Fear Based Behaviors - An Overview

What are fear based behaviors?
The easy answer is that it is a behavior caused by fear. Fear is a stressor and the dog will
often try to reduce the stress in a way that works for it. These fears can manifest in many
ways, but tend to fall into a couple of categories: aggressive type behaviors and
avoidance type behaviors (please note that I am generalizing here for the sake of brevity).

What are aggressive type behaviors?
These behaviors include, but are not limited to, barking, growling, lunging, and
nipping/biting.

What are avoidance type behaviors?
These behaviors include, but are not limited to, hiding, running away, and avoiding the
object causing the fear.

Can a dog display both categories?
Yes. Many dogs will show a combination of both.

How do we treat fear based behaviors?
We use a technique called desensitization and counterconditioning. Basically, we pair the frightening object with food. The important things to remember when working with a fearful dog is that the food should be high value (no kibble) and that the distance between the dog and the frightening object is very important.

To recap: food and distance! Food and distance!

The Basics of Desensitization and Counterconditioning (reprinted from a previous
article)

• This is not luring or bribing.
• Food does not make aggression worse.
• The dog does not need to do anything but take the treat (no sits, downs or stays)
• If the dog takes the treat and spits it out, some benefit will still be seen.
• Distance between the scary object and the dog is critical. Start with more distance
• at first and slowly work up to being close to the object.
• Do not force the dog to be close to the object.
• Food fundamentally changes the emotional response that the dog has to the scary
• object. Praise and petting does not do this. Punishment will make the fear worse.
• Remember this equation
• Object = scary
• Object = food
• Food = good
• Object = good

When to use desensitization and counterconditioning:
When the dog is extremely shy or fearful.
When the dog is afraid of objects or things that are unclickable (like wind and rain noises).
When the dog is afraid of the clicker
Anytime!

Flooding
Flooding is a technique that forces the dog to be next to the object it fears until it stops fearing the object. Food is not involved with this process. Many people see the dog shut down and think that the dog is over its fear. In reality, the dog has given up. Flooding is considered to be aversive by many positive reinforcement trainers. It has been shown to backfire in many instances, since the dog does not overcome its fear, but,
instead, either shuts down completely (given up) or becomes even more fearful.

Some examples of flooding:

• Hunting dog is afraid of gunshots, so owner forces dog to be in a kennel next to the firing range.
• Herding dog is afraid of sheep. Owner forces dog to stay in the pasture with the sheep.
• Dog is afraid of strangers. Owner forces the dog to allow pats by strangers.
• Dog is afraid of being outside. Owner forces the dog to be outside.

In each of these instances, it is a rare dog that overcomes its fear and gets used to the objects. Instead, we tend to see more behavioral issues: inappropriate urination/defecation, avoidance of the object to the point where the dog will hurt itself or the owner in order to get away, aggression towards the objects it fears.

Nicholas Dodman Seminar - a review

This past Saturday, March 29, I attended a seminar at Happy Tails in Portland. The speaker was Dr. Nicholas Dodman, the director of the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine's Behavior Clinic. The seminar covered aggression in dogs.

First, the facility. There was plenty of parking, plenty of seats, and the food served at lunch was good. The one drawback to the facility was that the heater was very loud, so it made hearing Dr. Dodman difficult at times.

Second, the seminar. The presentation was very professional - slides were on PowerPoint and a large screen was used so that everyone in the room could see. Dr. Dodman was hooked up to a microphone so that everyone could hear. He was a very easy speaker to listen to, repeated questions so that everyone could hear and stayed on topic extremely well (he was very polished).

Dr. Dodman covered owner-directed (dominance) aggression, fear aggression, separation anxiety and OCD behaviors in dogs. Each section was thoroughly covered and he even had example videos of each behavior. Parts of his lecture covered studies that he and others had performed.

A great seminar and worth every penny spent. Happily, happy Tails will be having Jean Donaldson and Ray Coppinger come speak also, plus other noteworthy trainers.

Toenails

Grace let me clip three (!) of her nails last night! Of course, she was a bit hesitant and pulled back a little on the third nail, but she did great. And, got lots of treats. We'll do a few more tonight.

She is also getting much better about going out the door. She will now come out of her crate when coaxed and, even though she "slinks" across the room, she will allow me to grab her collar when I need to and is walking much better on a leash. She doesn't bolt away in fear anymore, either. In fact, she is doing so well that I am no longer using a drag line inside the house.

Her crate is her safe spot, though, and she doesn't like to come out of it. But, she has gotten to the point where she will stand in the doorway to her little "cave" and watch me while I prepare a meal or give the other dogs their treats. Of course, she gets treats, too, but she isn't ready to brave the room to get one. So, I walk her treat over to her and she will take it out of my hand, rather than cowering in the back of the crate.

And, because she spends so much time in there, even with the door open, I make sure that she gets plenty of stuffed Kongs and playtime outside. The Kongs keep her mind busy and the playtime outside lets her really stretch her legs. She especially likes to roll in the powdery snow. And, she has begun interacting with Robbie and Ella. She greeted Maggie really well last night, too.

And, since the kitchen is the place where we practice our obedience training, she gets to watch the other dogs go through their cues. Last night, she watched Maggie practicing "down." Every once in awhile, I would toss a treat to Grace, just for paying attention while Maggie was in class.

This doesn't seem like much improvement, but it is. She is getting braver and more confident. Tiny baby steps on the road towards adoption.