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Predictability Improves Bounce-Back | Part 5 of 7 Resilience Keys
Yesterday I had the privilege to speak with Dr. Monique Udell, a researcher at Oregon State University. She has been studying attachment between people and their pets. ???? Specifically, she’s looking at how attached dogs and cats are to their people. ????
She told me that there are two keys to a dog forming secure attachment to their people, especially in the early weeks of a new relationship:
1. Caregiver high responsiveness -When we are aware of the animal’s emotional state and needs and fill them. Such as, when they are hungry, we feed them, when they are scared, we comfort them.
2. Caregiver high expectations – We put in the time to do some degree of training. That is, we have rules and expectations with communication and feedback. Dr. Udell says this gives the animal the ability to have control and creates an if X happens, then Y will happen. There is reliability and trust.
For dogs and humans, secure attachments bring the confidence to explore and to recover from stress.
It seems like reading dog body language is key to being highly responsive to our dogs’ needs. And being in a training mindset, with certain high expectations that include if-then contingencies will also improve our dogs’ trust.
Both of these elements are expressed in the Resilience Rainbow’s Predictability. I can’t wait to hear what Bobbie and Ferdie have to say about ways to become “predictable” to our dogs…
Thinking back to the beginning of your journey with a dog, how did you built trust?
Here’s Part 4 of this series – Physical and Mental Well-being
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8 Replies
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Hello,
When I got my rescue dog she was so fearful of humans. I listening to her body language a lot to know when she became to stressed. I also tried to use calming signals on my own to maker her feel safer. I always went down on her level to pet her and used slow movements around her.
when she started to feel more comfortable around me and wanted to be close I gave her pets and massages to relax. She loved it and still does.
We did a lot of dog training. I also used a lot of play as a big part to build our relationship.
Long walks in the forest and scents work was also something we did daily.
I tried to be very consistent with our daily schedule so she wouldn’t become anxious about any changes.
She turned out amazing and her fear is gone and She loves all the humans now.
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What a fabulous story, @ktinan ! You should be very proud of that great relationship! Do you have photos to share? What’s her name?
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Her Name is Niza. She is 8 years old.
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So nice to know your patience and training was successful!
How long did it take overall?
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It definitely took over a year for her to fully trust me. She was abused the first two years of her life I am thankful she was able to built a relationship with me.
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@ktinan
I am glad you both built that trust and relationship! It’s a good feeling!
Congrats on your accomplishment with her! You are lucky to have each other!
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What an inspiring story!!! Both of my dogs were rescued and have a lot of fear and reactivity. While we are not at the point of them loving all new people, their progress with lots of love, safety, training and just respecting them and their feelings has also just proven to be amazing! Love hearing your story
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Oh goodness. How cute is she! What a lucky, lucky dog. Thanks for sharing her story!
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