We all hate meetings
October 25, 2019 1:55 PM Subscribe
I take my dog to the office regularly, and for the most part she's a model coworker. The one snag is that she's started to freak out when meetings in conference rooms adjourn. How come, and how can I work on this with her?
The part above the fold basically says it all. When I first started taking her to the office she didn't do this, but it's picked up after a few months. What initiated it was meetings where people would clap at the conclusion, to which her reaction, barking and whining and being fidgety, was understandable. Now it's transferred to the general case of meetings ending, and it's not a dealbreaker for bringing her in, but I would like to both help her be calm in this circumstance and to not make a ton of noise.
Maybe relevant details about her:
The part above the fold basically says it all. When I first started taking her to the office she didn't do this, but it's picked up after a few months. What initiated it was meetings where people would clap at the conclusion, to which her reaction, barking and whining and being fidgety, was understandable. Now it's transferred to the general case of meetings ending, and it's not a dealbreaker for bringing her in, but I would like to both help her be calm in this circumstance and to not make a ton of noise.
Maybe relevant details about her:
- She was rescued when she was a young puppy, maybe three to four months old, and so that combined with her stable home life since then (never been hit, trained with positive reinforcement, exercised daily, lavished with affection) and lack of any triggers that I've seen makes me pretty sure that she's not dealing with any sort of lingering trauma.
- She's a five year old pit bull, so her baseline is naturally pretty high-energy, but she is well trained (follows commands, walks in heel, isn't a barker, doesn't engage in dominance behavior with people or dogs, only takes food with permission, will reliably stay in "place" when asked to even in the face of temptations like treats or other dogs) and sits next to me quietly at my desk all day without disruption except for the occasional request to go on a walk.
- She's very attached to me, but isn't particularly prone to separation anxiety: I can leave her at home for stretches without her barking or tearing things up, and I can leave her at my desk and go to the bathroom without her making noise or trying to follow me. Previously, she has gotten anxious and vocal when I leave her at my desk for more extended periods of time (five to ten minutes) but this was very early on in her experience with going to the office, and she was two years younger. I haven't had cause to leave her for that long since, but I suspect she wouldn't react the same way today.
The standard response is to distract at the moment it happens and when there is even a brief window of "good" behavior, provide treat or other reward. Do you have a "focus"-type command? This would be a good time to use it, and treat for compliance. That will rewire the association to "snacks a-coming!"
(Ahhh what a perfect pittie princess.)
posted by praemunire at 2:01 PM on October 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
(Ahhh what a perfect pittie princess.)
posted by praemunire at 2:01 PM on October 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
SHE IS PERFECT I LOVE HER
What if you guys left meetings "early"? Like everyone else remains seated and you guys get up and leave, and then everyone else leaves? Will this trick her? And also presumably you have already asked everyone to stop clapping?
posted by poffin boffin at 2:06 PM on October 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
What if you guys left meetings "early"? Like everyone else remains seated and you guys get up and leave, and then everyone else leaves? Will this trick her? And also presumably you have already asked everyone to stop clapping?
posted by poffin boffin at 2:06 PM on October 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
Can you redirect her to expect something good at the end of a meeting? For example, if she already has a trained sequence of "lie down and look at my owner and I'll get an awesome treat" at a particular command, you can get her to associate "end of meeting signals" as a signal she should perform that same sequence of behaviour? I find it's always easier to train a dog to do something, than to try to stop them from doing something. Cute dog! And huge congratulations on raising her to be such a good canine citizen.
posted by Zumbador at 2:07 PM on October 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Zumbador at 2:07 PM on October 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Do you have a "focus"-type command?
She does have "place," where she goes to her bed or some obvious spot and sits there until I say "break," but I think at this point it would confuse her to remove the association with a particular location, since there aren't really any obvious ones in a conference room. I could bring her bed, though, which would solve that problem.
What if you guys left meetings "early"? Like everyone else remains seated and you guys get up and leave, and then everyone else leaves? Will this trick her? And also presumably you have already asked everyone to stop clapping?
Yeah, no more clapping. There is one meeting where I couldn't reasonably request that, but it's optional, and now I have a great excuse for not going! I have tried leaving early and you're right, it does work. Ideally I'd like to reduce any instances of asking people to do stuff on her behalf because you always get the dogs-at-work skeptics that bristle over that type of thing, but it's not a huge deal and if that's just the best solution then that's what I'll go with.
Anyway, that's probably all the threadsitting I need to do for now, but all of these suggestions have already been helpful to give me a sense of what to do, thanks y'all!
posted by invitapriore at 2:16 PM on October 25, 2019
She does have "place," where she goes to her bed or some obvious spot and sits there until I say "break," but I think at this point it would confuse her to remove the association with a particular location, since there aren't really any obvious ones in a conference room. I could bring her bed, though, which would solve that problem.
What if you guys left meetings "early"? Like everyone else remains seated and you guys get up and leave, and then everyone else leaves? Will this trick her? And also presumably you have already asked everyone to stop clapping?
Yeah, no more clapping. There is one meeting where I couldn't reasonably request that, but it's optional, and now I have a great excuse for not going! I have tried leaving early and you're right, it does work. Ideally I'd like to reduce any instances of asking people to do stuff on her behalf because you always get the dogs-at-work skeptics that bristle over that type of thing, but it's not a huge deal and if that's just the best solution then that's what I'll go with.
Anyway, that's probably all the threadsitting I need to do for now, but all of these suggestions have already been helpful to give me a sense of what to do, thanks y'all!
posted by invitapriore at 2:16 PM on October 25, 2019
I'd guess the clapping triggered a built-in fear of thunderstorms (and the breakup of a meeting is quite a bit like a stampede, come to think of it!).
If she had a crate she could retreat into at such times, I wonder whether that might be enough of a den-like refuge to keep her from freaking out so badly.
posted by jamjam at 2:20 PM on October 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
If she had a crate she could retreat into at such times, I wonder whether that might be enough of a den-like refuge to keep her from freaking out so badly.
posted by jamjam at 2:20 PM on October 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Oh my god I love her so much. What a precious, sweet girl. What about some kind of special toy she only gets during the meetings?
posted by the webmistress at 2:28 PM on October 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by the webmistress at 2:28 PM on October 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
As the meeting ends, hold a high value treat and get her in a focussed sit, staring expectantly at you. Keep her attention “doggy, look at me... good girl...” as the meeting wraps up.
Keep her in that state of calm expectant focus as the meeting ends around her. Then she gets the treat.
You will need to train her to be able to sustain this focussed “treat state” for a few mins at a time, practicing it in less distracting settings and also on the street, etc, before trying it at work when she already has a pattern to overcome.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:34 PM on October 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
Keep her in that state of calm expectant focus as the meeting ends around her. Then she gets the treat.
You will need to train her to be able to sustain this focussed “treat state” for a few mins at a time, practicing it in less distracting settings and also on the street, etc, before trying it at work when she already has a pattern to overcome.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:34 PM on October 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'm sure you're right about the anticipation. It took us a little while to realize why our pooch was freaking out the minute we started making breakfast; he bolted for the door and was just really scared. After a while of this, the smoke detector was set off by the toaster again, and it all made sense. Okay, now that I've got the semblance of a response, I can say the only thing I really wanted to: she's adorable!
posted by kate4914 at 2:49 PM on October 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by kate4914 at 2:49 PM on October 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
Have you heard of Karen Overall's relaxation protocol? My dog also had an issue with clapping and high fives, which generalized to reactivity around handshakes. I used the relaxation protocol on the advice of a trainer, and noticed a definite improvement. It takes a lot of consistent practice, which I haven't followed through on, so he's relapsed a bit since then. But I would still recommend it. If you research Dr. Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol you'll find lots of info and some people who have recorded audio guides to follow along. Here's the official worksheet:
https://journeydogtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ProtocolforRelaxation.pdf
If you can find a good positive reinforcement trainer near you it might be worth working with a pro as well.
posted by pilibeen at 3:55 PM on October 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
https://journeydogtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ProtocolforRelaxation.pdf
If you can find a good positive reinforcement trainer near you it might be worth working with a pro as well.
posted by pilibeen at 3:55 PM on October 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
I love your dog, and dream of the day I can adopt a pit bull who is my work buddy, too. I think there are a lot of great suggestions here: leaving a little early sounds like the best. I want to second your concern for not asking colleagues for too much. I am a huge dog lover yet would be really pissed over being asked not to clap at the end of a meeting. That's just too much to ask considering the dog is a guest at work, not a worker herself. Clapping at best is a positive thing that helps workplace morale. I'd ask your boss (or whoever is running the meetings) if you can leave right before the end; you can sit by the door and head out immediately. There are surely other things you can try and I'm sure there will be a fix but definitely don't make it this about your colleagues having to stop normal behavior.
posted by smorgasbord at 11:10 AM on October 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by smorgasbord at 11:10 AM on October 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
« Older iPhone Buyer Claims to Need My iCloud Password | Trashy novel from the 70s -- what's the title and... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by invitapriore at 1:57 PM on October 25, 2019 [10 favorites]