For the Love of a Dog (51 page)

There are some wonderful books that explain how to use desensitization, classical conditioning, and positive reinforcement to help dogs get over their fears. Some of my favorites are Brenda Aloff ‘s
Aggression in Dogs: Practical Management, Prevention and Behavior Modification;
Emma Parsons’s
Click to Calm;
William Campbell’s
Owner’s Guide to Better Behavior in Dogs;
Suzanne Hetts’s
Pet Behavior Protocols;
Pat Miller’s
Positive Perspectives: Love Your Dog Train Your Dog
Karen Overall’s
Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals;
Terry Ryan’s
Toolbox for Remodeling Your Problem Dog
. I have written about classical conditioning in working with general fears, and separation anxiety specifically, in
The Cautious Canine: How to Help Your Dog Overcome His Fears
and
I’ll Be Home Soon: How to Prevent and Treat Separation Anxiety
. However, if you have even a moderately serious problem with your dog, I strongly recommend that you consult with an expert trainer, certified applied animal behaviorist, or board certified veterinarian behaviorist. You wouldn’t hesitate to hire a coach to help your child learn football or soccer, so don’t hesitate to avail yourself of the help that is available. The biggest problem people have with using classical conditioning is underestimating it. The process sounds easy (“Sure, yeah, I got it, give my dog a treat when a visitor comes”) but it only works if you do everything at the right time, in the right order. These things turn out to be less intuitive than you might think, so don’t try it by yourself if there’s any risk to your dog or others if you get it wrong.

Ader, Robert, et al. 1995. “Psychoneuroimmunology: Interactions Between the Nervous System and the Immune System.”
Lancet
345, no. 8942, pp. 99-102.

Bargh, John A., Mark Chen, and Lara Burrows. 1996. “Automaticity of Social Behavior: Direct Effects of Trait Construct and Stereotype Activation on Action.”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
7’1, no. 2, pp. 230-44.

Campbell, William E. 1975.
Behavior Problems in Dogs
. Santa Barbara, Calif.: American Veterinary Publications.

.1995.
Owner’s Guide to Better Behavior in Dogs
. 2nd ed. Loveland, Colo.: Alpine Blue Ribbon Books.

Cook, E. W., III, R. L. Hodes, and P. J. Lang. 1986. “Preparedness and Phobia: Effects of Stimulus Content on Human Visceral Conditioning.”
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
95, no. 3, pp. 195-207.

Cook, Michael, and Susan Mineka. 1991. “Selective Associations in the Origins of Phobic Fears and Their Implications for Behavior Therapy.” In
Handbook of Behavior Therapy and Psychological Science: An Integrative Approach
. Peter P. Martin, ed. New York: Pergamon Press.

Dodman, Nicholas H. 1996.
The Dog Who Loved Too Much
. New York: Bantam Books.

Domjan, Michael. 1994. “Formulation of a Behavior System for Sexual Conditioning.”
Psychonomic Bulletin and Review
1, no. 4, pp. 421-28.

Doogan, Sharon, and Glyn V. Thomas. 1992. “Origins of Fear of Dogs in Adults and Children: The Role of Conditioning Processes and Prior Familiarity with Dogs.”
Behaviour Research and Therapy
30, no. 4, pp. 387-94.

Gladwell, Malcolm. 2005.
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
. New York: Little, Brown & Co.

Hall, Geoffrey. 1997. “Context Aversion, Pavlovian Conditioning, and the Psychological Side Effects of Chemotherapy.”
European Psychologist 2
, no. 2, pp. 118-24.

Hetts, Suzanne. 1999.
Pet Behavior Protocols
. Lakewood, Colo.: AAHA Press.

Kabat-Zinn, Jon. 1990.
Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness
. New York: Delta.

McConnell, Patricia. 2000.
I’ll Be Home Soon: How to Prevent and Treat Separation Anxiety
. Black Earth, Wisc.: Dog’s Best Friend.

——. 2005. 2nd ed.
The Cautious Canine: How to Help Dogs Conquer Their Fears
. Black Earth, Wisc.: Dog’s Best Friend.

Miller, Pat. 2004.
Positive Perspectives: Love Your Dog Train Your Dog
. Wenatchee, WA: Dogwise.

Overall, Karen. 1997.
Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals
. St. Louis: Mosby.

Parsons, Emma. 2004.
Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog
. Waltham, Mass.: Sunshine Books.

Ryan, Terry. 1998.
The Toolbox for Remodeling Your Problem Dog
. New York: Howell Book House.

As in previous chapters, I relied on the books of John Ratey David Myers, and Jaak Panksepp for information about the biology of anger. Antonio Damasio’s books also include fascinating discussions about anger and the brain. A vast number of books by field biologists describe the expression of anger in a variety of species; the works of primatologists are easiest to find. Frans de Waal’s books have excellent descriptions of temper tantrums by chimpanzees, Shirley Strum provides compelling descriptions of grumpy baboons, and Douglas Smith doesn’t hesitate to write about a particularly nasty wolf in
Decade of the Wolf
.

I highly recommend checking out Paul Ekman’s interactive DVD on reading
micro-expressions and subtle expressions of emotion—I found the expressions related to anger particularly interesting. His website, again, is
www.paulekman.com
. Charles Darwin’s book
The Expression of the Emotions in Animals and Man
is still an invaluable resource; It is fascinating to look at photos of people from another age, whose features seem somehow different, and yet whose expressions are so familiar. Paul Ekman edited a new version in 1998 and added some valuable updates.

The study on aggressiveness and social status in pigs was done by J. E. Bolhuis, and the study on the behavior of owners after their dog completed an agility course was done by Amanda Jones. The correlation between high-arousal chases and breakdown of discipline among police is described in
Blink
, which draws on the book
On Killing
, by Dave Grossman. The study discussing inhibited versus uninhibited temperaments in infants (and the relationship between degree of inhibition and anger management) was done by Carl Schwartz. If you’d like to read more about paedomorphism in dogs (the retention of juvenile characteristics in the adult), you might enjoy
The Covenant of the Wild by
Stephen Budiansky and
Dogs
by Lorna and Ray Coppinger, as a start.

If you’d like to learn more about “behavioral evaluations” or “behavioral assessments” (keeping in mind that they are often called “temperament tests”), here are some sources to get you started: See Sue Sternberg’s
Successful Dog Adoption
, Dr. Emily Weiss’s video:
The SAFER Test
, the article by Rebecca Ledger mentioned below, or contact Amy Marder at
[email protected]
. Wendy and Joachim Volhard’s Puppy Aptitude Test can be accessed on their website at
www.volhard.com;
also see the work of Sheila Booth, mentioned below. You can learn quite a bit about your own dog by going through these procedures, but be sure not to push him if you feel either you are unsafe or your dog is becoming stressed. The psychologist Pam Reid, Ph.D., has written an interesting and informative article about what “temperament” really is. You might also want to look into the “Behavioral Wellness Program” designed by applied animal behaviorists Suzanne Hetts, Ph.D., and Dan Estep, Ph.D., available at
www.AnimalBehaviorAssociates.com
.

I am often asked about my “research” on teaching emotional control to a singleton puppy, so I want to emphasize here that a procedure done on one puppy can’t be called research. My account of Solo’s upbringing is what scientists call an anecdote—or, simply, a story. That doesn’t mean it has no value, but until someone does carefully controlled research on the topic, we need to be cautious about drawing conclusions. It would be a great Ph.D. topic—anyone out there want to take it and run?

The dog-related fatality described in this chapter occurred on February 14, 2002, in Elroy Wisconsin. The dogs were destroyed the next morning, and their adult owners eventually accepted a plea bargain and were incarcerated for eighteen months to two years. I do not know what happened to the little girl who witnessed the attack, but I hope that, wherever she is, she is very, very clear that there was nothing she could have done to save her friend.

You can help your dog learn emotional control and frustration tolerance by employing the humane training techniques described in these books, listed alphabetically by author:
Purely Positive Training
, by Sheila Booth;
Dog Behavior
, by Ian Dunbar;
Katz on Dogs
, by Jon Katz;
Good Owners, Great Dogs
, by Brian Kilcommons;
Parenting Your Dog
by Trish King;
Lucy Won’t Sit
, by Claudeen McAuliffe;
Feeling Outnumbered?
and
How to Be the Leader of the Pack and Have Your Dog Love You for It
, and
Beginning Family Dog Training
by me;
Positive Perspectives: Love Your Dog Train Your Dog
by Pat Miller;
Excel-erated Learning
by Pam Reid;
The Toolbox for Remodeling Your Problem Dog
by Terry Ryan;
How to Behave So Your Dog Behaves
, by Sophia Yin.

For specific aggression-related problems, see
Aggression in Dogs: Practical Management, Prevention and Behavior Modification
, by Brenda Aloff;
Pet Behavior Protocols
, by Suzanne Hetts;
Handbook of Behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat
, by Gary Landsberg, Wayne Hunthausen, and Lowell Ackerman;
Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior
, by Steve Lindsay;
Feisty Fido
, by me and Karen London;
Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals
, by Karen Overall;
Click to Calm
, by Emma Parsons;
The Toolbox for Remodeling Your Problem Dog
by Terry Ryan; and
The Dog Who Would Be King
by John Wright.

If you have a problem with an aggressive dog, I strongly suggest that you get professional help. No one expects to be able to repair a car’s engine without training, and your dog is a lot more complicated than your car. Ideally, you’ll find a qualified behaviorist close by, one who is updated on humane and scientifically based methods of treating aggression. (If someone “guarantees” that they can fix your dog, hang up the phone and try again. No responsible expert would guarantee they could “fix” your dog.) Three good places to look for help are
www.animalbehaviour.org
for a list of Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists,
www.avsab.us
for board certified Veterinary Behaviorists, and
www.apdt.com
for dog trainers.

Aloff, Brenda. 2002.
Aggression in Dogs: Practical Management, Prevention and Behaviour Modification
. Collierville, Tenn.: Fundcraft.

Bolhuis, J. E., et al. 2005. “Individual Coping Characteristics, Aggressiveness and Fighting Strategies in Pigs.”
Animal Behaviour
69, pp. 0185-0191.

Booth, Sheila. 1998.
Purely Positive Training: Companion to Competition
. Ridgefield, Conn.: Podium.

Budiansky, Stephen. 1999.
The Covenant of the Wild: Why Animals Chose Domestication
. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.

Campbell, William E. 1995.
Owner’s Guide to Better Behavior in Dogs
. 2nd ed. Loveland, Colo.: Alpine Blue Ribbon Books.

Coppinger, Raymond, and Lorna Coppinger. 2001.
Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution
. New York: Scribner.

Damasio, Antonio. 1994.
Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
. New York: HarperCollins.

——. 2003.
Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain
. Orlando: Harcourt Books.

Darwin, Charles. 1998.
The Expression of the Emotions in Animals and Man
. Paul Ekman, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

De Waal, Frans. 1989.
Peacemaking Among Primates
. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

——. 1996.
Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals
. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Dodman, Nicholas H. 1996.
The Dog Who Loved Too Much
. New York: Bantam Books.

Dunbar, Ian. 1996.
Dog Behavior: An Owner’s Guide to a Happy, Healthy Pet
. New York: Howell Book House.

Ekman, Paul. 1973. “Cross-cultural Studies of Facial Expression.” In
Darwin and Facial Expression: A Century of Research in Review
. Paul Ekman, ed. New York: Academic Press.

——. 1987. “Universals and Cultural Differences in the Judgments of Facial Expressions of Emotion.”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
53, no. 4, pp. 712-17.

Gladwell, Malcolm. 2005.
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
. New York: Little, Brown.

Hetts, Suzanne. 1999.
Pet Behavior Protocols
. Lakewood, Colo.: AAHA Press.

Jones, Amanda. 2005. “Are We Dog’s Best Friend?: Affiliating and Disaffiliating Behaviours and Their Impact on Cortisol.” 5th International Veterinary Behaviour Meeting. Minneapolis: AVSAB.

Kilcommons, Brian. 1992.
Good Owners, Great Dogs: A Training Manual for Humans and Their Canine Companions
. New York: Warner Books.

King, Trish. 2004.
Parenting Your Dog
. Neptune, NJ: TFH Publications.

Landsberg, G., W. Hunthausen, and L. Ackerman. 2000.
Handbook of Behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat
. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Ledger, Rebecca, and M. R. Baxter. 1997. “The Development of a Validated Test to Assess the Temperament of Dogs in a Rescue Shelter.”
Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of Veterinary Behavioral Medicine
. pp. 87-92.