Reactivity in Dogs Part One: Boundaries and The Fear Reaction

Whether you are canine or human, boundaries are fundamental to any healthy, happy relationship or interpersonal interaction.

Just like us, a dog's boundaries are not fixed. They may tolerate or even welcome approaches and behaviours in some relationships which create a strong negative reaction in others.

Some dogs are more effective or more vocal communicators, making it easy to assess their boundaries. Others may feel the need to suppress their outward displays of discomfort for fear of negative repercussions. Resource guarding is a good example. Your dog might be more than happy to sit at your feet with a bone or a toy that they value; but grow tense, growl or even bare their teeth if approached by another dog. Tiredness, past experiences, environment and even hunger can all influence how this interaction plays out. If your dog is satisfied with their dinner and feeling full they might willingly give away their treasure to a fellow canine. Another day, if they are feeling vulnerable, tired, stressed or hungry they might not be comfortable with the same dog even being in the room.

Dogs who have been abused will often have very specific triggers and more assertive boundaries. Countless foster and rescue families have shared success stories based on inching closer and closer to their canine companion over time. Sometimes this relaxation period (referred to as "decompression") can take weeks or even months. I once read an account of a rescue dog who immediately found comfort with their mum, but took a full six months to allow their new dad to even sit beside them.

Equally, when I was a child my grandmother adopted a cat who couldn't be in the house with me if I was wearing a specific pair of shoes. She had been kicked by a man in work boots and the thick heavy soles of my platform sandals triggered an instant association to the violent events of her past. Other days she would throw herself down on the pavement in front of me and refuse to let me pass until I had made a suitable fuss of her (which I was more than happy to do).

In short, getting to know your dog's boundaries doesn't stop at the outward display of fearful, defensive or anxious behaviour. In order to change the reaction, we need to break down the association to the cause. By listening to our dogs when they assert their boundaries, we can learn to preempt their reactivity and accommodate their needs. The result? Happy, relaxed dogs who feel in control of their surroundings.

For me, the best way of achieving this comes from understanding your dog's physiology.

THE FEAR REACTION

While a dog's behaviour (and by association the best route for training) be influenced by their breed/breeding, stress physiology and biochemistry is the same whether we're looking at a Chihuahua or a St Bernard.

Let's consider the Central Nervous System. A beautifully complex yet primal network which carries instruction between the muscular structures and the brain. (I say between and not from because it's important to remember that the conversation goes both ways- more on that later). There are several subdivisions of the CNS, but for the moment we're only looking at boundaries and fear reactions so we'll keep our attention on the ANS (Automatic Nervous System). Our reactions, and those of our canine companions, are controlled by a mix of conscious and subconscious instructions. Think about the sudden feeling of disappointment. While you might be inwardly hurt, you consciously try to cover your feelings with a smile so as not to betray your feelings. However before you've even realised it, your heart rate and blood flow have increased, your chest has tightened and the muscles of your face and stomach have contracted.

While we humans can have a tendency to be quite clumsy with our interpersonal relationships, we're still highly practiced at presenting conscious, polite, socially acceptable reactions. Our four legged friends, on the other hand, favour instinctive honesty.

When a dog experiences an acute fear reaction, the parasympathetic nervous system acts ahead of the brain, creating an entirely subconscious series of events. The muscles receive instruction to engage with the threat in front of them, or if possible, flee. (Side note, this is where lead walking becomes a complex issue- without adequate freedom to facilitate an escape and reassert their boundaries, a dog will turn to a more actively defensive approach.) The conscious understanding of these impulses comes later.

The fear reaction will generally manifest outwardly in several recognisable ways. The altering of a dog's tail position, position of the lips and mouth, movement of the eyes and the muscles surrounding them. While certainly helpful to identify, these responses can be inhibited by:

-Training: a dog raised on aggressive or pain centric training methods may mute their outward physicality to avoid being punished)

-Breeding: breeds who's physicality has been manipulated by human intervention may have reduced capacity to control their tail (Bulldogs, Pugs etc)

- Disability: arthritis, injury or paralysis, lack of sight, all affect the physicality of a dog and may impede our ability to read their reactions.

It's vitally important to spend time assessing your dog as an individual and learning the markers we can intercept a fear reaction or identify a crossed boundary before behaviours escalate. The fear reaction is as chemical as it is physical. Though it may only take a few seconds for the fear reaction to escalate, it can take up to 72 hours for the associated chemical and physical changes to reset in our dogs' system.

Almost immediately, cortisol and adrenaline flood the brain and the immune and digestive systems are suppressed in order to redirect energy to the muscular, vascular and respiratory systems. Our canine companion becomes dissociated from us and entirely, compulsively focused on resolving the threat before them. In this situation, it's likely your dog will refuse treats and abandon their training, no matter how well ingrained it may be. Now, and for the next few days, you might find them vulnerable to trigger stacking. If another "threat" or "trigger" crosses your dog's boundaries (which may be more pronounced than normal) before the stress hormones have dissipated from your dog's system, they will return to this same stressed state very easily.

So how do we address this?

Without being reductive, there are several elements to consider including-

-Experience: a relatively new trigger will likely be easier to overcome than a repetitive, learned cycle of behaviours

-Time: it's unlikely to be a straight forward process. To best serve our four legged friends we need to really dedicate ourselves to listening, observing- even trial and error.

- Our involvement: we'll also have to spend some time assessing our own reactions. Managing our expectations, remaining calm and balanced, and using our relationship with our dog as the foundation for addressing the situation

This is part one of a series of blogs on reactivity. Some will focus on the physiological or physiological roots of reactivity, some will be more practical . Some are reflective while others focus on strategy and proactivity.

You're free to take on board whichever aspects are most relevant to you and your dog, it's absolutely not a one size fits all situation. I'd also recommend the books of Sally Gutteridge, or if you'd like to discuss your dog's reactivity one to one then you'll soon be able to book in for remote behaviour and nutritional consultations with myself and other members of the Dog and Hound team.