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Why doesn't your dog act like it does at home?
 In
the world of performance dogs, stress and its effects on learning and behaviour are key issues
which cannot be ignored. Because of this we, as keepers of dogs, are concerned with their well-being, which
is defined as the absence of stress. Since we assume our dogs are fine if they are not in pain,
signs of stress and discomfort can be difficult to recognise. Audrey Ferrel shares a paper she
did for school with us.
According to veterinary behaviourist Karen Overall,
anxiety-related disorders are probably the most common class of disorders in dogs. Furthermore,
it is my view that we as simple dog owners are not properly educated in this matter of stress
and, therefore, are not helping our canine companions reach their full potential.
The intent here is not to attribute human characteristics
to our dogs. Skinner said simply, 'It is impossible to know what an animal or another person is
thinking. All we have to go on are the visible physical signs of what we call 'stress'
and how the dog performs with these symptoms present. At this point in science, we cannot say
what the animal is 'thinking.'
Rather it is my objective to come up with a comprehensive
list of signs and causes of stress in the dog. I will discuss the effects stress has on
behaviour and explore a variety of methods to treat and prevent the stress response, thus
improving performance in our canine athletes and companions.
 Signs
of stress
Based upon past observation of dogs at agility competitions, I venture to say well over half
exhibited various signs of stress. The severe cases involved dogs leaving the ring without
their handlers. Many of these handlers thought their dog was 'just being bad,' but in fact, the
dog was reacting as he would to any negative re-inforcer. Escape the pressure and find
something else more positively reinforcing to do.
Recognising the signs of stress is the first step in
understanding a dog’s behaviour. All too often, dogs can be found in a class or a dog
park who are, unbeknownst to their owners, totally stressed out. While it is impossible
to measure actual canine thoughts, it is possible to measure visible external stressors such as
a change in environment. This, in turn, makes it possible to measure the effects of these
external stressors by noting the dog’s response to them. In a laboratory environment, we
could go much further and record heart rate, blood pressure, hormone levels, brain waves etc.,
but that is beyond the scope of this essay.
Some of the signs of stress are as follows: panting, yawning, scratching, licking, staring,
dilated pupils, blinking, avoiding eye contact, tucked tail, low and slow wagging tail,
shaking, salivating, whining, barking, diarrhea, sniffing, sudden onset of dandruff,
shedding, muscle tension, hypersensitivity, increased reactivity, zooming around the ring,
general restlessness, or avoidance of handler. Most of these signs could be observed any
given day at an agility trial.
Stress, anxiety and excitement can increase a human’s
body temperature causing the need to engage the cooling mechanisms. The result is sweating.
Dogs are also susceptible to this phenomenon, but they sweat through the pads of their feet and
their mouths. Hence, the wet paw prints on the floor.
Yet another great window to emotions is the tail. A
tucked tail can mean mental discomfort, while a slow wagging tail can be translated as
insecurity, uncertainty, or indecision. Licking is a complex signal that can sometimes be
interpreted as a sign of tension. Some stressed dogs appear to be licking the air and do not
seem to be 'aiming' at any person or thing. This dog may lick his lips or even begin licking
his own body (Coren, 2000).
 Yet
another important sign of stress, which I am personally very painfully aware of, is avoidance.
Avoidance of eye contact is a real problem when trying to gain a dogs attention or otherwise
communicate with him. A stressed out dog will have difficulty in focusing on you and the task
at hand. This lack of focus can cause a delayed response, which can mean the difference between
a clean run and elimination. In agility this dog will be slower off the mark and slower in
completing the obstacles for an overall slower time. If the dog is avoiding you and eye contact
with you, these delays are inevitable. The breaking of eye contact is a sign of submission and
perhaps fear and anxiety in this case.
Some dogs become over-aroused when under performance
pressure. Their pupils will become dilated and they appear to be 'out of it.' This could be an
example of Pavlov’s 'excitable' animal vs. the 'inhibited' animal. Scott and Fuller
expounded upon Pavlov’s theory and identified the passive dog and the dog that tries to escape.
Within this class they found enormous variability. The 'excitable' dog may bark and whine
constantly or race about wildly which in turn lead to inconsistent performance and a loss of
control. On the other hand, the 'inhibited' dog will shut down, leave the ring, stress sniff or
find some other way to avoid the pressure. Both types of dogs, though displaying their stress
in different ways, are equally counterproductive (Steinker, 2000). This results in
a large problem in the agility dog where speed, accuracy and timing are the name of the game.
 Causes
and effects
It is my belief that the underlying primary cause of stress is lack of socialisation. Jean
Donaldson defines socialisation as 'a term which means habituation or getting used to
environmental elements through exposure.' (CC p 60) Without proper
socialisation a dog may display all of the aforementioned signs of stress when thrown into a
new environment. We should not, therefore, expect an improperly socialised dog to perform at
his peak in the face of new stimuli.
A lack of socialisation can lead to many excuses as to
why the dog performs poorly. Some say that the dog is 'unforgiving' or 'soft'. This
implies that the dog does not forget, recover from or move on from unpleasant experiences
(Jones 2001). Another excuse might describe a dog as having an over-active 'fight or
flight' response. While this may be true to a certain extent, it is still a product of lack of
socialisation.
 Another
common comment is 'Why can’t my dog just act like he does at home?' To answer this, when
everything in the trial environment, including the handler, is vastly different from the
friendlier training environment, there is suddenly a breakdown in performance. This breakdown
is due to stress, which is caused by lack of socialisation to these stimuli. This level of
stimulation was probably never experienced prior to the dogs’ debut. Good indicators of an
unfinished training/socialisation process are all of the aforementioned signs of stress.
While lack of socialisation may be the primary cause of
stress, it is not the only one. Other causes might include:
- Poor training or training style
- Handler pressure
- Fatigue
- Genetics.
Poor training is related to lack of socialisation, much
of which is accomplished unbeknownst to the trainer. Since dogs are innocent subjects of
learning laws, and since behaviour is under the control of its consequences, we can manipulate
consequences to control behaviour in training. For example, we inadvertently train our
dogs to behave a certain way under these circumstances: start line, show ring, obedience
class, etc. We are quite proficient at unintentionally classically conditioning a
ring-wise dog.
 Stress
can be attributed to another training problem, which is lack of feedback from the handler. This
decreases motivation and helps the behaviour along the road to extinction rather than fluency
(Duford, 2001). Poor trainers often expect too much from their dogs too soon by asking
them to perform under pressure prematurely. Since training is not allowed in the
competition ring, behaviour goes unreinforced, which equates to a lack of feedback from the
handler. As a result, the dog quickly learns that in a trial environment, there are no
consequences for his behaviours and the stress level increases as a result of confusion.
Performance often deteriorates immediately or over a series of successive trials.
Fatigue should also be avoided, as this is another cause
of stress. It is important to stop training while the dog is still enjoying the behaviour
and the rate of response is high. (Donaldson, 1998)
 Social
pressure is yet another influence on dog behaviour. Our dogs are classically conditioned
to understand what our complicated body language means. Our body language and attitude
have a colossal effect on our dog’s stress level. When we suddenly transform into
yelling, tense, and waving monsters while under our own pressures, the effects on our dogs are
painfully obvious (Duford 2001). We must fix our own behaviour before we can
change the dogs.
Training style is a likely cause of increased stress in
dogs. In a study on training tests by Scott and Fuller, results indicate that the expression of
any one ability is highly dependent on the training method used (1965). Suzanne Clothier
puts it well '…any method which incorporates fear, confusion, or aggression from the handler is
not conducive to learning, curiosity, enjoyment, trust and cooperation (1996)'.
In a pioneer study on genetics and the social behaviour
of dogs, researchers found that different breed groups responded to training pressure in
different ways. A link was also found between emotional, or stressed, behaviour and
heredity. Furthermore, different emotional behaviours were discovered to form a
prominent part of the characteristic behaviour of breeds and individuals. (Scott & Fuller,
1965)
 About
the author...
Audrey Ferrel has been training animals since she was a child. She grew up around horses and
dogs and began teaching riding and horsemanship at a very early age through the United States
Pony Club.
Audrey attended Virginia Tech where she earned a B.S.
degree in Animal Science in 1997. (Go Hokies!) While still in school, I accepted a job training
explosives detection dogs through Galaxy Scientific Corporation. This marked the beginning of
my dog-training career, and ever since I have been schooled in the art of reinforcement trainng.
She found herself, and her passion, in the world of animal behaviour
Her behaviour studies include attending multiple seminars
and workshops as well as furthering my education in psychology at the University of South
Carolina. In 1998 she became a professional member of the
Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT), which is an organisation that promotes continuing
the education of trainers in humane and positive training techniques. 1998 also marks the
inception of BBDT in Beaufort, SC. While there she treated many behaviour problems referred by
veterinarians including many types of aggression, anxiety issues, house training problems and
various other general behavioural issues. She worked with Cloma Calm in co-operation with
several local vets. On most weekdays and some weekends, you could find me conducting phone and
email consultations, private and group sessions, or traveling all over the Lowcountry seeing
dogs of all shapes and sizes.
Salsa is my demo dog and her current competition agility
dog. She has earned her Canine Good Citizen (CGC), Therapy Dog International (TDI) as well as
the agility titles Master Agility Dog (MAD), Agility Excellent (AX), Open Agility Jumpers (OAJ)
, and Novice Agility (NAC, NADAC). She also qualified in Steeplechase, Grand Prix, and DAM team
for 2001 (USDAA). If you are in The States, watch out for her in the
Animal Planet.Super Star Challenge which
should air sometime this year!
Feedback
From Janet McKenna...
I enjoyed reading the article on the causes and effects of stress on our dogs and
agreed on all that was said. I, too, have seen many dogs totally stressed out at agility shows
and have come to realize that my dog suffers from stress or did. I have done my best to calm
and reassure her and make it fun and not expect too much if she's not happy at the venue. Dogs
are very perceptive - more so than us humans. We can watch and learn so much.
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