I first conducted an empowerment exercise to assess Koda’s reaction to new objects. Even with high-value food on top of the objects, he was unable to approach or eat from any of them without support from me. Koda’s FEAR system dominates his response to training and all aspects of his life and has always been the biggest consideration when working with him. Initially, his fear was of me and anything I was holding / wearing / doing so the first several months were focused on helping him feel safe around me so I could approach him, touch him, and then eventually hand feed him. He is no longer afraid of me, but he remains fearful of strangers and new objects. I need to work on de-spooking exercises to build up his confidence. I would love to be able to take him for hand-walks outside, but he needs to have the skills he needs to work through situations that scare him without bolting.

I decided to start with the cardboard, which was the least scary object for Koda. We spent a week working with the cardboard every day (targeting it, following it, eating hay from it, pawing it). The photo above shows the first time he actually steps onto it and stands in place which is a huge accomplishment. In this session, I was trying to extinguish the pawing behavior and reward for holding his foot in place. We will continue to work with the cardboard until he shows no apprehension with it all and ultimately I can touch him with it. Then we will move onto to another object and start over.

Over the next week we progressed from the cardboard, to the blanket, an empty feed bag, and then finally the tarp. Just 3 weeks ago, the tarp put him into the red zone almost immediately and just 2 weeks ago, he wouldn’t approach the cardboard or blanket at all, even covered with alfalfa. This was the first time we have worked with the tarp since then and it was incredible to see how quickly he generalized his new skills to the tarp. He knew the routine and had the confidence to deal with it. This really shows the power of a systematic approach.

I worked next with him on line around a circuit of spooky objects and taught him a new cue “stay with me” that I can use when is he showing apprehension and contemplating flight. He is marked and rewarded when he reconnects with me and I feel his focus on me and not on the stimulus or on leaving.

I set up some spooky objects including a feed bag flapping in a tree, a tarp on the ground, and a white pole standing on end against a cactus. My objective was just to walk past them quietly without him pulling away from me. I was really pleased that he stayed with me most of the session, even at liberty for a short time at the end.

I wanted to build in a fun, low-stress activity as the de-spooking work can get a bit intense as we introduce new scary objects and situations. We will incorporate playing fetch with the dog toy between his despooking exercises as a break and a way to use PLAY to create positive associations with novel objects.

After several sessions of spooky circuit in the yard, we took things up a notch by leaving the safety of the yard and walking down the driveway to the front gate. It’s still fenced, but it is away from the herd so provided sufficient challenge for Koda to stay connected with me and resist his instinct for flight. I set up a series of objects in the corral and then took a couple of those same objects out to the new area (feed bag and tarp). Interestingly, those were the things that bothered him the least in the new area, perhaps because he had just been exposed to them.

We introduced some new games with objects to help change his associations with them. First we worked on weaving through cones at walk and trot. This was a brand new behavior for him, although he does know the isolated cues of “shoulder” and “step over” and “go around”.

Then we worked with the big ball. He has shown avoidance and flight behaviors around this ball so I wanted to help him become more comfortable with it. I ask him to push it with his nose on the ground and while bouncing it, stand still while it touches him, rolls toward him, rolls into his legs, rolls behind him and past him.

We did a short session with an A to B set up to see if that could be a good way to encourage Koda to build his independence and confidence around objects by walking past them or over them without me guiding him. We start with a single pole.

For the past two days we worked on confidence building exercises to help Koda with his fear of the pole. We started with mirroring to get him really connected to me first in movement and then with foot placement. Then we moved over to repeat the foot placement exercises with the pole.

Koda was still fearful of the poles moving, being rolled around or picked up near him. So we did some sessions where I asked him to stand at his target while I moved the pole around. First I asked him to stand while I lifted the pole very slightly, rewarding for a calm response, then moving the pole gradually until I could walk all the way around him carrying it, without him reacting with fear.