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Why is My Dog Still Barking and Lunging?  The Role of Fear Incubation in Anxiety-Based Behavior Problems

11/6/2014

22 Comments

 
by Robin Foster, PhD, CAAB
Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist
Picture

Canine behavior problems rooted in fear and anxiety are some of the most common complaints presented to veterinarians, applied animal behaviorists, and trainers.  Anxiety-based problems are difficult to treat, and in both people and animals there can be an unexpected increase in fear in the absence of any negative experiences. 

Behavior modification to treat anxiety typically involves desensitization; the dog is exposed to the feared stimulus without anything bad happening and without triggering fight or flight responses, such as barking, lunging, or balking.  In theory repeated exposure--especially when paired with a pleasurable event like a treat (counter-conditioning)--should lead to a decrease and ultimate extinction of the fear and reactivity.  But in reality fear-based behavior problems are notoriously resistant to extinction and in some cases may even get worse. For example, suppose your dog becomes alert and shows signs of stress when he spots another dog on the other side of the street, and nothing bad happens.  In theory this neutral (or even positive) experience should reduce your dog’s fear and anxiety, but maybe it persists or gets worse.  Why?! 

There are many possible reasons, but one that is rarely discussed in dog training circles is a well-known phenomenon called incubation.  In the late 1960s European personality psychologist Hans Eysenck introduced the concept of incubation.  He used this term because in both humans and animals fear often seems to incubate, or intensify, in the absence of any experience.  Several studies published over the last half-century have confirmed that four key factors account for fear incubation and resistance to extinction.


  1. How strong was the initial bad experience that created the fear in the past?  If the initial trauma was severe, fear will be more resistant to treatment.  Getting hit by a car, beaten by an owner, or viciously attacked by another dog are pretty intense bad experiences.  This is not a particularly surprising finding, but in practice we rarely know the individual history well enough to identify the cause of the fear and anxiety.

  2. What is the animal's temperament?  Individuals with neurotic/introverted temperaments are more vulnerable to both fear conditioning and incubation compared to laid-back/extroverted temperaments.

  3. How strong is the stimulus that the individual is reacting to in the moment?  When the stimulus in the moment is intense the fear is more likely to persist and may even get worse.  For example a close, large, energetic dog is more intense than a distant, small, quiet dog.    

  4. How long is the duration of exposure to the stimulus in the moment?  A brief exposure with rapid retreat can slow the progress of desensitization and is one of the most reliable predictors of fear incubation.  Long duration exposures are better.

The first two factors are nearly impossible to control and behaviorists are often trying to manage the consequences of their effects on fear and reactivity. The third and fourth factors come into play during behavior modification and should be taken into consideration when using exposure methods to treat fear and anxiety.

Recent studies of incubation have focused on the brain and have found a link between an individual’s vulnerability to incubation and low levels of a substance called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).  One study showed that fear was extinguished equally quickly in animals with low and normal levels of BDNF, but that fear was more likely to reappear in animals with low BDNF after just one bad experience following fear extinction (this is called renewal).


There are two take-home points for behaviorists and trainers.  First, owners should be made aware that the treatment for fear and anxiety will generally take longer and may be vulnerable to relapse in animals with a neurotic/introverted temperament or a history of trauma.   Second, behavior modification recommendations should emphasize long exposures to weak triggers.  In my experience many failed desensitization efforts are a direct result of violation of these two conditions. For example, letting another dog approach and greet a fearful dog is too intense!  Quick retreats at the first sight of an approaching dog is too brief!   Letting your dog watch another dog from a distance and for a long time (until he loses interest is best) will produce the most effective results in most cases.  I have used the example of dog-dog reactivity, but the same principles apply to any fear-based behavior issue.





References

Eysenck H. 1968. A theory of the incubation of anxiety/fear responses. Behaviour Research and Therapy 6(3):309-321.

Pickens C, Theberge F. 2014. Blockade of CB1 receptors prevents retention of extinction but does not increase low preincubated conditioned fear in the fear incubation procedure. Behavioural Pharmacology.  25(1):23-31.


22 Comments
Ruth
12/15/2015 07:37:34 pm

I would be very interested to see what, if any, effect vaccinations have on brain neurotrophic factor (BNTF). Fearful behaviours are escalating in dogs and aggressive incidents for several months following vaccinations...

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custom writing link
9/12/2017 05:06:48 am

I am aware that this kind of illness takes time to be treated. Just like humans, mental illnesses are much harder to treat rather than physical illnesses because it will require the help of an expert and the coordination of the patient for it to be resolved. Considering that dogs will be experiencing this type of illness makes it more difficult because the dog and the human mind are different. I am amazed whenever I watch the show in National Geographic channel, “The Dog Whisperer”.

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Keechpeach
12/16/2015 02:23:05 am

Very helpful. Thank you. I have one here who is so nervy and has never had a bad experience, and i know that because she was born right here and so carefully raised. Knowing this will help me tailor her future experiences to help her the best way.

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Beth Meyers
12/16/2015 06:14:58 pm

Very interesting. I live with an introverted dog and the usual d/s has been painfully slow and I wondered if other factors were possibly present. Thank you. I will do some research.

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Georgina Lees-Smith link
12/17/2015 06:20:18 am

I am interested in the use of this incubation period to find out more about how we can re-consolidate automatised behaviour from a neurobiological perspective. When you talk about BNTF do you mean BDNF or is this different? What role do you think Glutamate plays in the reconsolidation process in the presence of a stimulus and do you think you might be able to point me in the direction of the research to show how exposure can be used as a reliable indicator to the internal situation as this will be great to understand more for therapeutic protocol. The timing would be great to understand further so we can really pin down the brain processes and make sure we are all working at optimum capacity.

Great article, thanks so much for writing it.

Georgie

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Robin
12/17/2015 04:36:45 pm

Yes--BDNF (of course!) Thanks and it's corrected in the blog. Here's the abstract of a 2015 article in Behavioral Brain Research that really got me thinking about this topic and to some extent motivated this blog (Terry Robinson was one of my undergraduate advisors DECADES ago!)

Morrow, JD, Saunders, BT, Maren, S, & Robinson, TE.
Behavioural Brain Research, Vol 276, Jan 1, 2015. pp. 59-66.
Abstract: Although post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addiction are very different disorders, both are characterized by hyperreactivity to trauma- or drug-related cues, respectively. We investigated whether an appetitive conditioning task, Pavlovian conditioned approach, which predicts vulnerability to reinstatement of cocaine-seeking, also predicts fear incubation, which may be a marker for vulnerability to PTSD. We classified rats based on whether they learned to approach and interact with a food predictive cue (sign-trackers), or, whether upon cue presentation they went to the location of impending food delivery (goal-trackers). Rats were then exposed to extensive Pavlovian tone-shock pairings, which causes the fear response to increase or “incubate” over time. We found that the fear incubation effect was only present in sign-trackers. The behavior of goal-trackers was more consistent with a normal fear response–it was most robust immediately after training and decayed slowly over time. Sign-trackers also had lower levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein in the prefrontal cortex than goal-trackers. These results indicate that, while many factors likely contribute to the disproportionate co-occurrence of PTSD and substance abuse, one such factor may be a core psychological trait that biases some individuals to attribute excessive motivational significance to predictive cues, regardless of the emotional valence of those cues. High levels of BDNF in the prefrontal cortex may be protective against developing excessive emotional and motivational responses to salient cues.

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Grisha Stewart link
12/17/2015 11:55:06 am

This post just came to my attention, Robin - nice article. Some of the many reasons I do what I do in Behavior Adjustment Training. :) "Behavior modification recommendations should emphasize long exposures to weak triggers" - so true and exactly what we do in BAT.

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Robin
12/17/2015 04:38:46 pm

Indeed--and among the many reasons I recommend BAT so often with both dogs and horses.

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EJH
12/17/2015 07:14:16 pm

Correction:
Eysenck, Hans J. (1952).

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Robin
12/19/2015 06:44:43 am

The Eysenck reference I used was published in 1968. I will try to dig up the earlier 1952 paper--thanks!

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EJH
12/19/2015 03:15:23 pm

Sorry sorry no. The 1952 was just the reference I had. you have misspelt Eysenck in your text -- and me being OC it jumped out at me like a stubbed toe! :-(

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Lucy Flanagan
5/2/2016 08:22:06 pm

Robin,
This would seem to explain why it's so important to keep socializing the dog throughout its life. I've certainly seen it with my own dogs that they are much more anxious/reactive in the off-leash area if I quarantine them for a while.

Very interesting and hopeful news. Longterm exposure to weak stimulus is my take home message. I can use this. Thank you.

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Mary Barr
5/25/2017 07:26:20 pm

I have a rescue shepard that lunging at dogs that pose no threat.
A trainer I am working with lets his female Shepards rein in my dog when he shows bad behavior. The attacking of my younger male shepard has had me wonder if its set a protocol for my dog to attack back at times defending himself, eventually it does stop and he gets a little better with his social skills, yet it is not with out some bruising. I wonder what you think about this type of training subjecting him to others the will not put up with his chasing them, as they literally jump on him getting very aggressive ?

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EJH
5/25/2017 08:27:18 pm

Awful! Awful for your dog, awful for his dog. I would immediately give this trainer the miss.
I'd try BAT training, Leslie McDevitt's "Look at That" and using some of the Karen Overall Protocols.
And try to find a trainer who knows what s/he is doing.

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Melissa Nichols
5/26/2017 10:05:47 am

Medications for neurotic and fearful dogs can assist greatly in the process

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Carla J Stack
5/27/2017 12:29:06 pm

Thank you for sharing...I had never thought of my dog as introverted. Have been using BAT for quite sometime, but it is slow going and takes consistency and patience. I will try the "long-term" exposure and hope for more progress.

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rrrr
9/12/2017 04:55:48 am

oh wow

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7/6/2018 11:26:43 pm

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tips when you have pets link
7/6/2018 11:36:45 pm

I am continually amazed by the amount of information available on this subject. What you presented was well researched and well worded in order to get your stand on this across to all your readers.

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Gillain Babcock link
11/12/2018 08:33:02 pm

My brother wanted to have a new dog and be able to train it to behave well. It was explained here that there are ways where a dog's behavior can be modified with the help of experts. Furthermore, it's recommended to hire professionals when considering dog behavior modification.

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John Clark Martin
2/3/2019 04:26:11 am

Hello there!

It’s Jordan Clark from the Content Team of FOMO Bones. We write articles that mainly focus on relieving anxiety and FOMO a.k.a “Fear Of Missing Out” for dogs and pet parents all across the globe.

We’d like to pass along useful information on combating dog’s struggle on anxiety and stress, so we’re looking for sites who would be willing to collaborate with us. I was able to research your site: adaptiveanimals.com and thought to share our content:
• 4 Simple Steps To Treat Separation Anxiety In Dogs
• https://www.fomobones.com/blog/4-steps-to-treat-separation-anxiety-in-dogs/
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uE5sLO21lSzqirOoFzXwVyrwtXmRZItjebvqzsvQI6c/edit?usp=sharing

Might you be interested in sharing the article to your readers? You can choose to syndicate the article or use it as an external content, long as there’s proper credit that is linked to the original article. We hope we can further reach out to people experiencing anxiety, and help them. If you have articles regarding anxiety or self enhancement, I’d be more than happy to share them to our audience as well via our Twitter network.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Regards,
JC








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Bryan
11/25/2021 03:24:50 am

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