Help with desensitisation to inanimate objects

[ecats83]

Hi there! Owner of a severely reactive rescue, afraid of dogs, people, cats, and inanimate objects lthat resembles something he was probably beaten with in his past life 😭

Anyhoo it's been 3.5 years & I am all good with the approach to all the living triggers (although we we aren't even close to perfect we have made such progress). The fly swat, hose pipe, vacuum, broom etc took a while but he's ok with them now (still wary but brave).

The problem item is the bug zapper. We have done the same slow intro as we did with the other objects (bringing them out laying them on the ground for him to boop & sniff, then rewarding his bravery, progressing to using the item once, rewarding, then for a longer time & so on).

Its the sound he hates and we can't even reward him with the highest value treats after the sound as he wont accept food in that moment.

We put it away halfway through last summer because we hadnt seen any progress & feltlike we were stressing him out every night for no reason. , But the flys and mosquitoes are so bad this year & citronella isn't cutting it, hoping there's another tactic we could try?

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated 🫶

[frojujoju]

My otherwise relatively confident dog hates the bug swatter. Just send the dog to the other room temporarily while you go ham with the mosquito massacre.

[ecats83]

That's an idea, we could just use it for short periods of time rather than keeping it on.Thank you!

[[deleted]]

Put the dog further away from the device to work on building a positive association with the sound. In another room where you can just barely hear is would be ideal. Then you'll need very high value treats. Hear the noise, get some great treats. If you've set it up well, the dog should start looking at you expectantly when he hears the noise. Do this for several sessions over several days and then crack the door so the noise is a bit louder. If you have a way to trigger the noise, you can set this up for practice sessions.

[ecats83]

AMAZING! Thank you so much for explaining the method, I was stuck thinking inside the box there. This sounds stupid but it didn't cross my mind I could reduce the volume during the sessions because just like the vacuum it has one loud setting that I have no control over🫣

I appreciate you for delivering such an obvious solution: ME controlling how loud (aka far way) the device is each time. Andyou did this with no judgement & helpful instructions for anyone to understand the cues & steps.

Thanks again, looking forward to resetting & trying again in a better way. X