Flooding Therapy for Dog Behavior Issues

Flooding is a full immersion training technique applied both in humans and animal psychology. It consists of forcefully exposing the dog to the stimuli that triggers its fear and provoked the original trauma. This method of behavior therapy may bring fast results, but it may be traumatic and may come with some risks.

In a recent episode, Cesar Millan treated Kane, a Great Dane who was terrified of walking on shiny surfaces after slipping on a shiny floor and hitting himself on a glass door. The pet parents were desperate to ease this dog's fears but could not find a way to make him gain confidence again. Cesar, pointed out that nurturing the dog when it displayed fear was only making matters worse. Instead, he takes Kane by the leash and walks him with confidence over the shiny floor. Kane, appears disoriented, but in a few minutes he is back to walking normally on the shiny surface. This is an example of flooding used with success (if the dog healed completely), but watch the dog's many stress signals. Was it really worth it?

In the human world, flooding is used to treat fears and phobias. A good example, is launching a child scared of water in a pool. While, this may not appear to be the best approach, it appeared to work when the children's instinctive survival skills kicked in and they swam across the pool to get out. It is also used when psychologists bombard their patients with detailed descriptions of the situations they fear until they end up losing their fear of those situations.

In flooding, the dog cannot escape from the situation until it is released. This makes it a highly stressful situation. However, eventually, the dog's arousal level will diminish and the dog's reactive state will shut down. While this may look like success, it is the long term results that will really count. And not always will flooding techniques be successful long term.

When is flooding commonly used in dogs? Hunting dogs fearful of gunshots may be placed close to a firing range. Farm dogs fearful fohorses may benefit from being put his dog in a horse stable for hours. Dogs fearful of thunder may be exposed to prolonged recordings of thunderstorm put at high volume.

While flooding may help some dogs, when it does not, the dog may turn into an emotional wreck. There are therefore far better approaches granting higher rates of success.. Desensitation for instance, may take longer but it provides far more reliable results. Instead of forcefully exposing the dog for prolonged periods of time to the stimuli causing the dog's fear, the dog is gradually exposed to its fear and therefore there are higher chances of putting the dog up for success.

Patience and gradual exposure is a preferable method. Trouble is, not everybody has time and patience and want fast results. However, sometimes flooding may help speed up the process. A good example? Dogs fearful of water just as humans may benefit being tossed in a pool or pulled into the water. Doing so provides a ''full immersion'' experience and dogs may forget all about their previous fears.