Anxious Dog?
If you think your dog behaves a certain way because he’s anxious, a different view of anxiety can lead us to solutions. This view is through the lens of behavior science.
It’s not a pre-existing state or personality trait that’s causing what we’re seeing our distressed dog do, but rather his body’s response to certain signals —seen, heard, smelled, or felt—that mean danger.
Anxiety is the anticipation of something bad, from the individual dog’s point of view.The unpleasant event that actually happened in the past may be unknown to us, overlooked, or forgotten.
Excitement is the opposite of anxiety: a joyful response to signals that predict something pleasant, like picking up the leash.
Common signals or predictors of Scary Things for many dogs include:
the doorbell or knocking,
the distinctive sound of a delivery truck,
an off-leash dog or an approaching dog,
seeing you getting dressed to go out,
being put into the crate or car
leaning over or reaching out to the dog,
distant rumbling in the sky,
tightening of leash or collar.
Because these signals preceded the Scary Thing in the past (even possibly one time), they set off the behaviors we label as frightened, anxious, reactive, or aggressive. The function of these behaviors is to escape or avoid a threat.
When an animal (or human) perceives danger, its sympathetic nervous system responds automatically with Freeze, Fight, Flight, or Fidget/Fool around. Therefore, these extreme behaviors are telling us that our pet feels they’re in a life-or-death situation. Our challenge is how to make them feel safer.
Unfortunately, some guardians—and some trainers—believe that the way to make it stop is with over-exposure (flooding) and/or “correcting” the behavior (punishment). While this approach can appear to work quickly, it’s only suppressing the unwanted behaviors.
A dog who’s punished (any consequence that decreases behavior) or is forced to face his fears (in a misguided attempt to "socialize”) learns that he’s also facing unpleasant consequences for pulling away or jumping, barking, lunging, growling, etc.—and that his person cannot be trusted to keep him safe.
Under even slightly different conditions, those behaviors can (and do) reappear because the underlying reason for them hasn’t changed: the dog doesn’t feel any better about those signals or triggers.
Changing that perception of a threat is the way science-minded trainers and behaviorists change anxious behavior for the long term (though no one who’s honest or ethical can guarantee future behavior). This approach usually takes longer, but is obviously more effective, more humane, and improves welfare.
If you’re struggling with anxious behaviors and would like to learn more, have a look at my program here: https://www.dogsbehavingbetter.com/big-feelings
