Dexter's "hyper-alertness": is it normal, part of his reactivity, or temperament?

Just wondering if Dogsey folk can offer some thoughts please?

It's just over a year since I adopted Dexter, and he is a lot calmer, but still tends to be pretty reactive.

I've never owned a Lab before, but know quite a lot of them via friends and family. Dexter is unlike all of these, in that while they all appear pretty relaxed, Dex is sooo super-alert when we are out and about.

He responds intensely to the tiniest of sounds. One trainer at a class we went to described it as "going into 'hunting' mode"... and this same trainer told me to 'correct' him every time it happened....???

Unexpected sounds make Dex visibly flinch and jump. Just one example: on our way back home after a nice long walk the other day, we walked past a building and just as we did, the sliding doors opened. The 'swishing' sound was very quiet (to me, at least) but Dexter visibly jumped.

If we are out walking and someone is coming towards us, even if they are quite far away, Dexter is up on his tiptoes, ears up, peering forward.

If he sees someone sitting on the ground, he kicks off. If he hears a voice anywhere near us, or someone is walking behind us, he tenses instantly.

I am trying my best to do socialisation gradually, and we regularly now walk up and down our local, very busy, very noisy high street, for example.

Dex doesn't seem fearful of people, he adores them and wants to say hello to literally everyone we pass.

Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts on how I can help Dex relax more when we're out - or whether this alertness is totally 'normal'

Many thanks for any feedback.

It sounds more like defensive/startle/guard mode than hunting mode to me at things that he has not figured out, that are unusual to him, or familiar things that are presenting in an unusual manner, or things that have startle him.

If so correcting a dog for a fear response is rarely a "cure", although it may suppress visible responses.

That being the case he needs to have faith in you to be able to handle situations, rather than him having to do so himself.

I would work on exercises that encourage him to focus on or look at you rather than scanning the environment with greater focus than he is giving you and reacting to what has startled/alarmed him. E.g "watch me" or getting him to watch a toy you control, and good heel work with changes of pace and direction to increase his concentration on you and what you are doing and where you are going, rather than the environment around him.

Not only does this give him something else to think about but it can also increase his confidence in you dealing with his world, rather than him having to do so.

Additionally I would work on DS/CC with positive association, in controlled graduations, to the things that worry him or set him off.


Ps they are in the minority but I have met some very "guardy" and very reactive Labs who also tend to be much more high energy that the more typical, less reactive examples.

Thank you TASS - much appreciated. I have been working on the 'watch me' and it does work but only for very short periods of time, so I am practising it with him with gradually more distractions etc.

I will definitely incorporate your advice about the heelwork, I think that is spot on, to make him focus more on me!

Thank you very much indeed!

You're welcome, good luck

Have you had any experience with BAT? Behaviour Adjustment Therapy? Admittedly I don't have a huge experience of it yet (I've just ordered the book!) but it's what the behaviourist recommended to me for Cain's behaviour. I know Dexter isn't the same but it sounds like a really good method for treating dogs who feel uncomfortable about certain things. He said I could use it when Cain spotted something like a cyclist in the distance, and does that stare thing. You let the dog look and wait until it chooses to look away, click and reward and move away from whatever spooked him. It's supposed to help the dog learn a new way of coping by ignoring instead of staring. Like I said, I don't have much experience yet so can't say how well it works but I think the theory makes loads of sense and it really sounds like it might suit Dexter's behaviour. There's some good videos on YouTube

Thanks MOON'S MUM - that sounds really interesting. I've seen BAT referred to but it will now go right to the top of my list and I'll start researching tomorrow!

One thing about rather reactive dogs - they certainly add to our knowledge, don't they? I would never have done as much reading etc if I had a calmer dog!

And yes - the 'stare'........Dexter does that A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tell me about it, you should see my book shelf, it basically a "how to treat your problem dog" library I'm hoping to find the answer somewhere

Cain has got a great "death stare" too, I'm hoping that BAT will break that when he realises that looking away is more rewarding. I also think it's a bit easier that Watch Me for a worried dog who naturally want to keep an eye on the wcary thing. I'm hoping it'll teach him "ok, have a quick look then look away" rather than lock on and freeze. Worth a try anyway

Sometimes BAT works better for lower level situations, as part of the aim is to keep the dog below threshold, i.e. aware but not reacting aversely.

In real life accidentally occurring situations this is not always achievable so the look away can be very difficult to achieve and meanwhile the dog's adrenaline and arousal level is very very rapidly ramping up, creating a catch 22 situation.

You can use a training distraction techniques with BAT techniques to encourage the look away, before the dog goes over threshold, in the more challenging situations.

Using a head collar to encourage a turn away, and putting it on cue can also be incorporated with BAT, helping to teach the day an alternative coping strategy.

BAT purists may say tat ideally you want the dog to offer the behaviour itself, which is great if you can get it, and what you would aim for in a controlled training session where you can control the level of intensity of the stimulus and so the intensity of the dog's response, but it may be discovered that one still needs other techniques for those unavoidable, unplanned, real life situations that go over threshold.

I like to take the best from various techniques and adapt them with "mix and match" to use different techniques and/or combinations at different times to deal with different situations.

Some of them only vary slightly from each other anyway, or are virtually a name change on a slight slant of an existing strategy.

Oh absolutely. I had quite a long talk with my behaviourist about how to handle "real life" when you get ninja stealth joggers popping out of bushes etc He explained that there are three stages of BAT, depending on how hard the situation is to handle. You can use stage 1 (click and treat simply for looking then move away. This is like the Look AT That game) for situations which you can't control, like jogger running straight at you. So click for looking, dog turns away for treat, then remove dog from situation to prevent reaction. Or you can use Stage 3 (wait for dog to break stare, click, move away, then reward) when you can set up senarios and control the distance etc to ensure the dog stays under threshold

It's a juggling act and not perfect, but then ANY desensitising programme can be broken by real life tipping the dog over threshold. That's why I think it's good to train a Watch Me too if possible, then you have a range of weapons in your arsenal for different situations

Since Moons Mums post about Chirag I have also been reading up a bit on BAT.. I found these quite interesting reading, and they explain more about it

http://functionalrewards.com/BAT-basics.pdf
http://functionalrewards.com/

Perhaps Dexter is just anxious rather than in 'hunting mode'?
I guess the way they tense up and stand alert is similar to when they are stimulated by moving objects.

Does he show any calming signals such as moving his head to the side, lip licking or shaking off afterwards?