We are still working with Catty around her car anxiety/sickness. Our work is going well and we've added in some new tools which seem to be helping. We have a couple herbal tinctures that we are using and we've introduced the calming cap. You may be asking what is a Calming cap It's goes over the dogs face/eyes and reduces visual stimuli. The dog can still see out the of cap but, the mesh part that goes over the eyes filters the view.
You may recall in this post TTouch with Catty Rattie , Catty enjoyed her little head wrap. It did give us some improvement but, Lori Steven suggested trying out the calming cap to see if that would give us more results. After our work of Getting started with muzzle training I figured introducing the calming cap would be similar.
Off we go - notice it's not about just putting the cap on her. It's building on the small steps and providing a high rate of reinforcement. Meaning I'm paying Catty quickly and frequently for her work - don't skimp when you are teaching a new skill!
You can see Catty loves the training game and thinks her calming cap is pretty great!
You can see Catty loves the training game and thinks her calming cap is pretty great!
After our work in the house (over a period of time) it was time to try out the calming cap in the car.
Once in the car, I put the calming cap on her while the car and reinforced her with treats. I did that a number of times over many days. As you can imagine, these were quick training sessions. Once she was doing well with that, then I added in the next step of turning on the car on (not moving) and more reinforcement with treats.
What we are doing is called Desensitization and Counter Conditioning (DS/CC). Desensitization is the gradual exposure to a trigger. Counter conditioning is creating a relationship between the trigger and something good. We combine them so that the dog is not so scared for the good thing to change how the dog feels about the scary thing. For Catty car rides are scary, create anxiety and she feels ill.
What we are doing is called Desensitization and Counter Conditioning (DS/CC). Desensitization is the gradual exposure to a trigger. Counter conditioning is creating a relationship between the trigger and something good. We combine them so that the dog is not so scared for the good thing to change how the dog feels about the scary thing. For Catty car rides are scary, create anxiety and she feels ill.
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| Excellent treats! |
Again car is not moving and she's even giving some tail wags. We are making progress! This work is about changing her emotional response to the car rides.
Stay tuned for part 2 of Catty's ongoing car work where you can see what else has really helped her emotional response to car rides.
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| Are we going somewhere? |
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