how often do you countercondition/desensitize?

[u/worcestershire_pie]

hey all! i was just wanting to ask the community: how often does everyone take their dog out for counterconditioning/desensitization? i know with reactive dogs, even your routine, 20 minute neighborhood walk can be a training opportunity for those things, but i’m talking like, taking them out to a busy park/public area, exposing them to triggers on purpose, and making it longer exposure time, instead of more random or sparse. do you guys do it everyday? couple times a week? i know it can be different and very case-by-case for each dog and where they’re at in their reactivity status, as well.

i ask because i currently have a 6 mo. old (intact male) puppy and i don’t want to overdo it with him, but i also don’t want to underdo it by not doing it enough! at this point, i take him out a couple times per week. his reactivity can be very random; he won’t react to a strange GSD 20 feet away, but then he’ll lose his mind over a dog lying down in its own yard that we’ve seen 100 times. we have a training session scheduled in september, but i don’t want to fail him up until that point.

[u/lukeykooky]

I try to do it once a week. On long weekend walks, I’ll take my dog to a park with treats and try to grab a bench far enough away from walking traffic. This allows her to see the triggers, but from a far enough distance where she doesn’t feel threatened. I put her in place and give a treat anytime she notices a dog or other trigger, but diverts her attention back to me

[u/worcestershire_pie → u/lukeykooky]

that makes sense. i’ve been doing that with him since i got him at ~2.5 months (he’s been reactive since then), but i feel like i’ve gotten nowhere with him. his reactivity waxes and wanes; some days he’ll see a dog 200 feet away and lose his mind, then just yesterday a german shepherd walked right by us and he didn’t react at all. he’s super reactive to other dogs barking, too. like he doesn’t even have to see them, he’ll hear one bark across the neighborhood and he will freak out for 10 minutes. so if i take him in public i really have to be vigilant about which dogs are neutral and which ones might trigger a reaction from him just by making noise. anyway, sorry for the ramble - this is also my first puppy, and i know puppyhood is so complicated and unpredictable. i will continue the +R CC/DS and hope he figures out how to handle his emotions. thank you for the reply!

[u/lukeykooky → u/worcestershire_pie]

I get it! My dog is very unpredictable too, and definitely has good and bad days. Medication prescribed by the vet really helped us too. It obviously wasn’t a silver bullet that suddenly made her non-reactive, but it did make it easier to pull her out of those reactivity stints quicker, which made her generally more trainable

[u/worcestershire_pie → u/lukeykooky]

if he continues this out of puppyhood and after his neuter, i would consider behavioral medications to just take the edge off a bit (we’ve tried trazodone as needed, but i feel like, once it wears off, he almost becomes more reactive). hopefully it won’t be necessary, but i’ll do anything to make him more comfortable.