What is fear ?
It is an emotion. Which means that when doggy is facing up to something or someone that fills him/her with it, he/she has a physiological reaction that he/she cannot control. The function of fear is to allow the dog to react to a threat or danger in order to ensure his/her survival.
Four main types of reactions have been observed :
flee : the dog takes to his/her paw and run away to the opposite of the threat or danger,
freeze : the dog no longer moves, he/she may look like a statue, waiting for the threat or danger to walk away,
fight : the dog, so as not to defend him/herself, attacks so that the threat or danger walks away,
fooling : the dog assumes an impressive posture, feigns to be ready to attack, but changes strategy, often to fall back if the threat or danger moves forward.
The perception of what is threatening or dangerous is unique to each individual.
Why is my dog afraid ?
That may come from a lack of socialization, significant physiological sensitivities to certain aspects of the environment (such as noise), genetics, training with aversive tools, aversive experiences, watching how his/her owners react... Often, several parameters are intertwined.
Emotional contagion is a basic form of empathy. The dog will react to our reaction or that of other dogs, to the hormones we give off.
« The little one is certainly more afraid of you than you big one are of it ».
To stress how ludicrous someone's fear of a small creature (like spiders for instance), some people will use that phrase. Not only does it denote a lack of empathy (fear goes unrecognized and even denigrated), but on top of that it is also not entirely accurate. To start, fear, whether it is felt by a human being or by a dog, is neither controllable nor rationalizing. Moreover, although you won't consider being swallowed by a small creature, the Irukandji jellyfish, for example, measures no more than three centimeters and is yet one of the most hazardous. If your doggy has mostly had unpleasant experiences, or was even attacked by small dogs, regardless of his/her size, he/she may be afraid of them. It’s not the size that matters, but the association he/she makes with negative memories.
How to react ?
Personally, I tend to look at several aspects to help a dog cope with his/her fear :
what did he/she see, hear, feel before reacting out of fear ?
how is his/her fear expressed ? Does he/she seem to try to get my support ? To run away ? To attack ?
what does he/she get from his/her reaction ? His/her frighteners to walk away ? My reacting to his/her behavior and not his/her fear ?
does he/she discriminate among the scaring elements ? For example, one of my students was more scared of women than men.
has he/she gotten the resources to cope with his/her fear on his/her own ?
will my own reaction be appropriate ? Enough, not enough, or disproportionate ?
is my relationship with doggy able to allow him/her to take information from me ?
in what physical and/or emotional state am I ?
The dog will react following what worked in the past, and what seems to be working on the spot. His/her strategic choice is his/her own and motivated by his/her experience, not by the perception that we will have of his/her behavior. He/she will adapt later on according to our reaction.
A few examples :
- Pandhy and the imposing statue of a sheep : the trust that Pandhy had placed in me allowed me to give him information and have him take it into account. I approached the statue and touched it, caressed it. Meanwhile, Pandhy was watching and learning, from a distance he chose, how I assessed and reacted to its potential "threat". Then he took the "risk" of getting to know this thing up close.
- a shepherd in a shelter feared some other dogs. From time to time, I invited her for a “hug” exercise. She would come, if she wanted to (I didn't force her to tolerate a touch, my goal being for the moment to be consented and carried out in a pleasant exchange). When she was close to me, I petted her. One day, as deep-voiced dogs barked, she walked almost like tackled to the ground and whirled around as if they were about to jump on her from behind. Noticing that she was not regaining her composure and that it was interfering with her walk even though we had moved away, I offered to "hug" her. She came against my body ; I petted her, rubbed her ; she shook herself and relaxed.
- Oslo, whose life hadn't spoiled with city experiences, found many elements of the city aversive. His strategy was to charge whatever filled him with fear. In order for him to (re?)learn to opt for other tactics, I was working on two fronts at the same time. On the one hand, I associated the unpleasant elements with something pleasant (treats, play, run, hug) ; on the other hand, when elements passed at a certain distance, that he had observed them, I would send something of interest to him in the opposite direction (little by little, decreasing the distance of the sending) and rewarded him for going there. I had two objectives : to help him modify his emotional perception of the elements in question, and, to train him to move away if the elements are "too" close (a meter can sometimes be enough for a dog to calm down or not to charge).
I am not in favor of letting a dog cope with his/her fear on his/her own, especially if he/she does not know how to deal with the scaring element, especially if his resilience resources are limited or even absent, especially if his/her reaction can be dangerous for him/herself or others, especially if he/she comes to ask for help and expects a supportive response in return.
It's not about taking doggy in your arms as soon as something seems to upset him/her. It is about taking into account his/her emotions, how he/she expresses them, about giving him/her adequate information, about reassuring him/her so that he/she can relax and progress serenely. As long as he is in the grip of his/her fear, he/she cannot analyze and learn. His/her body is only in a logic of survival. By sharing with me how he/she feels, the dog shows me confidence, shows interest in the information I will pass on. By ignoring him/her or pushing him/her away, I let him/her be faced with what scares him/her, at the risk that his/her reaction will not be adapted to the situation, I show him/her little consideration.
Fear is indissociable from a living being. It is possible in the relationship we have with doggy to ensure that it is only temporary, that he/she knows how to cope and develop resilience capacities.
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