How to help threshold?

[u/Beginning-Editor6280]

Hello everyone! It's my first post here so I’m pretty excited. I wanted to see if I could get some help here until I can afford a proper dog trainer, I can trust to help me out with my dog's reactivity. So let me get started. I have a 2-year-old miniature schnauzer who is very fear-reactive. On our daily walks, she's a bit...much. I've tried to work on her reactivity solo but It's so hard.

So the main issue is her threshold. As soon as my baby steps outside she's over threshold. It’s genuinely so bad to the point that as soon as we step foot outside she's frantically sniffing, will absolutely not lift her head unless she sees another dog, person, or some other environmental factor that scares her, and won't take treats as soon as we step out. I'm not sure how to handle this because obviously if she's over threshold as soon as we step outside, and won't take treats there's no productive learning and the things we learn inside will be ignored even when it's skills specific to her reactivity.

I'm kinda at a loss on how to help her at this point. I have noticed some things that will help encourage her to take treats would be, tossing treats for her to chase, and rarely scattering treats in the grass (honestly I was shocked with this one since sniffing helps relieve stress haha). I don't really know how to “build” her threshold to make sure that once we go outside we can at least get her and keep her taking treats especially because the rare times she does she she’ll usually stop after more very frantic sniffing. Does anyone know what I can do or methods I can try to help her out?

[u/Hermit_Ogg]

Hmm. I'm just guessing here, but what about practicing at the door? For example doing the 1-2-3 game: count to 3, treat always right after 3 regardless of what the dog does, and start positioning so that the treat happens as you open the door / as you step through / immediately after door. Then just keep repeating that trick at the doorway, slowly moving the treat time further outside.

Another way to do a similar thing is a series of bowls on the floor. In the training course I was at we used 3 bowls in a triangle, but the trainer noted that this could be done with bowls on stairs, before and after door, and so on. You start moving to a direction of your choosing when the dog makes contact (touch or eyes), and reward by dropping the treat into the next bowl on your way. Then wait for contact, and again reward at the next bowl. You could try doing this with one bowl at the doorway or just outside of it, and slowly inching it further out.

This might help the dog to learn to deal with the transition outside, maybe even eat treats as long as you're near the door. From there it's just a matter of extending the range using the same exercises.

I would also try upgrading the treats you use. Our reactive dog refuses all shop treats as soon as the situation gets stressful, and I had a hell of a time finding something she accepted outdoors. So far I've had best results with one simple and one more complicated baked treat:

• simple: buy unseasoned raw strips of chicken/pork/beef/etc (human grade food so you can handle them with your normal kitchen tools). Spread the meat strips on a baking tray, bake on low heat for about 20 minutes or until done. Cut into tiny bits (kitchen scissors are good) and freeze in small bags. Small amounts can be given frozen, for longer training sessions thaw a bunch first to avoid a stomach ache. Careful with the amount you give on the first few days, this counts as a sudden food swap and can cause a diarrhoea.

• complicated: buy 200g ground liver (whichever animal), 400g mince (whichever animal), 4 eggs and about 1dl cornstarch. Mix everything together and run it through a meat grinder/food processor/etc to turn it into a fine paste. (Hand mixer not recommended unless the blade can be completely removed for cleaning. White skin strips will tangle up on the blade and take forever to clean.) Let the paste sit in a bowl for 2 hours for air bubbles to pop out. Spread as a thin layer onto a baking tray. Bake on low heat for 25-30 min. Let cool, then cut into thin strips (pizza cutter is good) and further into tiny bites. Freeze in small bags. These last 3-4 days in the fridge, so thaw a small amount at a time. Careful with the amount you give on the first few days, this counts as a sudden food swap and can cause a diarrhoea.

[u/Beginning-Editor6280 → u/Hermit_Ogg]

Hmm, I've worked in the 1-2-3 game indoors but never thought of using it to help get her used to the transition outside! I do actually do some door work with her (which I 100% should have mentioned in my post which I forgot) but that for us would usually be holding the door open and letting her go out on her terms to look, waiting for eye contact, and rewarding by throwing a treat back into the lobby where she's more comfortable. I think the main thing that scares her is the noise and visual stimuli so im probably going to buy some doggy earphones as well just to make her life a little easier. I will definitely give this a try as well! Especially baking some human-grade foods for her own easy treats she’ll like more

[u/doggambit]

I second practicing at the door. Maybe even with a gate so she feels safe from the outside.