In my last post, I discussed the use of increasing distance to help a dog that finds their environment difficult learn to see less danger around them all the time. In some of the comments in places where that post was linked, there were numerous references to distracting dogs as part of the behaviour modification process. The thing is that distraction is not actually helping to change the behaviour.
The function of behaviour modification is to change the dog's emotional response to the thing that triggers the response in them. For this response to actually change, the anxious or fearful dog needs to notice the trigger at that distance where they feel safe and will not go over threshold. This will not happen if they are being distracted from seeing the trigger.
