BAT (behaviour adjustment training); Anyone got experience of this?

I've been in touch with a behaviourist about Esau's aggression towards male entire dogs, and black Labradors. She has suggested she may use a tool called BAT - Behaviour adjustment training. It'll be over a week before she can assess Esau so I'm using the time to try and find out a little more about the technique.

Thanks!

Hello Friends,

I have 2 Dogs & really love them,

Wonderful forum this is,

This older link from here may be of some interest:
Behaviour Adjustment Training (BAT) for fear and aggression

I'll keep an eye on this thread and will be really interested to see how you get on with BAT. Good luck.

Thanks, Jenny. Looks like it's fairly new in the UK, then. I've been lucky to find a behaviourist who's trained in it! I'll let you know how I get on.

There is a book available by Grisha Stewart that you may find useful:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Behavior-Adj...tment+training

Thanks for that!
I may get this if the behaviourist recommends it.

I have been on a Grisha Stewart BAT evening lecture, it seems very effective, although it isnt something i plan to use in its entirety.

Update . . Just had my first session with trainer Natalie!

I was a little bit nervous of how Esau would be, as we had to take him to the vet right before the lesson - he's got a small lesion on one toe, possibly an infection, possibly a small tumor. He's having antibiotics for a week and if it doesn't clear up, he'll have surgery

Anyhoo . . . we arrived back home to find Natalie on the doorstep! She was so nice, we sat and chatted about Esau and her dog for a while, she explained how the training would work, and then out we went. Esau was put on a long line, while Natalie took her lab x 'Cash' away from the house. I took Esau out as if we were going for a normal walk, and Natalie was coming up the drive with Cash. The moment Esau stopped, I gave him a marker word "Yes!" and called him back to me, tossing a treat in the opposite direction to encourage him to come. We repeated this until the two dogs got quite close, then we tried the same exercise further away from the house. When they two dogs were getting very close to one another, we started walking them in the same direction, gradually allowing Esau to walk up behind Cash and 'sniff his butt'. To my amazement, after the briefest of sniffs, Esau totally ignored the other dog! We walked them for quite some time, even walked them towards one another, and practised recalling Esau right past Cash - I gave fuss and treats to Cash while Esau was sitting right alongside. Nothing - Esau was good as gold! Then Natalie said "Let Esau off lead". I thought, Really??? My heart was in my throat, but I did it .. and he was absolutely fine! I couldn't believe it!
Natalie gave us tips for training while we are on holiday in North Wales next week; to always keep things relaxed, work on the recall when he sees another dog, reward every look away, sniff, etc, that show he is 'ignoring' another dog, but not to do too much, give Esau 'time-out' regularly.
I was left feeling really delighted and that there IS hope that Esau will accept black labradors and entire male dogs. She said to keep him on a training line for at least 3 months when we're out, and warned there will always be some dogs that will 'square up' to him; in such a situation, the first dog to move will provoke an attack by the other, so if it happens, don't try and call Esau back, but use the line to take control by 'walking' my hands down the line towards him.
I feel so much more confident about dealing with meeting other dogs and I'm really looking forward to trying the training out when we're on holiday!
I will report more when we get back next week!

Oh, by the way - Natalie was here for 2 and a half hours, and charged £40 - I thought that was incredible value!

I quite like the BAT training although what I took away from the lecture with Grisha Stewart was it was very similar to the desensitisation I was already doing.
I don't think that Grisha advocates using treats though. Some thing about the dog can be more focused on the treat than the other dog so you don't always get a clear message across. Regardless I continued to use treats and slowly eased out of them with clients I worked with.
It was a couple of years ago now and I really enjoyed meeting her and listening to her ideas.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, SarahJade. Grisha sounds an amazing lady and clearly she's offered hope for many dogs who would otherwise be facing very bleak futures.

My trainer is unsure exactly what's causing Esau's reactivity; there are a number of possibilities. She is using a combination of techniques tailored to my particular set of circumstances, taking some aspects from BAT and some from other techniques. Finding dogs/owners willing to take part in managed BAT set-ups is almost impossible (the people I know who have dogs are already known to Esau and he doesn't react to their dogs. Strangers are understandably reluctant to allow their dog to be used to help train a dog that shows aggression to theirs!) So I must cope with situations as and when they occur. It's not ideal but better than nothing.

I just got back yesterday from a week in Anglesey in North Wales, where we used the techniques whenever we encountered other dogs. It started out well; he was making excellent progress and then we made the mistake of pushing him too far; we took him on a mountain-walk on Bank Holiday Monday. It was due to be cool, cloudy and drizzly, but not pouring; we chose a walk from a guide-book classed as 'easy', estimated at an hour. It turned out to be a path of uneven, half-sunken boulders (requiring constant scrambling). The sun came out and blazed; there was no shade (though there was a lake for doggy cooling-off) and with my physical limitations it took three and a half hours. It was also heaving with people and off-lead dogs. Esau was doing really well for the first hour and a half, but eventually it got too much and by the time we got back to the car he was reacting to every single dog he saw, regardless of sex, size, colour, on- or off-lead. We were all hot, tetchy, and tired; I was in pain and I'd fairly sure Esau was, too.

Later that evening, after a meal, we drove out to a meadow and let him have a quiet amble - no other people or dogs - which did us all good!

The next day, we had the cooler, light-drizzling weather we'd been expecting, so we took him to a quiet sandy beach with no other dogs, let him have a play in the sea. We followed this with a walk along the headland to a bigger beach where we came across 2 or 3 other dogs; we used the training and kept things at a safe distance for him, and he responded really well.

Back at the caravan, he looked so chilled out, we put him on his tie-out cable, and we were thrilled to see him lay down quietly and watch dogs being walked (on leads) right past his nose! Only one dog still made him react - a male chocolate lab, which did nothing I could see that was remotely threatening.

So a mixed-bag in terms of results, but on the whole I'm really pleased; the Bank Holiday walk was a mistake but by the time we realized that, it was already too late. Other than this he made great progress and I'm proud of him!