Why I Don't Use Food In Separation Anxiety Dog Training
WHY I DON'T USE FOOD IN SEPARATION ANXIETY DOG TRAINING
When talking to potential clients about how I can help their dog through an extremely challenging and disruptive behavior issue like separation anxiety, one the most common questions I am asked, in some form or another, is about the use of food. Now, before we get into the meat of this post (see what I did there) I want to preface it with I LOVE USING FOOD IN DOG TRAINING…. usually. I am a positive reinforcement based professional who uses food in almost all of my training plans. Food is often an extremely important part a good reinforcement strategy to effect behavior change. So please don’t come after me until you’ve read what I have to say.
I do not use food in the initial stages of treating a dog for separation anxiety, and there are a variety of very good, scientific and sound reasons why.
There are exceptions to every rule, and all cases are different, so do know that there have been cases where I have used food toys, interactive toys and more…. but it’s been a rare exception.
1. Food gives a false reading and can be a crutch to success
If a dog who has separation anxiety or its related behaviors is presented with a food toy or delicious chew at when his humans leave he might eat it. Some dogs will eat when anxious. That same dog may start to panic the moment the food or chew is gone realizing they are alone. This gives us a false sense of the dogs true threshold to being alone and will make it challenging to know where to start the training protocol. If the food weren’t there, it’s likely to assume the dog would start to panic immediately.
Additionally, if the food toy is a distraction for say, 15-20 minutes, this may create a crutch for the pet parent who regularly thinks they have that time frame to “safely” leave the dog alone. Again, many dogs will eat while anxious, this creates a false sense of security for dog guardians leaving dogs anxious for longer than necessary. This can create a worsening of symptoms and resulting behavior which might be more challenging to modify down the line
2. Creates Adverse Departure Cue
In time and with repetition, the presentation of food can and often will become and adverse departure cue indicating to the dog with separation anxiety that something bad is happening.
If every time you leave the house you offer your dog a delicious item as an attempt to create a positive association to being alone, but your dog is already beginning to feel worried and anxious, in time the presentation of the food becomes a cue to your departure. This can create a negative association to the food / toy all together. Your dog may begin to refuse it at other times, or start to become increasingly worried earlier in the process of leaving. This is the last thing we want!
3. The Rules of Operant Contingency (ABC’s)
The most common question I’m asked is “should I give my dog a treat when I return home if he’s being calm”?
When attempting to use food to reward dogs in a separation anxiety training plan it all has to come back to the ABC’s: Antecedent , Behavior, Consequence. All operant behaviors rely on the relationship between the behavior, consequence and its relationship to the environment.
So what would we be reinforcing when we return home? An absence of being anxious? We know we can’t reinforce emotions (or lack there of). Emotions are involuntary responses and are not subject to operant conditioning, therefor we cannot reinforce them. We can only reinforce behaviors.
If your dog comes to the door to greet you, and you offer a treat, you are reinforcing your dog for coming to the door to greet you, that behavior alone will increase. Which is actually something we may not want in our training plan and has nothing to do with what the dog was doing in our absence.
The operant contingency would require dogs to perform behaviors in our absence (such as laying down, or worse quiet in a crate) and likely while still feeling anxious and be reinforced for them perfectly. This has been proven to be both ineffective and has some dangerous implications for the welfare of the dog. This is often why many aversive trainers lean on punishment when offering a “quick fix” for separation anxiety. Punishment, such as an electric shock delivered every time a dog barks when alone, can be a strong deterrent and often we will see the absence of the unwanted behavior (barking, howling) but the dog is very much still extremely anxious inside they just feel they cannot express natural behaviors for fear of being punished. This is when we may see behaviors such as self mutilation when alone come out as it is a way for the dog to find some relief for their anxiety. Remember, the outward display of behaviors is simply the dog trying to find relief for the inward feelings of panic.
Why I stick to Desensitization
Desensitization works to gradually extinguish the emotional response to the stimuli that was creating it, being alone, as well as the surrounding stimuli such as putting on shoes and coats, opening doors, hearing cars and garage doors and more. We essentially make the idea of being alone go from terrifying to absolutely boring, not exciting or arousing, just boring. Because thats healthy. Dogs without separation related behavior problems don’t get excited when we leave they nap, and maybe occasionally look out of the window and bark at something, groom themselves, nap again.
With careful, predictable, patterns of desensitization where we are working to keep the dog under threshold, the dog learns that the thing they were once so frightened of, doesn’t need to be so scary. Respondent Conditioning or Classical Conditioning deals with creating emotional associations to stimulus in the environment, this will come along for the ride when working a quality desensitization plan. We are looking for a neutral response.
If you or someone you know has a dog who is struggling with separation related behavior problems and are interested in working with me, you can find information about my services at https://www.acanineaffinity.com/separationanxiety
I also have a free webinar at https://www.acanineaffinity.com/home-alone-sign-up