The year I was seven was the year I really learned to
swim. I LOVE to swim. Up until that year, I had puddle ducked
around the shallow end of the pool in the company of my mother, where I could
touch the bottom, but the year I was seven, I learned to swim. Swimming was an important skill from my
perspective. I am not sure why, but I
was especially attracted to the deep end of the pool, where the water was over
my head. Where I could not touch the
bottom. Where the big kids got to
swim. I wanted to be just like them,
able to jump off the diving board, able to swim across the pool, all by my
self.
I watch a lot of reactive dogs in my classes, and I have
often though that being a reactive dog can be a little bit like being seven and
wanting to be able to swim in the deep end of the pool. Many of these dogs seem to be magnetized
towards the targets they are afraid of.
They want to go say hi, but when they get close, they begin to worry and
get overwhelmed. And then they get to
the point where they cannot cope. And
then they bark and lunge, or freeze and bolt, or sometimes they bite. These dogs seem to be attracted the very
things that frighten them the most.
When these dogs are at home, they are often calm and easy
going. When a stranger appears, or a
dog, they go on alert. And they often
walk right up to the target looking calm and confident. They are just like I was at seven in the
swimming pool. I desperately wanted to
swim in the deep end and I would start out confidently swimming where the water
was not over my head. Then I would
approach that magic rope that marked off where the water got suddenly
deeper. Then I would tire and put my
foot down. For a moment, there is hope
that I could rest with my foot on the bottom of the pool, and then there is
that sickening realization that I cannot touch and the water is over my
head. One time I panicked and the life
guard had to jump in and get me. And
still, I wanted to swim in the deep end of the pool.
When a dog approaches the target of his fear, he is quite a
bit like I was. He wants to go say
hello, but when he gets there, he is overwhelmed and panics. Dogs who panic behave fairly predictably;
they usually bark and lunge, or they may scoot away as though they touched
something hot. If the target of their
fear is a person who reaches out to them, they may actually bite. A portion of the dogs will freeze and stare
with a deer in the headlights sort of look to him. All of the dogs who get into the deep end
need what I got so long ago. They need
swimming lessons.
In my case, panicking and being pulled from the water by a
life guard was a turning point. I was
banned from the deep end for two weeks, and during those two weeks, I spent
time learning skills that would help me to be a better swimmer. I learned to fill my lungs and make myself
into a floating balloon in the water. I
learned that people in the deep end of the pool could stand on a ledge around
the deep end that was not as deep as the rest of the pool. I learned to duck my head under the water and
then push up against the water and to take a breath and go down again. I practiced swimming almost all the way
across the pool and finally after two weeks of practicing I could swim all the
way across the pool. And for two weeks,
I wasn’t permitted to get overwhelmed by sneaking myself up to the rope that
marked off the danger zone.
Working with a dog who is reactive is very much like
teaching me to swim. They need a
vacation from being overwhelmed and a chance to learn different and new
skills. They need to learn that the
target of their fear is not as frightening as they thought. They need to learn how to escape and swim to
the ledge at the side of the pool. They
need confident people who can help them to succeed and who won’t just toss them
in to sink or swim. Slow careful
exposure to the target helps the dog to practice the skills he is learning to
be successful.
Most of all, not drowning
the dog over and over again is the foundation for success when working with
reactive dogs. For all the reactive dogs
out there who are working on overcoming their fears, remembering to keep them
from drowning is probably the most important part of what we do. And to all the reactive dogs who have passed
through the Good Dog program, congratulations!
You learned to swim in the deep end of the pool!
