BehavioRx Case of the Month
for July 2000

The Subjective Dog

Just how this tendency can trigger serious behavior problems was exemplified by a 6 year-old, neutered male German Shepherd. He had bitten several visitors. Finally, after challenging husband "Dan's" right to enter the bedroom, where wife "Alice" lay in bed, again scolding Blitz. Angered by the challenge, Dan put on his brick mason's gloves and boots and found out the hard way the truth in the old adage, "Never teach a dog the power of his mouth." He spent the next two hours at the emergency hospital, having his badly lacerated hands and legs stitched up. That was the last straw. The couple got a referral to us from their veterinarian.

The aggression had first emerged when "Blitz" was 5 months old. He growled at a visiting male neighbor who entered the house wearing a large cowboy hat. Dan angrily scolded Blitz, grabbed his collar and dragged him out the back door, where the dog languished until the visitor left several hours later. The next day the neighbor again dropped in, minus the hat; but Blitz apparently remembered his scent well. He growled, lunged and barked at him, for which he was again scolded angrily and escorted to the back yard, this time by Alice.

Blitz had now suffered the wrath of both owners, the danger for which he quickly generalized to all visitors, men, women, and even children with whom he previously had happily played. As these episodes multiplied in number, they also increased in negative, often painful feedback; i.e. a spike, pinch collar replaced the choke chain collar when it no longer held Blitz at bay from people. Dan had also taken to hitting the dog with a clenched fist, usually on the back. It was at this point that Blitz started growling at Dan in and around the bedroom.

Subjectiveness

Although we can't discuss how the Blitzes in life really interpret such experiences, the evidence we see in their behavior following each such episode indicates that they may be taking things very personally and extremely seriously. We have noted that most dogs don't seem to "get it," i.e. that their owners are angry at them for
their aggression, and not at the visitors! This is apparent by the fact that the dogs' aggression toward visitors heightens dramatically. This allelomimetic tendency is used to advantage in the formal training of attack/protection dogs. However, Blitz was being trained informally, without any command-trigger for aggression, as is used for service dogs. Hence, the dog soon internalizes the anger... begins getting angry at visitors without any owner-anger stimulus. In fact, many dogs' anger starts on its emotional 'roll' at the sound of the doorbell, knock on the door, or even footsteps outdoors.

Rehabilitation

Dogs and other non-vocal/non-verbal animals form and retain memories by processing through their senses the things they see (visual), hear (auditory), smell (olfactory), feel by touching or being touched (tactile), or taste (gustatory). So do humans. In Blitz, these sensory impressions had been mentally 'digested' and then
subjectively interpreted, not rationally, but emotionally. And the dominant emotions involved were anger, fear and, finally 'rage avalanches,' wherein Blitz would have to be literally tied to a tree in the back yard on a chain and left for up to thirty minutes before he calmed down.

When Alice and Dan were exposed to the emotional aspects of their relationship with Blitz, they were quick to understand that a solution to his behavior lay in reaching him, not on a level of physical dominance or obedience to commands, but on regaining his confidence and influencing the way he felt about his owners and
their visitors. As Alice commented during the first consultation... "This is really dog psychiatry, isn't it?" We agreed, but pointed out that she and Dan would have to be the psychiatrists.

Cooling-Off Time

It was fortunate that Blitz had not been exposed to any outsiders for almost five months prior to our first consultation. Otherwise, we would have had to schedule a week-long respite from visitors before starting the rehabilitation program. This procedure isn't always advisable in biting cases, but when the history is long and
the dog reaches the rage-stage the hiatus is beneficial. However, during the period, Dan and Alice agreed that they, too, would have time to re- evaluate their own behavior relationship relative to Blitz, since he had become the subject of heated arguments, almost daily. They were given the essence of our leadership program, which allowed them to recognize ways they could counter some of Blitz's own "leadership games" in everyday life around the house. This meant that Alice, when Blitz charged ahead of her down the hall, would clap her hands once, reverse her direction, and say "Good Dog" as Blitz turned to catch up and try again to take
the lead. After a few reversals each day, Blitz was following Alice without anxiety. Blitz rarely led Dan, but he and Alice both worked on charging out doors using the 'turn-around' technique.

Both Dan and Alice put Blitz on the Learn-to-Earn program, countering his nudges for affection with pleasant commands to "Blitz, Sit," then rewarding him with praise before releasing him. They also held short evening sessions in the back yard and house, calling Blitz back and forth between them, using off-leash techniques, which helped balance their command responses which, initially, were stronger toward Alice than Dan.

After the first week, they felt ready to start to work on Blitz's angry emotional reactions to the doorbell, using the Jolly Routine. This involved someone ringing the doorbell, either Dan or Alice instantly applying a single hand-clap interruption, then speaking happily to the closed door. Both owners said they felt foolish talking to a door at first, but when they saw Blitz's tail wagging happily on the third doorbell ring, before they could get in a hand-clap, they understood the power of emotional leadership. Blitz was not to be on leash for these exercises, since it had been part of his original, informal 'attack-training.'

A Real Friendship Test

When Blitz was reliably wagging and happy about the doorbell, Dan and Alice pressed one of their more dog-confident friends to ring the doorbell and be greeted, then enter the house. However, per instructions, this gentleman was not to be alone... Dan had sneaked out the back door and met him. Alice was the greeter. We had rehearsed this entire procedure successfully at our office, and both Dan and Alice said they felt confident about applying it at home. The first application was so positive that Dan phoned during the evening to report on it and ask whether they should do it again. He said their friend was willing to go and fetch his wife as the second guinea pig! They were advised to let the procedure incubate for two hours, then repeat it with the wife. When Dan didn't call back, we telephoned him, even though it was nearly 11:00pm. Alice answered the phone and explained; things had gone so well they were waiting another two hours to do it again.

At the end of the program Blitz had what everyone called a "new personality." Dan and Alice had even gotten their old friend to wear his cowboy hat for the final setup.

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