Does comforting a scared dog actually reinforce their fear? (Answer: who cares?)

There was a thunderstorm here last night, an event that doesn't really merit comment here in the Midwest, especially since it was a pretty mild storm. Not windy, no loud thunder booms, just your run-of-the-mill storm. But of course, when you have a thunder-phobic dog, there is no such thing as a small, run-of-the-mill storm.

When Maisy first developed her thunder phobia three or four years ago, I put a lot of time and missed sleep into the problem. I spent many nights awake and feeding her everything from deli meat to potato chips in an effort to counter-condition thunder. I also used situational anxiety meds to reduce the amount of panic she felt so the training could work better.

Overall, it was worth it, because Maisy rarely has the full blown panic attacks that she used to have when a storm would roll in. Most times she's mildly uncomfortable, choosing to stick closely to me or my husband for comfort, and we ride it out with meds, food, or missed sleep.

Last night's storm started about an hour before bedtime. Although Maisy was not panicking, she was a bit restless. She kept walking back and forth between the bedroom and the living room, where my husband was watching TV and I was reading the DSM5 as a bit of light reading homework. We invited her to sit with us several times, but it was clear that she did not want to be near the big picture window with its view of all the lightning.

I finally gave in and went to bed early. Maisy followed me into the bedroom, hopped up on the bed, pressed herself as close as she could to my side, and... fell asleep. No panting, no pacing, no panic, just sleep. All she needed to get through a scary situation was a bit of comfort.

Think about that for a moment.

I know there is a lot of talk about how comforting a dog who is scared is "reinforcing fear" - as if that's a bad thing! I personally don't believe that you can reinforce an emotion, and even if you could, I cannot imagine a living being that would volunteer to be truly scared in order to get a cookie or a hug. Of course, there are those too-smart-for-their-own-good dogs who figure out that if the act scared, they get good things. It may appear that fear (or more accurately, fearful-looking behavior) is being rewarded in those cases, and honestly, so what?

Now, I believe that Maisy was actually scared last night, and I do not think that going to bed a bit early to provide her some comfort was that big of a sacrifice on my part. But let's pretend for a moment that her behavior was a calculated attempt to get my attention. WHY IS THAT A BAD THING? Seriously, all my dog wanted was some affection! She wanted me to show her a bit of love! She wanted to be comforted! Isn't that actually a GOOD thing? Don't we humans get dogs because of the unconditional love they show us? Don't we enjoy being able to lavish all kinds of love on them in return? When it comes down to us, don't most of us say that we love our dogs more than we love most people?

How about, instead of getting all wrapped up in questions about whether or not our dogs are manipulating us, we look at their behavior as communication instead - and respond to that in a loving, caring, affectionate manner.

Thunderphobia Update

It has been about six weeks since Maisy started showing signs of thunder phobia. Hard to believe, really- she's made some amzaing progress in a really short period of time. Today I'll talk a little bit about where we started, what we've done, and where we are now.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Maisy's thunder phobia came on quickly. In the past, she's always been pretty chill about storms, barely noticing the noise, and often sleeping through them. But one night she... didn't. When the booms began, she pressed herself up as close to me as possible, started panting, and just quaked in fear.

Despite this heartbreaking behavior, I still feel fortunate for a number of reasons. For one thing, the reaction was relatively mild compared to that of other dogs. I was also catching (what I think was) the very first instance of fear, meaning that I could intervene in the problem very early on. I already had a proven situational anti-anxiety drug available, which meant that I didn't need to take her to the vet, get a prescription filled, and then hope that we chose the right med. In addition, I have enough knowledge and experience at this point to devise and implement a behavior modification plan. Finally, we have an established relationship with a veterinary behaviorist who could review that plan and make suggestions.

My very first action was to give Maisy her medication, which helped reduce the amount of fear she was feeling. Although training can obviously work without meds, if the dog is too stressed, it is much harder for it to be effective. Immediately after that, I started the tedious work of classical counter-conditioning. (See this post for a full explanation.) Simply put, for several weeks, every time I heard thunder, I gave Maisy a piece of tasty food. Although this has been exhausting (there have been nights I haven't gotten much sleep), by pairing the scary noise with something pleasurable, I have helped Maisy learn that the sound of thunder predicts good things, not bad. By changing her expectations in this way, her fear has gradually diminished.

I have been pretty low-key and matter-of-fact throughout this process. I believe that emotions are contagious, so the last thing I want to do is to behave in a way that would lead Maisy to believe that I am scared. While I'm not worried about reinforcing her fear, I also don't want to feed into it. By remaining calm, I help her feel more comfortable, not less.

Things have improved a lot. A couple weeks ago, we had an unexpected storm in the middle of the night. Maisy moved closer to me so that we were touching, but then she curled up and went back to sleep- no panting, no trembling, and no drugs or chicken needed to achieve that. (I probably should have continued our counter-conditioning, but she seemed okay and I was exhausted.) The next day, we played ball in the backyard while thunder rumbled in the distance. Maisy didn't even seem to notice; she ran around enthusiastically, her tail making giant circles the whole time. Occasionally she'd plop down to rest, the big grin on her face accompanied by relaxed ears and a slow, gentle wag.

These encouraging signs were not a fluke; we had a thunderstorm a few nights ago which Maisy once again slept through, so I feel very fortunate, indeed. Such dramatic progress does not come so easily to every dog. Although I definitely think my early intervention made a difference, I must admit that there are likely a few other factors at play. Truthfully, I wonder if her initial reaction had more to do with the level of stress around the house than anything else. Maisy is a pretty sensitive dog, and the mood in the house may have been just enough to push mild concern about the storm over into fear. Trigger stacking is real- and it isn't pretty.

No matter what caused her fear, I'm glad to see Maisy feeling more comfortable with storms. It's a terrible thing to see your dog scared and being unable to help. I know that Maisy and I got incredibly lucky in how quickly and positively she responded to my behavior modification plan.

For more information on thunder phobia, please see these posts by people smarter than I:
Blog post by Patricia McConnell
Informational post by Sara Reusche
Thunderphobia: A Case Study by Sara Reusche

Thunder and Fireworks and Noise, Oh My!

I had been waiting for this day to come. Ever since I'd read in Patricia McConnell's book For the Love of a Dog that thunder phobia is most likely to start between the ages of 3 and 7, I'd been worrying. Maisy had always slept through storms like they weren't even happening, yet she was so sensitive to nearly inaudible (to me, anyway) noises that I just knew it was coming.

And it did. Of course, there was a special little irony in it happening less than 72 hours after we'd gotten a gold star from the veterinary behaviorist. Maybe that jinxed us, or maybe it was a coincidence, but either way, when the storm started getting noisy, Maisy started getting antsy.

First, she pressed herself up as close to me as she could get. Then, she started to pant slightly, even though the air conditioner had made the house quite cold. Finally, she began to tremble and shake. I gave her a dose of her as-needed anxiety medication, and gradually the shaking and panting stopped, although she stayed curled up next to me.

The next night was even worse, as it brought with it the kind of storm that uproots trees and causes massive power outages and contaminated water that will probably give you e. coli when you excitedly make coffee after the power comes back on. (True story. Mostly.)

Suddenly having a dog afraid of storms has been very hard on me. Although Maisy and I have dealt with fear issues for pretty much her entire life, the thunder phobia threw me for a loop. Before, I'd always been able to manage her fear. I could choose to avoid whatever was freaking her out if I wanted. Or I could choose to carefully expose her to it at low levels at times I was prepared to work with her, both physically and mentally.

Now, though? Well, the weather is unpredictable and uncontrollable. We can't avoid it, we can't set up the situation to make her successful, and it happens at times that are highly inconvenient, such as the middle of the night. Worse, it can happen when I'm not even home, leaving Maisy alone with her fear, something that makes me feel terrible.

And it didn't stop there. Although we didn't have any more storms over the next few weeks, we did have the 4th of July, and with it, fireworks. About the only good thing fireworks have going for them is their predictability. Well, and I suppose if we tried really hard, we could avoid them, but given that I live in the middle of a large metro, that would be hard. Still, I can't change the volume nor the timing.

I love my dog dearly, so seeing her so scared is hard on me. Feeling powerless to help her is even harder. Thankfully, I've been lucky enough to learn a bit about behavior modification and we have the support of an excellent veterinary behaviorist. With these two things in our favor, Maisy and I have been able to start dealing with her new noise issues. That doesn't make things any more pleasant, at least not right now, but it does give me hope for the future.

In the next few weeks, I'll discuss what we've done, how it's worked, and where we're at now. In the meantime, feel free to share your experiences. Is your dog afraid of thunder or other loud noises? How old was he when it started? Do you totally share my distress about not being able to protect your dog from everything? I'd love to hear from you!