Expert: Adrienne Janet Farricelli CPDT-KA - 2/1/2012

Question
Hi,

We have a dog (that we got from a rescue 4 years ago and is about 4years old now) that is extremely fearful of something coming from the sky when she is outside.  This behavior consists of looking up in the sky and then cowering and walking over to a place underneath a tree where she usually lays down. There is nothing we see in the sky during these times, no planes or big birds.  Some days the behavior is worse than others. This behavior is not always prevalent since she will play with our other dog often (as if she forgets about whatever is up in the sky) but then goes back to her usual self and cowers and runs back underneath a tree.  She also does something similar when she is inside the house (but not as often),  she looks up at the ceiling often as she lays on her pillow.

We have tried using a Thundershirt which has not helped.

She does have other  issues (fear of loud noises, storms,  unknown things and then flees to a safe place) but the outside issue is what is concerning/bewildering us  and how we can address this. We do not know her background when she was a puppy but we do know she was abandoned and found on the road.

Would love to receive feedback about this.

Thank you,

Brad

Answer
Greetings, and than you for contacting All Experts
It would be interesting to know if this is a new behavior that started just out of the blue, or if she was already exhibiting signs of this behavior since you got her. Note: Some out of the blue behaviors of looking upwards may be related at times, to seizures or pain. A trip to the veterinarian is a must to rule out medical causes. Otherwise it sounds like something must have happened to Zoe that has left quite an impression. What may have happened may likely remain a mystery to us and we can ultimately only make assumptions. Perhaps Zoe one day witnessed a bolt of lightening that hit the grounds, perhaps an airplane flow low hurting her sensitive ears or perhaps something fell from a tree on her. It could also be she felt pain one day and associated the pain with the sky. Hiding under a tree suggests she is looking for a safe place to hide from whatever she perceives as a danger.

Because every time that Zoe cowers and hides under the tree, nothing bad really happens to her, she feels the need to engage in this ''ritualistic behavior'' for the sake of safety. This modus operandi can be somewhat reinforcing to the dog since it brings relief. However, when there is a reinforcing behavior as a general rule it will not extinguish easily, therefore, in order for Zoe to stop engaging in this ritualized behavior the pattern must be in someway broken apart.

It is a good sign that she can ''disengage'' from this behavior when playing. However, it sounds like the moment she stops playing, her mind goes back to the behavior which resumes. We will take a look at some ways to ''disengage'' her mind from this ritualized behavior. Because each dog responds differently, I will suggest 2 or 3 different methods that may help you out. The absolutely worst thing you can do to keep feeding or exacerbating the behavior is paying attention to it, reprimanding it and allowing it to continue to happen. Following are a few tips:

1) Method 1: Using Eye Contact as Alternate Behavior
In this exercise, you will try to use classical conditioning to train Zoe an alternate behavior that is hopefully going to be rewarding enough to help her forget about the sky. You will start this training inside the home and then gradually progress in front of the door and then work your way outdoors. Here are some easy steps:

1)Arm yourself with the tastiest treats, skip kibble, or those stale doggy biscuits forgotten in the cookie jar. Try hot dogs, roasted chicken, or dog trainer's favorites: free-dried liver that you can find in your local pet store.
2) Choose a quiet area of your home where there are little distractions. Keep your other dog away.
3) Next, you will make a smacking sound with your mouth to grab your dog's attention and immediately deliver the treat. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Smacking sound, treat, Smacking sound, treat. Smacking sound, treat. Do it about 7-8 times until until upon hearing the smacking sound your dog looks for it treat.
4) At this point, make your dog work a bit for the treats. Make the smacking sound and keep the treat at your eye level. Just keep it next to your eye. The moment your dog makes eye contact, deliver the treat. Basically your are training your dog the ''watch me'' command and your smacking sound is the cue. Repeat, repeat, repeat, until Zoe learns that upon making eye contact, she gets a treat. She should therefore start looking at you automatically upon hearing the smacking sound in anticipation for the treat.
5) Gradually, start adding distractions to the exercise. Do it in a room where there are more noises, or when the other dog is around but kept away with the aid of a a helper at a distance. You want to make the behavior more and more reliable by adding distractions.
6) As Zoe gets good at this, put a leash on her and try making the smacking sound with the front door open.
7) If she is responding well, you can then try to step outside a few steps and ask it there as well. If she responds well, give lots of praise and deliver a jack pot (in other words, toss a handful of treats on the ground for her to eat). If you notice she is trying to look upwards and she refuses to make eye contact upon hearing the smacking noise, you have gone too far to fast. Go back inside, practice a bit more and then try a bit later.
8)Continue progressing. With time, patience and consistency you should see a change in the pattern of her behavior. Instead of looking upwards towards the sky, she should feel compelled to look at you for the treats. This way she is offered an alternate behavior that is more rewarding.

*Note: once you reach this point, you do not want to put her up to fail by unleashing her and letting her free to go as she pleases. This will likely encourage the upward sky-looking to make a come-back and often even stronger than before. If she needs exercise, I would therefore walk her in another place (where the behavior is less likely) and leave the yard only for the ''watch me'' training purposes. This until enough time passes and the upward looking behavior becomes less common and extinguishes.

Method 2: Using Nose-Work as An Alternate Behavior
In this training exercise you will try to use your dog's predisposition to sniff the ground to hopefully ''disengage'' the sky-looking behavior. A dog sniffing a trail cannot look up at the sky at the same time!
1) Again arm yourself with the tasty treats we talked about before.
2) In the home, right upon feeding (and with your other dog away) make a trail of tasty treats that leads to your dog's food bowl.
3) Repeat this over a few days.
4) On a specific day, organize for her to eat outdoors. Make a trail of treats that leads from the front door to the food bowl placed a few feet away.
5) Allow her out to follow the trail of treats and eat from her bowl.
6) Attract her with a treat once she is done and allow her back in.
Do this often, to keep her mind off the looking upwards. With time, she should start associating the outdoors with going out to eat rather than acting fearful. Repeat often but do not let her out to wander after eating, she should just eat and come back to you once done. Again, we want to make this brief  and upbeat so to allow her to succeed without worrying about the sky. As she gets good at this, you can open the door and launch treats across the yard as you say ''go search!'' and have her search for them. This is a fun game that will teach her that things that fall from the sky are great! As she does well on this, you can hide the treats beforehand in the yard, then open the door and ask her ''go search!''.

Method 3: Play as an Alternate Behavior
Play is also another great way to keep the mind off the sky and you already see how it is working. Your other dog indeed, is working almost as a form of therapy in keeping Zoe's mind off of things. Play, indeed, is a great way to counter-condition a dog because a dog cannot be fearful and playful at the same time. Here are some ideas:
1) Arm yourself with about 5-7 bouncy tennis balls.
2) Keep them all in bowl and make your dogs exited about them (don't do this if your dogs tend to fight over resources, if so, do this exercise only with Zoe.)
3) Head outdoors with your dog in an excited state of mind and start launching the balls across the yard making it fun and have a helper continue launching them from the other side to keep the game going. Note: use this strategy only if she is not fearful of balls being launched (you can test this at home by lightly tossing a ball across the room and see if she likes the game)otherwise this can exacerbate the problem (imagine how scared she could get if you launched a tennis ball and the tennis ball struck her scaring her, be very careful in evaluating if this is a good gamer for her!). You can alternatively try other games such as an automatic bubble launcher for dogs with bubbles tasting like bacon or a big ball like those used for the sport of Treibball which are great for herding breeds.
4) You want to keep Zoe so engaged in play that she forgets all about her fearful behaviors
5)Stop the game right when it starts getting real fun and happily call your dogs inside, give a few treats and then become boring. You want Zoe to understand that outdoors is where the real fun happens, while indoors life is a bit dull. If you stop the game right when it gets real fun, next time, she will be more eager to go play out.
* Note: If Zoe's recall is poor, invest in a long line when outdoors and polish the recall exercise. These come in 30, 40 and even 50 feet.
Note: To read more on how to help a dog fearful of thunderstorms here is a helpful link:
<a href="http://adrienne-farricelli.suite101.com/how-to-help-dogs-fearful-of-thunder-stor>

*Note: You may want to use Thundershirt along for these brief outdoor adventures if it does make a difference. While Thundershirt has an 80% success rate, some cases require an accompanying behavior modification program to help the dog work through its fears.

As seen, to reduce this behavior pattern there are different approaches. Most of them teach an alternate behavior so to extinguish the unwanted one. If you are still having problems (and already ruled out medical conditions), consider consulting with a reputable dog behaviorist. Because fear-based behaviors at times are often just the tip of the ice-berg -in other words, just an ''outward manifestation of a deeper rooted temperamental problem- you may want to engage Zoe in some confidence building training. Clicker training, nose-work, agility can do great things to dogs with a fear issues if introduced gradually at the dog's pace. Of course, no miracles can be done, but some owners committed enough at times, see marvelous results in their companions. I really hope this helps in making Zoe's life much better, as of now, it sounds like this behavior is having quite an impact on her life. Best wishes and kind regards,
Adrienne Janet Farricelli CPDT-KA