BAT (Behavioral Adjustment Training) for dog's fear of bicycle and (Unintentional) Trigger Stacking

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Author: Donna Hill

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Jessie pulled the bicycle over on herself several months ago. When I noticed recently that she was scared when a bike was standing in the driveway, and she was in the house, I realized the extent of her fear and that we needed to get her over her fear of it. This is our first series of training sessions. It is not an ideal location due to other unpredictable triggers in the environment. First some little kids, then a dog, then more kids walking by added to the list of triggers that she had to deal with. Observe what behaviors she adds as she gets more stressed. BAT is from Grisha Stewart's operant approach at www.functionalrewards.com to help dog's get over fears and learn to self-calm in stressful situations.

Comments

Hi, I did not see the dog run up to your dog and I am specifically watching for dog on dog BAT, I have a dog that is extremely dog reactive and will run across the street sometimes to greet.

Hi Donna, has this dog done LAT ? looking I think maybe she is learning look at the bike, calming signal click treat? will watch all another time when you get to level 3 thanks for sharing, I'm new to BAT.

Check out Grisha Stewart's webpage called "Functional Rewards". She's in Seattle and describes the three levels in a handout on her page.

Can you explain the different levels of BAT?

BAT is a unique combination of these with the addition of operant conditioning. Just laid out a little more clearly. The click is contingent on something the dog chooses to do (look calmly or offer a calming signals etc). You could also start with LAT (a combination of classical conditioning with counter conditioning/desensitization). There is alot of morphing between CC/CC/D/OC from what I've seen.

I am assuming that CCD means counter conditioning/desensitization? If so,my understanding is that CC changes how they feel about a trigger from neutral or negative to positive.There is no operant component to it. Yes there may be behavior changes but they result from how the dog feels, not them consciously offering a different behavior. Desensitization changes how they feel from bad to neutral. Systematic desensitization does it in tiny steps that keeps the dog under threshold.

Thanks! BAT incorporates all these plus operant conditioning (the dog's choice of offering a calming signal in the presence of the trigger). The goal is to teach the dog that s/he has an alternative behavior to running away or barking for triggers that scare her. This ultimately changes how she feels about the trigger. Check the video description for a link to the originator.

Jessie offers mostly lip licks which the viewer can't see. I will film another session from the front angle so the viewer can see them. Ultimately, I am aiming for BAT level 3, which is walk towards trigger, stop and offer a calming signal, mark and walk away. Over time, we will get closer to the trigger.

In the beginning, you mark for looking calmly at the trigger. Over time, as she starts offering calming signals (lip licks, head turns away from the trigger, sniffing, yawns, paw lifts etc) I mark those & use the walk away as the functional reward. For example at 3:14 she offers a ground sniff & at 3:32 you can just see her mouth close after a lip lick. The food is an extra reward at this point so she doesn't feel ripped off as I have conditioned the click=food reward.

So what exactly are you clicking for, eye contact with you, duration standing near the bicycle? I noticed that you are clicking when she is near the bike and then walking away from it to reward her, why is that?

Love it - am adding to my favorites!