# Fearful dogs-operant vs classical conditioning?



## Pipersmom (Jul 27, 2009)

Riley and I were attacked by a big dog on a hike and it really scared me (we are both fine).
Riley is reactive to big dogs and I want to work with him on this as I think the other dog sensed it and it contributed to what happened. When I first got him, he was not trained and fearful of being touched, picked up, etc. I spent a lot of time/money on a trainer to come to the house and work with him as well as obedience class and he is so much better except for his reactivity to big dogs. When the trainer was working with him on this, we had him moving closer and closer to a bigger dog (keeping him under threshold) and rewarding calm behavior until he was able to be next to the dog and remaining fairly calm. I never felt like he was completely comfortable and in the months following has gotten progressively worse. I am thinking of taking him to a behaviorist but as I am reading things, I am getting really confused! I just read an article that says when dealing with a fearful dog you should use classical conditioning, not operant conditioning. I should treat him when he sees a big dog regardless of his reaction to them so he connects big dogs = good things. I'm so confused-have I wasted time and money with the operant conditioning? Will the classical conditioning (treating regardless of behavior) reinforce the barking/reacting? 

Does anyone have any thoughts on the best way to help with this? I don't want to invest more time/money into training methods that aren't going to help him. Is a veternairy behaviorist a better bet than a trainer. The more I am reading, the more confused I am getting.:frusty:


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I think that part of the answer is that if you have an adult reactive dog (no matter what they are reactive to) you need to do constant maintenance work, even after whatever initial training you do. I have never dealt with a reactive dog, but like you, from what I've read, classical conditioning is the way to go… you want to change the dog's emotional response to seeing other dogs, not just his "behavior". But I ALSO think you need to do constant "brushing up" on this throughout the animal's life, or at least for MANY years.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

classical conditioning is generally used along the methods you described You might consider another trainer if you werent' happy. If you're interested in finding another one , email me privately and I can help you search. It takes an experienced trainer in this area for sure.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

just to add...Operant conditioning is also involvved through the desensitization aspect of creating distance through negative reinforcement. When your dog orients, he is issued reinforcement (food reward); in that moment the dog makes a positive association. Classical and operant conditioning work in sync to teach the dog what decisions to make, for a less stressful outcome so they’ll feel more in control over the environment. One aspect of leash reactivity that most often concerns people is reoccurrence of reactivity after some time has passed or in a novel context. The cause for this reoccurrence or emergence of leash reactivity or fear is called spontaneous recovery, or the “renewal effect”. So both classical and operant conditioning are used but the basic nature of desensitization and counter conditiong is classical in nature. Anywho. it takes work for sure and must be maintained.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I think that, more often than not, there is both a "classical" and "operant" aspect to dog training. It's hard, except in a scientific trial situation, to have it purely one or the other.


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