I am currently reading Behaviour Adjustment Training 2.0 by Grisha Stewart and it's a damn interesting read. I do wonder how effective is a BAT setup (I'm planning to start setups as I finish the book) and if repeating BAT setups without the help of a trainer helped your dog - have you seen resolution of reactivity with this method?
My 11 month old puppy Kaya has done tremendous progress in the past 6 months regarding her reactivity - simply relying on counterconditioning. However we have a long way to go, and it looks like BAT would offer her the social skills to interact with triggers in a better manner.
Would love to hear how it worked out for people & dogs that went through it, if it was more effective than good old counterconditioning and maybe any advice you'd have before starting BAT 2.0 sessions.
@iconforhire Check out The Toby Project on Instagram. They’re also on TikTok. She does a ton of BAT set-ups with her reactive dog.
I would loooove to do some BAT 2.0 but I don’t really have anyone to do the set-ups with. Since we have a good handle on my dog’s reactivity, I can’t justify paying for private sessions with a trainer just to use their dog to do BAT set-ups.
@iconforhire I've not done controlled BAT setups, but I do find reactive dogs do much better on a longline and with handlers with sound leash skills around triggers. When they're able to move towards or away from the trigger on their own terms and the environment is conducive to exploration, they quickly pick up healthier behaviours. I am doing "real world setups" using safe naturally occurring triggers at distance with one of mine at the moment and we are at the point where at about 10ft he will notice dogs (his trigger) and put his head back down to sniff as opposed to growling, barking, and lunging at 20ft+. A couple weeks ago a dog slipped its leash and ran over to say hi; mine was shocked and had a grumble, but they had a small greeting and then he took himself away to sniff.
@momto1plus2 Thank you and happy to hear your training is showing progress!
I've also started applying the technique in real life settings (we're at the countryside now and we can be far from triggers if needed) and indeed we already see some progress! It's amazing. It's like we're teaching her to be more patient.
We also bought a 5 m leash and it's make great difference (we used only a 2 and 10 m before but now 5 m seems really perfect for both control and more freedom for her)
@momto1plus2 How do you do real world set-ups with moving targets? I totally get the point and have seen some success with stationary people but I’m not sure how to mark and move when our triggers are also on the move (as other dogs usually are).
@andep There is a good, if short, article on this here. The key idea is to adapt the marker to the situation. I use "Yes!" over "Ready?"/"All done?" when closer to threshold, and start out right next to the dog. When the dog is consistently happy to look back for a reward, I move on to being a step or two behind when I mark, so the dog has an incentive to move away. So it's really just building on the basic clicker/marker stuff we all already do; slowly they start to understand that moving away is more rewarding than staring/lunging/etc. I've also had success with scattering food on the ground, and just marking whenever the dog decides the food is more interesting than the trigger.
My current two are both frustrated greeters/leash reactive specifically, so we also use moving towards the trigger as a reward... very sparingly though!
@iconforhire No wayyyy Grisha Stewart used to be a client of mine! Believe it or not I haven’t thought of using her techniques though I know she is great. Small world!
@trulyblessed1967 Her book is pretty awesome and really helping us have a structured framework. I now understand better my dog's body language & stress levels and can redirect/lead/let her lead more appropriately
. Thank you very much!