The Power of Patterns

One major way that dogs learn is through associations where one event predicts another, known as Classical Conditioning. This is a result of associations that the dog deems pleasant or unpleasant; meaning the dog perceives what is good or bad and makes predications for the future based on learned patterns, or manufactured predictable events.

Patterns are a sequence of events that become predictable with repetition and consistency. In the human world, patterns and structure shape our everyday lives and lead to feelings of safety and security. The same is true for dogs except they do not have human language to communicate why a learned pattern is being interrupted; this can lead to an emotional response ranging anywhere from fear and avoidance to rage and biting.

Predictable routines help anxious and fearful dogs feel safer and trust you to have things under control. When no patterns are instilled in the first place, even a confident dog can end up reactive or aggressive and lack trust that we have control over them, situations, or the environment. The same can be true for interrupting patterns; when a known pattern is interrupted with a fearful, anxious, or sick dog, the response has the potential to be extreme. Lack of structure and patterns, or the interruption of known patters are the biggest reason why most people contact me, they just do not know it.

A major example of the power of patterns and what can happen of they are interrupted, concerns my late dog, Blitz. Due to past fear-based aggression behavioral issues, for our entire relationship I taught him to be poised, respectable, under control of his emotions, and to train for food. He had many outlets for his energy and instinctual drive, but playtime with toys seemed a lot more like work-time than fun. After 6 years living this way, I wanted to learn more about training through play, so I went and studied under a couple of professionals and then started to apply what I was learning to Blitz. I started making his rewards play and toy based rather than food based, where I was encouraging him to come out of his shell and express himself more. Generally, this would not have been a problem on its own, as we were taking it very slowly, however I had not taken into consideration that we had just moved, which was an interruption of countless numbers of known patterns. I had also tried my first anti-anxiety medication for flying, which Blitz had responded extremely negative toward, acting defensively toward me for days after due to the interrupted pattern of my own personal energy. The icing on the cake was that, undenounced to me at that time, Blitz was extremely ill; a hormonal imbalance causing a wide array of symptoms, including unprecedented phobias and rage.

The perfect storm hit on the day that, on top of everything else, one of our biggest patterns had been interrupted. As an aggression trainer, it is my job to teach other dogs how to be social, and Blitz was my right-hand man. He could communicate so effortlessly with any dog, bringing fearful dogs out of their shell and proving to aggressive dogs that he was no threat. Over the years together, he learned that no matter what the circumstance, I would keep him safe, until that day. On that day I made a mistake by not following my gut. I had an exceptionally difficult dog in for Boarding and Training who did not have any prior aggression, but based on a feeling I had opted to muzzle condition him just in case. Despite that feeling, I began introductions without the muzzle. As I stood there with the leash in my hand, Blitz focusing on me rather then on that dog, it grabbed him by the face. For the first time in our relationship Blitz was not only bit by another dog, but he was bit while watching me handle it; the pattern we had created was broken and he no longer trusted me the same way around other dogs. What’s worse is that shortly after this event, we discovered how sick he was, and despite behavioral and medical intervention (to which the latter eventually failed), Blitz never trusted me the same way again. I firmly believe that individually, each of these pattern interruptions could have been worked through, likely even collectively, but due to his history with fear based defensive aggression and a life-altering sickness he probably always had that over time stopped responding to medical treatments, Blitz ultimately met his demise.

Knowing now that he was sick, I would have never allowed for or attempted to interrupt so many patterns we had created, patterns that despite his illness, helped him feel safe and secure in his life and environment. Hindsight is tricky like that, but the key is to learn from your mistakes, which brings me to this blog; The Power of Patterns. Patterns help all dogs exist peacefully in our human world, but they are especially critical for dogs who suffer from emotional or behavioral problems, as well as puppies, seniors, and sick dogs.

A more recent, less life-altering pattern interruption I recognized recently occurred with my 13 year old, senior bulldog, Diesel. I believe we may be starting to see some cognitive decline as he has been exhibiting excess anxiousness in situations we had previously overcome. On our most recent nail trim day, a pattern the dogs have become very accustomed to, Diesel was exceptionally hard to handle. When he physically tried to avoid the situation, a relative who had been visiting decided to step in and ‘help’ by holding Diesel down, making matters worse. I immediately asked them to back away and give us space because that tactic was never going to work; it simply was not a part of the pattern that Diesel had become accustomed to. While I do use pressure-release to teach dogs to lay still during grooming and handling, paired with lots of positive reinforcement of course, I never have anyone else hold the dog down. This interrupted pattern (someone else stepping in to hold him down) caused Diesel to have an emotional response of panic, and with panic comes the fight or flight response. Luckily in this case, the response was to flee, but unfortunately in Blitz’s case we discussed before, it was to fight.

This is where things can get dangerous. When we interrupt known patterns with our dogs, we have the potential to elicit emotional responses that range from mild to severe, from avoidance to rage.

Creating patterns early on for your dog is extremely powerful; patterns not only help you avoid unwanted behaviors, but they help your dog understand what behaviors you find desirable as well. To establish these habits, you must be consistent with your teaching, practice and proofing of behaviors in new environments and situations, as well as maintain your expectations and structure long term in order to sustain the desired behaviors you are looking for. Some dogs can handle living a life of inconsistency, but the vast majority do not fair well over the long term and often develop some sort of behavioral problems that could be easily avoided if patterns were created early on.

Some of the patterns I suggest you create with your dog include, but are not limited to crate training, establishing boundaries at thresholds including the kennel, car and doors, polite social interactions, grooming and body handling practices, establishing a healthy routine at the vet’s office, mealtimes and when administering rewards. Apart from this, your options for creating patterns are endless; the more patterns and structure you instill in your dog’s life, the more confident, safe and secure they will feel, ultimately leading to a stronger, more trustworthy relationship. While early patterns are ideal for avoiding unwanted behaviors, it is never too late to start creating patterns to help turn the undesired behaviors into desirable ones.

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