Zak George's Guide to a Well-Behaved Dog

by Zak George

  CAN DOGS HAVE OCD?

  Some dogs exhibit compulsive behaviors such as pacing, circling, tail chasing, fly biting, and nonstop barking. Others chase objects that aren’t there or they lick certain parts of their bodies incessantly. So what are these behaviors all about? They are actually very similar to OCD in humans. “Dogs with OCD exhibit behaviors out of context and/or excessive to their actual need to accomplish the apparent goal,” explains Karen L. Overall, VMD, PhD, a leading veterinary behaviorist, senior research scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, and founding researcher of the Canine Behavioral Genetics Project.3 “For instance, most dogs who clean their fur don’t lick to the bone, but those with OCD might. A dog might chase a fly and stop whenever the fly leaves, but one with OCD will obsessively chase flies even if none are there. Once these behaviors are established, they are also out of context in terms of degree, frequency, form, and intensity. They also interfere with the dog’s ability to respond normally to social stimuli and even to pain.”

  If you think your dog might be exhibiting OCD behaviors, first talk to your vet to rule out a medical illness and to determine the best course of action, such as medication. However, it’s critical to understand the cause of OCD behaviors. “The physical manifestations—the tail chasing, the licking, the sucking—are the result of an underlying profound anxiety,” says Dr. Overall. “I have never been able to treat a dog for OCD without treating their anxiety.”

  In other words, use this chapter to help your dog cope with anything that is making her particularly nervous or afraid. Again, this will be a mix of managing your dog’s environment, desensitizing her to the triggers, and counterconditioning. Of course, always make sure your dog is getting plenty of exercise. “Dogs with OCD might be particularly primed to enjoy rule-based activities such as flyball and agility courses since these activities give them a format for structured and repeated activity,” says Dr. Overall. “However, remember such activities will not treat OCD alone, and if a dog’s OCD worsens after doing them, stop.”

  Remember, you have to work with your vet and possibly an animal behaviorist to get a proper diagnosis. “We have to be careful that we do not medicalize normal behaviors,” says Dr. Overall. “For instance, some active dogs pace a lot because they are not getting enough exercise.” In other words, don’t immediately assume your dog has OCD because, chances are, she just has a little extra energy to burn.

  HANDLING A FEAR OF CAR RIDES

  Lots of dogs get really anxious about car rides. It must seem pretty odd to them, right? They get into this object and it moves and turns erratically, while the floor beneath them bumps and vibrates. Also, some dogs experience car sickness, just as humans do. First, for dogs younger than one year old, the parts of the inner ear involved with balance might not yet be fully developed.4 Also, stress can make a dog queasy—maybe your dog has had bad experiences in the car so far and when faced with having to take another ride, she becomes anxious.

  So, what do you do? Well, if your dog is getting carsick, make sure you don’t feed her right before a car ride. Also, talk to your vet about medication that might help. Other than that, it’s important to get your dog comfortable with car rides so she’s no longer afraid of them. This is a perfect example of how desensitization works! Many dogs just need time to adjust to cars, and the more experience your dog has in them, the more normal they will seem.

  At first, you might need to start really slowly and do some counterconditioning using a parked car in your driveway. Maybe your first step is simply to get your dog within five feet of the car. That’s fine! Give her a treat for being so brave. Work up to having her sniff the car. Again, reward accordingly! Or maybe you’re at the point where you have your dog stick her head in the car to investigate. Give her a treat to pair that experience with something great. Some dogs start accepting the car in a single training session. Others take weeks.

  You can manage your dog’s fear and anxiety related to cars by keeping training rides short. For example, you can drive around the block just to give her some exposure. Several trips that last just a few minutes might help ease your dog into the process of being in a car. It might even be a good idea to have someone in the backseat offer your dog some yummy treats while you take these rides. Often, though, with car rides, you have a great opportunity to provide a great outcome with the destination itself. For years, I’d drive all of my dogs to the park often, which they loved because they knew they’d get to play Frisbee there. Over time, they learned to generalize the car as a pretty cool thing—they’d enthusiastically jump in the car with their tails wagging any time I asked.

  Sure, I’d take them for their vet and grooming appointments, but they didn’t only associate the car with unpleasant things. Once your dog begins to anticipate the destination as being a fun place, she’ll likely become more accepting of the car. On the flip side, if you really only drive your dog when it’s time for a vet or grooming appointment, you might find car rides with her a continuous struggle.

  HANDLING NOISE PHOBIAS

  Noise phobias are very common among dogs. How are they supposed to understand that fireworks, construction sounds, the noise of the garbage truck, or thunder are harmless? They certainly don’t sound harmless! Also, as I mentioned on this page, chapter 4, dogs have much more sensitive hearing than humans do, so while, say, the sound of the smoke detector going off or a police siren might not seem scary to you, it sounds like the end of the world to your dog.5 You’ve got to go out of your way to create positive associations with these things—the earlier and more often, the better!

  I’ve dealt with a lot of dogs who are very afraid of particular noises. For instance, I recently worked with Riker, an adorable rescue dog. I was meeting him for the first time to see what kind of video I could do with him. Everything started off quite well. He was eager to play with me and was very responsive to training.

  However, his family told me that they lived near train tracks and this sweet, lovable dog’s demeanor would totally change whenever a train went by. His anxiety levels would just skyrocket. He’d whimper, hide, and take a very long time to calm down even after the train passed. Often dogs like this tend to get nervous around a variety of sounds, so I decided to take the training session outside in the yard. Sure enough, we were playing fetch together when Riker suddenly froze and seemed to completely lose interest in anything I was doing. Instead, he retreated to the back door of the house. He wouldn’t budge. It took me a moment to figure out what was going on. There was no train. However, a few houses down, a new roof was being installed and the sound of the construction appeared to be the culprit.

  This called for one of those unplanned secondary training sessions to address Riker’s fear, so I pulled out some treats and began giving him small pieces in the presence of this noise. I stayed with him at the back door, and I didn’t force him to come onto the lawn. In other words, I wanted to work where he was most comfortable outside. The construction was several houses away, so the noise was faint. However, had the house been directly next door, it would have been more ideal to go inside and do the same lesson as the sound would have been too daunting for him. Meanwhile, Riker ended up doing great. His fear did eventually pass, and we were able to continue playing and training. The video is titled How to Reassure Dogs When Something Throws Them Off.

  Of course, you’d have to continue sessions like this for at least several months to see longer-lasting results, but what a great start! The process of just giving Riker treats that he liked while in the presence of a noise he didn’t like communicated, “See! That noise isn’t all bad! Good things happen when you hear that noise. You’re safe, you get good treats, and the world doesn’t end!” Here are some more specifics on how to handle two very common noise phobias: thunderstorms and fireworks.

  Thunderstorm Phobia

  From a training perspective, one of the problematic aspects to addressing a phobia of thunderstorms is t
hat it’s difficult to set up training sessions. Sure, it’s not impossible. I guess you could anticipate many thunderstorms by checking the weather and keeping an eye on the Doppler radar. However, working through noise phobias often requires a heavy emphasis on unplanned secondary training sessions, too.

  So, when you hear that first rumble of thunder, grab some chicken from the fridge and rapidly toss tiny pieces to your dog. Once again, you are trying to reverse the perception of, “Thunder is so scary” to “Thunder means I get a lot of chicken!” Assuming your dog takes the treats, do some light, easy training to keep your dog’s mind off of things. I have found that by doing normal activities that dogs are used to during moments like this, they might be less focused on things that throw them off.

  Of course, if your dog has a well-established fear of thunder, then progress is likely to be very slow at first. She may not want treats at all. Trust me, I get it! My dog Venus was so terrified of thunderstorms that even chicken wasn’t enough to get her mind off of roaring thunder. So, what should you do in such cases? This is why desensitizing a dog is the other part of the equation. While counterconditioning with treats works with some dogs, for others you really need to make her calm around the noise first. For example, while Venus wasn’t much of a cuddler, she would be the best cuddler in the world if she heard thunder. Sometimes, cuddling seemed to reduce her anxiety the most. She’d hop up on the couch and press up against me, and I’d reassure her and pet her softly. I would keep my demeanor calm and neutral because I knew if I acted as though things were normal, she might take that as a cue to relax a bit. My goal was to reduce her anxiety in the presence of thunder for even just a few minutes. The more minutes you get of that minimized fear, the more likely your dog’s behavior is to improve over time. If lying next to me on the couch helped, then this was a step in the right direction. Other times during storms, Venus loved to nestle in the bathroom or bedroom closet. She seemed to feel safer there. And since she would appear more relaxed and less stressed, I considered that very valuable desensitization time as well.

  In other words, when dealing with your dog’s fear, it’s so important to meet her in the middle. So, while I would have preferred that Venus just take the bits of chicken and cooperate on staying focused on training or playing, I also understood that if she felt safer next to me or in the closet, I could accept that as progress, too. I wouldn’t say that Venus ever came to enjoy thunderstorms, but she did exhibit dramatic progress over the years.

  Fireworks Phobia

  You should handle fireworks in a similar way to thunderstorms. When you hear that first round of firecrackers going off in the late afternoon on the Fourth of July or on New Year’s Eve, schedule in some training time to desensitize and countercondition your dog. Teach your dog that fireworks equal something awesome like treats or play! If you can actually get your dog taking treats or playing with you in the presence of these nerve-wracking sounds, you are well on your way to progress.

  My youngest dog, Alpha Centauri, was anxious about fireworks. I remember one Fourth of July, there were fireworks all over the place and my wife, Bree, and I were enjoying them. However, I get that, to a dog, it probably felt like our neighborhood was under siege by an occupying force! Alpha Centauri, being the ball-obsessed dog that he was, sat there looking at his ball while flinching at every pop and bang. He desperately wanted to play (as usual!) but was having a hard time tuning out distractions as he normally did flawlessly. I wanted to help him through this issue, so I tossed the ball a few feet into the yard and he pursued it, albeit a bit more reluctantly. The fireworks were in full bloom, and he was awkwardly trying to keep track of the ball while contending with those fireworks. It was a full-on war zone! However, after a few more tosses, he eventually tuned out those fireworks. It was so gratifying to see that! After this incident, Bree and I nicknamed him “Battledog.” Over the years, Alpha Centauri’s anxiety about fireworks diminished greatly. I just always made sure I had a ball ready to toss to him on days when I knew there would be fireworks in our neighborhood, like New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July.

  The point of this story is that in the case of any loud noise, try to find something your dog loves and get her doing that instead! It might be fetch, it might be easy training sessions, or it might be simply giving her amazing treats. Just go out of your way to create desirable outcomes to things that might not be so fun for your dog. Don’t wait until her fear is in full bloom to then address it. Instead, you’ve got to be one step ahead of your dog’s fear if you hope to make progress.

  HANDLING A FEAR OF OTHER DOGS AND PEOPLE

  In many cases, when dogs are fearful around people or other dogs, it might seem that socialization wasn’t prioritized when they were young. Then again, there are some dogs who are just not very happy around other animals or people even when you do socialize them. Dogs can be just as reserved and introverted as people can be! In fact, many of the dogs I’ve met over the years were very reserved—they were content to just be around their people but couldn’t care less about being around other people and dogs. Or maybe you did socialize your dog, but she had a series of bad experiences that caused her to regress and become afraid in certain situations.

  Regardless of why your dog might be afraid of people and other dogs, it’s critical that you work on this issue. That’s because your dog is very likely to encounter other people and other dogs in her life, so teaching her to react appropriately is vital—especially since fear can lead to aggressive behaviors. While some dogs may cower and roll onto their backs when approached by another dog or a stranger, others might snap or bite if suddenly approached. Therefore, you’ll need to manage your dog’s access to other dogs and people while you work through her fears. (See chapter 18 on aggression to learn ways you can prevent your dog from harming others.)

  It’s worth reemphasizing that the more deep-rooted a fear is, the longer it might take to see dramatic improvement—I’m talking months or longer. And in extreme cases, you might never eliminate the fear altogether. You might have to accept progress as your success.

  Fear of Other Dogs

  Let’s say your dog is scared of other dogs. Here’s what you can do:

  1. Your first objective is simply to get your dog comfortable and content in the presence of dogs at a distance. This is the desensitization phase. You’re teaching your dog that it’s “normal” to be around other dogs. This might mean going to a large park during off-peak hours and allowing your dog to see, smell, and hear dogs from a hundred or more yards away. Your goal is to find that distance at which your dog is comfortable being around other dogs.

  2. Once you feel your dog has settled into the new environment in or even near the park, do some counterconditioning so that you might get your dog to connect “dogs in the distance” with something she perceives as enjoyable like great treats or playtime! So, ask for a “sit” and a “down.” Reward generously. If she is too thrown off by the environment, let her just exist calmly and do what you can to get her in a good mood in the way only you can.

  3. You may have to spend months or even years working on this issue. Work up to your dog being able to get closer and closer to other dogs, but do not overwhelm her at any point. One bad incident where you push your dog too quickly can really set her back and negate a lot of the progress you already made. Also, remember that all dogs are not destined to love other dogs. And that’s okay! It doesn’t matter if your dog hates other dogs as long as she keeps away from them and doesn’t start trouble. In other words, it’s just important that your dog learns to behave appropriately when other dogs are in the vicinity. Again, until then, you must manage her responsibly in the ways we’ve covered in this chapter.

  My own dog Venus never really loved other dogs, but she learned to tolerate them. Throughout her life, we played in countless public parks, and we had to contend with happy, goofy dogs running around off leash from time to time. Venus wanted nothing to d
o with them as she was always all business. That was her personality. She was there to play Frisbee for as long as she could, not to playfully engage with a new dog she just met.

  Venus and I had the “agreement” that she would go into a down and a stay any time there was an off-leash dog in the vicinity, and I would keep the dog from harassing her by either standing between her and the dog or even by picking the other dog up when he or she got too close (if I felt safe doing so, of course!). I do believe that if Venus hadn’t had frequent, distant access to many unfamiliar dogs throughout her life, she might not have been so tolerant of other dogs if left to her own devices. It seems that this combination of exercising and regularly being around dogs in the distance really made a difference in her case.

  Fear of People

  Some dogs are fearful of people. The good news is that it’s easy to control and direct other people in their interactions with your dog. For example, it’s simple enough to say to a visitor, “Give my dog some space, please. She’s timid with strangers at first.” It’s also easy to set up favorable outcomes around people as you can manipulate the distance they are from your dog, which is critical to reducing your dog’s anxiety. Here’s what you can do:

  1. If your dog is nervous about visitors, first find the ideal distance at which your dog is likely to relax. This might mean that your visitor sits on your living room couch while your dog relaxes on the other side of the room. This is a wonderful way to desensitize your dog to being around the guest.