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• Noise Aversion Therapy in Dogs

Noise Aversion Therapy in Dogs

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  Quite often a simple noise aversion technique can stop many unwanted and irritating behaviours such as jumping up aggression, barking and predatory chasing ie cats or other dogs.

  Firstly you must make your noise aversive device, the best I have found is the small plastic bottles we get water or lemonade in, if they have had something sticky in them wash them out and dry them first. Then quarter fill them with either small pebbles, coins, dried peas or really anything that really makes a good rattle, and screw the top back on.

  Now get some tasty treats - cheese, puffed jerky, or dried liver is ideal, I normally use cheese. Get the dog to sit and put a treat on the floor and say “take it”. Repeat this five times then on the sixth time do exactly the same but this time pretend to put the treat down still saying take it! (The dog will think a treat is there and when it cannot find it will get a feeling of disappointment) as you say the “take it” word and the dogs looks for the treat shake the bottle and throw it next to the dog.  Most dogs will stop or jump back in surprise this is called a “startle response". Quickly scoop up the bottle and ignore the dog for several seconds pretending you had nothing to do with bottle or the sound. Don’t worry if the dog isn’t startled at first.
   
  Repeat the exercise at least four or five times. If the dog shows a startle response you must sympathise with the dog. You may find that the dog won't go to the food and may back away. If that happens call the dog to you, sympathise and give a treat, this will confirm the noise is not pleasant, which is what you want to happen. And that the dog should come back to you for sympathy and comfort.

  Repeat this until the dog won't go to the food even when you put it down. When that happens, pick up the food and give it to the dog, praising it. The idea is not to make the dog refuse to eat off the floor, but to provide a focus for the dog during this training period.

  Once the dog has learned that the shaker sound means "STOP" you can use it to stop the unwanted behaviour. You need to try to read your dog's body language and to use the shaker BEFORE the dog gets well into the unwanted behaviour. In the case of jumping up, or aggression, rattle the shaker as soon as your dog begins to stiffen or tense up, for instance just before cat chasing or interdog aggression. When you use the shaker, and the unwanted behaviour stops, immediately call the dog to you for praise and sympathy.

  After a while you will only need a slight shake of the can to stop the dog in its tracks. Be sure to work on obedience and basic training and commands this gives the dog an alternate behaviour that you can then reward. On the one hand you are using a correction (the sound) and on the other hand you are substituting a new behaviour. Some dogs are not noise aversive even using this technique, if that is the case then alternative measures may be required. You can use commercially made training discs in place of the bottle, they are easier to carry but sometimes not so effective.

  This article was written by Stan Rawlinson, a full time Dog Behaviourist and Obedience Trainer.
  You can visit his website at www.doglistener.co.uk for more articles and training information.