The 4F’s of Fear- Fear Responses
Fear
Fig. 1 Dog hiding in fear
A large-scale Finnish study on dogs by the University of Helenski showed that 72.5% of all dogs showed at least one form of canine anxiety. The highest form of canine anxiety was noise sensitivity such as fear of fireworks or thunder and the second highest form of canine anxiety was fear towards dogs, strangers and novel objects.
This study shows how canine fear and anxiety are serious welfare issues.
Fig. 2 “Reproduced from Salonen et al (2020) under Creative Commons license” (Source: Companion Animal Psychology)
But what is fear?
According to Psychology Today, “Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger that has been pivotal throughout evolution. If people didn’t feel fear, they wouldn’t be able to protect themselves from legitimate threats—which often had life-or-death consequences”.
What is a fear response?
A fear response occurs whenever your dog (or any animal) sees something that is scary to them, which is called a trigger.
A trigger is defined as ‘An event, person, or animal, noise or other factor that leads to an undesired or abnormally large reaction. If your dog barks at white dogs then white dogs would be considered to be triggers for your dog reaction.’ (Grisha Stewart, BAT 2.0, P. 276)
Every dog is their own unique individual, each are fearful of unique different triggers such as airplanes, fireworks, bikes, a person carrying a bag, a person wearing a hat, strange dogs, strangers or a bag/object blowing in the wind. Similar to how you might be scared of spiders or your family member might be scared of heights.
What happens to a dog’s body when they become afraid?
Fear is an emotional state that when a dog/animal feels threatened or scared by a trigger, the four fear responses, flight, fidget, freeze or fight through a physiological and sensory nervous system response (SNS) to protect them from danger.
When the SNS is activated the following occurs within milliseconds inside the body:
- Nerve signals are sent to the brain which then stimulate the release of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol (stress hormone)
- Dilated pupils
- Heart rate increases
- Blood pressure rises
- Digestive process slows down
- Constriction of urinary and digestive sphincters
- Dilation of blood vessels to major muscle groups
- Dilated bronchioles in the lungs to allow for more aerobic respiration
When a dog is afraid, they’re in a physiological state of readiness.
So how to know when your dog is afraid?
Unlike humans who can voice their fears, dogs communicate through their body language to tell us that they’re not ok, but most guardians don’t know how to read body language. Many people miss their dog’s subtle fear signals or think that dogs can easily “get over it”. There are endless examples of this that I’ve come across such as people placing dogs in cars who are scared thinking eventually they’ll be fine even when they’re drooling excessively in fear, forcing dogs to go to groomers when they’re scared of the hair blow dryer, forcing their dog to interact with other dogs when they’re scared of strange dogs or taking their dogs to fireworks festivals.
Learn the 4F’s of fear, four fear responses.
Flee/Flight
Fig. 3 Flee
Flight is part of the commonly known “fight or flight response”. Your dog uses the flight response to try to actively get away or avoid the threat/scary thing.
Flee/Flight Behaviours:
- Move away
- Creep away
- Walk away
- Run away
- Try to hide
- Cowering
- Tail tucked
- Body lowered to the ground
- Ears back
Your dog is moving away from or fleeing from something scary. Don’t ever force your dog to stay in a situation, ignore them or do things that make them scared, they won’t “get over it”, it will only make them more scared!
This is why if your dog is scared of other dogs, work with the flight response, a natural dog behaviour and calmly walk your dog across the side of the street, to a distance where they feel safe. Only when your dog is under the threshold and at a safe distance away where they aren’t trying to cower and run away in fear, the flight response, will they be able to be helped and learn that maybe the scary thing isn’t so scary after all. (This is the basis of desensitization and counter-conditioning dogs to scary things)
Freeze
Fig.4 Freeze
Dogs hope when they use the freeze response that the scary thing “won’t see them” and will go away. They will hold completely still for a few seconds until they determine another form of action, such as other fear responses.
Freeze Behaviours:
- Immobility
- Stillness
- Stiffness
- Walk slowly as if they are walking through Jello
- May precede another fear response
Fig. 5 Freeze (Source: Whole Dog Journal)
I’ve commonly seen dogs that are scared of strange dogs try to flee by moving their head then their body away or fidget by try and go sniff a tree, but the leash traps them from showing these natural behaviours. Due to the leash being so restrictive for natural behaviours, the dog feels trapped, their bodies stiffen, and they become still in hopes that the strange dog “won’t see them”. But as the strange dog moves closer, they then feel they have no choice and go into the fight response.
If your dog freezes in place for longer periods of time such as several minutes, then this is learned helplessness, an emotional shutdown where your dog won’t make any attempt to escape as they feel there is nothing they can do to get away. I’ve seen many dogs at the vets, groomers and even being handled in ways that make them uncomfortable go into freeze response and then learned helplessness. This is why knowing the signs of freeze response and other fear responses are integral for your dog’s well-being and welfare.
Fidget/Fiddle/Fool Around/Fret
Fig. 6 Fidget
Fool Around/Fret Behaviours:
- Jumping excessively
- Increased panting
- Hyperactivity
- Goofy
- Highly distracted (to the point often that they can’t eat a treat)
- Frantic play behaviours such as a switch from a play-bow to a jump
- Hypervigilance
- Unable to settle
Fretful behaviours are very important to look out for, as they can be a sign of underlying pain.
Fiddle/Fidget Behaviours
(These are often displacement behaviours with the aim to create peace and avoid conflict)
- Move away
- Walk away
- Sniffing
- Paw lift (slight lift of the paw, loose NOT stiff and rigid such as when a dog sees prey)
- Lip licking (when not hungry)
- Yawning (when not tired)
- Ears pinned back to make them look like a puppy
- Overgrooming such as scratching (when not itchy)
There are many different names for this behaviour, all of which suit, depending on the context and how your dog expresses fear.
Fig. 7 Fidget behaviour – paw lift (Source: Companion Animal Psychology
Fight
Fig. 8 Fight
All animals would prefer to flee, fidget or freeze than fight. As the Turid Rugaas Stress Escalation Ladder below shows, dogs go through a wide range of behaviours before they try to defend themselves with the fight response. However, the stress escalation ladder behaviours can happen in a matter of seconds if your dog feels trapped and that the only resort left to them is to fight.
Fig. 9 Turid Rugaas Stress Escalation Ladder
The goal of the fight response is to protect the dog from danger as a last resort. with the aim that their behaviours will drive the scary thing away. Dogs don’t want to bite or fight. But the fight response is to protect
The majority of dogs are not being aggressive and definitely not “crazy” as they are so often labeled, THEY’RE SCARED. This is why we need to respect and listen to a dog when they growl and bark and give them the distance that they need from the trigger to feel comfortable and no longer fearful.
Fight Behaviours:
- Growl
- Snarling
- Barking
- Lunging
- Forward motion towards the scary thing
- Bite
- Piloerection (hackles raising)
- Tail raised, stiff and over the tail base (in some cases the tail might be doing short vibrations)
- Ears up and forward
If your dog is scared of something, distance matters.
For example; if your dog is being walked on a leash and sees a scary thing such as a stranger with a hat, carrying a bag and approaching them. If your dog is NOT given the options of sprinkles/scatter feeds on the ground, decompression, being walked across the street or other positive reinforcement force free training techniques, they will lunge, growl and bark on the leash. Your dog feels they have no other option but to defend themselves. All it takes is for a one-time negative experience for your dog to learn that the fight response needs to be their first resort not the last resort. This is why it is important to minimize exposure and increase distance away from triggers.
Fig. 10 The 4F’s of Fear (Source: Welfare For Animals)
You can’t reinforce an emotion, but you can influence an emotion
If your dog is afraid during thunderstorms or fireworks and hiding under your bed or couch, leave them alone, they’re hiding because they’re scared and need space. If your dog is afraid but not hiding it is important to only pet them IF they allow it. To prevent dog bites very gently approach a fearful dog on the side, never head-on, give them space and do not bother them when they hide. Sit near to, or next to your dog or however is comfortable to them and let your dog have the choice if they want to interact with you or not. Never force them to interact with you when they are scared.
Create distance when seeing a scary dog or stranger to help your dog “flee” responsibly, to a distance where they feel safe, so you can help them feel safer and learn. Walks should never be a source of fear for your dog.
Take your time if your dog is scared of certain surfaces or textures, let them investigate it with a treat trail or scatter feeds, and approach in THEIR TIME not yours. Reward them for any interaction or steps leading towards. Create positive associations over time to help your dog gain confidence.
Don’t ever ignore your dog’s fear or anxiety, it won’t reinforce their fear as it is not a cue they’re performing, it is an emotion and it will make them feel safer, more confident and help them learn. Fear is an emotional, physiological and nervous system response, which if left unaddressed becomes a serious welfare issue.
For those who have fearful dogs or dogs that are reactive on the leash, check out our Fear & Frustration course, which can be either online training or in-person 1-to-1 private sessions (only serving the Calgary area). https://www.welfare4animals.org/our-courses
References Cited:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/fear
https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2020/03/most-pet-dogs-are-fearful-or-anxious.html
https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2018/07/how-can-i-tell-if-my-dog-is-afraid.html
https://fearfreehappyhomes.com/fear-reactions-fight-flight-freeze/