By: Eileen Koval, CDBC, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, MSc
Fear and phobia are often used interchangeably, but they are two very different things. Fear is an immediate emotional response to a stimulus that the animal perceives as threating, but it typically does not interfere with one's overall quality of life. The response to the perceived threat is not generalized and not of such intensity that the dog is unable to function as a dog normally should. On the other hand, phobias are more intense, often generalized, and impact quality of life. They may result in an elevated baseline anxiety level throughout the day, rather than a simple and immediate reaction to a momentary occurrence. The dog experiencing the phobia does everything he/she can to avoid the object, situation, or contextual reminders. They may behave as if their life is in immediate peril, even without any threat present. For example, a dog may do everything in his power to avoid getting out of the car at grassy public parks because he twice heard cars backfire when he was playing fetch in the grass at a public park. A dog may begin aggressively guarding one of his paws from any handling, even though it is not currently injured, because a groomer once cut the nails on that paw painfully short while roughly restraining him. A dog may become phobic about leaving the house to walk anywhere outdoors after hearing a firework outside while walking in the neighborhood.
For some dogs, the emotional (and behavioral) responses would have stopped after experiencing fear during the specific event. It merely would have been a momentary bad experience. For other dogs, it develops into a full-blown phobia of anything that reminds them of the situation, including contextual reminders. Once an animal's behavior reaches the level of what appears to be phobia, that is when it is outside the realm of what is "normal" canine behavior. At this point, it is important to get a veterinary evaluation, along with a diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Tackling phobias requires a dual approach working alongside a qualified behavior-focused veterinarian, in addition to working on emotional and behavioral changes with a qualified behavior consultant (not a trainer).
How does this start?
Some dogs, like people, are genetically pre-disposed toward suffering from anxiety disorders. One of the more common anxiety and phobia issues that I see with pet dogs is noise phobias or environmental sensitivities/phobias. This can run in particular breeds and certain lineages within a breed. Very commonly, we see this in herding and guardian breeds that are bred for heightened environmental awareness, including a sensitivity to noises. Often times, if a dog is anxious about one thing, such as noises, you may see other anxieties surface, like dog reactivity. Like people, dogs that suffer from physical pain are more likely to experience anxiety. Any dog experiencing sudden or increased noise sensitivities should be checked by a veterinarian for pain, although pain can be admittedly hard to identify with animals that hide their pain well and cannot speak.
When puppies are little, people often do one of two things. They either keep them inside to shelter them from the world that might hurt them, or they take their puppies everywhere to expose them to sounds, surfaces, people, and noises. Exposure to the outside world is crucial for puppies to habituate to normal sights/sounds, to develop positive emotions and to learn appropriate behavioral responses in social interactions. However, it is important to do so thoughtfully if puppies have not received all the rounds of core vaccines. Unfortunately, some people may give up all together on early socialization out of fear. This is a common scenario despite the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior's position that the risk of not properly socializing puppies outweighs the risk of them potentially contracting illness. AVSAB states that puppies can begin socializing in classes at 7-8 weeks, as long as it is at least one week after the first round of vaccines and de-worming. Exposing puppies to the outside world during the primary socialization period can help build confidence while preventing fears and/or phobias from forming. These puppies have a wide array of new experiences during their first three months of life, when they are most impressionable. Continued socialization throughout adolescence is also imperative. In my experience, lack of early and continued socialization is the top cause of severe noise and environmental sensitivities. Sometimes, these can be dogs who are petrified of going on walks in their neighborhood -- often darting around on leash with tight body, pinned ears and tail tucked even with nothing happening outside. That fear may be worse at parks where there are picnics going on nearby, soccer games across the field, and other happenings that can lead to additional background noise and stimulus overload. They may also show unusual fear around the presence of people or other dogs due to a lack of healthy, positive experiences. Owners may unfortunately look at this as an obedience issue and seek out a trainer instead of addressing the deep underlying issues resulting in the unwanted behavior. Going the route of behavioral suppression can (sometimes) bring a quick fix, but typically results in poorer animal welfare, as well as serious emotional and behavioral issues emerging later.
Fear periods are also a culprit. Dogs may suffer from bad experiences during their second socialization period (~6-18 months of age), during which fear periods can come and ago. Dogs are more sensitive during these fear periods and bad experiences can result in trauma that stays with them for the rest of their lives. People frequently give their dogs more freedom during this period since they often have gone through some basic training already as a puppy. They let them off leash sometimes, or take them to dog parks. The scenario I hear the most is that someone's adolescent puppy was playing with another dog at a dog park, and the adolescent was bullied aggressively by an unfamiliar dog. After this, all dogs were a life or death threat to the adolescent. When on walks, these dogs may pant rapidly upon seeing dogs far away, sometimes even drooling as other dogs near, before lunging and growling at other dogs who are passing at an extreme distance.
A fear can usually be addressed successfully with behavioral conditioning to change the emotional response while teaching new behavioral responses. Phobias are not as quick to change. They usually involve a combination of skilled behavior modification and behavior medicine approaches. Severe fears, severe anxiety, and phobias are not just an unwanted behavior; they can potentially be a medical condition themselves or indicative of the presence of other illness, pain, or other medical conditions. Working with a qualified behavior-focused veterinarian as well as a certified behavior consultant can help pet parents to understand the issue and map out a plan to bring about emotional and behavioral change. Phobias and extreme fears can often be improved significantly, but do not respond well to simple "exposure" sorts of therapy. In these cases, forced exposure (flooding) can actually further sensitize the animal and worsen the emotional and behavioral responses. Most of the time, animals have been around these every-day noises or other stimuli for most of their lives, but have not habituated to them as a normal, healthy dog would. This is why a dual approach is necessary. In behavioral conditioning, we utilize slow, measured desensitization in unique ways to significantly reduce intensity of the animal's experience, counter conditioning, and other behavioral approaches that do not cause fear, pain, coercion, or other unpleasant experiences. Your animal should be set up with appropriate challenges that are achievable, and where the exercises still feel enjoyable. Working through phobias requires patience and persistence so that the dog and pet parent can hopefully have an end result of a better quality of life.
I am always here to work as a team with pet parents, veterinarians, and vet clinics to bring about the best behavioral and welfare outcomes for pets.
-- Eileen
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Eileen Koval, CDBC, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, MSc (in Operations Management) is a fully certified dog behavior consultant with the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC). She believes the foundation of a good cross-species relationship is understanding the needs and normal behavior patterns of each dog as an individual, as he/she was bred to be. She enjoys helping humans and dogs communicate more effectively to create brilliant relationships with joy, purpose, and fulfillment for all species involved. She offers private consulting for serious dog behavior issues, obedience/manners, and agility training. Eileen developed a unique online course to help pet parents and trainers develop reliable snake avoidance behavior off-leash through positive reinforcement techniques. These techniques have been applied by trainers worldwide to teach dogs reliable avoidance of dangerous environmental hazards and off-leash property boundaries. She lives on a small ranch in Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband and their Nederlandse Kooikerhondjes.
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