We Speak the Same Language - An evening with Dr. Temple Grandin

I attended a lecture last evening with Dr. Temple Grandin entitled, "Understanding Animal Behavior and Reducing Stress."  I can tell you I was anticipating this event for weeks, so excited to see someone in person that I have admired from a far for years!  The day of the lecture, I told my husband that I felt as though it was Christmas day.

From the moment we arrived, an hour and 1/2 early just to get a seat in the room Dr. Grandin would be speaking, I felt something good was about to happen.  I am thankful we arrived early as there were two other rooms full of people hearing and seeing Dr. Grandin via wireless remote tv. 

As Dr Grandin began speaking and sharing all her research about understanding the behavior of animals I felt right at home.  I kept nodding my head in agreement and writing down all the good information as fast as my fingers would allow.  I had the overwhelming sense of oh my, we speak the same language...I get her...I get this - I 'see' what she is saying!

Allow me to share a few of the highlights.  Concepts I too have experienced and observed over my lifetime of living and working with dogs and horses.

Animal's thinking process is sensory based and not word based!  They think in visuals, in pictures.  And this is why I teach my students to use visual cues mostly and stop talking, talking so much. Also, I encourage my students to be proactive, be aware of their environment and watch for things that might cause a reaction from their dog or pony 'before' they have opportunity to rehearse an unwanted behavior. See what they see!

Animals can and do make specific visual history, auditory and touch associations.  They are hyper-specific.  Case in point, Dr. Grandin worked with a horse that was afraid of black hats.  White hats were fine, but bring out a black hat and he reacted and became visibly frightened.  Animal fear is very specific.  My pony, Beauty, when she first arrived at my home was afraid of coats that made a shooshing/crackling sound.  She told me very clearly that that noise frightened her.  Why?  Think about it...  Someone who wore a black hat or a swooshing crackling coat did something that frightened them.  Yes, my friends - they do tell us, if you have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Dr. Grandin said that Fear is a proper scientific term.  Animal memories are very specific and they do feel fear.  How do we know this.  Dr. Gregory Burnes of Emory University did a study and found out that "Yes, animals do really have and experience emotions."  

A few imporant points from his study;  Animals have Emotions

~Fear response was measured on a dog in the Amygdala part of the brain during an MRI

~Rage and Anger was seen in the Hypothalmus part of the brain during the same procedure above.

~We can measure true pain and we see separation anxiety in dogs a great deal.  How would we see these behaviors if the dog was void of emotions?

~Prozac works on dogs, on the same part of the brain it works on humans.

~Dogs seek our companionship and invite us to play.  They seek out sex and are caring toward not only us (service and therapy dogs for example) but also form friendships among themselves and with other animals.

As we see from the examples above, animals can be frightened by something they heard or saw and they do remember.  Scary items are usually sight and or hearing related.  What is the dog, the horse seeing, what is he hearing that is bothering him?  We need to see the full picture.  Remember animals and autistic children/people see in pictures. 

Fear is a true expression - not agitation - but animals feel true fear.   And, it's important to note, after a fear response it can take an animal up to 20 to 30 minutes to calm down from this fearful state.

Electronic stimulation elicits behavorial signs of fear (Davis 1992).  And a study done on electronic collars finds that they also are associated with signs of pain and fear (Elseviar 2007).  On a personal note, I don't use these devices and never have. Interesting, as I was waiting in line to have my book (pictured above) signed and meet Dr. Grandin, I had the happy privilege to speak with a vet student who has a great interest in the study of behavorial science. She shared with me that they still see dogs come into the clinic with tracheal collapse from use of both chain chokes and prong collars.  She is adamantly against both, not just for the physcial harm they cause, but also for the very obvious studies of the mental harm they cause as well.  Yay, for her. Although, we both agreed these tools can be used to get instant results, the far reaching implications of their use is far worse than the moment of apparent 'result' that has been seen.  Often these tools encourage the very behaviors we sought to eliminate.  In the long run, they do not work!  We speak the same language too!

We also discussed the interesting work that Dr. Grandin shared in that dog's do understand categories.  For instance, what happens when I am on leash and what happens when I am off leash.  Animal brains can and do make and understand categories.  Which is why it is important to me, as a trainer, that we build trust while working on lead with our dogs, as opposed to the old way of dominating - snatching and jerking a dog around on lead.   I have observed time after time that these same dogs who are dominated while on lead and have experienced harsh corrections, when off lead are outta there!  They understand that when they are off the leash they can get away to avoid this harsh and sometimes frightening treatment by the human!  

And finally two more very interesting points.  Dogs do look to people to help them problem solve.  Yes, oh yes they do!  And when they do we have to be a kind and fair leader.  They are looking to you, they want your input and help.  Let's help them in a positive constructive way.  A way that builds value with you, so that when they are off leash the most normal thing in the world for them will be to check in with you (as opposed to running off)!

Dr. Grandin helps build and design facilities for cows, pigs, horses and dogs that are less stressful for them.  The exciting work she shared with us about dogs and kennels is this;

you can have the most fancy schmancy kennel in the world but if dogs don't get exercise for at least 45 minutes everyday they will be noisy barkers and the environment will be chaotic, overwhelming and stressful. 

YES, this is true with our dogs in our homes.  We provide the most beautiful kennels for our dogs - indoor living areas, outdoor fenced in yards and yet we have problems with our dogs - separation anxiety, obsessive licking behaviors and chewing things up to name a few.  Why is this?  Simply a lack of exercise and mental stimulation. Something I preach constantly.  Now I can say Dr. Grandin says so too!  

Dr. Grandin ended her lecture with something that I have said many times and even shared on this blog a couple years ago.  Why did we not experience separation anxiety with our dogs in the 60's and 70's?  Simply because our dogs were allowed to accompany us in life.  Our dogs went swimming at the pond, ran along with us when we went on a trail ride with horses, roamed the neighborhoods and kids and neighbors looked out for them.  They were a very real part of our lives.  Now, we have stringent leash laws and specific places only dogs can hang out (that aren't always safe).  Dogs need exercise and mental stimulation.  The best way to socialize your dog is to allow them to live life...to travel with you, blaze new trails and explore the world around them.  As I say, allow your dog to use her five senses!  

I am so thankful to have had the wonderful privilege of hearing Dr. Grandin speak and share her years of studies and experiences.  I was thrilled to meet her and have her sign my book.  As I was sharing this information with my daughter, she said, "Mom, you understand this because you have decades of field experience."  I suppose this is why Dr. Grandin resonated with me, why I felt so comfortable and could see what she was saying.  I have experienced and observed her studies in my real life's work with dogs and horses over many years.

I feel a renewed sense of continuing this good work I have started. I feel encouraged to continue on the path I have been on.  Teaching people how to understand that awesome, wonderful, intelligent creature that is on the other end of their lead!

Thank you Dr. Temple Grandin!  And until next time...Happy Trails!