Canine Fear Confusion
Sometimes I feel l like the more I read the more confused I get about training a fearful dog and what can go wrong if you reward the wrong things. Essentially, I believe you cannot make a real fear worse by comforting a fearful dog. Despite what the tough-love people want us to believe, my understanding is that using classical conditioning makes fears better, not worse. Yet, I read some things in Dr. Nicholas Dodman’s book The Well-Adjusted Dog that have me doubting myself again. Help!?!
In a chapter called “The Fearful Dog,” there’s a box titled “What Not to Do,” and one of the four items listed is:
“Do not coddle or overly sympathize with a dog when he exhibits inappropriate fear; this reinforces that his response is okay when it’s not.”
When he talks about storm phobic dogs and using the Storm Defender cape, Dodman says again, “… the owner is then instructed to pay the dog no attention (comforting, as I said earlier in the context of animal fears, can make matters worse).”
Later in a chapter on dog adoptions, he talks about fearful dogs and says, “Make sure that dogs of this disposition have your support but not your sympathy (which can reinforce fear).”
Having interviewed Dr. Dodman recently, I can tell you that without a doubt he means exactly what he says. And, he certainly isn’t some yahoo just spouting off. The man is one of the top experts in the field.
So, now I’m stumped.
Some of my fearful dog / positive reinforcement pals on Twitter have linked recently to other top-name behaviorists writing on this issue of fear and reinforcement, but I can’t find those references right now (symptom of stress and time constraints).
So, if someone has a way to CLEARLY explain these distinctions, I’d love to hear it.
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But, while we’re on the subject of Dr. Dodman’s book, I want to also include this quote, which I enjoyed a lot:
“Remember, many owners will not tolerate a growl from their dog — let alone a snap or bite — though they may be far from temperamentally perfect themselves. How reasonable is it to hold a dog to standards higher than our own? No aggression, no complaints — ever — is not a reasoanble standard of expectation for anyone or any dog. Child grabs dog’s tail and pulls it — dog turns and snaps (doesn’t even bite) — dog is ejected from household. It should be the owners who are ejected for not protecting their dog from the child’s unwelcome advances. “