Constructional Aggression Treatment

[Chewbecca]

So...we start Ella's constructional Aggression Treatment tonight.
This is apparently backed by scientific research, so my trainer wants to try this out for Ella's extreme dog aggression.

How it's going to work is, my trainer is going to have her stable GSD, and we'll have Ella. She's going to be very far away from us. She's going to get closer and watch Ella's body language. As Ella remains calm, she'll INCH forward. Once she notices Ella stiffening up, or acting like she might be THINKING of reacting, she's going to stop. We'll establish Ella's baseline of comfort. Once that is established, my trainer will inch forward.
We'll get it to a point where, yes, Ella is going to react. We will have to cross into her comfort zone, inch by inch, BUT instead of me having a treat and going, "Watch me" treat, treat, because we tried that for over a year and it hasn't helped her concentrate on us any better, or instead of us redirecting her and walking away, she will have to endure it.
She will have to bark, lunge, freak out...until she finally calms herself down.
ONCE she has herself calmed down, her reward is that my trainer will turn around with her dog and walk away.

Remember, when we get to a point where Ella is freaking out, this point is going to be found very carefully. We're going to have her baseline, that baseline is where she isn't freaking out; where she's comfortable. If she gets to a point to freaking out, it's going to be because we stepped an inch forward into her comfort zone.
It won't be because we stepped YARDS into her comfort zone.
And I believe, at first, we stay within her comfort zone for a long time before we move forward.

My trainer told me about this, she explained it well, and what it does and the purpose of it, but I'll be d@mned if I can remember it all.

The point is, that Ella will need to calm herself instead of us redirecting. She's rewarded, when she calms herself, by my trainer walking away.
But she has to be calm.
Her calm, good behavior is being reinforced.
Make sense?


Wish us luck!

ETA: D'oh! It's "Constructional Aggression Treatment. Not "Canine Aggression Treatment".


And it's been proven to work not with just dog aggression.
Anything a dog dislikes.

[Chewbecca]

Oh, and I just wanted to say that this isn't something some suggested in passing to my trainer.
My trainer went to a seminar and has seen video of this in work and listen to people speak about how it's worked for them.

[lizzybeth727]

Good luck! Keep us posted on your progress!

[Chewbecca]

Thanks!
Oh, I will, believe me.
Idealy, how this would work is it would be done in one shot.
But since that could take HOURS upon HOURS upon weeks, we're going to have to do it in sessions.

[bnwalker2]

Good luck!!

[corgipower]

Good luck with it!

Let us know how it goes.

Wishing you and Ella great success.

[Chewbecca]

Thanks, guys.
Have any of you ever heard of this form of behavior modification?

[corgipower]

I've heard of it. I've never done it specifically, but I might have used the basics of it without calling it CAT.

I'm not a big fan of CAT, but would use it if nothing else worked, and with Ella, you seem to be at that point.

[PWCorgi]

Doc has been talking a lot about this recently, sounds like a pretty cool method.

Good luck, I really really really hope this helps!

*crosses fingers*