Midterm 2: Dog Aggression, Fear, Anxiety and Barking Flashcards
What are the behaviours/actions exhibited by aggressive dogs?
Growling, baring teeth, snapping, biting with or without puncture
*sometimes exhibited during play or in aroused states
Is aggression curable?
Not curable, but controllable in the majoring of cases. It must be managed and the dog needs caring and consistent guidance.
- from a legal and liability standpoint
What is the #1 reason for post-adoptive return to humane shelters?
70% of canine problem behaviour cases presented at behavioural clinics deal with the problem of aggression
What types of aggression are more of a problem in males than in females?
Dominance-related and territorial aggression.
- Aggressive tendencies are activated in adult males by testosterone secretion
- Neutering does not eliminate this tendency but reduces some types of aggressive tendencies in some males
What is the most common multiple diagnosis of aggression?
A mixture of dominance-related and fear-related aggression
- common for a dog presented for aggressiveness to have 2 or more types of aggression
Conflict aggression
When a dog appears to be in conflict with regard to aggressive tendencies
What are the 6 types of aggression towards people?
- Dominance-related aggression
- Aggression towards children
- Fear-related aggression
- Pain-related aggression
- Territorial aggression
- Abnormal or idiopathic aggression
What are 3 early life experiences that can influence aggression?
- Learning
- if during the rearing the dog learns that a growl, threat or snap results in a family member member backing off, aggression will be reinforced
- learning can also play a role in reducing or eliminating aggression - Pharmacological considerations
- little literature to suggest drugs are useful in treating aggressive behaviour - Aggression secondary to other disease processes
- can result from brain lesions
What is dominance-related aggression? Causes? Prevention?
- Most common type of aggression, aggression towards the caregiver(s)
- Often a fxn of the owner’s inability to control their dog or inconsistencies in how they interact with their dog
Causes
- natural tendency for dogs to attempt to be dominant
- breed and sex predispositions
Prevention
- follow safety guidelines
- avoid triggers
- R+ obeying commands
- if one family member has trouble with the dog, all members of the family should ignore the dog except the person having the trouble
- neuter
- desensitize triggers
What is aggression towards young children? Causes? Resolution?
- Usually happens toward a new baby or young child; once old enough they need to be taught how to interact with dogs
- Relates to the way in which affection and attention shape a dog’s behaviour
- Habituate with a doll
Causes
- dog develops dislike of baby since baby takes attention
- owners punish dog’s unfriendly behaviour toward baby
- owners give affection and treats when baby is absent
- baby becomes an aversive stimulus
Resolution
- follow safety guidelines
- withhold affection for the dog when the baby is absent
- give affection and treats only in baby’s presence
- implement social punishment if dog growls
What is fearful behaviour?
- hide and run away
- low posture
- tremble
- ears back or flattened
- repeated muzzle licks
- dilated pupils
- tucked tail
- threaten and bark while backing away
What is fear?
related to fight or flight
A normal affective state that engages animals to respond to a threat; fight or flight response.
Some experience fear over things that are not truly dangerous
What is fear-related aggression? Causes? Resolution?
- aggression directed toward specific ppl or types of people
- to cope with its fear, dog attempts to drive away fear-evoking ppl by growling when they approach; growling can escalate
Causes
- not socialized
- mistreated by subgroup member
- R+ when aggression repels ppl
Resolution
- follow safety guidelines
- implement social punishment for aggression
- DSCC to subgroup
- avoid spontaneous approaches of subgroup
- avoid physical correction
What is pain-induced aggression? Resolution?
- Self-protection against pain is a natural inclination in animals; protective response when the painful area is handled
- Some animals stoic in their behaviour despite being injured (ex. rabbits)
- Even after an animal has been treated, they may continue to show aggression when touched or handled in the area (conditioned response)
Resolution
- follow safety guidelines
- remove source of pain
- DSCC
What is territorial aggression? Causes? Resolutions?
- Dog is aggressive towards visitors in the home
Causes
- absence of habituation to visitors
- breed and sex tendencies
Resolution
- habituate dogs to visitors using a distance gradient
- bring dog under owner control
- counter-condition stranger visits with food and affection
What is idiopathic aggression? Breeds with genetic predisposition? Causes? Resolutions?
Episodic or dysfunctional rage
- implies an underlying CNS abnormality
- unpredictable and unprovoked
- may be no apparent explanation
Breeds
- English springer spaniels
Causes
- genetic or pathophysiological abnormality
- syndrome with several possible causes
- neurotransmitter disorder
Resolution
- human safety is priority
- euthanasia may need to be considered
What are 4 types of inter-dog aggression?
- Aggression only in the owner’s presence, within identified hierarchy
- dominance-status aggression - Aggression in the absence of dominance hierarchy
- usually in dogs of similar age and size; close in dominance - Aggression towards strange dogs away from home
- contributing factor is the degree of socialization - Predatory aggression toward small dogs
- small dogs attacked as prey
- inadequate socialization to smaller dogs
What is dominance-status aggression (toward other dogs)? Causes? Prevention? Resolution?
- Occasional aggression toward CONSPECIFICS within the group is normal in many animal species
- the attack on small dogs by large dogs may reflect predatory behaviour
- within a household, dominance may be altered over time (change in members)
- many problems arise when owners interfere with the social order
Causes
- dog group has an established hierarchy
Prevention
- socialize young dogs early in life to other dogs- very important: learn body language and how to express social position to avoid a fight
Resolution
- avoid emotional or exuberant greetings
- R+ owner control
Anxieties and Fears
- In nature, fears of strange noises and strange animals are adaptive responses
- Anxiety or panic at the prospect of being abandoned by group members is an adaptive response bc being abandoned can be dangerous
- Most animals are hesitant when they find themselves in a new situation; they learn to habituate; if the dog was well socialized they will be curious
What is anxiety?
An emotional rxn often described as GENERAL UNEASINESS connoting a rather vague rxn
What are fears?
Emotional reactions related to SPECIFIC OBJECTS, such as loud noises or children
What are phobias?
Fears of objects or situations, which are cognitively understood to be WAY OUT OF PROPORTION TO THE ACTUAL DANGER
What are the 4 causes of fear in dogs?
- Absence of prior habituation to a fear-evoking stimulus in the animal’s background, especially as a puppy
- Anxieties and fear rxns can be enhanced by the owner if they provide reinforcement in the form of comfort to the dog when it acts fearful
- Acquired through adverse experiences
- Reflects a physiological basis and is due to an abnormally low behavioral threshold or an abnormally intense fear rxn to fear- or anxiety-evoking situations
*clinical cases commonly involve several of these processes
What does separation anxiety include? What marked distress is exhibited?
What type of response is SA?
Includes:
- digging, chewing, scratching at doors, howling, barking, crying, urination, and defecation
Marked distress exhibited:
-destruction and house soiling are not a dog’s attempt to punish or seek revenge on their owner, but are part of a PANIC RESPONSE
- may be depressed, excited, or anxious when you prepare to leave the house; might also see mixed messages
What are 6 reasons for separation anxiety?
- Left alone for the 1st time
- Lack of prior habituation of absences
- Following a long period of being together
- Change in owner’s work schedule, family routine or structure
- After a traumatic event
- lavish affection prior to departure and upon return
What are 4 aspects of treating separation anxiety?
- keep arrivals and departures low-key
- can pair treats with departure if animal is calm - leave dog with an article of clothing that smells like you
- desensitization techniques for severe cases
- systematic process of getting dog used to being alone
- teaching calm during “practice” departures and short absences
- use R+ (counter conditioning) to reward calm response - never punish
- it is a panic response, not disobedience
How to approach fears to an inanimate object
Desensitization of fear of objects or situations starting with weak stimulus
How to approach fears to thunderstorms
DSCC through scheduled or staged thunderstorm training sessions
- neutralize what previously caused fear and R+ the response you would like instead
How to approach fear to children or other ppl
Desensitization to fear-evoking stimulus (such as through distance gradient)
- children can be unpredictable in their movement and actions, sometimes causing pain in dogs
What are 5 types of barking?
- Response to environmental stimuli
- Social facilitation
- Play-evoked barking
- Barking toward neighbour dogs
- Learned barking
What is excessive barking? Causes? Resolutions?
One way dogs communicate is through vocalizing, it can act as a warning device or caused by social isolation, frustration, and attention-seeking or the result of territorial or protective behaviour or due to fears or phobias. It may be socially facilitated as well.
Causes
- breed predisposition
- secondary to SA
- acquired because of R+
- provoked by enviro stimuli
- social facilitation
Resolution
- eliminate or treat cause
- discontinue R+ for barking
- screen off provoking stimuli
- R+ non-barking
- remote punishment
