Gail Fisher, All Dogs Gym & Inn - The perfect place for pets and their people

N.H. Sunday News - Dog Tracks Column - 2/28/10
By: Gail T. Fisher

Last week I wrote about the messages we might take from the tragic incident of the man who shot his dog and left him to die in the woods. One of the lessons is to avoid attaching a label to a dog’s behavior. Labels influence behavior. Consumers purchase products labeled “green,” and clothes with a logo or slogan. Labels not only influence consumer behavior, they influence perceptions and attitudes. Consider your impression of a man in a tailored suit and tie versus someone with “pants on the ground.”

Labels also influence how we perceive and react to dogs. A label can change an owner’s attitude and can tie them to a predetermined, and unnecessary course of action. Often unhelpful, even counterproductive, some labels may lead inexorably to euthanasia. The three the most commonly applied labels our clients use are “(some modifier of) aggressive,” “dominant” and “separation anxiety.”

In last week’s column, I wrote about Buster, a 5-year-old pitbull. Buster’s veterinarian had diagnosed his as having “separation anxiety.” About a year ago, Buster had starting biting family members when they tried to leave the home. The bite severity had escalated, and the problem had grown serious. To view this behavior as “anxiety” because he doesn’t want the “separation” from his family seems both far fetched and inappropriate. Bratty, yes. Inappropriate, definitely—but hardly representative of a dog that is anxious being left alone.

When we ask our clients to who have either self-diagnosed, or been told that their dog suffers “separation anxiety” to describe what the dog actually does (the behavior), it is usually either barking or destructive behavior when alone. While some dogs are overly dependent on companionship and do become distressed when left, despite the label, this is often not the case, even with dogs that are destructive chewers. Often the behavior is more related to boredom, and management strategies are a successful approach.

Applying the label “anxiety” to a behavior can create problems in and of itself. “Anxiety” is a mental state, an emotion, and owners react emotionally to their dogs’ perceived emotions. The label separation “anxiety” produces guilt that may interfere with addressing the reasons for the behavior. After all, if the dog is suffering an emotion rather than a manageable behavior, the best course of action may be drugs—which Buster’s owner had tried, with no success. But drugs, as I wrote last week, are only part of a treatment approach.

Just as importantly, often it is the owner’s behavior that is causing the dog’s anxiety. Rushing around to put chewable items away, sternly admonishing the dog to “be good” and the like are stress-producing behavior when leaving and returning home. For Buster, his biting behavior likely evoked scolding, possibly physical punishment, and ultimately being isolated in a separate room (where, if “separation” were the issue, the behavior should have continued).

Rather than applying a label, describe the behavior. With a description of just what the dog is doing, a positive dog trainer can help the owner separate, examine and address contributing factors, and can offer appropriate solutions. For Buster, biting as family members left the house could have been addressed by training Buster to offer an incompatible behavior, such as sit-stay or settle (go to a bed and lie down).

By attaching the label to the behavior, and then treating Buster’s supposed “anxiety” with a drug designed to alleviate it, when the drug didn’t eliminate the behavior, Buster’s owner was left with what he thought was a no-win situation—a dog whose labeled behavior he could neither accept and live with, or change.

We can’t definitively know what a dog is feelings (such as anxiety). We can only know for sure and deal with what we see; what the dog does—observable behavior, not intent. Clarifying the dog’s behavior leads to seeking management and training solutions, not by creating an adversarial relationship, rarely with drugs, and almost never with euthanasia, but through dog-friendly training: teaching positive responses to incompatible behaviors.

Branding a dog with a label negatively impacts the relationship between owner and dog. By describing and explaining what the dog is doing, we are better able to seek, and reach solutions—a successful outcome for all.

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