Resilience Rainbow Case Study - Osha

Resilience Rainbow Case Study - Osha

By Benah Stiewing

The Resilience Rainbow is a framework developed by Bobbie Bhambree and Dr. Kathy Murphy. Resilience is an animal’s ability to recover after experiencing a stressful event. Bhambree and Dr. Murphy created a system to build a dog’s overall resilience and increase their ability to reach their baseline. To learn more about the Resilience Rainbow, you can click here. In this piece, I am going to cover the application of this concept with one of my dogs, Osha the 2 year-old Border Collie.

Osha is a stable, friendly-neutral, and confident young dog. She was raised with careful attention to neutrality around other dogs because she lives with another Border Collie who is fearful of other dogs. In January 2023, Osha was attacked by another dog. I use the word “attacked” lightly, as there were no injuries and it was a friend’s dog who rushed Osha. We frequently go on group walks with friends and their dogs, and this was one such walk. A new friend was joining us that day, and her dog rushed Osha as soon as she noticed her. Osha started showing appeasement signals (ears back, low tucked tail wag, rolling over to expose her belly) which only escalated (growl deepened, flipped Osha onto her back, snarling with lips curled back into Osha’s neck) the other dog’s behavior. The entire interaction lasted about 8-10 seconds before they were separated. After they were separated, Osha was clearly extremely stressed. After that day, we went on a 2-week break from engaging with any other dogs as she recovered. During and after this initial decompression period, Osha did not show any signs of increased stress around other dogs. She did not develop any reactivity, and continued to practice lovely skills around unfamiliar dogs we encountered out in the world. 

However, I had a gut feeling that something was off about Osha. As the weeks and months passed, I could not put my finger on it. By April, I finally had a realization that Osha no longer engaged in play with other dogs. Before the event, she was a moderately playful dog and would engage her dog friends in appropriate play both inside and outside of the home. I began to realize that while she was still neutral and appropriate with other dogs, there seemed to be a lack of joy and excitement. These are anthropomorphizing words, but there is no better way to describe it. She simply didn’t enjoy her interactions with other dogs anymore. 

It’s important to state that this is not an odd or abnormal behavior for a mature Border Collie to develop. It’s very normal for a mature Border Collie to become less playful with other dogs, and interested in other activities. I wondered whether the event had simply coincided with a natural development, but I had this sneaking suspicion that it had not. I spoke to my friends who are also professional dog trainers and behavior consultants, and shared my thoughts. We discussed putting Osha on behavioral medication to explore whether the lack of play was natural or not. If a medication helped ease enough anxiety, would she engage in play again, or still be more interested in other pursuits? I ultimately did not use medication with Osha, simply because she started improving before it happened, but it’s definitely something I would have brought on board with the support of our veterinarian.

While I was considering these options, I started intentionally building Osha’s resilience. I had always been extremely particular about the dogs I allowed to interact with Osha, but I began being even more selective. I only had her around other completely neutral dogs who would not invite her to play or engage at all, beyond a friendly sniff. I didn’t want her to practice the behavior of turning down invitations to play, so I exclusively had her around dogs who wouldn’t ask. If another dog was present, my other Border Collie was always away in his crate or left at home. While he can safely co-exist around most dogs, it’s not something he enjoys and I didn’t want her to observe any stress around other dogs, even the most mild. While I make it a regular practice to play with my dogs everyday, I started incorporating new behaviors into our play routine together. Instead of mostly tugging, we would also play chase where Osha would run after me and catch me, and hide and seek where Osha would have to come find me. After our play sessions, we would lie on the ground together while I stroked her legs and feet, taking deep breaths. 

After just a few weeks of implementing these changes, Osha engaged a Rhodesian Ridgeback friend in play. It lasted only about 15 seconds, but it was the first time I’d seen her play with another dog in months. A week later, she engaged a Border Collie friend in play, and it lasted a few minutes this time. Within weeks, she was back to her normal self, playing and having a ball with her dog friends. I was thrilled to see her happy around other dogs again. I can’t say for sure what exactly caused this shift in Osha. Perhaps my attempts to increase her security and stability around other dogs helped her feel safe enough to invite play, or maybe this was a natural progression she would have made anyway. However, I do believe that my integration of the Resilience Rainbow framework helped restore Osha’s trust in me to be her advocate and protector, and feel relaxed enough to once again let loose around other dogs. 

I am thrilled that Osha has regained her confidence around other dogs, and is once again able to engage in play and enjoy social interactions. However, I am still extremely careful about her interactions with other dogs, and am cognisant that one brief moment of fear and/or conflict could really set her back. Just like human variances in resilience, some dogs can experience an event like the one described above and shake it off (literally and figuratively!), while dogs like Osha may be heavily impacted by a stressful event. Even though Osha’s symptoms of anxiety have shifted, I still take the same precautions to ensure she feels confident, secure, and relaxed around other dogs. I carefully select her canine friends, and structure the experiences to be what she needs to feel comfortable. Knowing that the steps I’ve taken to relieve Osha’s anxiety have been effective, I will continue to do them for the rest of Osha’s life so that - to the best of my ability - I can preserve her confidence and continue to build resiliency. 

Summit Dog Training offers group dog training classes & private lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as online self-study courses & online private lessons for education on how to live the best life with your dog!  If you are looking for more training support, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to help you and your dog get ready for any adventure.

Reactivity on Walks

Supporting Your Leash-Reactive Dog

By Benah Stiewing

A dog who barks, lunges, and experiences elevated stress when another dog or person appears during a walk is a difficult habit for you and your dog to experience. The word “reactive” is a label we use to describe a certain set of behaviors that dogs exhibit

under specific conditions, such as exposure to a “trigger” like another dog or person. Since we all might have slightly different visions of what a “reactive” dog looks like, below are some of the behaviors that might put your dog into this category. Having a dog who displays any of the below behaviors is stressful at best and extremely emotionally draining at worst for both you and your dog. 

• Fixation on the trigger (orienting towards, unable to turn away)

• Pulling toward the trigger 

• Hard staring (no blinking, jaw stiff, often includes a freeze as well)

• Barking

• Lunging

• Snapping / Biting

Though your dog’s reactivity may be frustrating and invoke anger from you or folks on the receiving end of their reactive behavior, it’s important to understand that your dog is having a bad time, not being bad. All behavior is affected by what comes before it (antecedents) and what comes after it (consequences). Understanding this sequence can help us understand why your dog does what they do, and how we may successfully modify undesirable behavior, like leash reactivity.

• Antecedent: whatever happens BEFORE the behavior. (e.g. trigger entering the

  environment, a cue that you give, etc.)

• Behavior: whatever observable actions the dog takes following an antecedent (e.g.

  whine, bark, lunge, respond to your cue, etc.)

• Consequence: whatever happens AFTER the behavior. (e.g. the trigger leaving the

  environment, the trigger getting closer, the dog being pulled from the environment, you

  delivering a tasty treat, etc.)

• We can visualize the whole sequence like this: Antecedent → Behavior → Consequence

To understand how to modify behavior and change the reactivity we see in our dogs, it is helpful

to think about what consequence the dog might get out of the behavior they are currently

choosing. What function does the reactive behavior serve for the dog? If a dog’s behavior functions in a way where the consequence is advantageous to the dog (i.e. it is something the dog wants), the behavior is more likely to occur again in the future. For example, if your dog barks at another dog on a walk, and what your dog really wants is for that dog to go away, when the other dog walks away with its human, your dog will learn that the most effective way to achieve their goal is to bark at dogs that make them uncomfortable.

This is important to understand because a critical key to behavior modification is to prevent rehearsal of the undesirable behavior. The more the behavior is practiced (and reinforced), the stronger the behavior will become. To prevent undesirable behavior, we need to understand your dog’s threshold. Threshold is the term we use to describe the point at which a dog transitions from a comfortable state of mind to a more distressed mental state, in which we see outward behavioral symptoms of their discomfort (i.e. reactive behaviors). Before we are able to effectively modify a dog’s behavior, we need to recognize situations that cause them to become distressed and work to prevent them so we can keep our dogs comfortably just below that threshold level while we teach them new coping skills. 

Things that can bring a dog over threshold:

• A separate event that has caused the dog stress recently - i.e. a thunderstorm during the night before or a recent vet visit.

• A trigger becoming more intense and/or coming closer to you - i.e. dog walking towards

  you rather than away.

• The dog being tired / hungry / thirsty (like at the end of a walk)

• Encountering multiple triggers in a row / at the same time - this is called trigger stacking.

The goal threshold for training sessions with our reactive dogs fluctuates at the borderline between their comfort-zone (no reactions) & over-threshold (big reactions), and well within their comfort-zone. We want to give our dogs exposure that will help them learn, and then contrast that exposure with easy recoveries at a distance where they feel as comfortable (and non-reactive) as possible. Initial learning (such as foundation skills like focusing on you, responding to basic cues, etc.) is best done well below the comfort-zone threshold line. If you are trying to teach your dog new skills for the very first time at or above their level of comfort, this will be very difficult. Start by rehearsing good behaviors and skills in practice areas where your dog feels most comfortable, like your living room or your backyard.

Our goal through behavior modification is to create a different set of behavior patterns for our

reactive dogs that fit better into our human expectations of appropriate canine behavior. In order to help our dogs do this, we need to set them up for success with some environmental management. This means facilitating situations where our dogs can be successful and guiding them, through our training, to make better choices. Management comes into play to prevent our dogs from rehearsing the unwanted behaviors until the dog has a better behavior built up to replace the reactive behavior. Pushing your dog into uncomfortable situations just because they haven't reacted yet is not necessarily setting them up for success. They don’t need to cross their threshold to learn!

Management ideas:

• Cross the street or duck behind a car if a dog is approaching and you won’t have the space you need for your dog to be successful.

• Install visual barriers on your windows and play white noise so your dog can’t practice their reactivity in the home.

Behavior modification is the process by which we teach our reactive dogs a different set of

feelings and, most importantly, behaviors about situations they would typically default to reactive

behaviors. To help change your dog’s current association to the sight of other dogs, we provide VERY HIGH VALUE treats (think diced chicken, liverwurst, and hotdogs) when your dog is in the

presence of other dogs (or other triggers). Over time, and with proper desensitization, your dog will learn to associate the presence of other dogs with yummy things. Your mantra should be “good things happen for my dog when other dogs are around!” We would prefer if the presence of another dog was a happy, exciting event for your dog. Our goal is for your dog to see another dog and immediately look to you as if to say, “Yipee! I see another dog! That means I get chicken, right?!” No barking or lunging, just an excited, expectant look on your dog’s face.

Behavior modification is a complex task, and if you are struggling with leash reactivity we  recommend seeking the support of a certified trainer. This post barely skims the surface of all the components that could be part of a leash reactivity training plan! Consider starting with our Reactivity in Dogs Webinar that dives deeper into the complexities of this behavior, and how we may support our dogs in developing different behaviors around their triggers.

If you want additional support for you and your dog, we offer in-person Group Classes and Private Lessons for reactive dogs  in Fort Collins, Colorado and Chatham, New York, and virtual coaching right in the comfort of your home. As you work through your dog’s leash reactivity, it’s vital to remember that your dog isn’t giving you a hard time, they are having a hard time - the more we can understand this, the better we may serve our dogs.

Summit Dog Training offers group dog training classes & private lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as online self-study courses & online private lessons for education on how to live the best life with your dog!  If you are looking for more training support, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to help you and your dog get ready for any adventure.