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.

Wishing and Hoping

Many of us have moments when we hold our breath and cross our fingers, wishing, hoping that, just this time, please, our dogs will do the “right” thing – and most of the time they do. And then, we’re relieved, crisis averted.  But sometimes they don’t.  And depending on what it is that we fear might happen, sometimes just wishing and hoping can have serious consequences.

In daily life, if our dogs are “good” 95% of the time, we consider our dogs close to perfect.  But what happens during that other 5% of the time?  Do our dogs dive enthusiastically into kitty litter for tasty morsels?  Indulge in intense crotch sniffing with our guests?  Or is it something more disturbing, our dogs stiffening and staring one day when we reach to remove the food bowl or they suddenly fight other dogs for “no reason at all?”  Because we want our dogs to be “good,” we tend to dismiss those rare “bad” moments, attributing the behavior to a unique set of circumstances.

The first time we see disconcerting behavior from our dogs, we want to think it’s a fluke.  It’s unfortunate that we are taught to ignore our instincts.  They are frequently right.  With animals, including people, a look, a certain twitch, a hesitation can indicate that something is amiss.  Our amygdala catches it, sends a warning, but because the behavior didn’t make an obvious impact, a logical impact, we tend to do nothing, even if we don’t like it, for fear of looking foolish.  We hope we won’t see it again, but now there’s that seed of concern in the back of our mind.  If we don’t see it again, we’re hoping it never existed in the first place. But then it happens again.

As humans, we want people to think well of us, to think of us as decent and responsible.  The behavior of our dogs is often seen as a reflection of our own character.  We want our dogs to be friendly, well-mannered and responsive. So, when they aren’t, usually our gut reaction is “What are other people thinking about me?”  While hoping the bad behavior is an exception, refusing to address the behavior and continuing to wish and hope can result in the behavior happening more frequently or even escalating.  Recognizing our dog has a behavior issue is the first step towards prevention.

For some people, it is difficult to seek assistance, particularly for problems within our household.  We often feel that we should have control over our dependents’ behavior, and we think a failure to do so suggests a lack of respect and competency.  We love our dogs and there is an emotional conflict within us when someone we love does something “bad.”  “Good” dogs shouldn’t be doing “bad” things, especially when we are being good caretakers.  So, with our dogs, it’s usually after something serious happens, usually a bite, that a trainer is called in to help.

Addressing a minor behavior issue is much easier than trying to change an established behavior. Success in altering a behavior improves when dog handlers aren’t intimidated or fearful of possible outcomes of that behavior. For some behavior issues, there is a time factor to consider.  The more established and extreme a behavior is, the more difficult it is to either teach dogs better coping mechanisms or to change the dogs’ perspective of the world.  It’s simple to teach old dogs new tricks, it’s “unteaching” old tricks that’s the challenge.  Shyness, intent staring, growling, seeking isolation, demand barking, and showing stress during what shouldn’t be a stressful situation, are all behaviors that should cause concern and aren’t behaviors that will disappear or be resolved without training.

 
Wishing and hoping won’t result in behavior changes.  While our dogs’ behaviors and reactions are not necessarily a reflection of us, the way we address the behavior is.  It’s our responsibility to our community and our dogs. 

A Holiday Reminder:
Halloween can be a frightening and exciting holiday for dogs.  They don't understand that there are people or even dogs under those costumes and may become frightened.  Keep dogs secure indoors during trick-or-treat-ing hours.  We don't want our pets dashing out the door into the night while we hand out candy. 

And for those humans who enjoy a little scare, Specter Spectacular:  13 Ghostly Tales includes one of my short stories, "Safe Upon the Shore."  Available in paperback and on Kindle at Amazon.