# German Shepard X afraid of bbq smells



## Coli2009 (Jun 13, 2015)

I have a 6 year old German Shepard cross that has recently become afraid of bbq smells. She first showed signs when we were on vacation and our hosts were cooking lamb in the oven. She wouldn't go near the kitchen for the next day and a half until we left. Ever since then, she has gotten nervous, ie. Tail down, nose up in the air sniffing, circling around and not listening to commands anytime a bbq is going. She is an otherwise very obedient dog but we cannot figure out how to alleviate this behaviour. It has even been to the point where she is sniffing the air while on a walk and will start wandering into the street because she isn't paying attention to commands. I have never had to leash her to be able to control her whether near food, other dogs or anything! I would really like to figure out what to do to correct this. Should I just try to de-sensitize her by making her Stay near a bbq and offering reassurance and treats??
Anyone had this problem and can share a success story?


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## WonderBreadDots (Jun 26, 2012)

I feel like there was just a thread about this exact same thing...


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## Coli2009 (Jun 13, 2015)

That was constructive, thanks.


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## KodiBarracuda (Jul 4, 2011)

A new thread with the exact same subject and wording won't get you new answers... It mostly just annoys people and clogs up the forum.


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## Coli2009 (Jun 13, 2015)

As does needlessly replying to a thread with no real advice.
This thread was posted in 2 different forums after the first one didn't get a favourable response.


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## ireth0 (Feb 11, 2013)

Has she ever been corrected for going around BBQ food or meat in general?

It sounds to me like something scared her at some point that she associated with the food. 

Either way, slow and steady desensitization with praise and treats is the key, don't force her to go beyond what she's comfortable with.


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## petpeeve (Jun 10, 2010)

Coli2009 said:


> Should I just try to de-sensitize her by making her Stay near a bbq and offering reassurance and treats??


I wouldn't "make" her do anything. Proper desensitization protocol requires the dog to generally make choices on their own, otherwise it's considered 'flooding'. In which case I sincerely doubt that verbal reassurance will make any difference at all, and I can almost guarantee you that your dog will not take treats because stress levels are just WAY too high. So, not the way to go.

Ali Brown has a good book "Scaredy Dog", look into that.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Could the dog be afraid of the smell of the BBQ because it gets scruffed when it goes near the BBQ to check out the tasty smells coming from it when it is on....?


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## petpeeve (Jun 10, 2010)

Probably. I highly suspect this is all just fall out from having a 'force' mindset, and using punishment-based training techniques as at least part of the repertoire. I'd bet dollars to donuts.


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

petpeeve said:


> Probably. I highly suspect this is all just fall out from having a 'force' mindset, and using punishment-based training techniques as at least part of the repertoire. I'd bet dollars to donuts.


I'd bet all my actual dollars, having seen the same fallout in my own dog.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

Well I guess that's one way to teach "leave it."


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## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

Yeah


> It has even been to the point where she is sniffing the air while on a walk and will start wandering into the street because she isn't paying attention to commands./QUOTE] says to me that the dog is over threshold (not in the traditional sense, but nonetheless) and shutting down (tail tucked, lip licking, sniffing are displacement behaviors) and at this point you repeating commands isnt going to teach her anything. I would work on getting her used to walking on a leash and that way you have the ability to start working on treating and praising when you walk by.
> 
> It's almost as if nobody reccomends +P as an initial method for anything because of the likelyhood for inevitable fallout in some strange way but what do I know, not like I work with animal behavior or anything


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## Coli2009 (Jun 13, 2015)

gingerkid said:


> Could the dog be afraid of the smell of the BBQ because it gets scruffed when it goes near the BBQ to check out the tasty smells coming from it when it is on....?





petpeeve said:


> Probably. I highly suspect this is all just fall out from having a 'force' mindset, and using punishment-based training techniques as at least part of the repertoire. I'd bet dollars to donuts.


At what point was the dog scruffed?
The dog has always been allowed near the bbq'ing while cooking. If you read my post, she used to sit by the bbq waiting for things to drop. It wasn't until she smelled lamb in an oven being cooked that this behaviour started.
The dog is trained using positive reinforcement for good behaviour.
If the one time that I have "scruffed" her 5 years ago after going into the kitty litter 3 times in one day caused this behaviour then that is just plain amazing.


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## Coli2009 (Jun 13, 2015)

ireth0 said:


> Has she ever been corrected for going around BBQ food or meat in general?
> 
> It sounds to me like something scared her at some point that she associated with the food.
> 
> Either way, slow and steady desensitization with praise and treats is the key, don't force her to go beyond what she's comfortable with.


Thanks for the advice. Some people like to take everything out of context as much as possible.
Anyways, I tried having her leashed next to me while bbq'ing, she was nervous but relaxed as time went by. It helped that she knew that she would get a tasty piece of fat every 3-5min.
By the end of dinner, she was laying on her side unleashed and content.
The neighbour started bbq'ing after and she did wander a bit with her nose in the air. I got her to come lie down and although she was still nose up in the air, she was much more relaxed. Still some more work to do.


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## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

Coli2009 said:


> At what point was the dog scruffed?
> The dog has always been allowed near the bbq'ing while cooking. If you read my post, she used to sit by the bbq waiting for things to drop. It wasn't until she smelled lamb in an oven being cooked that this behaviour started.
> The dog is trained using positive reinforcement for good behaviour.
> If the one time that I have "scruffed" her 5 years ago after going into the kitty litter 3 times in one day caused this behaviour then that is just plain amazing.


The point is not what was done 5 years ago (at least for me) but that is relevant believe it or not- the point is more about how dogs generalize, and that's the inherent problem with +p and soft dogs- it's so likely to cause fallout because dogs generalize. In this way, she probably was incidentally spooked when BBQ was around. It's not a thing that you should think of as "the issue is that she doesn't obey my commands!" But think of it as "she is stressed during this event, I need to make it less stressful before I try to work on obedience."

If that makes sense. I'm assuming that the scruffed door dasher is not the same dog that was scruffed for the kitty litter?


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## Coli2009 (Jun 13, 2015)

Rescued said:


> Coli2009 said:
> 
> 
> > At what point was the dog scruffed?
> ...


 You really need to stop obsessing about the scruffing.
Yes, they were different dogs.
As I said, I only did to my dog the one time.
The other thing I've already stated is that it's not a method to be used all the time. And just because I grab a door dasher by the scruff doesn't mean I necessarily give it shake either. It would only include physically grabbing the dog to restrain it and giving a verbal reprimand. If someone did the exact same thing by grabbing a collar, how is that anymore painful. A collar hold can promote more pulling. My point is, this is irrelevant either way.
My dog also wasn't initially spooked by a bbq, it was lamb cooking in an oven. There are lots of documented cases on the Internet of dogs being scared of cooking smells, particularly lamb. I didn't find anyone who has had a success story of treating this behaviour. 
Also, my chief concern isn't 
"the issue is that she doesn't obey my commands!"

It's the fact that she may get hit by a car or hurt in another way. She normally gets left out and knows not to leave the curb of the front lawn but I can see she gets stressed right out by this smell and circles aimlessly.
I know it's a stress event, I'm looking for someone else that has had a success story but people are focused on scruffing and can't get out of aimlessly thinking about it, just like my dog.


So far I have had a lot of success in 2 days just leashing her on the deck and give positive reinforcement for laying down in a relaxed manner. By the end of the cooking, she was sitting, unleashed and wagging her tail as she was getting bits of hamburger.
I can tell she still had some nerves but she wouldn't have done that 3 days ago.


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## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

Coli2009 said:


> You really need to stop obsessing about the scruffing.
> Yes, they were different dogs.
> As I said, I only did to my dog the one time.
> The other thing I've already stated is that it's not a method to be used all the time. And just because I grab a door dasher by the scruff doesn't mean I necessarily give it shake either. It would only include physically grabbing the dog to restrain it and giving a verbal reprimand. If someone did the exact same thing by grabbing a collar, how is that anymore painful. A collar hold can promote more pulling. My point is, this is irrelevant either way.
> ...


Is there a reason ( not being snarky) that you don't want to use a leash until she's better trained?


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## Coli2009 (Jun 13, 2015)

Is there a reason ( not being snarky) that you don't want to use a leash 
until she's better trained?[/QUOTE]


I've never needed a leash, I've trained her since a pup for the most part, without one.
I'm not saying she's not leash trained, I just prefer not to rely on one to control her actions.i can walk down a busy street, leash less, with other people and dogs acting aggressively and she doesn't care less unless they are right into her face. 
She knows the boundaries of our property and won't leave without permission.
She's friendly with all the dogs, kids and adults in the neighbourhood so there's no real reason to obstruct her freedom.
Of course there's times and places where leashes are needed and/or required.


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## LittleFr0g (Jun 11, 2007)

> I feel like there was just a thread about this exact same thing...


That's because there was. To the OP, creating a duplicate thread simply because you didn't like the responses to the original is poor forum practice, and a great way to annoy both forum members AND mods.


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