A few months ago, I had a client who, in addition to dogs, also had several cats. I myself am severely allergic to cats, so my dog has never seen these animals up close. Not until that time.
In the training with this client, we were at a point where I needed to introduce more distractions, and I often use my dog-neutral dog for these things. I did so this time, the lesson went great, and then, as Orca and I were leaving, one of the cats decided to make an appearance and to approach us in a friendly and curious manner. My dog, who only saw felines from far away, became tense for a micro-second, unsure about further actions. Run? Chase? Fight? Play?
Because I knew this moment of confusion would happen, I said, “let’s go” and just went to the car, with Orca leaving the cat and following me. “That was her first cat encounter?” – asked my client. I said, “Yes,” and then, to my dog, “Hop!” (into the car crate). My client inquired, “and that’s it?” I replied, “that’s it.”
First-time things are bound to happen in a dog’s life. There will be a first time when they will eat solid food, the first time when they will try on a collar, the first time they will see snow, the first time they will hear a vacuum cleaner. Most people have no problem walking their dogs through these firsts. Yet, an absolute majority struggles when it comes to cats, squirrels, other dogs, and birds.
The reason for these struggles is simple: the owners assign a lot more significance to encounters with animals than to encounters with inanimate things, which, ultimately, results in their dog assigning a lot of significance to other creatures, too. Think about how many times you see a dog owner with a puppy or a young dog stopping, freezing, sometimes laying down, and staring at an approaching dog or at a running-away squirrel. Such owners give into their dog’s confusion and allow their dog to make a choice how to feel about dogs, cats, and squirrels. If that passing dog were a washing machine, would you have also stopped there, admiring its inner workings? No, you would maybe laugh at your dog and just go about your business, thus demonstrating to your dog that washing machines do not deserve much attention.
This attitude of “keep going, it is nothing,” needs to be taken with you on your walks and applied each time whenever your dog encounters a new creature and is unsure what to do about it. Every single second you let your dog to dwell on thinking about that cat, racoon, or skunk, leads to long-term issues with reactivity, running away, and aggression.
Remember that dogs are masters of your body language, which means that they will deem things important insofar as you are showing them how exactly important such things are.