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Dog Training Today: #125 Helping Your Dog Navigate Halloween: Strategies for Reducing Stress and Fear. Pets and Animals, Family and Kids

• Will Bangura, M.S., CDBC, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, FFCP is a World Renowned Dog Behaviorist, Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, Certified Professional Dog Trainer, and a Fear Free Certified Professional with over 36 years of experience with the most difficult of • Season 4 • Episode 125

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Halloween can be a time of stress and anxiety for our canine companions, and it's our job as pet owners to make sure they feel safe and secure. Can we turn this holiday of spooks and scares into a positive experience for our dogs? This episode will give you the tools to do just that. We discuss the importance of creating a calming environment, from the tinkling doorbell to the eerie decorations, and give practical tips for a less stressful Halloween for your pup.

We'll also share effective strategies to gradually reduce your dog's fear of those hair-raising Halloween sounds using a technique of gradual volume increase. High-value food rewards are key to this process, and we'll tell you how to find that perfect balance of challenge and comfort for your canine friend. Not to forget, creating a positive space with soothing music and tasty treats. Tune into our episode 98 for a comprehensive guide to helping your dogs navigate the Halloween season with confidence and ease.  Categories Pets and Animals, Family and Kids, Dog Training

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Speaker 1:

Squirrel, sit, sit, oh boy. Oh, good girl. Yes, oh, thanks. Would you like to go on? Okay, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your host and favorite pet behavior expert, will Bandura. Happy October 30th, the day before Halloween, dog lovers. I'm Will Bandura. Thanks for joining me for episode 124 of the Dog Training Today podcast. That's right, dog training today. We've rebranded from Pet Talk today to dog training today.

Speaker 1:

Well, tomorrow's trick or treat, tomorrow's Halloween. I thought I would talk about it. I've got a miniature schnauzer. My schnauzer was born on Halloween three years ago. It's going to have a birthday tomorrow.

Speaker 1:

The dog's name is Boo. Yeah, that's not the name I originally picked for the dog. I originally picked a name called Zamara. Zamara is an African name that means a warrior, protector from God. Well, that little miniature schnauzer, that scaredy cat that I first got. I looked at that puppy and I'm like, oh my God, you're not a Zamara. You're not a Zamara, you're scared. How can you be a protector? How can you be a protector sent from God? You're scared to death. So the name became Boo, and I think that's a great name. Halloween trick or treat Boo, all right. So I wanted to take just a few minutes.

Speaker 1:

Today. This is going to be a short podcast. By the way, if you have not subscribed to the Dog Training Today podcast, hit that pause button. Wherever you're listening, whether it's Apple Podcasts, spotify, audible, alexa wherever you listen to your podcast, hit that subscribe button, make sure that you're not missing any episodes of dog training today and if you love what we're doing, do me a favor. Please give us a five-star review. The more people that subscribe, the more reviews we get, the higher we rank in the podcast and more people get the benefit from what we're doing here at Dog Training Today.

Speaker 1:

All right, so I want to talk a little bit about Halloween and some of the things that can happen to dogs, because it can be a very, very scary time for dogs. These are dogs that are real reactive to the doorbell ringing. There are dogs that are really reactive to door knocking, and that's just when it happens once in a while. What's going to happen on Trick or Treat, when maybe the door knocking or the doorbell is happening 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 times in a row? That can really really stress out some of your dogs, depending upon how they handle that.

Speaker 1:

Now this is October 30th. Tomorrow's Halloween. There's not much you're going to do between today and tomorrow. If you have a dog that really struggles on Halloween, there's not much you're going to be able to do proactively in order to make your dog a lot more comfortable. We're going to talk about the things that you can do so that next year, next year on Trick or Treat, next year on Halloween, you'll have a dog or a puppy. That will be that if they were afraid or if they were reactive, if they were stressed out, I'm going to teach you how you can get them to be relaxed, how you get them to be calm and how you get them to view Trick or Treat and Halloween as something positive. But first, before we get to that, let's talk about what things you can do to be proactive that day, what kind of things you can do to make your dog, to make your puppy, more comfortable.

Speaker 1:

All right, now I'm going on the assumption that your dog really freaks out if the doorbell rings. Your dog really freaks out if there's door knocking and would get even worse if it was something that was going on and on and on throughout the night. I'm going on the assumption that your dog or your puppy might be afraid of all the little Halloween or Trick or Treat visuals, all the scary costumes and things that go along with that, and then you may have a dog or you may have a puppy that, just in general, is nervous around kids. Maybe he's afraid of kids, maybe he has fear aggression around kids. So it could be a lot of different things and a lot of dogs that have these type issues.

Speaker 1:

We have what's called trigger stacking. That occurs with these dogs on trigger treat. Now, trigger stacking let's first talk what's a trigger. A trigger is something that Causes your dog to have distress. I think that's the best way that I could probably say that for this. A trigger is something that causes your dog to have distress. Now Imagine if the doorbell ringing or door knocking is something that causes your dog distress. Now imagine that that happens a hundred times in a couple hours. That is what I call one component of trigger stacking. So one trigger is the sound of the doorbell or the door knocking, but the fact that it's going to be happening so much more frequently in such a short duration on trigger treat or Halloween, that's another trigger in and of itself. Now let's add to that if you've got a dog that is afraid of Halloween costumes and decorations. That's another trigger. Now add to that if you've got a dog or a puppy that is nervous around little kids, that's another trigger. So we could have all these triggers on top of each other, just really stressing out your dog or your puppy.

Speaker 1:

So the first thing I want to say is, if you've got a dog or a puppy that is not Comfortable with Halloween, is not comfortable with trick-or-treat, is not comfortable with little kids, it's not comfortable with Halloween decorations and scary costumes, is not comfortable with the doorbell ringing and door knocking all night long, you need to think about what you can do in order to help your dog be comfortable and relaxed during Halloween. So if I've got a dog like that, there's a couple things I'm gonna do. One thing I'm gonna do is I'm either gonna disable my doorbell or I'm gonna put a note, a piece of paper that I'm gonna cover that doorbell. I'm gonna cover the doorbell with paper that I've taped up and put a note Please do not ring doorbell. I'm also gonna put a note Please do not knock. And I'm gonna make sure it's very visible. And if I've got to have two signs, I'm gonna have two signs and I'm either gonna participate in Halloween by having candy or whatever I'm giving away on trick-or-treat outside, I won't be with it or I'm just gonna opt out. There won't be any candy, I'm gonna be dealing with my dogs. Okay, now I'm not gonna just leave it there, because somebody could just be a little monster, had knock on the door, regardless of what the sign is saying. Somebody could rip the sign off and start ringing the doorbell no matter what thing. And hey, you guys suck, you're not participating. You know how kids can be.

Speaker 1:

But I am going to take my dog or my puppy and we're gonna set up a fun little shop, so to speak, in a closet. Now I've got big walk-in closets. Why do I even say closet? Okay, because a lot of what really freaks dogs out are the sounds, and if we can get those sounds much quieter, that's gonna help your dog be more comfortable, more relaxed. The quietest room, the quietest place in your house, is Gonna be in a closet. All the clothes, all of that cloth in that small little room is gonna turn that room into a sound dampening room and and things are gonna be muffled. You're not gonna be able to hear the things that are going on outside of that closet Like you would if you were just, say, in the bathroom or just in a bedroom.

Speaker 1:

So if you've got a closet and it's full of clothes, get in there. Get in there with your dog, have some fun. Bring some toys in there, bring some games in there, play games with your puppy or your dog. Also, let's drown out the sound. Okay, let's bring some. You know, get your smartphone, get your smart Bluetooth speaker. Let's play some music while we're hanging out with the dog in the closet. And dogs, you know, research says they like classical music, they like soft rock. But If the research is correct, they're preference, they're number one preference Reggae who would've thunk it? Reggae Bob Marley. So bust open the Bob Marley on Trick or Treat on Halloween. Get in the closet with your dog, play games, have lots of high value food, rewards and make that a positive experience for your dog. And then, when the Trick or Treaters have all stopped, when it's all kind of calmed down, quieted down, then you guys can come out of the closet.

Speaker 1:

Now what I don't want you to do is say, oh, my dog is afraid of kids that are dressed in costumes and stuff, so I need to get my dog or my puppy over this, so I'm just gonna drag my puppy or my dog outside and my dog and my puppy are gonna meet every kid that's got a costume on. First of all, if you already know that your dog gets nervous around that remember I was talking about trigger stacking. Imagine that you have a fear of a tarantula. Now imagine you've got a fear of tarantula and I put you in a small car and I threw in a thousand tarantulas in that car with you. That's flooding. And if you're trying to just push your dog into this situation, if you're trying to push your dog through its fears, it's not gonna work. You're just gonna make things worse for your dog.

Speaker 1:

Your dog needs to have a different association with the things that it finds scary. Right now your dog has a conditioned emotional response, a CER, that when those triggers come up whether it be children, whether it's the doorbell, whether it's door knocking, whether it's the costumes that are scary for Halloween your dog is experiencing stress, fear. Your dog might become reactive with that. Some dogs might even become aggressive with that because they want distance and space. The further away these things are the sights, the sounds the safer your dog feels. So we don't wanna this is not the day to try to fix things in a day.

Speaker 1:

First of all, there is no such thing as a quick fix, and what we really need to do is counter conditioning and desensitization. That is, long-term behavior modification. That doesn't happen quickly. And if you want your dog's change, if you want that behavior change to have permanence and reliability, it's gotta take time, and punishments not gonna stop this behavior. All it's gonna do is suppress the outward behavior. What we are really needing to do is change your dog's underlying emotional response. Right now, your dog views those triggers as scary.

Speaker 1:

We need to take time throughout the year, between now and next Halloween, to be proactively setting up training sessions with all of the various different triggers that are Halloween and trick or treat that your dog is afraid of and gradually and systematically, little by little, start teaching your dog that those things don't have to be scary. They can bring about happy, fun, positive things that they like. And what we need to do for that is, if it's a visual trigger that your dog's afraid of Maybe they're afraid of seeing small children, maybe they're really afraid of seeing small children in costumes Well, you're gonna have to not on trick or treat, but throughout the year get children or costumes or both that you set out at a safe distance from your dog or puppy. What's a safe distance? Well, that's a distance where your dog or puppy can see the triggers, but your dog really doesn't care. It's far enough away that it's not scary, but your dog knows it's there. It's at that distance that we wanna do something very special. We wanna have training sessions at that distance, about three to five times a week.

Speaker 1:

Now, these training sessions are gonna be short, they're gonna be about 10 minutes long, and at that safe distance you're gonna have a child come into view and when your dog can see that child, you're gonna start feeding your dog very high value food rewards, constantly and continuously Feed, feed, feed, feed, feed for about one to three seconds, then have that child go out of sight. When the child goes out of sight, your dog doesn't see it anymore. Stop feeding. Do you see what we're doing here? We're going to create a very black and white cause and effect association. When the kid comes around into view, good things happen. You get high value food rewards, but then, when that child is gone, all that wonderful stuff stops. We're going to do that over and over and over for about 10 minutes over and over, repetitiously, pairing wonderful things with the visual presentation of a child, but at a safe distance where your dog doesn't care. We want to get your dog excited Over time, over a few weeks.

Speaker 1:

If we're doing this, your dog should begin to want to do this exercise. Your dog should get excited about this because this is a fun game. None of it's been stressful. Remember, we started at a safe distance. Once your dog finds that distance and this game a blast usually a couple of weeks now we can move a little bit closer, but just a little bit. Don't get greedy, trust me, just a little bit. And play that game all over again, just like you did, pairing high value food rewards when your dog sees the child. Then have the child go out of sight and stop feeding and do that over and over and over, over and over and over. Then, after your dog's thrilled with that, after a few weeks, move a little closer, but very slowly, very gradually, take baby steps closer and closer and closer over weeks or months. Now, at any time you've gotten closer to the child, closer to the costume, closer to the scary thing, at any time your dog starts getting nervous. Just feedback to you that you have taken your dog too close to the trigger too soon. You need to back it up, back up to a safe distance. Spend more time working at that distance, pairing positive reinforcement with the trigger at that distance. Then try to move forward again in baby steps, baby steps.

Speaker 1:

Okay, now there are things besides kids and costumes. There are sounds. It could be sounds of ghosts, could be crazy sounds. Somebody's screaming, my neighbor's got all kinds of sound effects. We've got this huge trick-or-treat Halloween display and there's a lot of scary sounds as well. So if that's something that your puppy or your dog is gonna hear, that's also something that you need to begin to expose your dog to and do counter conditioning and desensitization. And if you don't know what that is, if you're not intimately familiar with counter conditioning and desensitization, you need to be, you absolutely need to be.

Speaker 1:

If you're a dog trainer, you have to understand counter conditioning and desensitization. That is the behavior modification technique that's been around for decades. It's tried, it's true. It is what's used for anything that causes fear, anxiety, stress, phobias, reactivity, aggression. Doesn't matter what the trigger is. The process, the process of helping your dog through that is the same. It's counter conditioning and desensitization.

Speaker 1:

I want you to make sure that you go to the Dog Training Today podcast. Do a Google search dog training today podcast. Or, if you're listening to the podcast right now on the podcast and you're listening on Apple, or you're listening on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast, look for episode 98. Episode 98 of the Dog Training Today podcast is an hour and a half of nothing more than counter conditioning and desensitization. How you help dogs get over anxiety, fears, phobias, stress, reactivity and aggression All in episode 98. And do me a favor If you love what we're doing here at Dog Training Today, if you love this podcast, please pause, hit that pause button. Give us a five-star review and please make sure if you haven't subscribed, hit the subscribe button. Make sure that you're subscribed to the Dog Training Today podcast so that you never miss an episode of Dog Training Today. Also, it's the reviews and the subscribers that allow our podcast to go up in the rankings, and the higher we rank, the more people can benefit and see and hear what we're doing.

Speaker 1:

All right, let's talk about one more thing. We're going to wrap this up in a couple minutes. Along with everything we've talked about, there's one other thing that a lot of dogs have issues with whether it's Halloween, whether it's trick-or-treat and that is going ballistic Anytime the doorbell rings, going ballistic anytime there's knocking on the door. Now again, if you've got a dog like that today's October 30th, there's nothing you're going to do between now and then to get your dog better with that. What I want you to do is I want you to either disable that doorbell right now or cover it up with paper. Write a note Doorbell doesn't work, or please don't ring the doorbell. Also, put a note on the door please do not knock If you've got a dog or a puppy that struggles and really goes crazy when the doorbell rings or when the door knocks.

Speaker 1:

Think about it. How many times tomorrow is that going to happen Over and over? You know it's one thing if somebody rings the doorbell and your dog goes ballistic. It's one thing if somebody knocks on the door and your dog goes ballistic. It's a whole mother thing. If it happens a hundred times in an hour, imagine the stress that can bring upon your dog. Now is not the time, with one day before Halloween, to be able to fix that. However, we can start working on things and make things a whole lot better for next Halloween, for next Trick or Treat for the next October 31st, that comes around in 2024.

Speaker 1:

How are you gonna do that? I want you. You can get on YouTube and you can find sounds of doorbells, find one that sounds just like yours. You can find door knocking sounds that are recorded. What you're gonna want to do proactively, you're gonna have training sessions where you're gonna bring the volume way way down. You're gonna press, play and the knocking's gonna happen at a very quiet sound. If your dog is reactive and won't be relaxed, if you can't give food cause that's what we wanna do press, play, knocking starts, feed, feed, feed, feed constantly and continuously for about one to three seconds, then hit stop, knocking stops, feeding stops. So again, it's a very black and white exercise. As soon as the dog hears knocking, feeding starts. As soon as the knocking stops, feeding stops. And that's critical. Gotta be that black and white so that they begin to understand the game. Hey, it's this trigger that brings on the good stuff, and when the trigger goes away, the good stuff goes away and your dog starts to like the game and like the trigger because of what happens as a result of it.

Speaker 1:

Now, with sounds, we're gonna, very gradually, very systematically, we're gonna go ahead and bring up the volume over a matter of weeks or a month or two months or three months. It just depends on your dog. At any point in time, as you're going up in volume, if your dog starts to get nervous, concerned, reactive, you've just gone too loud too soon. Turn it back down. Get down to that safe volume, that volume where your dog doesn't care it can hear it but doesn't care and spend more time pairing that sound with high value food rewards over and over. And then maybe in two weeks you can try bringing it up just a little bit. But do that very gradually Anytime. Anytime it's a visual trigger and your dog gets nervous. You've gone too close too soon. Anytime it's an auditory trigger and your dog gets nervous. The volume has gone up too high too soon.

Speaker 1:

You can get a lot more information by going to episode 98, which is again an hour and a half podcast. Nothing but counter conditioning and desensitization. Begin working on those things for next year, okay, and for this year you're just gonna try to keep your dog, keep your puppy comfortable by going into a quiet area like the closet, bringing in some Bob Marley music, some white noise that'll drown out the other noise that's out there, play games with your puppy in the closet, make sure that you've got yummy treats and make that a positive experience for you and your dog this year. Well, that's all I wanted to talk about. Just a real quick podcast to get ready for tomorrow, for Trick or Treat, for Halloween Practice that folks Give us a five-star review. If you love what we do I'm outta here Just give it a go. Utilize straight into those codes to achieve high success on what it gives you for sure, especially when a Black fowl. But it's to protect ourselves from the evil of social criticism, of Trump andorouscy, of so many countries, especially Europe, I'm sure some might know.

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Will Bangura M.S.,CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, FFCP

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