Desensitisation And Counterconditioning – The Foundations Of Behaviour Modification

Thresholds. High-value rewards. Positive reinforcement. Jackpotting. Shaping. Pavlov’s dogs. Operant conditioning… The dog behaviour world is filled with jargon and insider terms. To the uninitiated, this can be daunting or, worse, exclusionary. It needn’t be. And, to be honest, to the already overwhelmed reactive dog owner who has probably read a bunch of books and watched every video on YouTube about behaviour modification, there’s only so many more words you can take in. To save some brain space, there are really just two words you need to focus on: desensitisation and counterconditioning (apologies for their long length!). 

These two behaviour modification methods work as partners and you generally perform them together or in sequence, with desensitisation – DS for short – coming first, followed by counterconditioning – CC – coming next. 

What is Desensitisation? 

Desensitation, as you may have guessed, is to make someone or some dog less sensitive to something. That sounds pretty vague, so let me give you a human example. 

I am an arachnophobe. I have a phobia of spiders. It’s not a fear, particularly in the UK where we have no venomous spiders, because fear is a rational response to something. A phobia is irrational; I have no need to be afraid of something that can fit in the palm of my hand – at its biggest – and can’t physically harm me. 

I decided to desensitise myself to spiders. Rather than splatting them every time I saw one, instead I would watch them from a distance and reward myself, usually with chocolate, for staying calm. Over many instances, I worked on getting nearer to any spider I saw, rewarding myself each time. Eventually, I became rather ambivalent. OK, a big one suddenly appearing can still make me jump, but I’m so fine with them now I can easily scoop them up in a cup and put them outside. 

I’ve changed how I feel about spiders. I no longer have a phobia of them. I’m no longer an arachnophobe. I’m not overreacting every time I see one. 

The last part, about scooping spiders up and putting them outside, is counterconditioning. Rather than freaking out, I’m doing something that is incompatible with overreacting; I’m calmly releasing the spider into my back garden. Getting the spider out of my bedroom is rewarding in itself, but I do still give myself a pat on the back for doing it, rewarding myself for how far I’ve come. 

What is Counterconditioning? 

Counterconditioning, then, is replacing an ‘undesirable reaction’ with a new, preferred response, which is generally incompatible with the undesired one. This is changing the brain’s association with that once scary thing, from viewing it as horrible to viewing it as positive or neutral. 

What About Dogs?

Let’s say a dog overreacts to other dogs. They have a phobia. You know the drill, every time they see another dog they bark, lunge and generally make you feel awkward. 

Desensitisation, DS, starts by identifying when and at what distance the dog overreacts. Let’s say it’s when any dog comes within 30 metres. On the other side of that 30 metre threshold or limit, the dog is calm. They can see the other dog but still focus on their owner, maybe sniff and take treats and, importantly, listen. So 30 metres plus a few, let’s say 35 metres, will be our starting point. Every time the dog looks at the other dog with no reaction and generally goes around doing dog business, they are rewarded with tasty treats. This should look boring. We’re aiming for ambivalence here. 

The next step is to move a little closer. Let’s approach that 30 metre virtual boundary. What’s the dog up to? Are they starting to get agitated or can they still sniff, take treats and look like a ‘normal’ dog? If it’s the latter they can hang here and the dog will get rewarded for their calm behaviour. If they seem agitated and alert, perhaps the tail is going straight and they are fixating on the other dog, then the owner should move back a metre or so until the dog is calm again.

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The trigger might not always be another dog... staring farm animals can be tricky, too.

Slowly but surely, the aim of the game is to close the distance. We’re looking for calm, nonchalant behaviour. The dog sees the other dog, but doesn’t react. 

This can’t be rushed. Moving too fast results in the dog reacting and then the same old pattern of behaviour becomes ever more ingrained. They learn that if they bark and lunge the other dog – most likely because the other owner is thinking ‘what the heck?’ – will move away. And that’s what they are aiming for. That’s a reward for reactive dogs. That’s what success looks like to them: scary thing has gone. 

The pattern of behaviour and reward needs to change to modify what’s going on in the dog’s brain, i.e. their ‘emotional response’ in behavioural jargon. The dog should be learning that calm behaviour equals reward. They’re also learning that the other dog isn’t that scary and that it will move away without them barking and lunging at it.

A note here: this is why you don’t want to do this training around off lead dogs or dogs without recall. A dog running up to you during desensitisation will likely reinforce those old behaviour patterns that you’re trying so diligently to change. 

With counterconditioning, CC, we’re aiming for another behaviour, preferably one that’s incompatible with lunging and barking. A sit, or a down stay, or looking at and focusing on their owner are all excellent CC options. 

Using the example above, once the dog is comfortable – desensitised – around dogs at a reasonable distance, let’s say 15 metres, we can work CC in. To make it easier for the dog, because we’re now asking more from them, we should go back to our 30 metre threshold. 

This time, instead of rewarding the dog for looking at the other dog, the owner should reward them for the chosen incompatible behaviour. Looking at the owner rather than the other dog is favoured by behaviourists, but this can be quite tricky if the dog doesn’t already know the ‘look at me’ cue. The owner, instead, has to wait until the dog voluntarily looks back. 

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The owner has three choices here. They can go home and train the ‘look at me’ cue, which is actually really worthwhile as it comes in useful for all kinds of situations. 

Behaviour expert Karen Overall recommends that all dogs should make eye contact with their owners before being allowed to do anything e.g. eat dinner, go out the door. It encourages mutual respect, calmness and understanding. 

Alternatively, they can wait until the dog voluntarily looks back at them, and this will happen eventually. 

Or, they can choose play. A tug toy, particularly a squeaky one, can be great for getting the dog to look away from the other dog and engage with their owner. The downside is that this stimulates the dog and gets them excited and ideally what we’re looking for is calm behaviour. But this can be a handy tool to have up your sleeve to make behaviour modification sessions more fun, particularly for dogs that fixate – I’m looking at you herding breeds. The dog is still choosing to focus on its owner, rather than the other dog, so it’s still a form of counterconditioning. But over the long term – because you can’t whip out a toy when walking past another dog and you might forget the toy on occasion – the best course of action is to train an incompatible behaviour that’s calm and simple, i.e. getting your dog to look at you and not the other dog. 

As with DS, over time the dog should get closer to the other dog all the while performing this incompatible ‘look at me’ behaviour and getting a tasty treat for the trouble. Once again, the goal is ambivalence, as in, there’s a dog, that’s ok, I’ll look at mum/dad and get a treat. 

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Sticks can come in handy as CC tools, too.

In It For The Long Haul

This does take time. We’re not training a move like sit or even a complicated one like retrieve and drop. We’re changing how the dog feels about something. Think about that for a second. How long does it take you, a human with a big brain, to change how you feel about something, particularly something you are anxious about? 

Patience is vital and so is rewarding at the right time with the right treats. But dogs are excellent learners, so with consistency and going at their pace, it really is possible to reduce their reactivity and with time, maybe even get rid of it entirely.