The Curious Incident of the Hedgehog in the Night

We have a creature living in our garden.  Several nights ago the dogs were all showing a lot of interest around the vegetable patch, an area usually out of bounds and not at all worth checking out as it’s boring.  When I looked, I was surprised by a very large hedgehog who had sensibly retreated into a football sized spiky mass.  Our garden is thoroughly enclosed with close panel fencing so the creature must have moved into the garden while small enough to fit through the fence and then enjoyed a feast big enough to grow and grow.  No wonder the slugs haven’t been too bad this year.

After a couple of nights of calm, my old lady decided last night, that there was something under a bush and had a good shout about it.  When I looked, there was Mr. Hedgehog again happily enjoying the fallen cherries which littered the garden.  When I brought puppy Guinness out for his last pee to the back of the garden, he refused to move past our big tree and retreated barking his little puppy bark like his life depended on it.  Guinness is now 11 weeks and hasn’t overreacted or freaked out about anything so far, so this reaction surprised me.  Especially since he was a good 10 feet from the spot the hedgehog was happily munching away, but must have smelt it in the dark.

So I found myself in a situation that many owners are put in when their new dog shows a fear of what we consider an everyday occurrence.  Given the circumstances, it doesn’t bother me all that much that he has chosen a small spiky creature to be afraid of as they are rare enough and worth staying away from if you have a soft collie nose.  However I want my boy to be well adjusted and comfortable whatever we come across so I decided to work through the problem then and there. 

Retreating to the house, I got a carton of extra tasty fresh meat dog food and sat on the patio at a distance away from the scary hedgehog which Guinness was comfortable with.  After several licks of the food at a safe distance, I gradually moved closer and closer allowing the puppy to dictate the pace and of course allowing him to sniff the air and retreat again if he so wished. 

Classical conditioning is a means by which a neutral or scary stimulus (in this case our spiky friend) can be turned positive by coupling the encounter with something extra pleasant.  This can only be achieved if the dog isn’t overwhelmed and is at a distance by which he is aware of the fearful thing, but not so close that he is too stressed to eat what you’re offering.  With a young puppy the attitude alteration often faster than you think.  It's possible to link in the dog’s brain something scary like a hedgehog with something positive like a meat feast.  Within ten minutes last night, Guinness was sitting within a foot of the spiky creature, sniffing the air but paying more attention to the carton of food.  This technique is an invaluable tool to help fearful dogs overcome their stress and worry and is pretty easy to carry out by most pet dog owners with minimal guidance.  I think Mr.Hedgehog may have had a learning experience too as crumbs of tasty dog food were left where the puppy had been, so everyone went to bed full and happy.