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One of the most important aspects of dog training is getting a dog to FEEL good about something that they find scary or unpleasant. If your dog is afraid or anxious, they may act in fearful, reactive, or aggressive ways and it will be difficult to change their behavior until you've helped them feel more comfortable.

Fortunately, teaching a dog to feel good about a stimulus is a relatively simple process. All you have to do is repeatedly pair the stimulus with something else that your dog already feels good about. Do this frequently enough and the stimulus will become associated with the good thing, and your dog will start to FEEL more comfortable about the stimulus.

One of the easiest ways to do this is with your dog's food. Food makes most dogs feel good, so you can use food to make your dog feel good about other things.

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Or you can download the PDF version here: How to Use Classical Conditioning.pdf

You are welcome to share this document with anyone. If you'd like to learn more about how to use Classical Conditioning to get your dog to feel better about the things that make them feel uncomfortable, you should keep reading and then enroll in our free course; Six Simple Steps to Solve Your Dog's Behavior Problems.

Or, join the Top Dog Academy to get access to ALL of our online courses, plus our private support community, for just $20/month.

The basic Classical Conditioning concept is very simple, but there are definitely a lot of tips and tricks you can use to make it more effective when you use Classical Conditioning to train your dog.

DITCH THE DISH

Food is one of the easiest tools to use in Classical Conditioning. If food makes your dog feel good, you can use food to make your dog feel good about almost anything. Dogs instinctively feel good about food, but if you feed your dog regularly from a food bowl, it devalues their regular food so that it doesn't have much of an effect on your dog.

When you use Classical Conditioning, you give LOTS of pieces of food. So it's important that the food is healthy and well-balanced, like a high-quality kibble. You could use high-value treats, which make your dog feel very good, but most high-value treats are unhealthy in large quantities. 

If you stop feeding your dog from a food bowl, their regular food will be much more powerful, so it will have more of an impact during Classical Conditioning.

So instead of feeding your dog from a bowl, It's much better to either feed your dog actively during training, or have them earn their food by extracting it from a hollow chew toy, interactive puzzle feeder, or snuffle mat.

TURBOCHARGE THE FOOD

In the same way you can use food and Classical Conditioning to teach your dog to feel good about a neutral or scary stimulus, you can also use other things that your dog likes to train your dog to feel even better about food.

If you regularly give your dog a piece of food right before you do other things they like, then they will associate the food with the other things they like and the food will become even more powerful. So, if you're going to play with your dog, or pet your dog, or let them out in the yard, or go for a walk, give them a piece of kibble first and they will learn to absolutely love their kibble, because of all of these positive associations.

HIGH-VALUE TREATS

It's very worthwhile getting your dog excited about their regular food, but even then, it can be useful to have high-value treats on hand. For example, you could use regular food to Classically Condition your dog to feel more comfortable around people, and then use high-value treats to help your dog feel really good about children, or men, two types of people that often make dogs uncomfortable.

One option is to enhance regular kibble by putting it in a Ziploc bag and crumbling some freeze dried liver on top and shaking it up so you end up with regular kibble that smells like liver.

Another option is to use a very tasty kibble, like Ziwi Peak, which is healthy, well-balanced and nutritious, but very attractive to dogs.

NOT JUST FOOD

While food is incredibly useful for Classical Conditioning, it's not your only tool. If other dogs are around, using food might make matters worse by bringing other dogs closer. Also, if your dog is too scared, they might not be willing to take food.

In these situations your voice and your mood are invaluable tools. Talk to your dog. Praise them in a calm, kind voice to make them feel good. Pretend that you are happy, by smiling, singing, dancing, or acting playfully and that will help them relax.

This will also help ensure that you aren't making their fear worse by acting fearfully yourself. If you behave in a fearful manner, or use a fearful tone, your dog will notice and that will validate and reinforce their fear.

NOT TOO FAST

If your dog is too scared they will not take food and it will be harder to Classically Condition them. If possible, you should try to start Classical Conditioning in a situation where your dog is aware of the scary stimulus, but not so scared that they are unwilling to take food.

There are lots of ways to reduce the intensity of a scary stimulus. One of the best is to move it further away. If sound or movement is involved, you can try to reduce these factors if possible. 

If you cannot reduce the intensity of the stimulus, you might be able to use patience. If you remain stationary and the stimulus remains relatively consistent, then your dog will gradually desensitize to it over time. Once your dog is comfortable enough to take food, you can start Classical Conditioning in earnest.

When you are using Classical Conditioning, you want to keep most of the factors constant, and only have one thing changing at a time. It's very difficult to use Classical Conditioning if you are moving through a dynamic environment with your dog because so much is changing with every step. You either need an unchanging environment that your dog can move through, or if the environment is changing you and your dog should probably be stationary.

MODULATE THE STIMULUS

As your dog gets comfortable with the stimulus at a low intensity, you can gradually increase the intensity. Continue to use Classical Conditioning as you go to keep your dog feeling comfortable.

Don't increase the intensity too quickly. Instead, make the stimulus a little more intense, or move a little closer to the stimulus and then remain there working for a little while. Then make the stimulus less intense for a little while, and reduce the level or frequency of your positive stimulus .

This take some of the pressure off, because you aren't constantly moving your dog closer to the scary stimulus. It also teaches the dog a direct relationship between the scary stimulus and the positive stimulus. Over time, your dog will want to move closer to the stimulus they used to think was scary, because they know they will get more food, or better food, as they get closer.

LEARN MORE

If you'd like to learn more about how to use Classical Conditioning to get your dog to feel better about the things that make them feel uncomfortable, you should enroll in our free course; Six Simple Steps to Solve Your Dog's Behavior Problems.

Or, join the Top Dog Academy to get access to ALL of our online courses, plus our private support community, for just $20/month.

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