BAT.

BAT (Behaviour Adjustment Training) was developed by leading Behaviourist Grisha Stewart and is a training method used DAILY by modern dog trainers to both prevent a rehabilitate dog reactivity. BAT help dogs build confidence by giving them a chance to learn how to control their environment through peaceful means. As you learn how to understand your dog and help them learn to safely engage with people, dogs and/or other triggers, you will learn practical ways to keep your dog from being pushed into a reactive state in and around your home or on walks. BAT is a natural method that creates an emotionally safe interaction with minimal intrusion, and is especially useful when the ‘triggers’ for frustration, aggression, or fear are living beings, for example when dogs bark at or bite other dogs or people. BAT’s training approach can also be used when trying to decrease arousal around triggering stimuli.

Why is distance important?

When engaging in BAT it’s incredibly important that we are mindful of distance as this is crucial element for success. If a person has a fear of spiders and one comes crawling down a wall next to where they are standing, that person is going to be far less likely to think serenely than if the spider was 10 metres away. If dogs have a fear, anxiety or overstimulation towards certain triggers being another dog, person, animal or other environmental stimulus such as cars we need to ensure that we are working at an appropriate distance within an appropriate time frame. This can change from training session to training session depending on the dogs overall status that day. You will be able to ascertain where the best place to set up your BAT session will be based on your dogs body language. The triggering stimulus needs to be close enough that the dog is aware of it’s presence in the environment, however needs to be far enough away that your dog is able to train effectively. This may also differ depending on how triggering this environment is - is there two dogs or just one? Are there also cars loudly passing? How many other dogs have you seen on your walk thus far? Is your dog pre-loaded? Use the stress scale below when practicing BAT.

“Okay, I think I understand my dogs threshold, now how do I practice BAT?”

The theory behind BAT can be a lot to remember, but once you’ve got it down pat the training itself is very easy, and tends to come naturally after a bit of practice!

You essentially want to play the below Engage-Disengage game with your dog, teaching them to acknowledge the triggering stimulus and emotionally feel indifferent about it.

We’re going to use dogs as an example in this plan, but remember you can use this exercise with any trigger that causes fear, frustration, over stimulation or anxiety in your dog such as cars, cats, people, the microwave, so on and so forth.

Prerequisites:
- Your dog needs to be conditioned to a clicker or verbal marker. Clickers are found more effective in BAT, particularly initially, than verbal markers.
- High value treats - kibble won’t make the cut! We recommend using Prime100 cut into pieces a quarter the size of your thumb nail.
- It is recommended your dog understands the following cues before practicing BAT as you are likely to find it easier;

• Loose leash walking

• ‘Let’s go’

• ‘Find it’

• ‘Look’

Training Plan:

• Using the stress scale, find your dogs starting ‘safe zone’

• Each time your dog looks at the stimulus, immediately mark and reinforce

• Start this stationary, and then start to increase the difficulty by moving yourself closer and further away still consideration the stress scale

• IF YOUR DOG IS DOING WELL END THE SESSION! BAT is meant to be short, sharp and positive, don’t drag it out! Have performance expectations rather than time expectations. Remember, through BAT we are also trying to teach our dogs that we have their back, that they have no need to exhibit obvious signs of fear or frustration because we understand their subtle body language and will keep them safe. This doesn’t occur if we are constantly pushing them to where we want them to be in their training journey.

• Once you notice your dog engage with other dogs through eye contact and actively look towards the handler for reward, mark and reinforce this moment instead - the engagement with you rather than the stimuli. BANG - just like that you’ve taught your dog to acknowledge and disengage, bringing their attention back on you.

• Try to get closer and closer towards the stimulus every day using this program. The end goal for many dog owners is to be able to walk past other dogs without an episode of reactivity, so work towards this. Teach your dog other more appropriate ways to cope with their stress such as playing targeting when moving past other dogs, ‘find it’ or u-turns amongst other games. Sometimes dogs cope better being directed into active training when presented with a triggering stimulus whereas other dogs require more calming coping strategies.

“I’ve been working on BAT consistently for 4-8 weeks with little to no change in behaviour, or inconsistent behaviour modifications?”

It’s not uncommon for dogs to require a little extra chemical assistance when engaging in this kind of training. Feel free to contact one of our Animal Behaviour Specialists to have a discussion about whether or not Veterinary assistance may be helpful to your situation, or alternatively, contact one of few Veterinary Behaviourists directly.

The above resources have been collected from websites by Grisha Stewart - www.grishastewart.com

“Grisha Stewart is an author, international speaker, dog trainer, and online dog school facilitator based in Oregon, USA, who specializes in dog reactivity and canine empowerment. She founded Ahimsa Dog Training in Seattle in 2003, which she sold to a staff member in 2015. Grisha's Ahimsa team earned many awards, including Best of Seattle and Best of Western Washington. Her seminal book, "Behavior Adjustment Training: BAT for Aggression, Reactivity, and Fear in Dogs," was published by Dogwise in late 2011. Grisha's popular second book, "The Official Ahimsa Dog Training Manual: A Practical, Force-Free Guide to Problem Solving & Manners," was published in 2012 and updated in 2014. She also has over a dozen DVDs, with 6 currently in print. Her third book, BAT 2.0 was released in early 2016 and is available to order here on her site (and other places, but here is best)! This content replaces the first BAT book.”