Cheri vs The Chair

Many of you know that I work at Utah State University. as part of Cheri's training, she comes to work with me every day.  Most of her work day consists of snoozing under my desk, waking up, readjusting, and snoozing some more.  Occasionally she goes out for a jaunt around campus.

So, two days ago, I was working at my computer and realized I needed to do something.  I rapidly pushed back my rolling office chair (yes, you know the kind) to get up and I hear a terrible noise.  I had accidentally wheeled over Cheri's leg!

Okay, so mine's not so luxurious as this, but you get the point!

Trying not to react and therefore cause her to react more, I took a few deep breaths, felt like a terrible person, and let it sit for a minute or two.  I then 'released' her from under the desk and checked her out to make sure everything was okay.

Since that experience, every time I wheel back suddenly, she kind of scrambles away from me-even if she wasn't originally close to the chair (yes, more incentive to feel like a terrible human being).  Interestingly, if I roll back slowly, she doesn't react at all (she has learned to discriminate between the two different motions).

While her reaction isn't huge, she is a service dog in training, so any negative association with an object is bad news.  So, what am I doing to remedy this situation?  I am now having to desensitize her to the chair.  Rolling back, giving her a treat while she maintains her 'under' under the desk, praising her when she is calm, etc.  Give her a day or two more of this, and the chair will become boring once again.

How does this apply to you and your dog?  Basically, this is the same process you would use if your dog is scared of anything.  In psychology (and training), it's called desensitization.  You put the dog into situations where they may stress a little, but not where they have a panic attack.  So, let's say your dog is scared of the teeter totter.  Maybe you'll first start out with surfaces that may move slightly under their feet.  You can then work on a teeter that maybe drops a few inches.  Your dog may be stressed slightly with each of these, but with repetitive positive experience, he or she will learn that it's not a big deal.  From there, you just take more baby steps until they're comfortable with the full-blown teeter.

This desensitization process can work for many things.  While not necessarily the true sense of the word, you can also desensitize your dog to things like your voice (remember that broken record thing?), other dogs (whether they're excited, fearful, or aggressive), wearing paw protecting boots, etc.  Obviously, some things are good to be desensitized to, others are not!