Oooh. Scary.

Next week I'm working with a client whose dog has some fear/angry/scary issues.  The owner isn't quite sure what happened or why it started.  She left for a week and returned to her house-sitter telling her that her dog was a monster and nearly attacked another dog while they walked through the park.

Before she called me, she was told to use a choke chain (ew!), prong collar (ew! ew!), not to take the dog for a walk until the "problem was fixed"  (what?), and she may have no choice but to put the dog down (omg!)

We'll meet next week to assess what is really going on, but from all accounts, I'm expecting this to be a case of fear-aggression, so I have been thinking about fear from a dog's point of view.

Most dog trainers constantly reiterate that it is important not to ascribe human ways of understanding fear to dogs.  They don't develop fear and learned responses the same way we do.  Their body language that shows fear to their own species is often causes fear in humans.   And when it comes to uncovering what is wrong, we can't ask probing questions and get insightful responses in the way we are accustomed to doing with our friends.  Dogs don't get to sit around and talk and decompress with their friends by shopping.  Or over a couple of beers and a game of pool.  Or coffee.  Or shopping.  (Did I say that already?)

 

According to most dog behavioralist texts, there are three reasons a dog responds out of fear.

-- Improper socialization as a pup.  Mainly that the pup did not get enough experience with different types of people, dogs, sounds, touch, and movement in its formative 5-14 week stage and so did not learn self-soothing techniques or how to react.

-- Trauma.  Sudden, abrupt, scary-as-all-get-out event that challenged the dogs way of understanding his world.

-- Genetic tendencies bred into the dog for a purpose or by shoddy and irresponsible breeders.  

 

Fear can come from one or more of these categories, plus another factor that can compound the fear:  progressive de-socialization.

 

Progressive de-socialization (or a similar term) is mentioned in a lot of dog training books as a cause of fear in dogs.  An example is usually giving with an aggressive dog escalating behavior until his family decides no one can come over anymore or if they do the dog has to be locked in a kennel.  Another anecdote is usually given with a dog that is displaying dog-aggressive behaviors on walks.  Eventually, the owners stop the walks and the dog is confined to the yard, never to socialize with others of his kind.

Whenever de-socialization is listed as a cause of fear in an article or book, I usually have an internal debate that sounds like this:

Research-Reading Me:  No.  It is not a cause.  It aids in conditioning a fear-full response.  Less experiences means less opportunity to learn the right response.  It is imposed by owners.   Separation is the trauma.  De-socialization should be a sub-category of trauma.   

 

Holistic-Spiritual-We-Are-One Me:  Without any trauma, adult dogs that were separated from social situations develop antisocial behaviors and fear-response aggression.  Without regular access to new stimuli and energies, dogs develop patterns to cope with stress that may not be socially appropriate in our world or theirs.  They have no release for their energy and no new way to channel their anxiety about a situation.  Yes!  Of course de-socialization is a cause of fear.

 

So, of course that debate got in the way of me writing this post last night because while I debated with myself, the afternoon sped away and it was time to meet a friend for dinner.

It was about ten o'clock when I came back to my house to see Ollie, Gus, and Marshall wrestling in the living room.  My two severely developmentally challenged dogs and my "normal" pup were all enjoying each other's company and interacting.  A dog that had improper socialization as a puppy (Gus), a dog with abuse trauma (Ollie), and a dog whose ancestors were all bred to protect and guard (Marshall).

 

That's when I decided it was too easy to intellectualize and cite references rather than see the answer that was right before me.

 

The root of the fear may not be as important as what we do with the fear itself.   It makes sense to recharge and maybe remove ourselves from the environment or fear-inducing situation for a moment, but not permanently.  When our fear impacts our ability to interact with others,  hiding away and watch the outside world go by from behind our windows and fences isn't really all that acceptable.  We stop learning.  We stop growing.  We stop being able to contribute.  And our bond to each other, our ability to be caring and present is slowly eroded until we are so unsure of ourselves that everything is... scary.

Instead of removing ourselves or our dogs from fearful situations permanently, we need to focus on gradually learning how to confront our fears in controlled situations.  This works best when supported by friends and family (and sometimes professionals).  It works best with opportunities to practice, and do-overs, and consistency.  Developing the appropriate response to address our fear makes for happy learning and productive engagement with everything that makes us whole.

 

And makes for happy dogs of all sizes and backgrounds wrestling on my futon.