Aversives and the reactive dog

'Aversive' is a word that can often be seen in conversations about dog training techniques and methodology. The language that it is surrounded by when being discussed by force free dog professionals clearly show that aversive is regarded as a bad thing, but what actually is an aversive measure?

Aversive: tending to dissuade or repel, causing avoidance of an unpleasant or painful stimulus.

Most often, the word is being applied to particular pieces of equipment, such as shock or prong collars, or choke chains. All of these things are known to cause some element of pain or discomfort, and so it becomes clear that aversive definitely means bad. Aversive does not however end with these contraptions. Yelling, shoving and kicking are all aversive. It would be nice to think that most humans would be above using these physically violent ways of dealing with their dogs but sadly we know that is not the case.

This definition clarifies that all of the equipment mentioned so far can be classed as aversive, but the true decision on whether a stimulus is aversive or not is made by the dog and the dog alone. If a dog does not like a certain thing, and will try to avoid it, then it is an aversive stimulus. As always, remember that every dog is an individual. Respect their individuality and their choices. This is important for all dogs, but it is a factor that is of even more benefit when it comes to reactive dogs.

I tried looking for a picture of a prong collar but couldn't bring myself to post it. Here's a cute puppy instead 😍

Anything can become aversive if a dog has a bad experience with it. A flat collar that is use to yank a dog back to try and stop pulling on the lead, a harness if the dog is then dragged into scary situations while wearing it and their handler cannot or does not read their body language and appeals for escape. An aversive response can be conditioned into a dog if mistakes are made meaning that they experience a frightening situation while associating with a stimulus. If this has happened to you, don't panic! Mistakes can be rectified in the same way that we work to improve our dogs' reactions to their triggers (and there are very, very few people that have never made a mistake in the way they have handled their dogs in the past!)

It should be clear from the above that aversive measures are to be avoided with all dogs, but in the case of the fearful reactive dog this is extra important. Imagine that you are suddenly faced with something you are scared of. Instinctively you try to get away, or tell the thing that you are frightened of to go away. You are with someone that you trust, and so you turn to them to help you with the situation. Instead of helping, they do or use something to cause fear and pain. Is that going to help you feel less scared of that thing or situation? Of course not. It is going to make you feel worse, more scared, more stressed. Even worse, it is going to damage your relationship with the person that you relied on to help you. How can you trust someone that answers your cries for help by yelling and causing pain? The very last thing that anyone with a fearful dog wants or needs is for their dog to begin associating them with pain and stress!

The whole basis behind working with reactive dogs is to reduce their fear and stress around their triggers. Logic alone dictates that painful or distressing treatment is hardly likely to decrease either of these. To improve the way in which a fearful dog can deal with the world, we need to change their emotional outlook towards their triggers. It should go without saying that the aim here to to change the emotional response in a positive way and again, aversive methods are not going to do this, but will make the problems much worse. Fearful dogs and their guardians and handlers have enough to cope with without having to deal with increased problems caused by bad advice from the people that resort to these cruel methods.

Do not believe the people that say these measures are necessary, or try to position them as 'humane'. There is nothing humane about these methods. There is always a better answer than pain or fear.

Update - February 2020. If you want to learn more about effective ethical ways to help your reactive dog take a look at the following courses from Canine Principles:

Canine Reactive Behaviour Certificate - An accredited advanced certificate course which is packed full of information to help you understand what is going on in your dog's brain and body.

Inspiring Resilience In Fearful & Reactive Dogs - 30 Day Program - 30 days of videos to show you how to help your dog cope with the world better