Desensitization, This Moment Matters Ep 187

Episode 187 Desensitization. What is it? How does it work? Why could it be helpful? What are a few reasons why maybe you haven't had good luck with it. That's what we'll be talking about this week.

This is the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith. I'm a master groomer behavior specialist(MGBS), a certified professional groomer(CPG), a certified professional dog trainer(CPDT-KA), and a certified behavior consultant for canines(CBCC-KA). I'm an instructor at Whole Pet Grooming Academy, and I am the owner of Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire. And this, my friends and colleagues, is the show where we talk about teaching dogs to be calm, comfortable, and cooperative for grooming and other types of care.

[00:00:38] I don't usually read definitions, but I think that sometimes we need to circle back in psychology. Now, psychology is a term for humans. Ethology is what we would usually discuss , with pets, but in psychology, desensitization is a treatment or process that diminishes emotional responsiveness to a negative.

[00:00:57] Aversive or positive stimulus after repeated exposure. It's a big bunch of stuff, isn't it? There's a lot to unpack there. But let's start off with as trade level professionals, groomers and trainers are, trades. , I'd like to avoid the word treatment. Alright. That word really implies medical to my year anyway.

[00:01:18] It really implies, master's degrees, PhDs, and doctorates and let's just avoid the word treatment. So. When we start talking about desensitization as a treatment, no, we're gonna, we're gonna put that to the back burner for now for us, but it is a process that diminishes emotional responsiveness. So let's talk about that a little bit.

[00:01:39] If we think about emotional responsiveness, that's when a dog is very sensitive to. Afraid of or maybe overly silly about. And I want you to think about those things as emotional responses that are increased in a way that we would like to decrease. So diminished emotional responses. So we have a process to make that emotional response, whether that be overly silly or aggressive or scared and decrease, it diminish emotional responsiveness.

[00:02:13] Now, first thing we have to do is think about. Are we observing an emotional response? And that's tricky 'cause I know many of us think he's being a jerk. And not thinking the dog is having difficulty. The dog is having a hard time, not giving us a hard time. So we've have to think about why is this dog having a hard time?

[00:02:34] What about this could be an emotional response? Is this fear? Is this anxiety? I. Is this a dog who is really uncomfortable because of some health reason? And if they have an emotional response, can we decrease it? Desensitize them, recognize that they're sensitive to something, and then think about how to make them less sensitive about something.

[00:03:02] So diminishes is about making smaller, decreasing, lessening. I want you to think that it's really important that we aren't trying to overwhelm a dog, that we're trying to make the challenge easier, okay? We don't wanna overwhelm them. And I'm saying that because desensitization, um, is often used in the wrong context.

[00:03:22] And I cannot tell you how often I have seen somebody. Pushing a dog past their limits. While the dog is really struggling to, to handle whatever is going on and they're saying he needs to be desensitized, we are desensitizing him right now when really they're taking a dog who is being very, very sensitive and pushing them further.

[00:03:45] So that is not desensitization if we are doing it right. It's about as interesting as watching grass grow. And I want you to think about that. We wanna recognize what they might be sensitive about and then come up with a process where we gradually change their mind about it. Not that we hold them while they scream and flail and say, well, , he's fighting me less, so he must be desensitized.

[00:04:14] Or perhaps that dog has just hit the point where they're so afraid that they can't move anymore. I know that's a tough one to swallow, but there are a lot of times where I'm seeing people holding the dog gently, lovingly, they mean well. And the dog is flailing and they're holding on saying he just needs to learn to desensitize to this, and you're not trying to hurt the dog, but you are taking a situation where this dog is very, very sensitive and just forcing him through it.

[00:04:46] That is not desensitization. So it's not even a matter of if that process is right or wrong, but it is absolutely not under the label of desensitization. Desensitization is its own tool, with its own definition, and we have to think about the words that we use as tools because a process that is to diminish make less an emotional response.

[00:05:12] Then we have to think about what that tool actually is. And we can't just use that word whenever we wanna, I know sometimes we're like, oh, but I really like that word. Okay. When people are holding onto a dog and holding on while the dog flails and screams, and they're gently and lovingly traumatizing that dog and saying, it's okay.

[00:05:33] He's gonna learn. He's gotta learn. That is not desensitization. That's a process called flooding. It's different. That's where the dog hopefully habituates and decides, well, I guess I survived it, so I guess I can handle it. Or they become more sensitized. So, , it's really important that we know what we are using because I often hear that desensitization doesn't work yet for any dog who has become less sensitive.

[00:06:08] To something that they used to be sensitive about through a process, a gradual process, then that would be desensitization working. It does work. It might not be the tool that you turn to, but it does work. So let's talk about emotional responsiveness, because emotions, right? We talked about that in another episode.

[00:06:31] , I think we forget that dogs are also emotional creatures, right? Come on, we're pet owners. Have we ever observed a dog who's really, really happy or a dog who is frightened? . These are emotional responses and it's not hooey to say the dogs have emotional responses, and a lot of those things are fear.

[00:06:51] So I think that we have to think about what the dog finds. Pleasant and unpleasant. That's a great place to start. Is it pleasant or unpleasant? Is this dog noticing that? Wait a minute. I don't know if I like this. Um, maybe I want to avoid it. Maybe I'm indifferent, not every experience that the dog has is because of a bad experience before.

[00:07:14] Let me say that in different way. Sometimes dogs have no experience at all. We think that their reaction means that they had a bad experience when really sometimes they have had no experience. And we are right now in this very moment creating the bad experience. And I want you to think about that because I think we push dogs further than they can handle in an attempt to desensitize.

[00:07:44] Yet we make them more sensitive. We are part of the problem, and I want you to think this moment matters. Now let's all take a deep breath. Think about the dog on your grooming table. Picture a dog on your grooming table, or maybe you're a pet owner. Picture your dog. , you have to put in an ear medication or an eye medication or something on their body that you have to do or that you're planning on doing.

[00:08:09] , maybe you're a veterinarian and you're thinking, okay, I have to do this next thing, and that dog gets nervous. That moment right there is your decision point. That moment matters. Not when he is been flailing for 10 minutes and you're having trouble getting something accomplished. It's the moment when something new is introduced or something is introduced that maybe they've seen before, and that dog has a reaction to it, sensitivity to it, right?

[00:08:39] That dog , recoils or maybe growls or something that says, this dog finds this thing or this process unpleasant. In this moment is our moment of change. This moment, this moment matters. So like I said, picture it. If you are a dog groomer, I want you to picture it. You're holding a paw and you're, the moment you try to put the dryer up against that paw and that dog starts to pull away.

[00:09:05] Do you pull also or do you reevaluate? Are you okay? Is everything all right? , this is where our decision points lie, because sometimes we are making things worse. I. What we're trying to do is we're trying to help this dog be calm, comfortable, and cooperative. So at any stage, calm, comfortable, and cooperative is part of how we're going to evaluate if this dog is really sensitive about something or not.

[00:09:33] So I want you to think about fear, anxiety, and stress. If you're more familiar with the Fear-free program, which is an excellent program, they talk about fear, anxiety, and stress, which I see as a different way of wording, calm, comfortable, and cooperative. But, at any rate, what we're looking for is how is this dog responding in this moment?

[00:09:55] 'cause this moment matters. This moment is important and we want this dog to feel comfortable with things. If they are uncomfortable, we wanna work toward helping them be comfortable, and that's what the process of desensitization is about. If you're enjoying the show, please tell somebody else who might also enjoy the show.

[00:10:17] So we talked about what desensitization is, and I want you to think about what it's not. Because if you're grooming a dog and that dog starts to wiggle and fidget and pull away, you need to keep grooming because this dog is still on the grooming table. This is how that dog will learn how to put up with grooming, right?

[00:10:33] We all heard this, right? But does that sound like you? 'cause some of you're saying, uh, yeah, Chrissy, that's how we do it. That's what we're supposed to do. But I want you to think about it happens over and over and over again and this dog is afraid. You are not desensitizing. You are actually sensitizing.

[00:10:54] I know everybody Take deep breath. This is where we're actually making it worse for ourselves. We made it worse. Dang. , because one of the things we have to help our owners understand too. You cannot desensitize to something like, , a fear of nail trimming, an ongoing fear of nail trimming in one nail trim session.

[00:11:13] Okay? That's not how it works. And let me tell you why. It's different than teaching instructions on something brand new. Oh, well, let me introduce you to this new tool. Oh, yeah, right. It does make a weird noise, but if a dog has never experienced that before, they might really roll with it. If we just give 'em a little bit of time, Hey, yeah, look.

[00:11:31] New tool. Here's the noise it makes. Hmm. Here's the noise it makes near you. Here's the noise it makes while it touches your toe. But a dog who has a lot of sensitivity to an object or a sound already, we can't just keep going at it. That's different than just following instructions. That's the dog who is being thrown into the deep end of the pool, and we just keep saying, it's okay.

[00:11:53] You're all right. And they're struggling. They can't swim, and they're in the deep end of the pool. And if every time they see us, we toss 'em into the deep end of the pool. Every time I saw you, I tossed you into the deep end of the pool. You would only want to see me when there was no pool available.

[00:12:10] . You'd be like, oh God, she's gonna throw me in the pool again. I don't, I do not wanna put up with her. She doesn't seem very nice. Um, that's not how we desensitize. We don't desensitize by forcing through it. We need to figure out where this dog is comfortable and when we see the slightest bit of being sensitive to something and it's often not where we think it's gonna be.

[00:12:36] , let me give you an example of that. Because I think it's really common for people to think my dog isn't good for nail trimming. That's a common one. My dog isn't good for nail trimming. That's pretty common. So is he sensitive about nail trimming or is that dog sensitive about anybody touching his leg?

[00:12:52] , if your dog is worried about you massaging anywhere further than his shoulder blades, I'm going to guess he's not gonna be really great for nail trimming, but. Somebody is having problems getting a nail trim done and perceives it as a nail trimming problem, and I can tell you that is so common. If I can get a dog to be calm, comfortable, and cooperative for the kind of touching all over their body and the way that we hold their foot and hold their toe and hold all the equipment to do a nail trim.

[00:13:22] The nail trim usually goes real easy. 'cause it's not the nail trimming, it's not usually the nail trimming. So we have to find what that dog is sensitive to. Is the dog sensitive to the sound of a dryer? It could be. For a lot of dogs it's not. And how would we tell that? Because you're looking at a bunch of dogs in the same room.

[00:13:42] And when you turn on the dryer, does that dog in the other side of the room flinch or cower when the dryer turns on for another dog? Not always. In fact, I would say most of the time, no. . So let's think about what is that dog worried about. That is important because then we're gonna make some steps to help them gradually get used to a thing that they used to think was scary and help them be less.

[00:14:12] Sensitive to it. There are lots of processes that we can use for that. Things like counter conditioning or a conditioned emotional response and change a conditioned emotional response dog trainers out there are like, oh yeah, that makes sense to me. And maybe that's not something that you wanna do as a groomer.

[00:14:28] Okay? Maybe that's not something you wanna do as an owner, but I want you to know. There is a process, there are a number of processes out there that we can use to help a dog be less sensitive to desensitize. That's what desensitization is. It's not holding on for dear life while a dog screams and alligator rolls on your table while you say, well, he just needs to be desensitized to this, and you just keep going.

[00:14:56] , and honestly, I, I'm kind of shocked that I still hear that. This should be common knowledge at this point, but it's not yet. So here we are. And I used to groom that way too. Okay, listen, it's not a judgment call about whether or not you groom that way, but I need you to know that is more likely to cause more problems.

[00:15:17] When you think about the dogs who are consistently pushed past their breaking point during grooming, have you ever, ever really had a dog say, oh. Oh, is that all? It was fine. Now, because they don't, they become more sensitized. They might shut down, they might eventually give up and have that frozen response.

[00:15:41] Remember, fight, flight, and freeze. If you can't run away and fighting isn't working, they might just freeze. They've become frozen. They're just. Terrified, frozen in fear. , that's not desensitized. That's actually very sensitized. That's a dog who is not having a good time. Not that they have to enjoy everything we do, but to recognize the emotions behind it.

[00:16:05] Because this moment matters, we are always planting the seeds for the next grooming. And I want you to think about, sending a dog home. From your grooming more afraid than they were before they came in is like sending them home un groomed. It's like sending them home matted, right? It's, it is a huge, huge waste of our time to make our problems worse, to make that owner's problems worse, and to make that dog's problems worse.

[00:16:37] If you'd like more information, please go to creating Great Grooming dogs.com. You can view the show as YouTube videos. You can listen to the show a variety of places. You can listen to it as a podcast. There is a blog there, and you can also find out a little bit more about the things that I do, including.

[00:16:53] The Master Groomer Behavior Specialist diploma program that I teach at Whole Pet Grooming Academy. That's an online program, and we're getting ready to start up some more of them.

[00:17:03] ​