Dog trainers often recommend smartphone apps and YouTube videos for desensitizing and counter-conditioning dogs who are afraid of specific noises. There are many apps designed and marketed for this purpose, and they typically include recordings of many different sounds. However, the physics of sound production and the limitations of consumer audio present large problems for such use – problems substantial enough to prevent the success of many (most?) conditioning attempts.

WHY MANY AUDIO CONDITIONING PRODUCTS FAIL

If quizzed, most people would likely guess that dogs have hearing abilities that are vastly superior to ours. In fact, it’s a mixed bag. 

Humans can hear slightly lower frequencies than dogs can, and we can also locate sounds quite a bit better. But dogs are the big winners in the high frequency range; they can hear tones over about twice the frequency range that humans can. Also, dogs can hear sounds at a much lower volume level than humans can over most of our common audible range. Yet the superior aspects of dogs’ hearing are rarely considered when we decide to use sound recordings in conditioning! 

There are four major acoustical problems with using human sound devices to condition dogs:

_•The inability of smartphones to generate low frequencies, such as those present in thunder.

_•The limited ability of even the best home audio systems to generate these low frequencies in high fidelity.

_•The upper limit of the frequencies generated on all consumer audio.

_•The effects of audio file compression on the fidelity of digital sound.

There are also common problems with the use of sound apps that can be deduced through what we know through behavior science. These can also make or break attempts to positively condition a dog to sound:

_•Lack of functional assessment before attempting conditioning.

_•The length of the sound samples used for conditioning.

_•The assumption that lower volume always creates a lower intensity (less scary) stimulus.

Some, but not all of the above problems can be addressed with do-it-yourself work and a good plan. But sound conditioning of dogs using recordings will always have some substantial limitations that can affect success.

WHAT IS THE FREQUENCY?

Frequency is the aspect of sound that relates to the cycles of the sound waves per second. Cycles per second is expressed in units of hertz (Hz). I’ll refer a lot to low and high frequencies because they pose different challenges. 

To help with the concept of frequency, think of a piano keyboard with the low notes on the left and the high notes on the right. The low notes have lower frequencies and the high notes have higher frequencies. Keep in mind that sound frequency goes much higher than the highest notes on a piano! 

Common sounds with low frequencies include thunder, fireworks, industrial equipment, the crashing of ocean waves, the rumble of trains and aircraft, and large explosions. Common sounds with high frequencies include most birdsong, the squeaking of hinges, Dremels and other high-speed drills, referees’ whistles, and most digital beeps. 

Motorized machinery generates sound frequencies that correspond to the rotation of the motor. These frequencies can be high like the dentist’s drill or low like aircraft. Motors can also vary in speed. For instance, when you hear a motorcycle accelerating, the frequency of the sound rises as the engine speeds up. 

Humans can hear in a range of 20 to 20,000 Hz, and dogs can hear in a range of 67 to 45,000 Hz.

Some sounds don’t have a detectable pitch, meaning they include such a large number of frequencies that you can’t pick anything out and hum it. These are called broadband sounds. A clicker generates a broadband sound.

FRIENDS IN LOW FREQUENCIES

Our human brains are great at filling in blanks in information and taking shortcuts. This makes it hard for us to realize what a bad job our handheld devices do in generating low-frequency sounds. Our dogs undoubtedly know, though.

Many people purchase sound apps in order to try to condition their dogs to thunder. The frequency range for rumbles of thunder is 5 to 220 Hz. Handheld devices generally have a functional lower output limit of about 400 to 500 Hertz. If you play a recording of thunder (or a jet engine or ocean waves) on a handheld device, the most significant part of the sound will be played at a vanishingly low volume or be entirely missing. 

When performing desensitization, we aim to start with a version of the sound that doesn’t scare the dog, so this could possibly be a starting point. On the other hand, without the distinctive low frequencies that are present in real thunder, some dogs will not connect the recording (played at any volume) with the real thing. 

Home sound systems, including some Bluetooth speakers, can do a better job. They usually generate frequencies down to 60 Hz. This is roughly the lower limit of dogs’ hearing, so it’s a good match. But even the best home system can’t approach the power and volume of actual thunder, and the sound is located inside your home instead of outside. Some dogs do not appear to connect recordings of thunder on even excellent sound equipment to the real thing, or they will respond to recordings with a lesser reaction. 

In one study of thunder phobic dogs, the researchers brought their own professional quality sound system to each dog owner’s home; great mention is made of the fact that the sound system was large. This bulk indicates that they were serious about being able to generate low frequencies! In general, the larger the speakers, the better they are at generating low frequencies. The difference today is smaller than it was 15 years ago, however. Sound systems have improved a lot in recent years.

Some of the sound apps for dog training now instruct you to send the sound to a home sound system rather than using the speaker in the handheld. This is excellent advice for any sound. But the bottom line is that you will not always be able to emulate low frequencies well enough to function as desensitization for some dogs.

Table I (at left) shows the difference between the sound of a roll of thunder played on an iPhone 7 versus a home sound system (Altec Lansing speakers). The Blue Yeti microphone I used to capture the sound for analysis was the same distance from the speaker in each case.

The graph in the oval is the approximate range of the rumbles of thunder. The navy blue line represents the sound generated by the smartphone in those frequencies. The red line was from the Altec Lansing home speakers. The speakers generate sound down to 60 Hz (as per their specifications). 

In contrast, the output of the phone is virtually inaudible below 300 Hz. 

LET’S GET HIGH FREQUENCIES

All consumer audio equipment is designed for human ears. Our handhelds, computers, TVs, and sound systems put out sound only up to the frequency of 22,000 Hz. Humans can’t hear higher frequencies than that. But dogs can hear up to about 40,000 Hz. So again, the recordings are not high fidelity for dogs.

This is different from the thunder situation. The low frequencies of thunder are present in high quality recordings, but our equipment can’t perfectly generate them. With high frequencies, it’s not only a limitation of our speakers. The sounds in “dog frequencies” are not recorded in the first place. 

It’s not that it can’t be done. Biologists and other scientists use specialty equipment that can record and/or play back sound in the ultrasound range. The recording device requires a higher sample rate (how often the sound is digitally measured) than consumer equipment and the speaker for playback requires a wider bandwidth for frequency response. 

How much does this affect the fidelity of recorded sound for dogs? We can’t know for sure. But virtually all sounds include what are called harmonics or overtones. These are multiples of the original frequency into a higher range. Dogs can hear these in the range from 22,000 to 40,000 Hz, but they are never present in sound recordings made even by very high quality equipment. 

Because of this, it’s likely that dogs with normal hearing will be able to easily discriminate between a natural sound and even the best recording of it. 

SOUND FILE COMPRESSION

Digital audio files are large. Most files that are created to play on digital devices are saved in MP3 format. This format was created in the 1990s when digital storage was much more limited than it is today. Hence, MP3 files are compressed, meaning that some of the sound information is removed so they won’t be so large. 

MP3 is termed a “lossy” compression because sound data is permanently lost through the compression. The compression algorithms are based on the capabilities of the human ear. Sounds we humans are unlikely to be able to hear are removed. 

Some of these limitations may be shared by dogs. For instance, quieter sounds that are very close in time to a loud sudden sound are removed. We can’t hear those because of masking effects, and it’s probable that dogs can’t either, although there may be a difference in degree. 

However, there are other limitations of the human ear that dogs do not share. For instance, our hearing is most sensitive in the range of about 2,000 to 5,000 Hz, so very quiet sounds that are pretty far outside that range will likely be eliminated. Dogs’ most sensitive range is higher than ours, so sounds they could hear are probably omitted from compressed recordings.

Keep in mind that dogs not only hear sounds that are higher than we can perceive, but they hear all high-pitched sounds at lower volumes than we do.

So the MP3 compression process is another reason that some sounds in dogs’ hearing range that would be present in a natural sound would be missing in a recording of it.

If you make your own recordings, there is an easy thing you can do to prevent this issue: Simply save your sound files in WAV or AIFF formats as discussed below. I haven’t seen a desensitization app that uses these formats, however.

BEHAVIOR SCIENCE CONSIDERATIONS

The problems I’ve discussed so far are caused by the physics of sound and how it is recorded, compressed, and played. 

The following cautions have to do with applying what we know about performing classical conditioning to sound without errors.

• Lack of Functional Assessment

Trainers who deal with dogs with behavior problems perform functional assessments. They observe and take data to help them understand what is driving the problem behavior. In the case of fear, they analyze the situation in order to determine the root cause of the fear.

In the case of sound sensitivity, a dog may react because the sound has become a predictor of a fear-exciting stimulus, as is the case with much doorbell reactivity. Or the dog may be responding to an intrinsic quality of the sound, in the case of sound phobia. Sound phobia is a clinical condition that requires intervention. Many such dogs need medication in order to improve.

Trainers, working with veterinarians or veterinary behaviorists, can make these determinations. Consumers often can’t. And as the sound apps being marketed to consumers become more elaborate, pet owners who follow the directions have a good chance of worsening some dogs’ fears.

For example, a newer sound app allows you to set up the app to play the sound randomly when you are not home for purposes of desensitization (without counter-conditioning). The instructions show an example of a dog’s doorbell reactivity going away through use of the app (although perhaps not permanently). The app was programmed to play doorbell sounds randomly when the owner wasn’t home. This decoupled the doorbell as a predictor of strangers at the door. 

This protocol would give any professional trainer pause. First, the cause of the reactivity – the dog’s fear of strangers – wasn’t addressed at all. All things considered, that is not a humane or robust approach. The dog’s fear is left intact while the inconvenience of their barking at predictors is removed. Second, the instructions of playing a feared sound randomly when the owner isn’t home, even at a low volume (more on this below) could result in a ruinous situation for a dog with a true sound phobia rather than “just” doorbell reactivity.

Apps that can play randomized, graduated sound exposures can be a good tool for trainers, as long as the trainers are aware of the limitations here. They should not be marketed or recommended to consumers.

•  Length of the Sound Stimulus

Many noises in the apps are too long for effective desensitization and counter-conditioning. Real-life thunder and fireworks both have an infinite array of sound variations. If you play a 20-second clip of either of these, there will be multiple sounds present and a sound phobic dog may react several times, not just once.

Classical delay conditioning, where the stimulus to be conditioned is present for several seconds, and the appetitive stimulus (usually food) is continually presented during that time, is said to be the most effective form of classical conditioning. This is the method that trainer Jean Donaldson, founder of the well-regarded Academy for Dog Trainers, refers to as “Open bar, closed bar.” 

Delay conditioning would be appropriate to use for a continuous, homogeneous sound, such as a steady state (non-accelerating) motor. But fireworks and thunder are not continuous; they are sudden and chaotic. They consist of multiple stimuli that can be extremely varied.

To offer a visual analogy: If your dog reacts to other dogs and you seek to classically condition him, you might create a careful setup wherein another dog walks by at a non-scary distance and is in view for a period of, perhaps, 10 to 20 seconds. You would be feeding your dog constantly through that period. That is a duration exposure to one stimulus. (And you would try to use a calm decoy dog who doesn’t perform a whole lot of jumpy or loud behaviors!)

But for the first time out you would not take your dog to a dog show or an agility trial to watch 60 different dogs of all sizes and shapes coming and going and performing all sorts of different behaviors, even if you could get the distance right and the exposure was 10 to 20 seconds. That is the visual equivalent of the long sound clip of fireworks. There are far too many separate stimuli!

Also, if you play a longer clip, one lasting many minutes (as has been done in some sound studies), you are essentially performing simultaneous conditioning, a method known for its failure to create an association. The fact that you started feeding one second after the sound started is not going to be significant if the crashes of thunder and food keep coming for minutes on end. You have not created a predictor.

And if you are feeding the whole time but the scary sounds are intermittent, you are probably also performing reverse conditioning, where the food can come to predict the scary noise.

If you are working to habituate a non-fearful dog or a litter of puppies to certain noises, the longer sound clips are probably fine for that. They may even work for a dog with only mild fears of those noises. But the more fearful the dog is, and the closer he is to exhibiting clinical noise phobia, the cleaner your training needs to be. To get the best conditioned response, you need a short, recognizable, brief stimulus. 

After you get a positive conditioned response to one firework noise, for instance, you can then start with a different firework noise. After you have done several, you may see generalization and you can use longer clips. But don’t start with the parade!

•  Volume

Most mammals have what is called an acoustic startle response. We experience fear and constrict certain muscles when we hear a loud, sudden noise. It’s natural for any dog to be startled by a sudden noise. It may be that dogs who have over-the-top responses to thunder and fireworks have startle responses so extreme as to become dysfunctional. For dogs who fall apart when they hear a sudden, loud sound such as thunder, it makes all the sense in the world to start conditioning at low volume, because this practice can remove the startle factor.

But it’s different for dogs who are scared of high-frequency beeps and whistles. These odd, specific fears are not necessarily related to a loud volume. I have observed that, with these dogs, starting at a quiet level can actually scare the dog more. Remember, dogs don’t locate sounds as well as humans do. It could be that the disembodied nature of some of these sounds is part of what causes fear. (Have you ever tried to locate which smoke alarm in a home is emitting the dreaded low battery chirp? Even for humans, it can be surprisingly difficult – and we are better at locating sounds.)

When lowering volume is ruled out as a method of providing a lower intensity version of a sound stimulus, virtually all apps for sound desensitization are rendered useless.

SOLUTIONS

With apps that can do more and more for humans, it seems odd to suggest that in order to help your dog, you might have to invent your own helpful tools. But doing so can help you make recordings of better fidelity and more appropriate length, and if you (or an acquaintance) are at all tech-savvy, you can also alter sounds in other ways besides volume.

• Record sounds yourself using an application that can save the recordings in WAV or AIFF (uncompressed) formats. This eliminates one of the ways that recordings can sound very different to dogs from real life sounds. Newer smartphones are fine for this. Even though they can’t play low frequency sounds, they can record them.
•  Create short recordings of single sounds, especially for dogs with strong sound sensitivities. Or, purchase sounds and edit them down. For instance, you could purchase a 20-second recording of a thunderstorm, and edit out one roll of thunder to use. But be sure that the file you purchase is uncompressed. 
• Play sounds for desensitization on the best sound system possible, especially if you are working with thunder, fireworks, or other sounds that include low frequencies.
• For dogs who are afraid of high-pitched beeps, create a less scary version by changing the sound’s frequency or timbre rather than by lowering the volume. Generally, lowering the frequency works well. You will then need to create a set of sounds for graduated exposures. They should start at a non-scary frequency, then gradually work back up to the original sound.

There are several ways to change the frequency of a recorded sound. You can use video software that has good audio editing capabilities, the free computer application Audacity, or professional sound editing software. You can also generate beeps at different frequencies using a free function generator on the internet. 

The one advantage of working with dogs who are afraid of such sounds is that the original sounds themselves are usually digitally generated, so when you create similar sounds the fidelity will be high. (In other words, when a dog is afraid of a smartphone noise, a smartphone is the perfect playback tool.)

HEAR ME OUT

This is not a project to be undertaken lightly, but it can be done if you have tech skills and a good ear. Be sure to use headphones and be at least one room away from your sound-sensitive dog when you start working with recordings of beeps. My dog can hear high-frequency beeps escaping from my earbuds from across the room!

Be aware that with some dogs and some sounds, it will not be possible to play recordings that are similar enough to the natural sounds to be able to carry over a conditioned response. Thunder and fireworks will always present significant problems. 

We want to believe that there is always a training solution. But sometimes physics foils our plans and the gap between an artificially generated sound and the generated sound will be too high. In that case, masking, management, and medications will be the best help. 

As a lifelong animal lover and the owner of a dog-training and horse-boarding facility, I’ve had countless opportunities to practice multi-species introductions – including many in just the past two years!

About two years ago, my husband and I acquired a Pomeranian/American Eskimo Dog-mix, Sunny. We were told that his previous adopters kept him for only three days because they were afraid he was going to kill their cats. We have two indoor-only cats in our family, but we adopted him anyway. We used gates that have cat-escape doors built into them and kept Sunny on leash for several days. Fortunately, our dog-savvy cats didn’t run from him, so he didn’t chase. It only took a few days of managed encounters and some counter-conditioning to convince him he had better things to do than harass the cats. 

Given Sunny’s very strong chase arousal when he sees squirrels outside, however, I have no doubt he would give chase if he encountered an outdoor cat. It is very common for dogs to live in peace with their indoor cats and still chase and even kill an outdoor cat that runs from them.

We weren’t sure what to expect from Sunny when we adopted our pot-bellied pig, Dexter, four months after Sunny joined the family. Our Kelpie, Kai, had lived peaceably with a pig before, so we weren’t worried about his reaction to Dexter’s arrival; for his part, Dexter had lived with dogs before, so we figured those two would be fine. We did our first Sunny-Dexter introduction with Sunny on leash, and discovered that, other than being fascinated with Dexter’s rear end, Sunny was fine with a pig.

We had our biggest interspecies challenge five years ago, when we first brought home Kai, then just one year old. A herding breed, he was quite interested in our full-sized horses, but confined his herding behavior to trotting back and forth at their heels. The horses were accustomed to dogs, so I wasn’t worried about him getting kicked. Also, he kept careful watch on the horses’ hooves. For some reason, though, we had to put a lot more effort into teaching Kai to be calm around our miniature horse, Olivia. Kai barked at and tried to herd her when we led her from the barn – not acceptable. We found an easy fix: We taught Kai to “station” (get up onto, sit, and stay) on a mounting block while we led Olivia to and from her paddock. Eventually Kai’s barking diminished, and stationing was no longer needed.

These were all relatively easy fixes. It takes a lot more work and time to reprogram a dog who has a very strong predatory interest in an other-species family member – or even just a very high level of arousal in the presence of another species.

In a perfect world, the lion really would lie down with the lamb (or the wolf with the rabbit), but our world isn’t perfect, and introductions don’t always go as smoothly as we might hope. 

If either party displays a strong arousal response or strong fear/stress response, you’ll need to incorporate more significant behavior modification protocols into your introduction scenario. The careful introduction process described in the main article  will prevent any disasters, but if you see significant distress or arousal behaviors from either animal, abort the introduction and rethink your position:

• Am I truly committed to making the effort that will be necessary for this new animal companion to live safely and happily in my family?

• If so, are all members of this family also in agreement and willing and able to do the behavior modification and management necessary to accomplish this?

• If behavior modification is not successful, are we prepared to very carefully manage this environment for the remainder of our animals’ lives?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then the prospective new family member is probably better off returning from whence she came, or being uber-managed until you can rehome her, if she came from a neglected or otherwise undesirable situation. 

When you think about it, it’s a bit of a miracle that animals who would be predator and prey in many environments are often able to live peacefully together in our homes. How does this happen? 

Sometimes it just happens, thanks to good luck, but more often it’s a result of careful planning and introduction. Throw in some good behavior modification, and we can improve the odds of a peaceful coexistence well beyond mere chance.

THE CHALLENGE

We know that our dogs are predators – and some certainly seem to be more predatory than others. This is a nature/nurture thing – partly due to genetics and partly due to environment. 

Some dog breeds have been genetically programmed to find predatory behavior highly reinforcing. Think of all the various terriers, bred to kill rats and other vermin on a farm. Think of the hounds, bred to chase and kill a variety of different species for the hunter who follows. Then there are the spaniels, setters, and retrievers, bred to locate, indicate, and flush game for the hunter, and retrieve that game gently, with a very soft mouth after it has been killed by the hunter. The herding breeds are supposed to utilize the stalking piece of the predatory sequence but are never supposed to kill the stock they are herding.

Still, there are Jack Russell Terriers who live in harmony with cats and parakeets. Just because a dog has a genetic propensity to find a behavior reinforcing doesn’t mean he will actually engage in the behavior. The terrier who has never been given the opportunity to chase and kill small animals has probably never had the behavior reinforced. If he was well-managed since puppyhood and grew up learning how to behave appropriately around cats and birds in his home, he would never learn that it was fun to chase and kill small animals, so he doesn’t. (It also helps if the cats and birds in his house have grown up with and are calm around dogs, so they don’t offer behaviors that might trigger a chase response in typical Jack Russells.)

Meanwhile, there are Australian Shepherds – dogs who have been genetically programmed to gather and keep track of cattle and sheep without hurting one – who will eagerly chase and kill bunnies. 

As you go forward with a plan to integrate your household with a variety of animal species, keep in mind that, even though they share your sofa and Starbucks habit, deep down, dogs are still predators. If given the opportunity to learn that killing bunnies or cats is fun, many of them will enjoy doing it, even if they don’t have a strong genetic propensity to find the behavior reinforcing. 

All else being equal, it will likely be easier to convince your Aussie to live peacefully with small animals than your JRT, but both breeds (and representatives of every other breed) can learn to do it, too.

GREAT STARTS

The easiest way to create interspecies household harmony is to start with a puppy and carefully manage her interactions with other animals as she matures. If she is consistently reinforced for calm behavior in their presence and not allowed to play roughly with them (rough play can turn deadly), she will come to see them as family members and learn to be calm with them. 

In theory, it’s simple, yet it can take a lot of management and training for some pups to reach maturity with a “small animals are my friends” world view. Until she learns impulse control, your pup needs to be on-leash in the presence of other small animals in your household, so she doesn’t have the opportunity to perceive them as animated stuffed toys. 

If, despite your precautions, it appears your pup has an unhealthy interest in the creatures around her, you’ll need to pursue some of the behavior modification protocols that follow, and if necessary, seek the assistance of a qualified force-free professional.

From the other side, it is just as useful to start young with your “other” species, introducing them to dogs early in their lives, and making sure they have good experiences with canines of various shapes and sizes. A positive association with dogs from early on will reduce stress and make adjustment easier for them when you bring a new predator into the home.

INTRODUCING A NEW DOG

Whether you’re bringing a new puppy, an adolescent, or an adult dog into your multi-species home, it behooves you to orchestrate careful introductions to set the stage for a future peaceful co-existence. 

•  Ask for information, but take it with a grain of salt. It helps if you have any history about your adopted adolescent or adult dog’s prior relationships with other species – but don’t rely on the information. Several years ago, some of my clients were assured by a rescue group that the adult German Shepherd Dog they were adopting had lived compatibly with cats. The dog’s ability to do so in their home, however, required several months of dedicated management and behavior modification work (see “Transformation: Predator to Pal,” WDJ July 2013). Even shelters that include dog-dog and/or dog-cat introductions during their assessment processes can’t guarantee that your newly adopted dog will behave the same with other animals in your home as she did at the shelter.
• Set up for success. Before you first bring your new family member into the house, shut away all your other animal companions. Your new dog will likely be stressed from the journey – and remember, even happy excitement causes physiological stress. Give her time to settle down before upsetting her applecart again. 

If she seems excessively stressed by the change in her life fortunes, don’t even attempt any introductions on the first day. You don’t need to add that level of stress to the early relationship-building process. If, on the other hand, she seems cool, calm, and collected, then you can proceed after a reasonable cool-down period of maybe an hour or two. 

•  Don’t mistake stressed, shut-down behavior for calm. If you aren’t skilled at assessing canine body language, have someone who has more dog experience with you (see “Listen By Looking,” August 2011). Either way, you’ll want to have a second person with you for the introductions, to manage the other animals, and in case things go wrong and you need help separating animals.
• Keep contained. With one of you safely holding the new dog on leash, bring in one other animal, also safely contained in some manner – in a cage or carrier, or on leash – and watch your new dog’s body language very closely. Your dog’s ideal response is interested and calm.
•  Go slow! For this first encounter, your goal is for the two animals to be in each other’s presence without either one getting overly stressed or excited. Keep them as far apart as necessary to accomplish this, and feed treats if necessary, to help each calm down or be less stressed. Even if things go well, do not try to bring them nose-to-nose on the first meeting. Err on the side of caution. You’ve got plenty of time to help them be best buddies – or at least to live in peace.

Gradually, over a period of days, weeks, or even months, bring them closer together and allow more intimate contact, while still using uber-management to make sure only good things happen. If you have several other animals, use your good judgment about how often and how many introductions you do at any given time or in any given period.

Depending on your results, you may be able to relax management fairly quickly, or you may need to keep some management in place forever. Dog and cats frequently become compatible housemates with no management needed. Other small companion animals may need more protection from your canine predator, especially when you aren’t present. Provide multiple escape routes for your small pets, whatever your ultimate level of management.

INTRODUCING A NEW PET TO YOUR “OLD DOG”

Perhaps your dog is a long-term family member, and the new family member in your home is another type of animal. You probably have a better idea of what your dog’s response is likely to be (calm and non-predatory, we hope!), but you still want to give your new pet plenty of time and space to adjust to the idea of living with a predator. Your introduction will be similar to that described above, but in this case, you’ll be paying even more attention to the newcomer, gauging his reaction to his new life situation. 

If you are not already familiar with the body-language communication of the new species, be sure to research it well in advance. The less domesticated/more exotic the species, the more likely they are to do a freeze/shut-down response in the presence of a predator, and the easier it is to make a tragic mistake and misinterpret this as calm and relaxed.

INTRODUCING LARGE COMPANION ANIMALS

We tend to think of small animals when we talk about introducing our dogs to new family members, but there are plenty of canines who share their living spaces (indoors and out) with large animals such as pigs, goats, sheep, llamas, emus, horses, and more.

Introductions to these animals, whether the dog is new or the other species is new, is every bit as important as the small pets. Keep in mind that your dog might be the more vulnerable species in some of these relationships (since a horse’s kick or stomp can easily kill a dog, and even a cranky pet pig or llama can hurt an unwary pup).

Your introduction process is much the same as described above – moving more quickly through the procedure if things go smoothly, more slowly if not, and doing behavior modification if necessary. 

Consider additional factors inherent with large animals; management alone might be realistic for a dog who doesn’t do well with horses – maybe you just never take her to the barn. However, if you have a miniature house-pig, or a miniature horse working as your service animal, you’ll need to do the work to get them all comfortable and well-behaved together.

BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION

If the challenge looks surmountable and you’re willing to do the work, get started immediately. 

•  Have the whole family participate in the discussion and agree on the rules for management. Consider padlocks for doors if there are small children in the home who will have difficulty complying despite their good intentions. Develop communications systems so it is clear which companion animals are where and when. No “oops” allowed; someone’s life may depend on it.
•  Discuss and agree on which behavior modification protocols will be used. My first choice is usually  counter-conditioning and desensitization (CC&D; see next page for step-by-step instructions). Constructional Aggression Treatment (CAT) and/or Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT) are other protocols that can be useful. (For more information about both protocols, see “Fear Aggression in Dogs,” WDJ August 2016.) Seriously consider bringing in a qualified force-free professional to help you with these, especially if you are not familiar and experienced with the protocols. 
•  Basic training. Every dog should be the graduate of at least one basic good manners class (and of course, puppies should go to puppy kindergarten!). The communication and relationship achieved between dog and human through training will be invaluable in sorting out your inter-species relationships.

WORTH THE EFFORT

Whether it takes days, weeks or months to accomplish a reasonable degree of inter-species tranquility, it can be well worth the effort. I know how greatly my own life has been enriched by sharing my home and my heart with well over a dozen different species of animals over the years, for many years more than 20 animal companions at a time. It wasn’t always easy, but it was always worth it.