Help Humping, Barking, Destructive, Reactive Dogs Overcome Dysregulation: 4 Case Studies #220
Shaped by Dog with Susan Garrett
DogsThat
4.8 • 679 Ratings
🗓️ 21 July 2023
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Visit us at shapedbydog.com
I’m sharing four case studies of dogs that overcame incredibly undesirable behaviors: a humper, a home wrecker, a screamer, and a dog-reactive dog. How did they go from out-of-control to completely calm? From emotional dysregulation to habituation, I’m showing you my strategy for turning behavior problems around. One of these dogs was rehomed because he was so dysregulated – spoiler alert – there’s a twist you won’t want to miss!
In the episode you'll hear:
• Four case studies of dogs with dysregulated behavior.
• Why over-excited dog humping is not a dominance display.
• How to give dogs a better way to express their emotions vs. humping.
• About a Golden Doodle with severe separation anxiety.
• That not all separation anxiety is a learned behavior.
• How nutrition, exercise, enrichment and empowered choice influence dog behavior.
• The wrong ways dog owners employ enrichment toys.
• Examples of co-regulation in helping dogs cope emotionally.
• About the FRIDA protocol for dog separation anxiety.
• About a rehomed rescue dog that destroyed all the furniture.
• My strategy for helping a hyper-reactive dog overcome fear.
• That you are your dog’s number one advocate regardless of others’ labels.
Resources:
1. Podcast Episode 46: Is Your Dog Trying to Dominate You and What You Can Do About It - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/46/
2. Podcast Episode 89: Why Dogs Should Not Tug: The Truth Revealed - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/89/
3. Podcast Episode 200: Solve Your Dog’s Separation Anxiety With FRIDA: Expanding Calm With Functional Relaxation - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/200/
4. Crate Games Online - https://get.crategames.com/
5. Podcast Episode 98: Puppy Home Alone: Are You Creating Chaos or Calm? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/98/
6. Podcast Episode 219: Self-Regulation Helping Shy, Hyper, Anxious Or Fearful Dogs To A Better Life - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/219/
7. Podcast Episode 191: Get Your Dog To Calm Down With This Common Sense Protocol For Relaxation - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/191/
8. Podcast Episode 71: Pro Dog Trainer’s Secret to Help Your Naughty Dog - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/71/
9. Podcast Episode 78: How to Train a Rescue Dog with Behavior Problems - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/78/
10. Podcast Episode 133: Become Your Own Dog Training Coach With This Video Strategy - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/133/
11. Podcast Episode 111: How An Anchor Dog Can Help Overcome Your Dog’s Anxiety Or Reactivity - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/111/
12. Podcast Episode 204: Dog Behavior And Diet: Recovery For This! Beyond Dog Training Part 2 - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/204/
13. Book: Shaping Success by Susan Garrett - https://dogsthat.com/product/shaping-success-2/
14. YouTube Video: Dog Training Tip Reorienting at Triggers and Doors: Fence Fighting, Reactivity, Barrier Frustration - https://youtu.be/yULZD4U5ZaY
15. Podcast Episode 189: All The Things That Influence Your Dog’s Behavior And What Behavior Tells You - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/189/
16. Podcast Episode 217: Understanding Emotional Regulation In Dogs To Create Calm - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/217/
17. Watch this Episode of Shaped by Dog on YouTube - https://youtu.be/SsD631WuLwI
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Today, I'm going to share four case studies with you. A dog that humped their owner when they |
| 0:05.8 | got overexcited, a dog that destroyed the home when they were left alone, a dog that screamed |
| 0:15.3 | their head off when they were left alone. And finally, a dog that had a complete meltdown if they saw a dog on a walk. |
| 0:24.1 | I'm going to share the stories of where they started. And I'm going to share how they went from a |
| 0:29.0 | place of complete dysregulation to a place of complete habituation. And there's a bit of a twist to |
| 0:35.8 | these stories. Hi, I'm Susan Garrett. Welcome to Shape by Dog. Four case studies and I'm starting off with |
| 0:52.7 | sharing the twist. And the twist is three of the four |
| 0:55.9 | dogs were my dogs. And all four of them followed protocols that I set out to overcome the |
| 1:01.8 | challenge. Let's start with dog number one, the more the easy one was momentum. So momentum |
| 1:09.6 | as a puppy, any time she got super excited, maybe people were |
| 1:14.3 | visiting, maybe I was about to play a game that she loved. She would grab me by the waist |
| 1:19.8 | and start humping me. Now, the other side of the track dog training methodology would say |
| 1:25.4 | that dog's being dominant. That dog's trying to dominate you. |
| 1:28.8 | And there's the problem with assigning human emotions to a dog's behavior. That's a dog who got |
| 1:37.9 | excited and didn't know what to do. At that time, she wasn't super good on tugging. She really wasn't fond of tugging. She knew she liked to |
| 1:47.3 | play the games. She knew she wanted to greet the people. And she had no way of expressing that |
| 1:52.4 | emotion. So I had to go from a place of seeing her in dysregulation, knowing what the triggers were, |
| 1:58.1 | my journal came in handy, and co-regulating by saying things like |
| 2:02.4 | sit or down when I saw that she was getting over aroused. At the same time, building her drive |
| 2:08.4 | for tug, building her drive to hold on to toys, she actually started shaking them, which I wasn't |
| 2:13.1 | fond of, but it's better than humping. A gradual process, she figured out what was a better way |
| 2:20.3 | to express her emotions and the excitement of getting to work became so second nature. It was |
... |
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