Introduction
Like humans, dogs come with a set of personality traits that are genetic and learned. Puppies will react to situations in a number of different ways - calmly, actively, defensively and fearfully. This essay discusses the ways that puppies can develop fearful reactions to situations, and how this fear can be overcome with appropriate handling and training.
Inherited fear
We have learnt in this study unit that during a puppy’s Socialisation period he will go through a Fear Period, which starts at around eight weeks of age and lasts for approximately three weeks until eleven weeks of age. There are, however, some puppies who also display traits of nervousness, fearfulness, timidity and lack of confidence, which are directly inherited from their mothers, and are already present in their mental makeup before the Fear Period starts. It is possible that through genetics a puppy may inherit his mother’s timidity and through the time he is with her in the litter will observe her fear and follow suit.
Inherited fear may only affect one puppy in the litter, or it can also be seen in whole litters. Inherited fear in one puppy can usually be detected between six and ten weeks of age. The puppy will display withdrawn behaviour and will be wide-eyed. In whole litters, a global fear of anything new or unusual develops between three and ten months of age.(1)
Fear recognition
Dogs display fear in a number of different ways and magnitudes depending on the situation they are in. The basic response is fight or flight. On most occasions a dog will try to flee from a fearful situation. When scared, a puppy who can do so will scurry away and may hide under a table and bark at the offending object.
Dogs will do their best to avoid a fight and will instead communicate their submission or intended aggression. Puppies who have spent their early lives in well-socialised litters will have learned how to effectively communicate aggression and submission.
Intended aggression (as a way to deal with fear) is displayed as follows:
- Elongated mouth shape where the mouth opening is pulled backwards, causing the rear teeth to be displayed.
- Ears slicked backwards and flattened against the head.
- Eyes are slitted and not wide open.
- Hackles are raised.
- Barking and/or growling.
Submission (as a way to avoid a fearful situation) is displayed as follows:
- Tail is tucked between the back legs.
- Submissive urination.
- Lowering the body and ‘cringing’, to make it look smaller.
- Avoiding eye contact.
- Rolling on back and displaying groin area.
- Involuntary shaking.
Early fear prevention
Early prevention of fear responses is puppies is tackled during the Socialisation period. A puppy needs exposure to as many new situations and objects as possible during this very important developmental period. Through intense socialisation during this period, a timid or fearful puppy can make great headway and become a different dog in a matter of days - something which is much more difficult to accomplish with a fearful adult dog.(2)
Lack of early socialisation between littermates and other dogs can cause a puppy to be fearful of unknown dogs. They do not learn all aspects of dog-to-dog communication through body language. If they are unable to perform or understand various greeting rituals, they may be viewed with suspicion by any approaching unknown dog, which may then lead to an aggressive episode. In addition, ‘pups that do not play with other pups at this stage can become excessively or abnormally attached to humans and can be fearful of other dogs...Dogs that don’t meet other dogs during the socialisation period are fearful, make poor mothers and are inhibited or over reactive when they meet other dogs.’(3)
A puppy who is fearful towards humans is likely to have had little contact with humans during his early life. Puppies that are not handled gently and often by the breeder do not develop a strong sense of smell and touch with humans. This is often the case with puppy farmed dogs and dogs born to large breeders. ‘Dogs that don’t meet people until after the socialisation period are antisocial, difficult to train and dingo like in their fight, flight and freeze behaviour.’(4)
Recovering from a frightening experience
So how can we help an 8-11 week old puppy recover from a frightening experience? As previously mentioned, it is important to introduce the puppy to as many different sights, sounds and smells as possible during the formative Socialisation period. However, it is not always possible to think of every possible situation that he might encounter, and what might be non-threatening one day, might be torturous the next. For the most part, it is important for the dog owner to react in a positive and calm manner and resist the temptation to offer comfort which will only reinforce the fear and not alleviate it.
First inoculation and subsequent visits to the vets
Puppies can develop fear related behaviour during visits to the vets surgery because unpleasant experiences occur there. A puppy will require his first inoculations at eight to ten weeks of age - unfortunately the worst time for fear imprinting. ‘Pain or fright at this age can result in a life-long fear of the veterinary clinic.’(5) It is not possible to completely avoid a negative experience at the vets, but there are ways to help desensitise puppies to these events and minimise the effects of stress on the puppy.
Firstly, a compassionate vet could use room temperature vaccines with the thinnest possible injection needle. By distracting the puppy by feeding him delicious treats and then giving the ‘jab’, the puppy will relate the experience to the tasty treat rather than the pain of the injection.
Follow up the initial experience by trying to visit the vets as many times as possible and ensure this is a positive experience for the puppy. For example, it is important to keep an eye on the puppy’s weight during it’s growth stage, so regular weight-checks at the vet with a tasty treat for being good on the scales is a positive experience.
Finally, teach the puppy not to worry about the type of handling he is likely to receive when at the surgery. Regularly look into the puppy’s eyes, ears and mouth. Feel between his toes and around his stomach and tail, when standing, sitting or lying down.
Fireworks and other loud noises
Although we can usually predict the time of year that fireworks are likely to be let off, it is virtually impossible to know when a passing car might backfire or when someone may knock over a garden spade.
During Guy Fawkes or Diwali, young puppies can become frightened by the continuous loud banging sounds. The best thing to do is nothing at all. A puppy can quickly develop a phobic reaction to the situation if the owner reassures the puppy - it can be misinterpreted by the puppy as mutual fear. By staying calm, reading a book or watching television the owner can set an example of how to react during firework season. We need to be confident and relaxed - the more we react, the more the puppy will worry.
If other sudden sounds frighten a puppy and he panics or tries to escape, control him by calmly instructing him to ‘Sit’. Reassure and praise him when he does this.
If he is frightened by a loud noise, such as a car backfiring, when out on a walk, he may associate that particular section of pavement or street with the loud noise and may refuse to walk along that path again. Don’t reinforce his fear by avoiding the area on his next walk. Instead, approach the area with confidence and when he does eventually walk along the path, praise him when he does so.
A useful way to acclimatise a puppy to potentially frightening noises is to play recordings of different noises, at gradually increasing volumes, while the puppy is playing or eating. Exposing a puppy to different noises, and creating a positive association to them, can help to reduce his sensitivity to loud noises and sounds.(6)
Children
Puppies may be fearful of, and therefore may bite children. The majority of dog bite accidents involve children who are not supervised around the family pet. For example, a child may pull a puppy’s hair or tail causing him pain during a play session. The puppy may then start to associate that child with a painful experience and may develop an aggressive attitude to that child - this is an example of ‘fear aggression’: an aggressive attitude initiated by fear.
Puppies can be fearful of children if they have not been properly socialised to them. ‘To the dog’s mind, our children are quite different to us’....’they smell different as well as being smaller’...and...’they move in a much jerkier fashion’.(7)
It is therefore vitally important during the puppy’s Socialisation period that he is introduced to as many children as possible - this includes boys and girls of all ages, as well as the sounds of children playing, screaming and laughing.
But what about the puppy who has already developed a fear of a particular child? In this situation the owner will need to slowly reintroduce the puppy to the child, ensuring that there is a reward-based outcome. It is important to do this at the puppy’s pace - don’t rush him to make contact, don’t coerce or force the puppy to approach, as this may only serve to exacerbate his fear.
Reintroduction is best achieved by having the feared child sit still on the floor, with a trail of cheese (or something else equally tasty) leading up to him. The child will also have pieces of cheese dotted on his lap. Direct him not to interact with the puppy at all. Without coercion, let the puppy approach the child. A confident approach is reinforced by the cheese. After several repeats of this (and several blocks of cheese!), the child could start holding onto the puppy’s favourite toy while the puppy approaches. Once the puppy is more confident the child could invite the puppy to play with his favourite toy.
Conclusion
A puppy can be frightened of anything in our human world. From the postman, to the vacuum cleaner - it is our responsibility to help a puppy adjust to his world outside litter by making sure he is introduced to as many people, objects, sounds and smells as possible within his very short Socialisation window. We should also understand that a puppy goes through a Fear Period at 8-11 weeks of age and that we to help him through this tough time with calm, positive guidance and avoid the temptation to comfort.
Works Cited
(1) The Dog’s Mind, ch.10, p.148-149 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(2) The Culture Clash, ch.3, p.71 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
(3) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.85 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(4) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.85 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(5) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p92 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(6) www.soundtherapy4pets.com/pet-therapy
(7) The Dog’s Mind, ch.8, p120 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
Bibliography
How To Speak Dog (Coren, Stanley 2000)
Puppies For Dummies (Hodgson, Sarah 2006)
Puppy Behaviour and Training (Heath, Sarah 2005)
Take The Lead (Watson, Heather 1998)
The Culture Clash (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
The Dog’s Mind (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
Internet
www.thedoglistener.co.uk
www.soundtherapy4pets.com
No comments:
Post a Comment