Difference between revisions of "An Ounce of Prevention"

Revision as of 15:40, 3 February 2012

This section overlaps considerably with Training and Troubleshooting, but I'm categorizing these exercises as Socialization games because they involve habituating a foster dog to routine occurrences rather than teaching specific actions in response to cues. Done correctly, they should hopefully prevent a dog from manifesting troublesome behaviors rather than requiring you (or the adopters) to break a bad habit later. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and so here we are.

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Stronger

Every once in a while, beginning on the first day of your foster dog's arrival and continuing for as long as you have her, leave. Don't make a big deal of it, don't say anything, just walk out of her sight and ensure she can't follow. Go into another room and close the door, walk away while she's in her crate eating, or leave to run an errand and return.

You don't have to be gone long. Five to ten seconds is plenty the first few times (particularly since you probably won't want to leave your foster dog unsupervised that long anyway); you can gradually work up to longer durations. Ideally, your foster pup won't even realize at first that you've disappeared, especially if she's busy gnawing on a new rawhide or eating a meal.

The purpose of this exercise is to accustom her to the idea that sometimes you will go away, but you will always return. It's essentially an emotional inoculation against separation anxiety; it teaches her that she can be alone for short periods of time and the world won't come to an end. In fact, it's so benign that sometimes she doesn't even notice she's alone until it's over.