Hatting

For some dogs, we need a way to tell them that we aren’t available. We are boring and uninteresting, and therefore there is no point bothering us.

This can be useful for dogs with separation anxiety and for dogs who need to learn to calm down in the house due to previously learned attention-seeking behaviours¹.

Dogs form associations between visual cues and our behaviour all the time. They are doing it constantly and this is how they know what’s going to happen before it does. It’s why they get excited about a walk when you have simply walked to the hook where the lead is kept, or start the dinner dance when you close your laptop, say ‘right then’, and head to the kitchen.

We can, if we are careful and clever about it, use this to our advantage!

Find a hat or a scarf. You can use other items, like a traffic cone on the coffee table or a beachball hung off the light fittings, but a hat or scarf is convenient, cheap, and portable. Choose one that fits the following criteria:

• Your dog has never seen it before
• It is of a colour they can actually perceive
• It changes your outline slightly, so they are aware of the difference between you wearing it and not wearing it
• They are not scared of it

The rules of ‘hatting’ are as follows:

• When you wear the hat, there is no dog. No eye contact, no talk, no touch²
• Hat goes on and off without any link to dog’s behaviour
• If your dog has some sort of urgent need, you must remove hat and deal with dogs need in a way that looks like the two events are not related, so the dog never thinks you stopped hatting as a result of his or her behaviour

Ideally, you will already have spotted some sedentary, or at least stationary, behaviour of yours that your dog tends to assume means you aren’t available for attention. You can then use this to introduce hatting. Things like ironing, playing on your phone, or using the computer will often meet this criterion.

If you already have something like that, simply wear the hat while you do it and remember to remove the hat before you finish doing whatever it is.

If you do not have such a set up already, or can’t identify one, the best thing to do is hat while reading a magazine (so your hands are occupied, and you are clearly doing something). Do not hat by sitting and staring into space, as your dog will find that weird and creepy, and possibly be a bit upset!

The goal is that when you hat, your dog does not try to get your attention, and gradually learns he cannot get attention from you without ever really needing to. This should look like nothing is really happening in the initial stages.

Very occasionally, you’ll get a dog who will try to get your attention (most likely in attention-seekers rather than separation anxiety cases). As long as you are not building frustration or distress by ignoring, carry on. If you think there is the slightest chance you are building frustration or distress, stop. Time sessions for a shorter duration, and re-evaluate the rest of your dog’s training protocol. There’s the possibility that this method is not suitable for your dog right now.

Once you get past the initial stages, and you think your dog has grasped that you wearing the hat means that you are unavailable, you can start to add in other hatting situations. If you are at this stage, you should have a relaxed dog who has taken himself off to do his own thing; sleep, chew a toy or do something similar. So, if you initially hatted while on the laptop, you may now try hatting while watching TV, or hatting while ironing, or hatting while reading a book in the kitchen.

Gradually add more hatting situations or increase the duration, but don’t do both at once. Take it steady!

When your dog sees you start to hat, clearly understands, and takes themselves off to get comfy no matter where or when you hat, you can start to hat while doing some other element of your training programme.

For example, if you play The Flitting Game, you might hat and flit. If you are desensitizing to leaving triggers, you might hat and fiddle with keys or a coat or shoes.

Hatting can be very good for dogs who assume that when you go out, they are missing out on a fun trip. It’s also great for dogs who are still able to see you once you’ve left your property, for instance from a door or window as you walk along the street. Once they understand that hat = no attention/this activity is not for you, it transfers quite well to you leaving. You were unavailable anyway, so there’s no cause for frustration!

It rarely works all by itself, however, so you will have to work on absence duration, desensitisation, or counter-conditioning to leaving triggers, as well as hatting, but it can be a useful tool in your toolkit!