I dont wish to start a debate again, but I want to share my thinking about comforting fearful dogs. Here is Emily Larlhams video that explains that you cant reinforce fear. https://youtube/watch?v=IOhpr3NO3TY I think this is correct, because the word reinforcement, deals with behaviour, not with emotion. But although reinforce is not the correct word for this scenario, I think its still possible to make someone elses fear worse by attempting to comfort, if the comforting is not done properly. (Having had some severe bouts of anxiety and panic in the past, I have some experience with the effect of good comforting and bad comforting). Emotional contagion seems to be the correct terminology for this effect. Here are a couple of links: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_contagion sciencedirect/science/article/pii/S0376635714002472 What I think this all boils down to, is that comforting is only helpful if you are conveying the right emotion and state of calm. Not all of us are great at comforting. I had one parent who was excellent at it, and another who would try, but was awful! Attempts to comfort, if you inadvertently convey stress, worry, or over-concern, COULD feed a dogs fear (although not technically reinforce the fear).
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 01:32:42 +0000
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