My married friends are both afraid of spiders. They have 2 young girls and they inflicted their own fears of spiders onto their kids. Parent’s do this all the time. Don’t go near the water, it’ll drown you. Don’t touch that spider, it’ll bite you. Don’t touch the stove, it’ll burn you. This is all the application of negative reinforcement followed up by the threat of self punishment for that choice. That’s forcing a child to operantly condition themselves to make spiders a bad thing. This is the application of negative reinforcement – which Skinner et al would call punishment. Controlling an animal by instilling irrational fears in them.
But, the most important set of eyes to look through are the childrens eyes – this is mom and dad that are afraid of spiders – and we’re not taking any chances. It’s no different for you and the dog – if you’re unsure or scared, they will react in kind. If you’re running away from the things that make you nervous? What is the dog supposed to think? So as a result, the 2 girls Operantly Conditioned themselves and accepted the irrational fear of spiders – spiders are now a negative reinforcement – something to fight (aggression) or flight (reactive) from. They have never had a bad interaction with the spider, so it is irrational fear based on what they were told repeatedly by people that they trust.
Can this operant conditioning be broken – changed or shaped? Yes. So in the face of a negative reinforcement – a spider – the girls would flight or avoid. That’s survival of the fittest talking – operant conditioning.
The girls trust me, I’m uncle Rob to them. They know I wouldn’t put them in harms way, and I wouldn’t knowingly allow them to do something that would get them hurt. They know that I will protect them from harm. Monty knows the very same.
Always put the onus on the animal to decide to change the operant conditioning – be it a conscious or unconscious – it has to be their decision. This is not something one can force. Children need to choose to understand that spiders don’t need to be a big deal.
I had to babysit them for a week alone. One morning, they were in the yard screaming spider and came running to me. Show me where it is – my favorite – jumping spider. I palmed the spider and sat down to continue coffee and reading the news. I put the spider on my face and ignored the kids. Remember, it’s all their choice. The person they trust has the thing that scares them on his face – I’m not getting hurt, not getting bit, not making it a big deal. They were confused. I’m leading by being the example to follow.
But soon enough, their trust in me turned their fear into curiousity and before long – they operantly conditioned themselves to become indifferent to the spider. They wanted to hold it – because I was the example for them to follow – the leadership they need to overcome a fear. I’m being a positive reinforcement.
That day, they realized that spiders aren’t a big deal, they aren’t going to hurt you – as long as you respect them. And of course we had a talk about respecting spiders, no need to kill them and just be careful handling a spider. There are no venomous spiders around here, but there are venomous spiders in the world. If you don’t know if a spider can hurt you or not, leave it alone. Admire from a distance, better safe than sorry. This is the talk we had.
The children are now socialized to spiders – they are indifferent. Spiders aren’t a big deal.
This is why earning a dogs trust is so important. If the girls didn’t trust me, they wouldn’t have overcome their fear of spiders. It’s no different for a dog – if they don’t trust you, they have no reason to follow you. That’s reality – so give them a reason to do so. But have the patience and give them the time they need to read everything.
Take the lead, show them that you’re not scared. But put the onus on the dog – stay there scared or choose to join me in calm, come meet this thing. Once that starts happening, you’re going to see some fast changes in the dog. They are operantly conditioning themselves not due to fear – negative consequences – but they are now getting positive consequences or positive reinforcements. Overcoming fear is a huge positive reinforcement – it’s one of the best personal rewards you can get. And that can be addictive to an animal that’s scared.
Keep doing that, and before long – your dog won’t need to be afraid – won’t need to feel fear. Remember – you are the only environment that the dog is concerned about. When they feel secure with you, know that you will take the lead and show them that things aren’t a big deal? They won’t need to be afraid. They need to know that you have their back as well, that they can come to you instead.
Be a positive reinforcement for your dog – and let them choose to join you.