Fear
is dog磗 normal self-protective response to potentially injurious
stimulation, it磗 natural. It is expressed in three broad ways: freeze,
flight and fight. Fear-elicited fighting occurs in sit...
Fear
is dog磗 normal self-protective response to potentially injurious
stimulation, it磗 natural. It is expressed in three broad ways: freeze,
flight and fight. Fear-elicited fighting occurs in situations involving
intense fearful arousal and where flight is blocked. Outward signs of
fear include a variety of body postures, facial expressions and
physiological indicators. Dogs will freeze, attempt to escape or
attack, depending on the fear-eliciting situation. Physiological
changes in dog are among other things raised pulse, increased panting,
thick salivatio, raised blood pressure, shivering and trembing,
pupillary dilation, and lose bowel and bladder control. A fearful dog
will often lower its head and avert eye contact, fasten its ears back
and tuck the tail tightly between the legs. Fearful dogs may also
scramble frantically to escape or evade a feared object while loudly
whining, yelping or shrieking.
When
a dog is frightened, for example sudden loud noise, it reacts
instinctively. So fear is an adaptive emotional response to threats and
danger. It is a basic survival mechanism. In brain fear is processed by
thalamus. There are two routes, auditory cerebral cortex (slow route,
processes the information and gives directives) and amygdala (fast
route, subliminal). After the information has moved on, nucleus either
stimulates or turns off the autonomic nervous system. Fear has its
"own" region of the brain and severe fright develops a memory of the
stimulus and also memory of the action and its efectiviness.
Phylogenic
sources of fear include such triggers as pain, rapid stimulus change,
sudden movements, heights, isolation, loud noises, strangers, fire,
water, and unfamiliar enviromental and social situtations. Whereas
ontogenic sources of fear are mostly the result of learning and
experience. Pathogenic fear (generalized anxiety and phobia) occurs
when the fearful arousal cannot be avoided or escaped. Dogs that are
pathologically anxious or phobic, are unable adaptively to escape or
avoid fearful arousal. So these dogs labor futilely under the influence
of escalating fear and anxiety.
Systematic desensitization (classical conditioning)
is a safe way to treat fear related problems. It refers to a careful
manipulation of the intensity of the fear-evoking thing, so that it
doesn磘 generate a fear response. Desensitization requires patience and
careful planning from the dog trainer. Counterconditioning (classical conditioning)
is ussually used together with desensitization. It essentially involves
opposing one response by the elicitation of another. To be controlled,
fear must be countered by the elicitation of an even stronger and
incompatible emotional response. So right after much less frightening
stimulus is presented to the dog, a pleasant thing - the
conterconditioning stimulus - is presented, to build a new association.
This may be a favorite toy, game or tasty food, but it must be
extremely potent. Systematic desensitization and counterconditioning
requires a great deal of repetitions, and only after that we can start
to build substitutive action to replace the fear reaction. The final
goal is that the stimulus (that triggered fear) becomes a clue to do
something (for example "sit", "look" etc.) that is incompatible for
fear (operant conditioning).
It
is important to check dog磗 heath (exercise, nutrition, activivation
etc.) first and sort out fear-eliciting situations and events. We must
carefully identify the stimuli that evoke fear and the situations in
which fearful behavior is likely to occur. For example,
counterconditioning can be carried out to a wrong stimulus, if we don磘
know exactly what triggers the fear in dog. Animal behaviorism also
knows a method called flooding
in reducing fear. Flooding is a desensitization process with direct
exposure to the fear-evoking stimulus until fear subsides. A precaution
needs to be carefully observed: if dog is fearful when the flooding
exposure is terminated, its fearfulness might be made worse. Flooding
is a problematic method because it is hard to accomplish in practice,
it involves risks and it evokes stress in dog.
We can use operant conditioning also (with classical conditioning) in fear-evoking situations. In that case we reinforce dog磗 calm state of mind by withdrawing the fear-evoking stimulus (negative reinforcement).
So dog learns to regulate the frightening situation with its own
behavior. This technique is problematic because we have to know exactly
what is/are the fear-evoking stimulus and remove it/them just the right
time.
Dog磗 owner has also a very important role when reducing fear in the dog. Dog磗 social dependency (social learning)
makes it keenly aware of the behavior of others (also owner磗
behavior). So its good to remember it as a assistance when redusing
fear in dogs. Medication can also be one cure and assistance to fear
problems.
