Significance of a Puppy’s Sensitive Period
Novelty becomes frightening and stressful when dogs are not socialized at a very young age. The development of a dog’s social and cognitive behavior is primarily during what is referred to as their “sensitive/critical period.” This sensitive period occurs when a dog is roughly 3 to 13 weeks of age.
During this period, a dog is the most receptive and open to learning and exploring his environment with the least amount of fear and the most amount of curiosity. This sensitive period is very important, because a dog learns more about the world at this time than at any other time in his life. Natural curiosity will guide his way as his sensory, motor, social and learning faculties are developing. However, if a dog has had an unpleasant (fearful) experience during this period, the dog will be timid, shy and fearful.
When a puppy’s shyness is left untreated, it will likely develop into fear, or in more severe cases, into a phobia. Dogs become reactive to novel life events when they are fearful.
A reactive dog will start to display behaviors like lunging at other dogs while on a leash or barking at unfamiliar people, places and things. Reactivity and inappropriate behavior become the norm, not the exception.
Leash reactivity is common in dogs and is seen in more than 50 percent of dogs on leash. When a fearful dog is on a leash, his communication and full body expression are limited. He is incapable of putting distance between himself and any potential scary stimuli. When this occurs, a dog will often resort to reacting: lunging, growling, snapping—all of which are typically described as aggressive behaviors.
To modify behaviors, a trainer will identify the triggers and help the dog find healthier ways for coping with stressful stimuli.
What is it about skateboards that drives dogs crazy?
Does your dog go nuts when someone breezes by on a skateboard? Does he bark like mad? Lunge at the person? Try to run after them? Thats because the quick movement of people on skateboards (and bikes and rollerblades and other quick-moving sidewalk-based means of transportation) can trigger your dogs chase response.
Your dogs chase response can be dangerousâboth for your dog and for the unsuspecting skateboarder. The response, a part of the dogs predatory chase drive, which is held over from his wolf-ly ancestry. In the wild, the chase drive is a trigger to help dogs (and wolves, of course) identify and catch prey, which is vital to their survival. In domesticated pups, its mostly a form of playâlike when your dog chases a ball that youve thrown for him.
Unfortunately, your dogs instincts cant differentiate between “hey, thats something I need to catch and eat so I can survive” and “hey, thats an innocent human on a skateboard that I should definitely just leave alone.” In addition to fulfilling a primal need, chasing is just fun for dogs. It lights up the pleasure centers in their brains and isnt a habit they have an incentive to break. Some breeds are especially prone to chasing, particularly those that have been bred for working, hunting, and herding.
Do dogs hate other things with wheels?
Its not the wheels that dogs hate, per se, but dogs who get agitated by skateboards are likely to get agitated by anything wheeled, moving thing. It all has to do with the predatory chase drive discussed above.