that helps at all.

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

I am thinking I should take Webber to the fire station to meet the fireman. My therapy dog class didn't have anyone dressed in fireman gear. We did rolling carts and loud noises and wheelchairs and walkers with Seniors in them, but no fireman. Webber barked at a nice gentleman wearing a brim hat one day, a very fancy and expensive flannel hat. The very nice gentleman took it off and let him smell it. After that it was OK. I think what everyone has said is absolutely true. Expose, exposure, along with lots of positive praising and treats for Guinness getting even the littlest bit closer to the mask.