Spectrum of Fear
Learning is not Linear. Every individual learns and changes differently. This applies to our dogs as well..
We think changing behavior should be a straightforward progression with constant, albeit gradual improvement. This is almost never the case, especially with our dogs.
This is never more true than when you are working with fear. Fear is a spectrum ranging from total shutdown to total fight. The challenge is many people mistakingly believe that a state of shutdown is the dog being “fine” with something, when in reality that means the dog is so scared they have given up. They are choosing not to do anything for fear of the consequences.
The other end of that spectrum is what we see when we think of reactivity and aggression. A dog barking lunching growling and maybe even biting because they are afraid enough they just want to get the scary thing go away.
Both outward expressions are driven by the same inward feelings. Past experiences and genetics have a lot to play and how the dog chooses express these feelings of fear.
When I have clients come to me wanting to deal with their dog’s reactivity. It is so much more than just training. We have to change the way the dog truly feels inside. And that my friend is a marathon, not a sprint.
If you know what you’re looking for along the way, you will see milestones of behavior shifts in your dog. One of the common things you may see along the way is a dog who starts to display fearful behavior versus fully reacting when presented with a trigger. This is what I saw today with my dog Livvy.
We went to the vet for our weekly Happy Visit and there was a gentleman waiting in the lobby. We had to walk past him to get to our exam room. Where before Livvy would have fully reacted and I would not have been able to even distract her with that close space. Today, she put her head down and cautiously tail tucked past them into the room. Where she promptly got rewarded!!!
What does that mean?. Does that mean everything’s fixed because she didn’t react? Absolutely not! This just means she is learning how to control her own emotions. It still means we have a long way to go to help her feel comfortable in those situations, but what is represents is progress and improvement!
We often forget to relish in those moments always wanting the problem to be “fixed”. For many dogs like LIvvy there is no “fix” there is no end goal. There is gradual improvment and constant adjustment on the part of their handler to adjust, adapt, and assist the dog at the other end of the leash. As the dog learns to control their emotions and builds confidence, less and less in the world bothers them. That is the goal of behavior modification.
This is why learning to read your dog’s body languageis so important. A dog’s only way to tell us they’re afraid it’s through their body language. They can’t tap you on the shoulder like your 5-year-old and say Mommy “I’m afraid of that man”.
This is also why tools such as choke, pinch and shock collars are so detrimental to our fearful and aggressive dogs. We can never change the root cause of our dog’s fear by adding more fear and/or pain. What we can do is put our dog in that state of total shutdown, otherwise called learn helplessness.
In this case, the dog is not “cured”. The dog is simply too afraid to show they’re afraid. They choose to do nothing because nothing they do will help. If they show their fear the consequences is pain.
So please if you are dealing with a dog who is displaying fear behaviors , find a qualified behavior expert to help you. If you truly want to help your dog, you will find that you have to learn more than you ever wanted to know about dogs and dog behavior.
We are always here to help!
