Counter-conditioning or Desensitisation?

These are two terms that are often seen when discussing behaviour modification, particularly surrounding fearful and reactive dogs. As with many technical terms, the definition and usage of these can seem confusing when they are first encountered. This is not helped by the fact that often people will begin to describe what they think counter-conditioning (often abbreviated as CC) is but also include elements of systematic desensitisation (DS). So what then is each of these, how do they differ, and how do they work together?

To understand fully, it's necessary to go through a bit of learning theory. It might be worth getting a cuppa before getting going on this next part!

When we talk about learning in dogs, one of the first names to come to mind is Pavlov and his famous dogs, prompted into salivating at the sound of a bell (although he never actually used a bell - this misconception came about via a mistranslated word). Pavlov was studying salivation in dogs when presented with food. He noticed that the dogs started salivating when an assistant entered the room prior to feeding the dogs, before any food was actually presented to them. He tested this by use of a sound (typically a metronome or buzzer) among other stimuli used before food was delivered to the dog. With repetition, he found that the dogs came to associate the sound with the imminent arrival of their food and so they would salivate on hearing that noise. This is what is known as classical conditioning, learning by making associations. In this case, the dogs associated the chosen stimulus - metronome, buzzer, etc. - with the arrival of food. 

No salivating, but definitely reacting to the banana he really wanted!

Counter-conditioning is exactly what the name implies - countering a previously formed classically conditioned response. Most often, we are using counter-conditioning to change the dog's emotional response to something. Typically, this is when we are working with fearful and anxious dogs. For some reason, be it an issue with socialisation or a previous scary experience, these dogs have come to associate certain things, their triggers, with fear. Counter-conditioning aims to replace the fearful response with a more positive association. We do this by pairing any exposure to the trigger at a distance at which the dog is not stressed by the trigger but knows it is there with something really nice. 

In practice this takes careful observation and knowledge of stress signals so that we can tell when the dog can detect their trigger but is under threshold. This is important - because of the way in which the stress response works, a dog that is under high levels of stress (especially high enough to reach threshold and feel the need to react) cannot learn. Their brain is too caught up in fight or flight, all its processing power taken up with surviving the immediate situation. It can be difficult to find that point at which the dog knows the trigger is there but doesn't feel they need to react. It may be in the beginning a second after realising it's there that the dog's stress level skyrockets. There will be a period, however brief, that the dog can accept the presence of their trigger without yelling at it to go away. This is when we start the counter-conditioning process.

Food is the most common tool used for counter-conditioning. It's vital that ultra high value treats that the dog really wants but only gets in the presence of the trigger. Common examples could be tiny slivers of ham, little cubes of hot dog sausage, crumbs of cheese, or squeezy cheese from a tube. Tiny pieces of food need to flow constantly to the dog for the entire time they are in the presence of the trigger and below threshold (the dog will perhaps snatch food if stress levels are beginning to rise, most stop eating as the stress response suppresses appetite) and - importantly - as soon as the trigger goes out of sight, the really good stuff, that ultra high value food that the dog really likes, goes away. They only receive those treats when the trigger is in their circle of awareness. Through repetition and careful avoidance of coming to close to triggers (as much as possible - accidental encounters can and probably will happen to most of us) the association that the dog makes with the trigger switches from fear to pleasant anticipation of incredibly tasty treats raining down on them. On seeing what has been the object of their fear, the dog may well turn and look at their human, waiting for the food delivery to start.

That is counter-conditioning. Many people, when talking about counter-conditioning will then go on to discuss how they close the distance to the trigger. That's where the confusion comes in - by this point they are no longer talking about just counter-conditioning, they are now in the realms of a combination of counter-conditioning and systematic desensitisation.

Desensitisation is often used in an attempt to help dogs that have problems with noise sensitivities. Common noise sensitivities include thunderstorms, fireworks, and gunshots. The process works by steadily increasing the dog's level of exposure to the stimulus. To do this for noise sensitivities, there are sound compilations available that we can play to our dogs. Starting at a very low level, give the dog a nice lick mat, forage mat, or stuffed food toy to enjoy while the sound plays in the background. If the dog is comfortable at the current level, exposure can be increased (volume turned up) in small increments, always ensuring that the dog is not showing signs of stress. If stress signals start to appear, stop the sounds playing and next time start out at a lower volume again. We must note that, while desensitisation to noise can help a dog's stress levels when they experience them later, there are factors associated with some noises that we cannot replicate that may still have an effect on the dog. Fireworks are accompanied by randomly appearing bright moving lights in the sky, while thunderstorms may also have atmospheric pressure changes that we cannot detect but our dogs can.

In terms of working alongside counter-conditioning, for instance a dog reactive towards other dogs, desensitisation involves carefully and gradually closing the distance between the reactive dog and other dogs in their environment, as mentioned earlier. The two different methods combine to give a really powerful tool to help dogs not feel the need to react. It is by no means a quick process, and care is needed to observe the dog for the first signs of stress to avoid sabotaging the process. If the dog seems stressed at any point, it is best to take evasive action and leave behaviour modification for another day. There will probably be days from time to time when evasion is not possible, trigger stacking may occur, and the dog feels the need to display reactive behaviours. If this happens, take a little time away from walks again to let cortisol levels drop back down to normal and start out when the dog's had a chance to recover, at a slightly greater distance than before to give the best chance of continued improvement.

Further complication can be added in to what is included in counter-conditioning when guardians mention getting their dogs to look at something and then back to them, getting a reward each time they do. We are now moving away from the counter-conditioning process, and indeed away from classical conditioning all together. This process of getting the dog to look at the trigger and then back to their human is sometimes called Look At That (abbreviated as LAT). We are heading into the territory of operant conditioning, where behaviours have consequences and the dog will choose to repeat or stop a behaviour depending on whether the consequence is a pleasant one or not. Pleasant consequences mean that a behaviour is more likely to reoccur. Unpleasant consequences reduce the likelihood of repetition of that behaviour.

When working with dogs, modern, educated, and kind professionals stick as far as possible to using good consequences to steer the dog towards the behaviours that they want, and don't use any kind of pain or fear such as caused by aversive devices - shock collar, prong collar, water sprays, pennies in bottles etc. Remember though that the dog is the one who decides if something is aversive. If they try to avoid something, it's aversive to them and should not be used. Find a way to utilise good consequences or teach an incompatible behaviour instead of resorting to fear and/or pain. (TL;DR - don't hurt or scare your dog, find a kinder way)

Knowing that, we can see that Look At That is using operant conditioning to reinforce the behaviour of the dog looking at the trigger calmly and then to their human - this gains them the reward. Calm behaviour in the presence of the trigger is rewarded and so makes that calm behaviour more likely to continue. We can then add in Look At That alongside the desensitisation process by slowly moving closer (always making sure the dog is comfortable) and asking them to look at the trigger. By adding in that operant conditioning step of asking the dog to take an action, we're utilising the learning mechanisms present in the dog's brain and using the brain's own reward centre to help in establishing and strengthening these new emotional associations and behaviours around what was previously the source of their fear and stress. Essentially, at this point we are starting to empower the dog to work with us on improving their relationship with the world. Anything that can empower a dog in feeling safer can only be a good thing!

If you want to learn more about reactive dogs, what is going on in their bodies and brains, how we can tell they are stressed and more on how we can use the available behaviour modification techniques and help our dogs relate better to the world around them in a kind and empathetic way, you can take a look at Canine Principles, specifically their Canine Reactive Behaviour Advanced Certificate course, or a shorter video workshop that I created for them giving an overview of the topic - 'Understanding Reactive Dogs' (free to members of the Canine Principles Skills-Hub). Or you could of course buy one of my books. The easy to read and empathetic 'Fight or Fright? A Reactive Dog Guardian's Handbook' can help a guardian of a newly discovered reactive dog navigate the emotionally turbulent time that follows this realisation. 'Understanding Reactive Dogs: Why Dogs React & How To Help' is my latest offering, and goes into deeper detail on the science behind reactive behaviours, the physical and physiological effects, and how the human holding the lead can have a massive effect on their dogs.

It's now around 6 weeks since Understanding Reactive Dogs was released, and I'm pleased to say it's selling well with some lovely reviews and feedback coming in. I have been through this book releasing process several times now, but it's still a nervous time putting something out in the open that I've spent so much time working on and poured my heart into. The lovely feedback definitely helps though! There are always a few people that don't like my books, but I no longer let that bother me - everyone is entitled to their opinion and no one writer will create works that appeal to everyone. I'm happy knowing that I am doing what I can to help dogs and people understand each other better and live together more harmoniously. 😊

Today is my beautiful blue merle boy's birthday. It's hard to believe he's 4 now. He's HUGE and way oversize by the collie breed standard, but mentally I think he'll always be a puppy (and I wouldn't have him any other way! 😍)

It's hard to believe he was ever as small as in some of these pictures!