Manipulating Arousal In Behaviour Modification

[corvus]

I'll give it a go with my two if you like Corvus.

Well actually maybe just with Delta, because if Digby relaxes anymore he may stop breathing.

I'll try to do it as similarly to what you do as I can.

ETA:

Corvus, I have a thundershirt. I haven't used it on Delta yet. But maybe I could start with the thundershirt for an hour in the morning.

I'll see if that lowers her arousal during the day.

If not, I'll try the massage.

Yeah, that'd be great! Some people say dogs need to experience a Thundershirt a few times before it starts to work, but I didn't find that with Erik. I'd say if you go with the massage, do it until Delta lies down on her side and then a little bit more for good measure. That's usually what I do.

I got some tryptophan supplement for Erik, thinking I would give that a go if at any point it looked like he consistently needed more help than I could give him. I told OH what it looked like and where I was storing it and he said that was good to know, because if he accidentally gave some to Kivi he would probably explode from the sheer calmness, and flowers and fluffy bunnies would rain down on the entire neighbourhood.

[raineth]

I'll give it a go with my two if you like Corvus.

Well actually maybe just with Delta, because if Digby relaxes anymore he may stop breathing.

I'll try to do it as similarly to what you do as I can.

ETA:

Corvus, I have a thundershirt. I haven't used it on Delta yet. But maybe I could start with the thundershirt for an hour in the morning.

I'll see if that lowers her arousal during the day.

If not, I'll try the massage.

Yeah, that'd be great! Some people say dogs need to experience a Thundershirt a few times before it starts to work, but I didn't find that with Erik. I'd say if you go with the massage, do it until Delta lies down on her side and then a little bit more for good measure. That's usually what I do.

I got some tryptophan supplement for Erik, thinking I would give that a go if at any point it looked like he consistently needed more help than I could give him. I told OH what it looked like and where I was storing it and he said that was good to know, because if he accidentally gave some to Kivi he would probably explode from the sheer calmness, and flowers and fluffy bunnies would rain down on the entire neighbourhood.

love it I really do!

can you imagine getting our dogs together. Erik and Delta can go manic together and Digby and Kivi can sit back and watch

maybe I could try getting her used to the thundershirt a little bit tonight to see she needs to get accustomed to it. Hopefully that won't confound the experiment though.

I will report back...

[raineth]

I put the thundershort on her for a bit over an hour this morning. It definitely settled her down.

When i took it off she went straight into zooming and playing wreatling with Digby.

But I'll still watch out for an overall reduction in arousal throughout the day.

[raineth]

well Corvus, I did the thundershirt for about an hour every morning (except this morning).

I think it did effect her arousal throughout the day. She was calmer when getting ready for a walk and she settled into her walks quicker than usual.

It definitely had its biggest effect when she was weraing it. She generally went and slept or atleast relaxed on her bed. When normally she's more a part of everything in the morning. Its also funny how she didn't play when wearing it - even though its her standard routine to play with Digby in the morning.

[corvus]

Thanks for the update, raineth. I was sitting on my fingers trying to keep from bumping the thread to see how you were going.

Well, that's cool that it looks like it made a difference to Delta's arousal level throughout the day. I'm not surprised that she didn't play when she had it on. I think that play generally only occurs at higher arousal. I tend to think of it as critical tipping points. A while back I started making a table with arousal levels and the behaviours I see in my dogs at that level and in what context I see them. I got distracted and didn't finish it, but I think maybe I should finish it. Good as a kind of reference sheet to remind me when I should expect certain behaviours.

I am quite happy. With a little help here and there I can maintain Erik's daytime arousal at the lower level I like even when out of the ordinary things happen. I've decided that the new rule is I just don't let him get himself riled up so he has trouble settling again. He is going to get upset about things regardless, but I'm not going to let him linger up once the exciting stuff is all over. I've been doing something similar with my pet hare, actually. He gets startled and that's all very aversive to him, so I've been conditioning him that he gets startled and then when he stops running I give him a safety signal and wait until he'll take food from me again. That way I don't leave when he's still rattled. It seems to be working. He gets startled and now he runs less before he stops, and doesn't need as much time after he stops before he'll take food again. I'm trying to teach him he gets startled and then he gets a treat. I can't stop him from being startled, but I can reduce the recovery time, maybe. I think it reduces his fear in general.