What is desensitization training?
Desensitization training is targeted training for things that dogs are afraid of, slowly reducing the dog's sensitive reaction to this thing, so that dogs slowly get used to and get rid of the sensitive reaction, also known as anti-conditioning training (conditioned reflex training). The grizzly bear's "allergy" (fear) is to the hair dryer. When she encounters the hair dryer, she will reflect a particularly sensitive behavior, so she needs to solve it through desensitization training, which links bad feelings (hair dryer) with good things (reward).
Before training
Grizzly bear's first bath was when she was 3 months old, that is, after deworming and vaccination, because she had no experience, she was afraid that she would wash her cold, so she took her to the dog beauty club to bathe and beautify herself. The little sister who took the bath was quite experienced, and the grizzly bear didn't resist too much when she took the bath, and everything went smoothly. However, when blowing, probably because there are still people waiting for a table later, the little sister is a little anxious, directly adjust to the maximum power to clip the hair dryer around her neck to blow and comb the grizzly bear. The grizzly howled, and then every time I dried the grizzly's hair, it was like fighting (; ´ `).
She was able to hold it when she was young, but when she was 6 months old, she couldn't hold it any more. She consulted a pet doctor, who advised desensitization training. In fact, this video is a grizzly bear who has been in the middle of desensitization training for some time. At the very beginning, whenever I saw the hair dryer, I kept barking, biting people, biting combs, and trying to push the hair dryer away with my paws, struggling all over.
In training
The whole training process should be gradual, not in pursuit of results overnight, the training should be based on the principle that the dog can bear.
It's normal for grizzly bears to be scared when they first come into contact with hair dryers. Hearing the sound of hair dryers and the hot air coming towards her will make her feel that hair dryers are a threat to them, so she will be nervous, afraid, running around and screaming. So the desensitization training of the hair dryer is a long-term repeated process, and it took the grizzly bear more than two months (about eight times of bathing and blowing) to consolidate it.
Know the hair dryer
Hair dryer desensitization training for grizzly bears should first let her know about hair dryers and let her know that hair dryers are harmless to her. So the grizzly started using the hair dryer on her when she was relatively young. Of course, the ideal situation is to use a small and not too high temperature to make the grizzly bear feel warm wind to blow the grizzly bear at the beginning of use, but because of the lack of experience, the grizzly bear's initial understanding of the blower is very bad.
Reduce adverse stimulation
Because the first impression is very bad, then the next effort will be doubled. By reducing the stimulation of the hair dryer to the grizzly bear, slowly let her know that the hair dryer will not hurt her, and that it is comfortable to dry the hair on her body after bathing, and slowly let the dog accept the hair dryer. At first, I recorded the sound of the hair dryer and looped it around the grizzly's ear, trying to get her used to the sound of the hair dryer as early as possible. Then fix the hair dryer, limit the range of the grizzly bear, open the middle windshield, and let the grizzly bear gradually adapt to the hair dryer.
Need tools
This process requires a snack reward. The longer the grizzly stays next to the hair dryer, the shorter the interval, give her a snack reward. Let her associate "blowing" with "reward" as soon as possible, so that good associations will be made and desensitization training will be completed smoothly. I use this one for myself. It's the smallest of all the cookies I've ever bought. It's not afraid to feed more and it's palatable.
Secondly, I recommend this hair dryer, which is a fixed hair dryer, which is more convenient. This state not only frees my hands as a shoveling officer, but also gives grizzly bears more space to move independently. Let the grizzly bear be more free, have a better mentality, and cooperate more with desensitization training.
Training results
After two months and eight times of desensitization training, finally every time I take a shower and blow, it's not like fighting a war. Even in the maximum power of the hair dryer, the grizzly bear can also be more natural to accept, with small biscuits, combing hair dryer dragon, after each wash is the most cool grizzly bear ~
