01/07/2024
Dit gaf fb mij als herinnerng...
Gelukkig wordt steeds meer ingezien dat emoties bij dieren er toe doen en juist uitgangspunt vormen van wat zij nodig hebben. Als honden gedragstherapeut is het noodzakelijk emoties van dieren te zien, te begrijpen en te erkennen. Om hen te kunnen geven wat ze nodig hebben. Ik doe niet anders . Blij dat ik het mag en kan doen. Elke dag (nóg beter) 🙏💪❤️🔥
Fear is an emotion. Emotions are involuntary responses.
Reinforcement refers to an increase in behavior. Behaviors are voluntary responses.
Fear is something you feel. Behavior is something you do.
Here's an example: In the movie JAWS, actors had to appear to be afraid of a mechanical shark. Their eyes widened, they opened their mouths, they screamed. But they weren't experiencing fear. Their brains were not releasing the neurotransmitters and hormones that prepare the body for fight or flight. They were simply acting.
Dogs, however, are not actors. They do not fake being afraid in order to get paid (attention, treats, invitation on the bed). If they are exhibiting the behaviors associated with fear, they are feeling afraid.
Don't believe me? Feel their chest and check and compare their heart rate to when you know they are relaxed. Dogs can't will their heart to beat faster just to get your attention.
Fear is an involuntary emotional reaction. For dogs, it can be triggered by fireworks, thunderstorms, veterinary exams, the behavior of other dogs, etc. Just because we can't perceive the threat doesn't mean it's not real to our dogs.
What about giving treats to a fearful dog? When we pair the presence of a scary stimulus (at a reasonable distance/intensity/duration, of course - desensitization is always important) with something the dog LOVES, we change the underlying association. The dog can learn to associate fireworks with frisbee time or vet visits with hot dogs. This is what counter conditioning is all about. Dog not taking food? Your dog is not ready to work at this level - find a way to decrease distance, intensity, or duration of exposure.
Here's another example: You're terrified of spiders. We go to a local football field. While standing at one goal line, a person with a tarantula in a glass case appears at the other goal line. You see the spider. I give you $100. The spider goes away. Now, we repeat this multiple times. At some point, when the person with the spider re-appears, you will reach out your hand, anticipating payment.
Through this process, we can change your emotional response to the presence of spiders. Spiders predict cash.
That does not make you MORE afraid of the spider.
Now, can you CONTRIBUTE to your dog's fear? Absolutely!
If you don't recognize the signs of fear - or you do and ignore them - and force your dog into a situation that he is afraid of, you can certainly contribute to their fear. Like taking a fearful dog to a dog park to "get used to" other dogs, or picking up and holding a small dog that is afraid of strangers, so that strangers can pet him/her.
If we try to pet a fearful dog who just wants to leave the situation, holding them still and forcing "soothing" massage is just adding something unpleasant to an already bad situation. Listen to your dog. If your dog is leaning against you and seeking that physical contact, then he/she may be comforted by being stroked. But if your dog is looking away, leaning away, or otherwise trying to escape your well-meaning affection, you're better off just removing him from the situation.
When we take away opportunities for our dogs to escape or avoid the things they fear, we can make things worse.
Dogs don't "get used to" scary things through repeated and forced exposure. What they get used to is that we put them in situations where avoidance doesn't work, forcing them to protect themselves. When avoidance stops working, aggression is often the only option left.
And, yes, this applies to dogs whose fear manifests as aggressive behavior just as much as for dogs who cower and hide. Fear is the emotion behind the behavior. Change the emotion and the behavior will change, too.
If someone tells you that comforting your dog will reward their fear, replace the word "fear" with another emotion and ask yourself if it still makes sense. For example, "giving a dog treats just reinforces his frustration," or "petting your dog reinforces his disgust." Does that make sense? Like fear, frustration and disgust are feelings. No one can will themselves to be disgusted. If we could, diets would be SO much easier!
Can you teach a dog to be afraid of something? Of course. You can create a negative association by pairing a neutral stimulus with an aversive. This was first shown in 1920 with the Little Albert study.
This is why knowledgeable trainers don't recommend using aversives. Over 100 years of scientific research into learning has shown that you can create negative associations.
So, unless the form of comfort you give to your dog is AVERSIVE (something he wants to escape or avoid) to your dog, you aren't going to create a negative association.
And yet, there are those who insist your response will "prove to the dog" there's something to fear. The only way you can know what the dog is learning, either by association or consequence, is the dog's behavior. Everything else falls in the mind-reading category.
While it is a longstanding and much-repeated belief in the training world (and there are so very many of them), it doesn't hold up to what science tells us about learning and behavior.
UPDATE: Some people have mistaken this post for a "How-To" for fearful behavior or that this is suggested as an alternative to counterconditioning and desensitization. This is solely to address one dog training superstition, not a guide for how to help your dog overcome fear.
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