I pretend I’m Dian Fossey as I track Lilly’s various fear behaviors so that we can gauge their severity, speculate about their cause, measure any changes. Was that a happy kiss or an anxious one? Is not actively wanting to come in a door refusal or does it only count when she throws a true shutdown behavior at me, playing the writhing dustmop or the boat anchor? And, what constitutes hiding?
The nuances are staggering, truth be told. But, I’m trying very hard to BE THE SCIENTIST and merely record what happens.
When I told our behaviorist that at least some of Lilly’s kissing fits come after big gusts of wind … something I’d never noticed until I simply sat and watched her for a couple hours one day. I guessed it was a wind chime problem, but she told me that many anxious dogs are bothered by wind. Still … when Tom has a second, I’m going to have him take down our chimes. On really blustery days, they bother me too.
The one area that seems fairly clear to me is hiding. I define hiding in the house as a determined disappearance anywhere in the house (usually her crate in the basement or in one of the bathrooms), where Lilly curls up and cowers. She is NOT happy to see us if we go in to check on her. It causes her more agitation.
I know that she hides to cope, but it’s not like hiding makes her feel better. Or, at least, it doesn’t seem so from the outside. It’s more like she just festers in her fear, alone in the dark.
On the other hand, she’s always loved snoozing on any of the beds in the house. It does mean she’s in a different room, relatively far from the main living room, which is not quite big enough to be called a great room, but not some closed in space either. The thing is … if you approach her when she’s on a bed, she’s happy to see you. She gets wiggly and makes little grunting noises.
So, for future reference, when I talk about hiding, I mean a true run away/slink off and cower, not just a little black-and-white girl who wants a soft pillow that smells like me or Tom and who needs a little peace and quiet.
I love the care and thought with which you structure Lilly’s time–hey, I know lots of HUMANS that would benefit from this approach! Love to Lilly . . .