12/12/24: Virtual Follow Up

Managing Indoor Reactivity:
Suburban environments can be especially challenging for the noise sensitive dogs, because there is no consistent hum of noise that becomes background noise, but noise is a regular interruption in life - it’s the worst of both worlds in terms of urban and rural settings!

Adjustment to Soom’s new home has been challenging especially with the general neighborhood sounds. Management tools will help with that - window film can be an incredible option for preserving light from outdoors while blocking visibility, and keeping the freezer stocked with toppls can ensure that Soom is able to occupy himself (while creating more positive associations!) in high traffic times outdoors. Experiment with sound blockers as well - white noise can be helpful, but I tend to prefer music or audiobooks.

Alone Time:
With this change, as well as his busier household, an increase of alone time might be helpful for him. At those times of day or when guests make having Soom out challenging, having a safe and secure space for Soom to relax and enjoy a chew or a toppl not only is beneficial as a stress-reliever for him, but will also make the experience less tense for you both!

Start him out with success in those more chaotic times with him settling in his “alone time” - whether that’s in the basement or elsewhere - and slowly bringing him out and increasing his time out with a toppl or settled on his mat and comfortable. If he struggles, that space is always available to go in and out.

In Person: For our in person follow up, we mentioned focusing in on toy skills and building that behavior as a way to support arousal regulation!

1/16/2025: In Person Coaching

Set Ups:
Take advantage of known busy times, or even time available amongst your family, to set up distracting scenarios or environments to work through with Soom. The key with him in particular will be to arrange these without him knowing about it - so text one another to set things up or arrange it to coincide with someone coming home so he’s not in “working mode” when you work the scenario. This works in your favor though because there’s not much point in repeating the scenario more than once at a time, so hopefully this will be a low time commitment exercise to add to your day! Think about the noises and events that make Soom most likely to be unsettled and let me know if you need any help brainstorming how to set those up!

Sound:
Build comfort with unexpected sounds by having Soom learn to create sound himself - he can do that with moving toys around, but I especially like teaching the behavior with a “wobble board” (I use this one) so Soom begins to associate noises as good things and not scary things outside of his control.

Downstairs Cue:
Start building a “downstairs” cue that’s distinct from his down stay but built similarly - bring him downstairs, give him the cue, and start building duration and distance so he’s comfortable staying down there when cued. In situations where being downstairs is helpful (maybe earlier in the day when things are busy and more chaotic) send him downstairs with a chew or food puzzle in advance of a reaction. Similarly, if it is not an imposition to the routine, bring him upstairs for bedtime rather than responding to a reaction after the fact.

Toys and Social Play:
Soom responds well to play with toys and even social/physical play with his humans. Build a “drop it” separately from this arousal regulation play, but asking for sits, downs, or even longer control behaviors like a place can be rewarded with more opportunities to play with you, teaching him to go from low to high arousal and using the high arousal behavior (play) to reward the lower one (stationing, sit, down, etc). This will help Soom over time to learn to regulate his arousal on his own and offer lower arousal behaviors to gain the permission to interact at a more excited level.