Today's topic is the ever-present canine anxiety, its myths, its blatant falsehoods, and its truths - and how to deal with it! Please note - we have already covered Separation Anxiety, which isn't even a form of anxiety, in this blog: http://idealcompanionsvictoria.blogspot.ca/2014/09/separation-anxiety-doesnt-exist-blog-six.html
In humans, anxiety is usually a mental issue caused by either an inability to process a given situation properly, or an chemical imbalance that is causing emotional side effects in your emotional center - and it can often go unchecked, because it's sometimes so subtle, that the person experiencing it doesn't realize it's abnormal. A large percentage of people are born with anxiety issues, and in these cases, there are real life strategies to overcome this issue, but some cases need medication (or herbal remedies) to help the human process this excess in emotion. Some uncommon cases have learned the anxiety behaviour from a parent or guardian at a young age - such as someone who becomes anxious in large crowds, and the child notices it - and then becomes anxious with crows themselves, learning in effect that crowds are scary and stressful. If this is the case for humans, does this also apply to dogs? Is it as simple as getting a pill?
Ninety nine percent of the time, no, unfortunately. While there are rare cases where a dog's anxiety warrants medication, such as in severe brain malfunctions or dogs that have other psychological disorders that also present looking like anxiety, but these are always coupled with other severe issues that bridge the gap from behavioural to outright psychological disorders. The vast majority of cases of Canine Anxiety are in fact a learned behaviour - like the toddler that sees his mom suffering from social anxiety and learns that crowds are scary - or that being alone means danger.
Anxiety In Dogs - Causes
The vast majority of anxiety cases are ones that are caused by a learned pattern of behaviour early in life that wasn't addressed or corrected properly - or worse, was inadvertently encouraged by inexperienced owners. Just like the roots of fear are in anxiety, the roots of anxiety are found in unsure behaviour. Most often, when a puppy is exposed to something new or different, they learn about that new experience and form new memories about that item, person, or thing. If they are not a confident personality, these puppies can display unsure behaviours, such as whining, moving away, or raising a paw. If these puppies aren't encouraged with positive experiences and excitement, they can either realize the new thing is totally harmless, or, they can develop mild anxiety about it. When a human notices this behaviour, a common reaction is to attempt to soothe the puppy with soft voices and petting, or giving treats. This is exactly what causes anxiety to worsen; the owner is essentially telling the puppy that yes, they are to be scared of this new thing, and keep doing that. The puppy logs this in their brain, and while the human thinks they are soothing the dog, they are feeding the situation. If the human ignores the behaviour, either the puppy will gain confidence when he realizes there really is no danger, or, they will form a kind of question mark surrounding the new thing, and try and keep learning about it until they decide it is either something to fear, or something that is okay. In either case, the chances of an unconfident dog becoming confident around a strange, new experience is fairly slim - this is why anxious dogs, as older dogs, tend to be scared of clusters of items or experiences, such as loud noises, certain toys, or certain kinds of people.
Secondary Causes
Another common cause of anxiety is rooted in a dog's perceived "rules" of the world. When dogs aren't exposed to something often enough, or at all, they can formulate opinions on how things work - such as cars are deep and loud with a specific sound and move and contain humans; toys can be silent, crinkle, or squeak; leashes are always attached at the head; humans are all one gender, color, height, or have certain hair colors; ect. When these rules are "broken", a dog can become fearful or reactive, based on where their personality lays on the confidence line. This is common for dogs that seem to fear men, or beards, hats, or specific races of humans. We have been working with a client's dog that has a very strict sense of her "rules", and when they are broken, she becomes fearful. A perfect example of a rule-breaking anxiety case is this lovely pet. We have a toy that quacks like a duck in order to reward and keep a dog occupied during vehicle trips. We introduced this toy to her, hoping she would enjoy chewing on a pretend duck after a great learning session - but to her, toys don't make that sound - they squeak or crinkle, but they don't quack - and we had broken her rules for toys. This caused an anxiety reaction to the toy, and she won't play with it or go near it. Another great example of this are dogs that seem to target specific kinds of vehicles; always trucks, always road bikes, always blue cars - this is a prime candidate of a dog that has had it's rules broken, and is reacting like this to self-control their broken rule base.
Anxiety Myths And Falsehoods
-Anxiety comes from the same basis that it does in humans, and medication will help. (Medication simply puts a band-aid over the issue by drugging a dog into a stupor so they -can't- react - and can't learn).
-Anxiety is a mental issue. (It isn't, it is behavioural).
-Vets won't prescribe medication to my dog if it isn't necessary. (Yes, they will. If you come to a doctor to patch an issue, they will do so to the best of their given skills - whether it will help the core issue, or not.)
-Anxiety is not helped by situational training - you need to medicate, or use scents, sprays, or dietary aids. (Anxiety, unless it is caused by severe psychological disorder, is always behavioural, or a learned behaviour. These remedies and medicines only patch over the issue - it should be treated as a temporary fix, like on holiday, or in a situation where you don't have the time or ability to address the behaviour.)
-If your dog is anxious, soothe them like a child. (This is dangerous, and the exact reason why anxiety gets worse. Anything that operates on the basis of calming or soothing a dog while it is anxious usually makes it worse and patches over the issue.
Anxiety - How To Address It
While you should always consult a professional dog trainer with experience in dealing with anxious cases, there are ways you can deal with these things yourself to make it easier on you and your trainer.
-Realize that anxious dogs are usually reacting this way because they either do not trust the cause, or don't trust you to keep them safe. Even an obedient dog can believe that you won't protect them from whatever is causing the reaction.
-Keep tabs on how you yourself react to the stimulation that causes the reaction - even if you say to yourself "Oh no, there's the thing, my dog is going to hate this..." or even regarding it with tension, dread, surprise, or even walking to avoid it is going to cause your dog to react, too. Like bees, they can sense and react to your feelings - only they're way bigger than a bee.
-Never pet, touch, look at, or reward a dog feeling anxiety around an object! Always approach the thing with happiness, excitement, and reward -only- if your dog moves forward towards it, or relaxes in it's presence! This will reward with positive experience, rather than encourage fear.
-Realize that if your dog doesn't trust you to protect them from the thing, that they likely won't until you rebuild your relationship.
-If your dog reacts aggressively out of fear, your dog does not believe you're capable of protecting yourself from the thing - you need to completely overhaul your relationship and rebuild low level trust before even considering addressing the anxiety.
-Do not intentionally antagonize your dog to enforce other behaviour - such as using a toy they are scared of to make them take a bath, or stay inside a room. This will compound many issues and cause your dog to mistrust you.
-Allow your dog to be around other confident dogs they get along with around the thing that causes the anxiety, if the other dog doesn't fear - or even better, interacts with the thing.
-Use very low level stimulation of the thing - if it is a sound or thing, use youtube or google images to de-stimulate your dog at a low level to the sound or thing. Up the ante until you get a small reaction, then distract with playtime or training until you do not get a reaction any longer, then up the ante again.
-Do NOT let an anxious dog off leash outside your home - ever. They can suddenly react and bolt at new stimulation, and a fearful dog in a run will not stop for anything - be it people, traffic, or even treats.
-Make sure your dog is properly exercised AND mentally stimulated before you expose them to the thing - if they're too tired to get up, chances are, they are too tired to react. This is a prime time to expose and reward for relaxed interactions with the thing!
Anxiety - Closing Comments
Anxiety isn't something that can simply be medicated or treated away, like a bruise, or kennel cough. It can be patched over, but that is about the same thing as drugging a child every night to make them stop crying and sleep - it isn't addressing the root issue, which is a breakdown in relationship between dog and owner and dog and thing. While it might seem simple just to drug your dog and deal with this the easy way, it isn't fair on the dog to suffer when the aids aren't there. After all, you wouldn't put a band-aid on someone's broken leg and say they're all good - the same goes for your dog and anxiety.
We hope you have learned a lot! Keep aiming for your ideal companion!
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