"Can Anxiety Can Be Trained Out Of A Dog?"

It was a question posed here, by a reader of Modern Dog magazine to "Ask the Dog Lady".

The answer, I argue, is not "yes" or "no". In uncharacteristic form, I will say that the answer is NOT "sometimes". The answer is that there is something wrong with the question.

Emotions and training are separate. Emotion is not intellect, nor is intellect emotion. I cannot train feelings. I can train artificial responses that some would describe as changing feelings, but this is not to say that I have changed the feeling.

I will repeat, "It's a DOG, not a BONSAI." Dogs close resemblance to humans is often cited as the reason for the success (well, from our view) of domestication.

What CAN be trained is the reduction of the observed anxiety-related behaviors, but because I am a cognitive ethologist, and NOT a behaviorist, I find this to be unacceptable.

Imagine yourself in the ER waiting room, pacing like a madman, waiting for word on your injured loved one. You, one could say, are ANXIOUS.

Now, let us say that someone offers you $100 to sit. You sit. How much less anxious are you now?

Alternatively, instead of the $100, you are warned that if you do not sit, you will be removed. You sit. Are you less anxious?

Still, an observer entering the room and finding you seated might describe you as less anxious than if they found you pacing. But -- what is occurring inside your brain is causing the behaviors, the behaviors do not significantly** change the brain.

Body language is, like verbal language, initiated by the brain. By the whizzing impulses, and ebb and flow of chemical transmitters. When a dog (or human) shows (tells) you that they feel anxious, there are 2 long-term options.

1) Remove the source of the anxiety. (may or may not be possible)
2) Teach the dog how to effectively deal with the source of the anxiety.

Short-term,
1) Remove brain response to anxiety (chemically or otherwise)
2) Vent anxiety (any enjoyable activity)




**Yes, there is some recent research that suggests habitual behaviors affect the brain. That's all I know 'bout that.