Anxiety and stress
Disclaimer
– This is not ideology-driven training. We aim to deal with real world problems with real world solutions.
FEAR VS ANXIETY
Fear
Fear is essential for survival. In a famine, the resource-guarding dog would live. The chaser can hunt more effectively. The territorial dog would guard the puppies. The fearful dog is the first to notify the group of danger. It flees, enhancing its chances of survival. Fearless wild creatures do not survive. We believe that "they should not be afraid," and we wish to "teach" the dog not to be afraid. Emotions rule the dog, and you can't 'train' someone not to be afraid. The dog has no control over his emotions. However, YOUR reaction to the 'event,' or your fear, controls the dog. Fear reactivity is a visceral 'reflex', which means that dogs do not strive to control their feelings. They simply have a reflex reaction. It has nothing to do with the dog's "wants" or level of obedience. It makes no difference whether they are excellent or terrible.
Fear has targets
Afraid of other dogs, men with beards, noises, and hands. The dog's fears are easy to figure out. Dogs in pain fall in this category. When they hurt, dogs hide under things. They don't know how to understand pain. They can't talk about or understand pain. When a dog growls, it turns away. It wants to make more room. Fear makes everyone in a group afraid. They are afraid of EVERYTHING.
Anxiety/Stress
Dog Anxiety is a state in which the dog reacts to a stimulant that causes fear or threatens survival. Anxiety is an involuntary emotional response. Anxiety is a chemical/physical reaction to a target/trigger that causes a reaction in the Fear/Flight section of the brain. Anxiety is not a cognitive reaction because the primal portion of the brain cannot think but only reacts. Dogs do not 'think' about managing their reactions.
They are concerned about the environment and the future, always glancing about, constantly on watch. Concerned about 'what is to come.' Their pupils have dilated. They lock their gaze. It is frequently the most reactive, yet in the end, it is 'frequently' the least likely to respond. It's tough to foresee what they're worried about, and it might change. Anxiety is the fear of what is to come. They may respond aggressively. Separation anxiety is the fear that they will be alone forever.
Reactivity isn't the same as aggression. We only notice it when it is rude or bothersome behaviour. Dogs are imitators and will feed off of your body language; they can read your pheromones and chemicals. Offensive behaviour is just an "overreaction" when a dog hasn't learnt a better behaviour. It does not begin with aggression, and Offensive behaviour is never static; it is always decreasing or accelerating. You can teach your dog coping skills, and dogs may learn to control their emotions. Anxiety is a vague encompassing term and therefore will be different for each dog as each is unique.
Reactivity
Dogs communicate by their reactions. A dog with normal behaviour provides warnings to avoid aggression. It's merely noise and body language indicating stay away.' Reactions are just feelings. What exactly is a Reactive Dog? It is a dog's 'overreaction/drama' to a circumstance the dog cannot handle. It's a dog's method of making space when it doesn't know what else to do. The dog was never trained not to bite. No or little impulse control training. Inadequate socialisation. Punishment obscures feelings. You can't tell when your dog is going to bite. Different Reactions in Different Environments
FEAR AND EMOTIONAL CONFLICT - A physical response
Dogs experience three emotions:
- Pleasure - Play, social engagement, hunting, chasing, and eating are all examples of pleasure.
- Fear - resource guarding, stranger aggression, separation anxiety OCD, phobias, and jealousy
- Hostility - Territoriality, resource protection, sexual challenge, and internal defence (the dog's body gets ready for battle or flight) are all signs of hostility.
Dogs are unable to feel fear and pleasure simultaneously. Different parts of the brain control pleasure and fear. Many dogs won't even consider reacting until humans start to feel stressed. After all, we want to "teach" the dog not to be fearful because we believe "they shouldn't be afraid." However, it is impossible to "train" someone to be fearless. The emotion is not under the dog's control. The dog is controlled by emotion. However, THE DOG IS CONTROLLED BY YOUR REACTION TO THE "ACTION" OR YOUR FEAR. Your dog's inherent defensive systems are triggered by stress, which causes the heart to beat faster, and the dog becomes more agitated, ready to run away or fight. The dog will get weaker if those stores of the coping mechanism are depleted. Their ability to fight against illness and disease may decline, and their chances of getting sick increase. Long-term, persistent fear can lead to physical and psychological illness developments. It might cause a dog's life to be cut short or negatively affect life quality. It can lower the immunological response of your dog, making him more susceptible to opportunistic illnesses. It can change the blood supply to crucial organs, and It can also lead to the emergence of obsessive behaviours, allergies, stomach aches and diarrhoea.
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE EMOTIONS
You should endeavour to change your emotional response to a situation which drives your dog's behaviour. Teach your good dog manners as well as coping abilities. We may mistake a dog's emotions, meaning, intent, and body language according to our perceptions. Attempt to control the visceral reaction. Stop teaching the dog to react by simply yelling at it. Give the dog a new "survival skill." Build relationships, speak clearly, and 'leave our agenda at the door.' Dogs read your chemistry and body language better than we read them.
GENERALISATION & ASSOCIATION
If something happens, it will always happen in this order: where you are, how you are, where the dog is, and how the dog reacts. If I get a new cue for the dog, then it needs to be done in this manner, at this location, and at this time. For example, my dog does it perfectly at home. Learning is driven by cause and effect—training benefits from using incentives to achieve a desirable end. Your dog's constant response to your stimulus is referred to as obedience. A good training response is automatic in response to your stimulus. That element is to blame if anything enters my environment and causes me pain. I am safe since I am experiencing happy feelings. Dogs learn by association. I'll keep doing it as long as it keeps me safe and makes me happy. Everything is based on the connection between events and sensory inputs. (hand signals, body language, verbal)
THE PROBLEM - HOW DO GOOD DOGS BECOME REACTIVE
How did we create the problem
New experiences might be scary. Socialising reduces the number of new items encountered only if they are associated with pleasure. We let pups become excited and 'practise' being hyper. Seeing a puppy perform the zoomies, chase its tail, or chase a leaf/ball/frisbee is endearing. Arousal increases and triggers stack until something happens. It may appear minor, yet it transforms the arousal into fear/stress. "Think of arousal as a red cloud of energy that interferes with judgement and causes poor behaviour," says Trish King. Nobody educates the dog to make good choices. He makes poor judgments, which leads to DRAMA and 'attention.' WE KNOW THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG. We do not train our dogs to be more tolerant of frustration. We do not develop coping skills. We do not widen the scope of our expectations of the dog. We do not help the dog burn off cortisol. A lack of learned alternative behaviours leads to reactive, aggressive, obnoxious, and unpleasant behaviours.
WHERE DID I GO WRONG?
Alpha and Dominance – sorry, the old wolf pack theories have been disproved for about 15 years. Puppies run wild and do not train till six months, or we leave dogs outside for long periods to 'do what they want. Too many corrections – not enough reward, accidental leash corrections, interfering when dogs are getting to know each other and working it out, freaking out at our dog's behaviour when there is nothing to fear. You stopped doing things (play ball/tug/chase) that decreased your dog's stress removing their chance to learn coping skills. Not learning to listen to our dog when it tells us it has had enough—not building a relationship—not playing, engaging, and making our dog feel safe—forcing a dog to face too much, too soon—treating a dog like a child. Letting dogs rehearse unacceptable behaviours. Not enough mental or physical stimulation. We did not teach the dog impulse/prey control.
ANTHROPOMORPHISM & UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
Our expectations, such as that dogs should be like children, may cause problems. We want the dog to "look after" us in the sense of providing for our needs. The dog can't fulfil our wants. When the dog is agitated, it stops responding. We place the dog under emotional stress, we put the dog through emotional hardship and the dog has no recourse. We assign dogs' reflective behaviour and destructive behaviour to moral and cognitive actions, and we convert the dog's behaviour into their human equivalents. A dog is considered to be "grinning" when it shows its teeth. We assign to dogs human characteristics like anger, revenge, and guilt. "He knew what he had done was wrong." We expect dogs to be good since we have cared for and rescued them. We expect them to appreciate it.
People often have misconceptions about aggression. We'd like to think they're doing their best to keep us safe.
LEASH REACTIVITY
The dog cannot run or escape on the lead and is unable to "create room". The leash prevents the dog from fighting; therefore, the only option is to try to scare off the approaching Target or Trigger. On lunging and barking, corrections are given to the dog frequently without explanation. The dog associates the reprimand with anything nearby or on its way. Corrections made inadvertently are the "Midnight Race" to frustration. More often, the owner becomes increasingly concerned with the behaviour when going out with the dog. When the dog senses this, he becomes concerned. Sometimes the owners are in a hurry and hurry out of the house after putting on the leash, but their dog is looking for a Target or Trigger. The dog is not happy. The dog is not at all soothed. Nothing is done to change the dog's emotional state.
DIAGNOSIS PROBLEMS
Pop Science strives to make things simpler. It causes others to label behaviour, and if you "say it loud enough" or "often enough," you are viewed as an expert without providing citations or references. Dog behaviour is influenced by training, human connection, socialisation, dog personalities, breeds, drive, sensitivity, and instinct. Our Anxiety and frustration impact the dog's behaviour. What one dog considers "threshold" behaviour is another dog's calming signals. A dog's reaction to a threat is unique to the dog. There are two types of reflexes: active and passive. Our emotional response to a particular situation can change the dog. We witness people with little pets cringing and picking up their dogs. The dog's level of fear/anxiety grows. The dog may have identified a solution if the owner merely let the dog 'deal' with the problem. We see when two dogs argue, then leave them alone for 5 minutes, and they'll be playing. We are working hard to put a stop to the behaviour. The problem is that we treat the symptom while ignoring the cause. We do not deal with teaching the dog new behaviours or how to cope with fear or stress. Our attempts may mask the behaviour.
We create conflict.
STIMULUS GENERALISATION
Using the classical conditioning, dogs may be taught to connect a neutral sound with a rewarding experience (food). - A friend visits the home. Your dog is excited to meet Friend when he hears the doorbell. Dog adores the sound of the doorbell as cortisol levels soar, which can be good or bad. The Little Albert experiment from 1913 illustrates how a dog learns to associate identical undesirable stimuli.
Sometimes if it gets out of hand, you chase the dog, shout, and push it into the crate. The dog is now afraid and alone. The next time the doorbell rings, horrible things are about to happen. The dog growls because he cannot escape a sound (he cannot pinpoint it). The stranger at the door leaves (postman). To correct the dog, you are not home. The dog has discovered that strangers are stopped by aggression. On a walk, your dog growls, and a stranger backs up (just 1 inch). They are growling means making room. It's good to growl.
TRIGGER STACKING – SELF-CONTROL DEPLETION
How does trigger stacking work?
Dogs under the threshold can make wise decisions. Dogs over the threshold will try to create room and space for themselves. If too much of it, it causes a "reflexive response," i.e. barking, lunging, growling and so on.
Good: Stress begins at 0. Dogs have a stress episode +2. Time allows the dog's cortisol level to drop to zero. The dog is ready for the subsequent encounter.
Bad:
Stress starts at zero. The dog has stress event +2. Shortly after, the dog has another +2 occurrence. The current stress level is +4 and keeps adding on after that.
Cortisol's return to normal level may take 72 hours.
Imagine that stress is to a dog what a shock is to a human. We don't feel well. We are unable to think clearly. We don't feel at ease. Impulse control and self-restraint are learnt behaviours. They must be practised as if it were to become muscle memory to deal with trigger stacking.
Miller et al., also from 2010, connect decreased self-control with glucose depletion in the brain.
THERAPY TREATMENTS MANAGEMENT IMPROVING LIFE
HOW TO FIX THE PROBLEM
You can alter your dog's emotional response (Ian Dunbar). meet the dog's emotional needs.
Give your dog acceptable behaviour. Let them "make decisions" If a dog "shuts down" psychologically and waits for a correction, it cannot make wise decisions. Establish a cooperative connection with your dog so that it will turn to you for safety as a "response."
Burn the cortisol off. You have around 10 minutes to alter your dog's emotional reaction to the target or trigger following the "event". Develop self-control over your "reaction." It doesn't matter if you feel fear or not. It does not matter whether you are making an effort. It is all about what messages you send to the dog. Some other suggestions -
- BAT (John Fisher – let the dog choose)
- TACT (focus on me and ignore the trigger)
- CAT (Let's work out bad feelings on a stuffed dog)
- Reactive Rover Classes (let's do this together)
- Operant/Classical Conditioning/Desensitising - Why it isn't standalone, because it needs to work together.
- Push Therapy and Relationship Therapy
- Abandonment Therapy – Using the dog's social needs to fix the problem.
- Punishment/correction doesn't work because you are training into the void.
WHY/WHEN BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION FAILS
Cognitive actions can only get one response at a time. We teach the dog an 'alternative' reaction to the event to modify his behaviour. We believe dogs should be able to perform two or three things at once, but they can't, so we compensate by dangling a reward over the dog's nose. WE DO NOT PRACTICE; without sufficient practice, we do not develop muscle memory. Dogs may react to our drama.
On the FLIP side, we can support our dogs in healing. Our emotions cloud the situation. We feel resentful, furious, fearful, and irritated, and we want the problem to end "NOW." This causes a chemical shift in us that the dog can detect. The dog may not respond intellectually to our emotional condition. It reacts to it. (Visceral response)
BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION MISTAKES
BEFORE we do anything, we wait for the dog to engage in undesirable behaviour. The essential thing we can do is to prevent the behaviour from occurring. Toss the treat before the dog begins growling.
Don't teach the dog to deal with eye contacts, such as a staring contest, humans walking directly at the dog, or passing dogs. We teach obedience until the dog no longer irritates us. We do not raise the bar. We don't proof it. We never introduce new items into the dog's environment. We must teach redirection, recalls, and 'drop!' until they become reflexes (Imprinting) rather than cognitive processes. We need consistency. Obedience, play, and exercise must become a way of life. We micromanage everything. We yanked the dog away. We push the dog to act in a certain way. We don't leave it to the dog to "figure things out." We concentrate on ending the hostility while ignoring the dog's wants, emotions, and reflexes.
Emotions are the problem – Emotions are the solution
WHAT DOGS NEED
The importance of predictability and consistency cannot be overstated to feel secure being heard.
Dogs require 'space' to keep their emotions in check and To establish good associations
Positive Associations Lead to Positive Behaviour. Dogs require positive consequences for both their poor and good behaviour. They rely on us to inform them when they are doing the correct thing. Good socialisation entails forming good associations with as many people as possible so that the 'generalised stimulus' = is good for anything or anybody that is unusual. Do not train in a vacuum. Show the dog what the 'yes' is if you say no.
METHODS AND THERAPY
- BAT - Behaviour Adjustment Therapy - Let dogs make their own choices
- TACT – Touch Associated Clicker Training - Teaching the dog to learn how to remain calm or to calm itself. Teaching the dog coping skills
- Click to Calm – Emma Parsons - Manage behaviour and Rehabilitation for reactive dogs
- CAT - Constructional Aggression Treatment
- Push or Tug Therapy – Teaching Dogs coping skills
- Abandonment Therapy – Trish King uses social needs to teach dogs to stop aggressive behaviour
- Reactive Rover – Association, Generalization, Desensitisation
- Building Coping Skills (Susan Clothier)
HOW TO HELP
Take charge of training
You have around 10 minutes to adjust the dog's emotional response to the scary experience; therefore, you can employ any of the below.
- Play
- Treats
- Fun
- Affection
- Assist your dog in burning off the cortisol—high-energy Run.
Dogs grow into, rather than out of, aggression. It will worsen if you do not actively work to solve the situation. There is no point where behaviour becomes stagnant, i.e. behaviour stagnation zone. It's either becoming better or worse.
Obedience is ineffective. Teaching another task/trick will not improve behaviours or reactions to an experience unless used as displacement behaviour with appropriate behaviour modification.
Keep things simple; Crate Train to avoid overstimulation; Try minimising the dog's self-gratification from bad behaviour and practising negative behaviours.
SOCIALISATION
Socialising does not entail subjecting your dog to scary situations. It is about instilling confidence, trust, courage, fearlessness, and mental fortitude in the dog. If it takes your dog a month to approach people, then so be it.
It is about developing positive emotional associations with people, dogs, and "scary things."
Do not subject the dog to constant stress without YOU taking control of the situation through training. Your dog is defenceless.
LOOK – LEAVE IT
You could say "look" and hold treats in front of the dog's face all day; it will not help if you don't develop a relationship with it. Offering a nice reward as a lure will not work unless there is a good relationship. A protocol must be in place and adhered to until it is perfect. Focus initially on developing relationships, and then the subsequent behaviour has to be reinforced until it becomes reflexive.
The dog needs to have trust in you. Always remain composed.
RELATIONSHIPS
So, develop a bond and communication with your dog. Work together to make your dog feel safe and secure and meet its emotional needs. Teach your dog to be calm.
Moreover, control your anxiousness by learning to relax and stop yanking on the leash. Develop coping mechanisms and create positive associations.
TEACH DOG TO BE CALM
- Tellington Touch TT
- Canine Massage
- Calming protocols
- Impulse control
- Classical and Operant Conditioning
- Teach an alternative behaviour
- Play and Treat
- Clicker training
- Don't let dogs play rough, bite, etc. If they can do it to you, then other dogs can do it to them.
STAY SAFE
Make space for the dog. Walk slowly and look for a visual barrier. Try tossing goodies in the air if the dog is nearby. Only three out of four times in tests did this work for me.
Slowly count back while you breathe. Be composed. Try to remain still, don't move, and stop all motions for both of you if the dog doesn't respond. Keep your dog's attention off the other dog. Keep them away from "lock and load" stare-offs.
Try to ignore the other dog and maintain composure in your voice.
IT'S YOUR DOG'S CHOICE. YOU CAN'T MAKE IT HAPPEN.
