Beyond the Barrier

Frustration or friends?

Although the poet, Robert Frost wrote, “Good fences make good neighbors,” in “Mending the Wall,”  the poem is “anti-barrier,” describing how walls and fences prevent interaction and therefore communication, setting the scene for isolation, frustration, and misunderstanding.  Our lives are full of barriers, physical as well as lingual, intellectual, and cultural and we’re frequently frustrated by them.  We yell at our computer screen when something doesn’t work, at our phone as we’re punching numbers, waiting to talk to a “real” person, at someone who doesn’t share our language and we can’t make our message clear.   At sport events, obsessed fans in the stands hurl insults at players on the field.  People curse other drivers while they’re driving.  We vent our frustration by behaving badly.

Dogs also experience barrier frustration.  They bark and lunge at the window, on the other side of a fence, and/or at the end of a leash towards other animals or people.  Like people in similar situations, dogs are seeking a way to interact, to communicate.  The barking and lunging could be a warning sign for real or perceived trespassers to go away or an attempt to greet and make friends.  But without the interaction, frustration builds and dogs have less control over their behavior.   

While a consistent and “strong” barrier increases frustration, a failed barrier fuels persistence.  A dog that starts off running a fenceline, barking at other dogs or people can start fence fighting and slamming against the barrier.  A dog pulling at the end of a leash, increases to lunging and barking at the end of the leash.  If the fence gives way or the leash breaks or drops, the dog is in essence rewarded for challenging the barrier.  Regardless of the outcome, the frustration has been released.   If the barrier fails more than once, even if the events are weeks or months apart, a system of intermittent rewards is established – a strong reinforcer that is also used in training desired behaviors – and the behavior increases and intensifies with an end goal of releasing that frustration.

For management, keeping the dogs away from the source of frustration can help.  Blocking access/view to a front window or fence can prevent the dog from becoming overstimulated.  On leash, limiting walking hours to “quiet times,” when a minimal number of other dogs or people will be encountered, can help, as can a Calming Cap (a device that filters a dog’s vision).  During management, directing the dog’s attention elsewhere or rewarding the dog for ignoring the stimulus can reinforce the dog for keeping away from the barrier (the fence, window, or end of the leash) encouraging self-monitoring. However, if the hope of breaking through the barrier or the thrill of barking and lunging is more rewarding than anything we offer, the behavior will continue whenever the stimulus or stimulus point is presented.  Management prevents a behavior from happening, rather than eliminating the behavior.

Finding out why the dog wants to interact leads to a solution to barrier frustration.  Is the dog frightened and trying to ward off a perceived threat to itself or its home?  Or is the dog overly enthusiastic to meet and greet and make friends?  Fearful dogs need training to restore confidence that all is well and safe.  Overly friendly dogs need training for impulse control, to be taught that polite behavior might be rewarded with the opportunity to meet and greet.   While the behavioral end result is the same - calm dogs in sight of a formerly overly exciting stimulus - the means to the results are entirely different methods of training.  In this case, simply rewarding for not lunging and barking might not be sufficient, especially when fear is at the root of the matter.

Punishment for barrier frustration, on the other hand, can increase barking and lunging, shifting it to actual aggression, the intent to attack.  Because the frustration has achieved such a heightened emotional state, dogs are unaware of their behavior.  Punishment in this situation causes dogs to correlate the pain/discomfort to the stimulus of their frustration, meaning other animals or people.  Dogs initially frustrated by fear increase that fear.  Happy excitement changes to fear if the dog’s frustration originates with an eagerness to greet other people/animals.  Punishment can also cause redirection of the frustration, the dog reacting to the source of the punishment, frequently the handler or the suppression of a behavior until the fear reaches a point where it explodes with indiscriminate violence.

As with any unwanted behavior, addressing barrier frustration in the early stages can prevent unwanted behaviors from accelerating.  Training impulse control can help dogs greet humans and other animals appropriately on and off leash.  Limiting access to possible stimulation points, pre-emptively rewarding for ignoring potential stimuli, and not allowing dogs unsupervised time in potentially hyper-stimulating areas can prevent guarding against unknown or perceived intruders.  While we can’t eliminate all the barriers in life, by altering the perception of barriers, we can keep frustration to a minimum.