fear of noises

[BrownieNJoyce]

there was some discussion of this in the thread on fear and thunderstorms in this section "general stuff" but it digressed into how to use raw food for pushing so I thought I'd start another one.

The problem: Brownie startles at loud noises. This is only a problem because I know it's not a sign of a relaxed, calm emotionally balanced dog.

Indoors, this looks like either shrinking quickly into a half-down then cowering or leaving the room in a hurry. Outdoors, he startles a lot less than he used to. Occasionally a car or truck going by us (we're on the sidewalk) will make a sudden noise from braking or revving to go uphill. Brownie may still shrink and duck behind me.

Question: Dog trainers (not NDT) (and anyone who owns a dog who's done any training) say that if the dog is showing fear and you pet them as if to reassure them (which is what we do with children) that you are reinforcing their fear reaction. That doesn't seem quite right to me. Although I get what they are saying from the behavioral point of view, NDT is not a behavioral approach so there must be another take on this. (note: I work with young children with autism, don't use ABA and and I am on-goingly training in non-behavioral approaches since I don't resonate with the ABA folks). I imagine that the reason the behavioral folks think that "reassuring" the pet reinforces their fear reaction (even though fear is not a behavior) is because nothing changes so it looks like the reassurance maintains the problem. But the reason it doesn't change anything is that it actually doesn't address the cause of the emotional response (a clogged emotional pipeline?).

What I've noticed is that when I'm preparing Brownie's food, I often happen to clang the stainless bowl on something. At these times, he is already attending to the smell of the food and getting excited sohe reacts less strongly to the noise versus when the same thing happens but I'm not preparing his food. If he's in the kitchen when I'm not preparing his food, he'll startle to a sudden noise. I sometimes stop what I'm doing, squat down, and if he comes over to me (his head will be down), then I massage him and talk to him til he seems back to himself again (doesn't take long).

Overall, as I said, he does seem to be less reactive than he used to. I would say this would be due to the pushing we've been doing and that he's worked through some emotional blocks so his nervous system is a bit less susceptible to being startled. And I would expect this shift to continue over time. This is my impression based on what I've learned so far from NDT and it's consistent with what Lee wrote in the thread about thunderstorms. Let me know if I'm right on this. and I'll read Lee's articles and may find the answer there but thought it would be a good topic here too.

[Alec]

Ok. I've dealt with some sound fear with my dog well. I like to believe that what I did from an NDT standpoint is what improved it. I think some of it was the dog maturing but mostly the NDT methods.

So, what did I do? That’s right more redirection and playing through the noises. Also, my dog figured out that barking at certain noises helps.

When I got the push and tug games to a certain level I began to create scenarios (with the help of my wife) so that the dog would be scared but come to me for resolution. For example, my dog had issues with garbage dumpsters among others (hydraulic noises from the garbage truck or the brakes on the UPS truck, for example) so I had my wife sneak into the garage by our garbage can (the big green one that goes on the street; not as loud as a dumpster but that is the what we want to begin with) and open and shut it. My dog would turn around and look at it like WTF and stand there for awhile kind of scared. Eventually it broke, and bam redirection about 3 times and she was back to normal. I also would tell her how good of dog she is in my sweet voice along with the pushing. We did this just a few times and after awhile the garbage meant nothing. I have her sit on the box on trash day, walk down there move around, create a commotion, and she just chills in a stay on the box. It doesn't seem like much now but 3 months or so ago it would've been huge. We also played through the noises at the house and on the street. If you can get the dog playing tug on the street and even running with the toy before and after a loud noise then the dog is able to overcome the fear (or become more comfortable) this way as well. The UPS man and other loud trucks, motorcycles, etc. mean nothing to her anymore. She is still sensitive to some sounds at times (more so off the home turf) but over time I think it may even be a non issue all together.

So to sum it all up, Brownie just has a little way to go (real change takes time) but I think you’re right on the money with your approach, and rubbing your dog to calm them in this situation is appropriate, in my opinion.

[Heather]

Our household is pretty loud, so inside Happy snores through commotion, but outside he is more aware/cautious of loud things like the garbage truck (although he likes to lie in the rain during a thunderstorm, which makes *me* nervous).

I feed and massage him if he is too distracted or nervous to push or play. I think there is a difference between acknowledging the change of mood and reassuring with touch, vs. enhancing the nervousness by baby talk, eg, "oh, poor baby, are you scared," etc.

My kids are petrified of thunder storms and they need me to stay calm and confident and help them relax by holding them on my lap and telling them they are safe. If I act nervous every time I see lightning, and pull them close and ask them if they're scared, they freak out.

[Alec]

I think you're right about not adding to the energy with your kids when there is a thunderstorm similar to telling a kid to put some dirt on a cut because adding energy only makes the situation worse. Added energy, like you jumping at a noise wouldn't help a dog either. However, using a calming approach, even when it's baby talk (regardless of what you say) along with touch will, in my opinion, help a dog so long as it isn't adding energy to the situation but rather working to reduce it since the dog is already overloaded.

[Sang]

Alec is spot on in what he has said. I’d like to just add this to hopefully explain why what you’re doing with Brownie in those situations is the right path to follow, and that it isn’t going to reinforce his fears.

If you look at the fear of loud noises as actually being no different than the exhibiting of aggression, or hyper-friendliness, shyness, etc…..then you’ll start to see that it all stems from the same place. All these feelings are just different sides of the same coin. So the same way you would handle an aggressive dog, which is by praising him when he’s expressing himself through his aggression, is also the same way you would handle a dog’s fear of noises, which is to praise him in a calm, reassuring tone. The praise isn’t going to reinforce his fear, just as it doesn’t reinforce a dog’s aggression. The fearful reaction has just become the dog’s way of trying to escape the feeling inside of him that the loud noise created. So praising him isn’t going to reinforce his fear. What the praise and massaging does do, is start to change the dog’s emotional state. And once you can change a dog’s emotional state, he can then be open to learning so that you can have influence to change his behavior by changing how he FEELS about the situation in the first place. So by praising and “reassuring” him when he hears a loud noise, or when thunder strikes, you’re actually helping him get back into alignment with you emotionally, so that he can feel safe to express his fear and energy with you. And when he feels safe to express his fear with you, that’s when you can help him overcome it. It’s working from the inside out.

When you’re preparing Brownie’s food, and then you clang on something, he’s not reacting to the noise because he’s already in a state of emotional flow, and energy is moving. The smell of the food and the anticipation are putting him into a state of drive, and when a dog is in drive, he doesn’t get rattled. And like you said, when there is no food being prepared and there’s a loud noise, he reacts in a fearful display, because he’s still holding a certain amount of fear in reserve that he hasn’t yet been able to express with you. But you’re totally right that the pushing has allowed him to come as far as he has in this regard. Over time, as Brownie starts to feel more and more comfortable giving you that fear, you’ll start to see him become more and more relaxed and confident in the situations that used to trigger a fearful response.

Alec has given some great examples of how he helped his dog overcome her fears. In addition to the great things he’s shared, I’d also add that a really great thing would be to get Brownie to bark at the source of his fear. Lee talks about this in the article you mentioned about how he got Freddie over his fear of thunderstorms. Definitely worth another read. I know it’s on his blog. It’s the same thing I did to help my dog Roxy get over her fear of the vacuum cleaner, among other things.

Like Alec said, you’re definitely on the right path.

[BrownieNJoyce]

I appreciate the thoughtful responses! I'll keep reading and NDT-ing!