If you have a dog who is reactive, dog aggressive, people aggressive, fear aggressive, has severe anxiety, fear, or nervousness then your dog is going to need behavior modification training. Basically behavior modification means changing behaviors and reactions to stimuli (People, dogs, things, situations) and can be done using desensitizing, counter conditioning, classical conditioning, response substitution, extinction, and more or a combination of everything. Now I know a lot of these terms may be unknown so id like to explain them to give you a better idea of how they work and how it can help you understand how behavior modification works and how it can help your dog. 

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Desensitizing:

Used a lot with puppies, when first trying to introduce new things. desensitizing can also be used to modify behaviors that are ongoing. It is a way to gradually teach a dog to tolerate a situation by carefully exposing it to that situation in small steps. If a puppy gets over reactive or excited at the sound of the doorbell, a sound recording or video with the sound of the doorbell could help stop the undesirable behavior. If the recording or video is played very softly at first and then only gradually increased in volume as long as the puppy remains calm, then the puppy may stop reacting to the doorbell.

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Counter conditioning: 

s a method for reducing unwanted behavior by teaching the dog to replace it with another more favorable behavior. In the doorbell example above, the puppy will learn faster if it is first taught to sit, stay, and then relax in exchange for a treat. The puppy must be absolutely quiet and calm, and convey by its eyes, body posture, and facial expressions that it would do anything for its owner. Once this behavior is learned, the desensitization is added by playing the tape recording at a gradually increasing volume. If at any time the puppy starts to get too excited, the tape recording should be lowered in volume until the puppy relaxes. Relaxing is the key and is the first step to changing the behavior. Counterconditioning and desensitization can take a lot of time and effort. The exercises must be frequently repeated so that the unwanted behavior decreases until it is no longer a problem. 

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Response Stimulation: Involves the replacement of an undesirable response with a desired one. An example is teaching a dog to sit instead of jumping up. Owners should begin in a calm and distraction free environment where success is likely, then progress to places with more distractions as the behavior is learned. Dogs may first need to be desensitized to the stimuli for response substitution to be successful.

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Extinction: is a response that stops when a reward is removed. A classic example of extinction involves a dog that jumps up on people for attention. If people pet the dog, the behavior continues. If they stop petting the dog, the dog will eventually stop jumping up because the reward is no longer there. However, even occasional petting of the dog in response to its jumping will reinforce the pattern. The more valuable the original reward, the longer it has been present, and the more uncertainty there is about whether the reward has been truly removed, the greater the resistance to extinction. Resistance to extinction can also occur even without reinforcement if the reward was good enough and was tightly linked to the behavior.

Because there is often an association between getting the reward and the intensity of the behavior, the intensity or frequency of the behavior you are trying to eliminate usually increases at the beginning of extinction. In other words, a behavior you are trying to extinguish may get worse before it gets better. It is critical that you do not give in. Giving in will only make extinction more difficult. The dog will learn that, although your threshold has increased, the dog can override it by working harder.

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Thanks to canine psychology and the scientific strides that have been made, we are better able to understand why dogs behave the way they do and how we can change these behaviors. Behavior modification sessions will be offered in home and we will create a training plan that will help you and your dog reach your training goals. Behavior modification takes time, patience, consistency, and commitment; think of it as a mental illness, you cannot just go to one counseling session and be cured you must put the time and effort in. Behavior modification is like that to your dog. Understand that in order to change behaviors, a quick fix will never work and we must go to the root and be continuous with our efforts. If you understand this, then I think your ready to take on this challenge!

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Pricing: $80 Per 1 Hour session 

Package deals:

$300 for 4 sessions $20 savings

$420 for 6 sessions $60 Savings 

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If you have questions, want to set up a free consultation or your ready to go at it! contact me.

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