Episode #222 Rewiring Canine Minds: Helping Dogs Overcome Fear & Thrive

In this episode, we explore the fascinating science of neuroplasticity in dogs and how it shapes their behavior. Learn how negative experiences create fear-based reactions and discover proven training techniques to help dogs rewire their responses to triggers. We break down the “Look at That” game—an effective exercise to shift a dog’s mindset from fear to confidence. Whether you're a pet parent or a dog trainer, this episode will equip you with practical tools to help your dog thrive in our human world. Tune in and start transforming fear into trust today! 🐶🎙️

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Dog Neuroplasticity
• 1:28 Understanding Canine Neuroplasticity
• 4:58 Changing a Dog's Response to Triggers
• 6:40 The Look-at-That Game Technique
• 9:31 Supporting Your Dog's Needs
• 12:04 Closing Thoughts and Sign-off

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Today we are talking about the brain and how it shapes dog's behavior. So we're going to talk about negative experiences that might create some fear-based reactions in our dogs, and then I'm going to teach you a technique that can help rewire their response to certain triggers. So here we go. Welcome to the puppy training podcast. I'm Amy Jensen, founder of Baxter Bella, the online puppy school. Here we are all about helping you create the best possible experience raising a puppy, from training tips to practical tricks, all aimed at fostering a happy, well-behaved dog who truly feels like part of the family. So if you are ready to enjoy the journey and strengthen the bond with your dog, let's get started. Hello everybody, thanks for tuning in to this podcast. I appreciate that you're here.

Speaker 1: 0:55

My name is Amy Jensen and I recently completed a neuroscience canine course, which was super fascinating. I love the brain and I love learning how it works, so today I want to talk a little bit about it. I'm not an expert by any means, but I have learned a few things and I want to share them with you. So dogs are highly adaptable creatures and they've lived alongside humans for thousands of years. However, their instincts and their natural behaviors do not always align with our expectations. As such, many dogs develop fears, anxieties or negative associations with certain stimuli, making their life in a human dominated world kind of challenging. Fortunately, though, through the science of neuroplasticity isn't that a fun word, I love that word and the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming a new neural connection, dogs can overcome negative triggers with proper training and guidance. By understanding canine behavior and using positive reinforcement techniques, we can help our dogs thrive in our human world, ensuring they live happy and fulfilling lives, even though that's a tall order, okay. So recognize that first, that dogs are dogs and we are asking them to live in a human world. Sometimes, even just that one thought really helps me with my dogs. When I'm frustrated by a behavior that they're exhibiting, I have to remind myself of that thought. Let's talk about that fun word, neuroplasticity. Just say it out loud, I promise you you'll enjoy it. This is the brain's ability to adapt and change in response to experiences. So in dogs, this means they can learn new behaviors and they can also unlearn negative associations and form positive ones. Right, those neurotransmitters are working really hard and new pathways are forming, and as a dog ages, their experiences can change and shape them as they move through life. So we focus a lot on when they're a puppy and giving them really positive associations, make sure we're continuing that throughout life. So my favorite part that I'm learning is that they can also, you know, unlearn a negative association and form a positive one, as long as we were using consistent and rewarding training.

Speaker 1: 3:04

Now, when a dog repeatedly experiences something, so we'll call it a certain stimulus with a negative outcome, so something happens and it's negative. Something negative happens that follows, such as a loud noise that scares them. Right, their brain strengthens that neural pathway associated with that fear. However, if we can gradually expose them to the stimulus in a controlled and positive way, those pathways can weaken and they can be replaced with new positive associations. Can you see that this is not going to happen over one session. This is going to be multiple experiences to form a pattern that our dog now views as positive.

Speaker 1: 3:41

So, for example, a dog that has developed a fear-based reactivity towards other dogs. Maybe they see another dog and they feel fear and maybe that's because of a past negative experience, right, I've been walking through a park before and a dog charged us off leash. Okay, I can remember that vividly. It was kind of a scary thing. My dog on leash is now panicking right. That's a negative experience. They can learn that through structured desensitization and counter conditioning that that's not always going to happen. But for the first little while, yeah, my dog was pretty alert to other dogs that were around. But then over time the new pattern became oh all, I'm seeing all these dogs and they're not charging me. So we can undo that learning. But you know that one experience for some dogs can really tend to stick around. Now, the more of the dog experiences other dogs in safe, non-threatening way, the more their brain rewires to view those encounters as positive rather than fearfully. So whatever that one experience is for your dog possibly that you're noticing or you're seeing man, they really seem to be fearful of strangers, or they really seem to be fearful of loud sounds we can over time help their brain rewire that into something positive. I think that's amazing. That's so fascinating to me.

Speaker 1: 4:54

So let's talk about how to change a dog's mindset about a negative trigger. Changing a dog's response to a negative trigger is going to require patience, consistency and an understanding of their emotional state. So traditional punish based methods can reinforce the fear and actually make things worse, while using positive reinforcement methods helps to build trust and reshape the dog's perception. It does take longer. In our society today we want quick fixes, we want something easy and fast. So many turn to the fear tactics. Okay, and we can get a pretty quick response out of that, but it's not undoing the negative trigger really right. It's not changing their feelings about the trigger that's happening. So using positive reinforcement we can reduce the fear, we can change their feelings towards what's happening, and that's really the root cause.

Speaker 1: 5:47

Instead of just using a Band-Aid fix to try to get our dog to behave in the scary situation, I really want to go deeper. I want to go to my dog's emotional state and figure out what they're feeling and then help them to feel positively about that previously scary experience. So one effective way to shift a dog's mindset is through desensitization and counter conditioning. Desensitization involves exposing the dog to a negative trigger, but at a very low intensity, so under our dog's threshold where they're still able to focus and think they're willing to take a food reward or look at me right. At such a low intensity that they're exposed to it but it's not yet negative or changing how they're feeling. Counterconditioning replaces the negative emotional response with a positive one. So by combining these two methods, we can help dogs build new, healthy associations.

Speaker 1: 6:36

Let me give you a game that you can play with your dog if you're noticing this and you need some help in this area. So a powerful and simple training exercise developed by Leslie McDevitt is called the look at that game. It's LAT for short, if you've heard of that. This exercise teaches dogs to see a trigger without reacting negatively, reinforcing calm and positive behavior. So here's how it works. These are the steps to implement the LAT game First, identify the trigger, determine what causes the dog's negative reactions and be very specific.

Speaker 1: 7:05

So other dogs is kind of general. Maybe it's only big dogs, maybe it's only little dogs. Loud noises what loud noises? Thunderstorms, fireworks, strangers Is it all strangers? Is it just men? So be as specific as possible.

Speaker 1: 7:21

Number two would be to create a safe distance. I want you to start at a distance where the dog notices the trigger, but they're not yet reacting negatively, so they're not barking, lunging or cowering. You're still seeing good, positive body language. They just notice the trigger. Okay, as soon as they notice the trigger, you're going to mark and reward the moment your dog looks at the trigger calmly. Immediately mark the behavior with a click or a yes and pay them a food reward. And then I want you to allow the dog to keep looking at the trigger and reward each time they do so without reacting.

Speaker 1: 7:51

I like to, at this point, have my dog see the trigger. I feed them and then I say let's go and we turn and walk away. I give them a little distance so that they're not just still staring at the trigger, especially if the trigger is getting closer. I want to maintain that distance. So have your dog see them, mark yes, pay them. You can turn and walk away and then repeat and like, turn back around and let them see them from a distance again and then walk away. And then have them see them from a distance, walk away, so that walking away will ensure that you're still staying that good distance away, that you're not getting to a point where your dog feels the need to react negatively. Okay. And then, over multiple sessions, we're going to gradually decrease the distance so that threshold is going to get closer and closer and closer to their actual triggers where they can still remain calm and feel positive, um, even in the presence of that trigger that used to be negative.

Speaker 1: 8:39

Now, step six is generalization. We're going to practice this game in different environments with a variety of triggers and distances to reinforce what our dogs are learning. But key to this game is going to be first identifying that trigger and then working from a safe distance. You want a lot of repetitions of them seeing the trigger, but from such a distance that they're calm enough to take a treat from you right or to enjoy a reward like a toy or a little play session. They're not too stressed that they can't do those things. That's what we want to do multiple times in the presence of the triggers to then change that pathway so that in their brain they're seeing this as now a positive thing. This method not only changes the dog's emotional response to the trigger, but it also gives them a structured way to process their environment. Again, remember we're bringing dogs into a human world. We've got to help them. Help them structure how they handle different things, to alleviate the fear and the stress.

Speaker 1: 9:31

Beyond addressing negative triggers for our dogs, it's also important to provide enrichment, socialization and appropriate training to help our dogs navigate our world. Dogs thrive when their physical, mental and emotional needs are met. All three of those are really important. Here are some key ways that you can support your dogs. First, provide mental enrichment. Feed them through puzzle toys or let them do some scent work. Those go sniff walks are so healthy, so don't always just want to put them on a leash and keep their attention on you. Let them sniff. And, of course, training exercises. Our program is full of them, so we have a lot of things that we can show you how to teach your dog if you are interested.

Speaker 1: 10:08

Next, ensure physical exercise is appropriate for your dog's breed and energy level. Make sure they're getting daily exercise, running around having a good time. Some dogs enjoy agility. Some dogs enjoy other dog sports maybe Frisbee. Some dogs enjoy agility. Some dogs enjoy other dog sports maybe Frisbee fetch, maybe hide and seek. Maybe they just enjoy leisure walks with you. So make sure they're getting physical exercise. Third is teaching life skills through loose leash walking, impulse control and confidence building activities. We want a confident dog, so make sure that they're able to do basic things that you ask them to do, that they can wait and not be impulsive for things, and we again show you how to do that in our program If you need help with that.

Speaker 1: 10:45

Next is something maybe you haven't considered, but try respecting their communication signals and allowing your dog to have choice and interactions. I see this most often at, say, a vet visit or the groomer, or if I'm trying to trim my dog's nails, you know, watching their body language and their whispers and listening to them and then allowing them to tell me when they're ready. Ah, super cool. If you haven't followed Shrag Patel, go check out his stuff. He's a behaviorist from the UK and he does amazing work with this kind of stuff.

Speaker 1: 11:15

All right, lastly, would be using positive reinforcement. You know I'm big on that. We like to encourage desired behaviors instead of punishing unwanted ones. You'll see your dogs thrive. They will love working with you and doing the training. So give it a go.

Speaker 1: 11:30

By understanding neuroplasticity and using compassionate training methods, we can help our dogs, you guys, overcome fears.

Speaker 1: 11:35

They can adjust their perceptions of how the world is and ultimately thrive in a human world that was not necessarily designed for them. So make sure that we're patient and that we use the right approaches. We can build some deeper trust with our dogs and help them live confident, happy lives. Sounds amazing, right? All right, little by little, you guys not perfection, just one step at a time and enjoy your dogs. Give them a high five from me, tell them hello and go do something fun with them right now. Get out and enjoy the life you were meant to live together, and we'll talk soon, happy training. Thanks for tuning in to the puppy training podcast. I hope today's tips help you feel more confident and excited about raising your dog. Remember, with a little patience and consistency, you can create a loving bond and a well-behaved pup who's a joy to have in your family. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with fellow puppy parents. For more resources, visit Baxter and Bella online. Until next time, happy training.