Funny how I can always seem to take just about any subject and make it about dogs! This is about using classical conditioning to help Nelson deal with loud hammering. I know of at least one other artisan with a dog who is aversive to hammering and perhaps it can help others.
First of all, let me say that classical conditioning works! I've used it for other training problems too and if you have a food-motivated dog and something he really likes, it might not even take very long. Depends on whether the problem is a hard-wired behavior I guess.
I don't really know when it started. Probably when I got the
disc cutter because you have to whack it pretty hard, especially for a large disc in 20 gauge. I'm not even 100% sure if this is a fear issue. I'm thinking it might have something to do with the frequency of sound that the hammer makes on metal. After all, dogs hear higher frequencies than we do and small dogs hear even higher frequencies than large dogs. I know it makes
my ears ring. That and all that listening to Pink Floyd with the headphones turned all the way up back in the 70s. Oh, and those Blue Oyster Cult concerts. (Note to self: stop at Harbor Freight on the way home for ear protection. Second note to self: search for pug ear protection.)
Anyway, I just started noticing that when I was cutting discs or stamping metal, Nelson would just disappear. He didn't show signs of anxiety like I've seen with dogs who have thunder phobia, like panting, whining, shaking, etc. And doing agility where there are a lot of Border Collies, I've seen that a
lot! No, Nelson just went away. I set up a crate in the back bedroom for him--his man cave--and he would go there unless I put him outside. When I told him I was done he would come back out showing no signs of distress. But then he started going to his man cave when I wasn't hammering, just working at the bench where I
might hammer. (A perfect example of a dog generalizing something negative. If only they would generalize so well on a behavior we're training!) And at that point I decided I had waited far too long to do something about it. Because the bottom line is, whether the problem is fear or sound frequency, the treatment is the same.
I had no expectation that Nelson would ever tolerate the seriously loud stuff--like whacking 1.25" 20 gauge discs with a 2 lb brass mallet. But I at least wanted him to not have to disappear just because I was sitting at the bench sanding. So I put some little hot dog pieces in a paper food tray and sat down to sand. (For my small dogs I quarter hot dogs lengthwise and slice into little bits. Then I microwave them on a plate covered with paper towels for a few minutes. That dries them out nicely and makes them easier to handle for training.) I didn't call him to me. Didn't need to. He was well aware that I had hot dogs and wanted to be on hand in case something might be done to get a piece!
So for the next few days I keep the treats handy and while sanding or doing other non-hammering bench work and would hand them out fairly often. I made sure to make no noise, even just setting down a hammer when moving it or anything like that. Within a day I couldn't be at the bench without Nelson and Smithers right there waiting. Smithers doesn't have a problem with the hammering but he's certainly not going to be left out! As for Agnes, coming to the bench reeks of effort. She'd have to leave the couch. And given the choice between pillow and hot dog, she'll take the pillow, thank you very much!
During this time I made sure that Nelson was either outside or already in his crate when I was hammering. Then after a few days I started making just a little noise, like setting a hammer down a little more loudly than usual with one hand and doling out a cookie with the other. Next I started tapping the bench with the plastic mallet while feeding hot dogs. Then noise with cookie coming after. Then brass mallet on bench, next on metal block. After a while I moved on to stamping. I'd stamp one letter and give a cookie. Then after a while two letters. And so on. Now we're working up to a whole disc. I've even whacked a small disc or two in 22 or 24 gauge (less force). And it only took about three weeks. I thought perhaps it might be months before we ever got to this point. Oh, and somewhere along the line I switched to a no-grain, high protein kibble that they don't usually get. Lower value than hot dogs but Nelson doesn't seem to mind!
The important thing is not to move to the next step too quickly. If Nelson showed signs of wanting to leave, I'd go back to where we were previously. I feel bad that I put this off for so long. But the important this is that we're doing it now. And it
WORKS. Never underestimate the power of classical conditioning!
