Several times a day I find myself in the kitchen, shutting partially open cabinet doors. The cabinets are new, and the doors close easily and stay closed. All members of the family are physically and mentally capable of closing the doors, so when being quietly aggravated and sighing loudly didn’t work, I decided to ask everyone individually to make a special effort to secure the doors when they were finished in the kitchen.
I couldn’t have been more astonished when Henry, our twelve year old son, admitted that he actually left the doors open on purpose. When asked why, he said that the sound of the doors closing on the magnetic latches was so grating that he chose not to close the doors, rather than hear that distinctive click. Since Henry does not have other noise sensitivities, his confession came as a complete surprise. Before Henry’s revelation, I never registered the sound the doors made, and even when he brought it to my attention, I didn’t find the noise to be so aversive that I would make a conscious effort to avoid closing them. Henry could immediately articulate what bothered him about the act of closing the doors, and his solution to avoid the unpleasant consequence, in his mind, at least, made perfect sense.
How do closing cabinet doors relate to shy and fearful dogs?
Often, the things we humans take for granted, or assume to be pleasurable, can have just the opposite effect on our fearful dogs. If the definition of an aversive is anything that the learner finds undesirable or punishing, then it stands to reason that our dogs may negatively react to sights, sounds, smells, people and situations that we perceive to be positive and/or rewarding.
The easiest way to know if your dog finds something aversive is to closely monitor her body language. The following list is by no means exhaustive, but is meant to give you a basis from which to gather more information on how your dog is feeling.
Reluctance to engage or move forward
Tucked tail
Lowered body posture
Closed mouth
Ears folded back against the head
Weight back over her rear legs
Sweaty paws
Whale eye (the whites of her eyes showing)
Avoidance by sniffing the ground, scratching herself or walking slowly
Panting
Turning head away
Squinty eyes
Trembling
“Ignoring” object, food or person
Taking treats with a “hard” mouth, or not taking treats at all
Excessive shedding
Noticeable dandruff
Experiences unique to your dog can range from positive to mildly aversive, all the way to truly unbearable. Some fearful dogs have a particularly hard time with children’s voices (or children themselves), being petted, leashes, collars, harnesses, having a person lean over them, dog beds, toys, flooring surfaces, the smell of cleaning products, an oven timer or alarm clock buzzing, crossing thresholds, walking in open areas, dog parks, appliances cycling on and off, and car rides.
Remember: if your dog finds something aversive, then to her, it is aversive, even if you intended it to be positive.
Once you become aware that your dog perceives her environment differently than you do and you become proficient at deciphering how she feels in different contexts, then you can more accurately predict what she will find aversive, and just as important, what she finds rewarding.
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