Understanding Approach-Avoidance Behaviors in Dogs
Is your dog scared to approach you at times? Here's what you need to know about approach-avoidance conflicts.
Understanding Dog Approach-Avoidance Behaviors
At times, dog owners come to me and label their dogs as having ambivalent personalities—some sort of canine personification of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The dog may appear to be friendly one minute and then fearful or even defensive the next.
When doing an assessment, you see these dogs approach and retreat and approach and retreat again in an ambiguous dance. In this case, Rover may appear to be unable to make a decision, but there's likely more going on than just rational thinking. We may be looking at some sort of approach/avoidance conflict with instinctive behaviors intertwined.
Approach
In approach, the animal may be drawn to a situation because it may have produced positive outcomes in the past. Curiosity often draws animals to investigate something. If past investigative approaches have resulted in positive outcomes, the dog may be more likely to be drawn to new things in the future. Approach, in these cases, involves positive reinforcement. Neophobic dogs, on the other hand, are very tentative about embracing new stimuli and may stop investigating because of past negative experiences.
What is considered positive or negative, though, depends on the dog. The dog may feel drawn to a person because, in the past, this person has fed him food, but the dog may also be drawn to move closer to a person when he does so offensively, such as to send the mailman away. Therefore, it's very important to read the dog's accompanying body language/vocalizations to tell if approach is meant to decrease distance or increase it.
Avoidance
In avoidance, animals are naturally drawn to avoid situations that are deemed unsafe or that have a history of resulting in an aversive, negative outcome. The animal, therefore, feels relief when he's presented with an unpleasant situation and removes himself from that. Avoidance, in this case, involves negative reinforcement, meaning that the dog feels better when he avoids the situation and will feel compelled to avoid it as well in the future.
Avoidance behaviors are common in humans. If you are terrified of flying and on departure day you decide to cancel your flight because of your fear, you'll likely feel great relief. This relief will feel so good that the next time you must fly, you'll feel tempted to avoid flying again.
The same goes when there's a person you don't like and you see this person at the mall. Most likely, you'll walk in another direction and feel relief when you see this person hasn't noticed you.
In animals, avoidance behavior is often adaptive (linked to survival) to avoid situations that have a history of causing negative outcomes.
In this article, we will discuss the approach and avoidance behavior in a dog who is drawn but at the same time repelled from a stimulus or situation.
This type of conflict is quite common in fearful dogs who will advance and retreat in what I call the "approach/avoidance dance." What causes a dog to engage in this behavior, and how can the dog be helped?
How to Deal With Approach-Avoidance Conflict in Dogs
Approach-avoidance conflict was first introduced by psychologist Kurt Lewin, a founder of modern social psychology. Indeed, this phenomenon is popular among people as well as dogs.
William James, in his book Principles of Psychology, claims that pleasure is a "tremendous reinforcer" of behavior and pain is a "tremendous inhibitor" of behavior. This is very true when it comes to dog behavior. Dogs will naturally seek pleasure and try to avoid pain/discomfort if there's awareness of it.
In certain circumstances, dogs may be drawn and repelled by a stimulus at the same time. This causes the dog to engage in approach and avoidance behavior.
When the dog is far from the stimulus, it appears desirable, but then as the dog gets closer, the stimulus appears less desirable and even scary.
The Problem With Strangers Handing Out Food
The approach-avoidance phenomenon is one of the main reasons why it's best not to have strangers hand out food to your dog. The dog may not like strangers, but the food is oh so appealing. So from a distance, the dog sees the outstretched hand and the tasty treat, the person, therefore, appears appealing, but as the dog gets closer, he'll likely tentatively take the food from the hand as he stretches his neck, but in the meanwhile, he may realize how close he is to the stranger. Next, all alarm bells go off.
At this point, he'll likely back off startled in the "approach/avoidance dance. " And remember: the last thing that happened is the dog got startled, so the negative impression is most likely what will be recalled in future encounters.
In this state of mind, the dog cannot learn to like the stranger and there's no progress in teaching him to like strangers.
Alternate Options for Creating Positive Associations
So how can you create positive associations with strangers when they trigger this response when they try giving treats?
It's far preferable if the owner would give out food at the sight of the stranger, or if the stranger can be briefed in tossing the food past the dog instead of letting the dog come so close as to startle him. The treat-retreat game can be helpful in this case.
For safety, it's best to hire a behavior professional to guide you through the process to make sure your dog is under threshold and not being overwhelmed by the experience while keeping others safe considering that fearful dogs may even defensively bite in some circumstances.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2014 Adrienne Farricelli CPDT-KA, Dip.CBST
Comments
Elizabeth Parker from Las Vegas, NV on March 24, 2014:
Very interesting article. We've had dogs like this and we had to work with them to help them out of it.
Adrienne Farricelli CPDT-KA, Dip.CBST (author) from USA on March 23, 2014:
Thanks Heidithorne and grand old lady! Your comments are much appreciated!
Mona Sabalones Gonzalez from Philippines on March 23, 2014:
The information is useful as well as the video you selected. The part in the video about caution shown by standing on four feet while examining the bone was quite interesting. Very enjoyable hub.
Heidi Thorne from Chicago Area on March 23, 2014:
Very useful information for both owners and those who want to approach strange dogs! I've seen some of this with my dogs on occasion. Voted up, useful & interesting!
