Many years ago, I was taking one of my dogs for a fun day at a dog training farm. We were working with a trainer to teach Leia how to herd ducks. She loved dashing about in the little field, and her recall had finally gotten good enough I could release her in that field without worry.
This was a big farm with lots of trainers. One of them had a “$300 Doggy Makeover” where he would take your dog and miraculously transform it before your very eyes into a model of doggy society.
A hapless German Shepherd was dragged out of a vehicle and taken to the trainer for this makeover. He was food aggressive around other dogs.
The trainer got another dog to start eating treats right in this dog’s face, and proceeded to beat the dog if it so much as looked at the one that was eating.
Miraculously, the dog only cowered and shivered at its owner’s feet, completely uninterested in the food! Obviously when they go home the behavior will stick, right?
This is actually called flooding. It means to overwhelm the dog with so much that they just shut down. It often causes other problems, such as anxiety or increased aggression.
It can also cause the dog to become sensitized to the fear, increasing their level of fear to the thing they’re afraid of instead of desensitizing.
Imagine your fear is snakes, and a well-meaning person decides the solution to getting you over your fear is to lock you into a room filled with them until you get over it. Maybe after a while you’ll stop screaming, but is your fear ever really going to go away? Won’t you carry trauma from that memory forever?
It seems unlikely that flooding is effective and is likely an unethical method of dog training.
Accidental Flooding
Although flooding can be a training method, it can also happen accidentally during a walk or simple every day living. If your dog is reactive to other dogs and they end up seeing lots of dogs on their daily walk, this can cause flooding. If your dog has to go to the vet or groomer and the floors are a type they’re afraid of, this can cause flooding.
If you suspect your dog has been overwhelmed during a walk or other experience, the best thing to do is remove them as quickly as possible and give them a chance to decompress in a safe spot. This might be their kennel, or just at home.
Sometimes dogs can react aggressively in response to a flooding situation hours after the situation happened. That’s why it’s so important to give them a chance to go home and relax without additional trauma. If you have kids, it’s best to keep them well away from the dog while it decompresses, so the dog isn’t pestered and doesn’t lash out at them.
Eileen Anderson wrote a fantastic article on flooding, sharing not just the concept but 8 common ways people unintentionally flood their dogs. I believe this is a worthy read.
If your dog is fearful, desensitization and counter-conditioning are better ways of helping your dog overcome their fears.
Similar Posts:
- Dog Vocabulary: Desensitization
- Dog Vocabulary: Classical Conditioning
- The Five Freedoms for Your Chihuahua
- Training Vocabulary: Extinction
- Dog Vocabulary: Generalize
