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Dog Psychology: Understanding Fear & Shyness
from:Fear and shyness are combined in this section because in many dogs, fear is an outgrowth of shyness. That is, a shy dog is more likely to become fearful than a bold, gregarious animal. Extremely strong or prolonged fear-producing stimuli are required to induce generalized tearfulness in a dog with a well-balanced nervous system and a sanguine personality. On the other hand, extremely excitable or inhibited pets are often quick to develop tearfulness.
Fear of falling is thought to be the only inborn emotional fear response. All other fears are presumed to be learned associations. However, because fear is a subjective emotion, it might be wise to define behaviorisms associated with problems in fearful dogs. The first startle responses in puppies are to sudden movement and loud noises. Distress vocalization appears when pups are isolated from their litters. These responses will not be dealt with here because they do not usually trigger the types of overt problem behavior under consideration.
Fear and shyness may describe a submissive response to relatively normal stimuli. For example, extreme panic accompanied by defecation, urination and expression of anal sacs is not a normal reaction to a sudden loud noise, a car ride, or handling by the veterinarian. Nor is a submissive posture (ears back, tail between legs, slinking, urinating) a normal response to the mere presence of people or other animals.
Submissive responses of course would be more prevalent in submissive dogs with passive defense reflexes. A fearful or shy dog with active defense reflexes would be more likely to growl, bark or bare its fangs in response to a fear-producing stimulus. Fear biting may occur in either type.
Understanding The Shy Dog
Two important questions should be answered before any attempt to modify shy behavior:
1. What does the dog actually do? (for example, tail tucked under, head down, freezes, retreats, rolls over).
2. What stimulates the shy behavior, and when was it first noticed?
If a dog displays shyness only before its owners, one must consider its behavior with other people. If shyness is absent with other people, most likely the dog has been over-punished. If it has not extended its shy behavior to people, it may be basically aggressive.
Most dog owners confuse genuine shyness with submissive behavior. Wolves are shy; when approached by people they retreat if possible, responding to the instinct for self-preservation. A pet dog faced with its owner's threats often finds retreat impossible. Therefore, the pet behaves submissively (tail down, whining, rolling on its side, urinating, etc) to tell the aggressor (owner) that the point is well made.
Because owners who over-punish their dog are not attuned to canine behavior, the pet's submissive gestures fail to ward off the threats and/or punishment. If the dog continues to be over-punished, it will act submissively when approached by anyone. This learned behavior is then misinterpreted as shyness.
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