fear Archives - Fear Free

Managing Patients with High Fear, Anxiety, and Stress: When Clients Refuse Your Recommendations

A four-part “from the trenches” series, written by a Fear Free veterinarian for Fear Free veterinary professionals.This is Part Four of a four-part series on helping Fear Free Certified Veterinary Professionals handle patients with high levels of FAS and communicate with their owners.

By Julie Liu, DVM

Despite our best efforts and education, we may encounter client barriers with providing Fear Free care such as refusal of PVPs or sedation, objections to safety tools like basket muzzles, and declining referral to a positive trainer to help with vet visits. It’s worth exploring other ways to help lower FAS such as regular happy visits, outdoor exam rooms, and calming supplements. However, these options are often insufficient for staff members to handle a high FAS pet safely and compassionately.

Emphasizing the safety component can help get some of these clients on board. Just as with other signs of FAS, we should educate clients when their pet is growling, hissing, snapping, swatting, baring their teeth, or showing whale eye. Some high FAS pets are in such a state of panic and “flight” that they bruise, scratch, and otherwise injure staff members when trying to get away. Clients should be informed that staff safety is non-negotiable (“We need to keep our team members safe”), and that because their pet is showing the highest level of stress possible, we are unable to proceed safely without a change in the plan. The client-facing FAS spectrum handouts for cats¹⁷ and dogs¹⁸ help illustrate these body language cues in a non-judgmental way. We should think as well about the safety of the pet as they could easily come to harm themselves. I had one high FAS canine patient who became so stressed at one visit that she had a seizure the second she walked through the clinic door, and have seen multiple dogs rub their noses raw or bite frantically at kennel bars after being dropped off.

Unfortunately, team safety, emotional health, and all of the myriad reasons to take a Fear Free approach may not be enough to convince some clients. The thought of giving their high FAS pet an anxiolytic or briefly placing a basket muzzle may be so antithetical to a client’s personal beliefs as a pet parent that they will not be swayed regardless of how many options you present.

At this point you need to ask yourself: What will be the emotional toll on me, my team, and my patient if I continue? Is it worth placing myself and my team at risk of injury? How will my decision affect Fear Free clinic culture? These are especially important questions to consider if you’re a hospital leader. Staff members may not feel comfortable voicing their ethical concerns, and leaders must always advocate for the wellbeing of their team. In 2018, the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine surveyed nearly 900 North American veterinarians regarding ethical conflict and moral distress¹⁹. When respondents were asked, “How often have you had a conflict of opinion with pet owners about how they wish to proceed in the treatment of pets?”, roughly 53 percent noted “sometimes,” 32 percent replied “often,” and 1 percent answered “always.” In the same survey, over 73 percent of vets responded that “not being able to do the right thing for a patient caused their staff moderate to severe stress” and 78 percent responded that this caused moderate to severe distress in themselves.

In many cases, it will be best for your team to set a boundary and either decline to continue with the visit, or even initiate a respectful conversation about why your clinic may not be the best fit. Boundaries can be scary because many of us in vet med are people pleasers²⁰, and we feel guilty or “bad” for saying no to a client. However, boundaries are essential for protecting the emotional and physical welfare of every member of the team. When it comes to setting a Fear Free boundary, it’s also an animal welfare issue. We shouldn’t feel guilty for refusing to perform surgery on a pet when a client is against pain medications; adequate analgesia is the surgical standard of care. Similarly, we shouldn’t feel guilty for stopping with a high FAS pet when a client doesn’t respect team member safety or value their pet’s emotional health, because Fear Free is the emotional standard of care. Cultivating and retaining clients who are invested in their pet’s emotional needs will help the pet, the client, and the team succeed.

Summary

Vet clinics are often highly stressful places for pets, making high FAS pets common. Focusing on client education, being flexible during the visit, and knowing when to draw an ethical boundary will help team members navigate a safe and humane approach to the patient while keeping their own wellbeing at the forefront.

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Dr Julie Liu is a Fear Free and Cat Friendly veterinarian, speaker, and freelancer based in Austin. She serves as the Vice President of the Relief Veterinary Medical Association and recently launched My Family Cat, an in-home and virtual feline behavior consulting practice serving the cats of Austin. Learn more about Dr. Liu and her work at www.fluxvet.com and www.myfamilycat.com.

Continue learning about managing patients with high FAS through Part One, Part Two & Part Three of this series.

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Managing Patients with High Fear, Anxiety, and Stress: Communicating with Owners

A four-part “from the trenches” series, written by a Fear Free veterinarian for Fear Free veterinary professionals.This is Part Three of a four-part series on helping Fear Free Certified Veterinary Professionals handle patients with high levels of FAS and communicate with their owners.

By Julie Liu, DVM

Communicating with clients is an art and can be especially difficult when managing a high FAS patient. Clients don’t always see what we do when it comes to signs of FAS, and they may have different priorities or ethics as a pet parent compared to us as Fear Free practitioners. Words such as “fearful,” “anxious,” or “stressed” may seem meaningless or exaggerated from their perspective.

Communicating Fear Free techniques should start with a discussion of body language, which transforms emotional abstracts into non-judgmental, objective observations that the client can see and hear. You don’t have to be a veterinary professional to witness when a dog is panting and whining or when a cat has flattened ears and dilated pupils. Once the client understands the body language of FAS, we can then communicate the implications of untreated FAS and suggest interventions.

One common scenario is when a pet’s FAS levels escalate during a visit, and none of the Fear Free techniques you’re using are helping. At this point you need to initiate a client discussion about PVPs, sedation, or otherwise changing the initial plan to achieve a Fear Free approach.

This can be stressful because you can’t predict the client’s reaction. Will they be open? Angry? Frustrated? Shocked and skeptical, because “They always do great at the vet!” and “No one’s ever mentioned anything before.” As discussed in Fear Free level 2 module 4¹⁵, understanding the client’s needs and finding ways to meet those needs will help the pet parent get on board with your recommendations. For clients with time constraints, offer a drop-off slot or reschedule with PVPs on a day that works for them. For clients with budget concerns, consider invoicing a lower, “brief exam” fee for the follow up and setting in-hospital PVPs/sedation fees at a price that improves compliance. For clients who feel embarrassed or upset about their pet’s FAS, normalizing signs of FAS and using success stories of your own pets can help clients relate.

Think creatively and have some flexibility when making a plan for a client. I recently saw a dog for acute, non-weight-bearing lameness in a rear leg. While I suspected a torn CCL, on examination the dog was so tense and anxious that I couldn’t be sure. I recommended sending the dog home with pain medications and returning them for sedated rads and a repeat orthopedic exam, but the client had budget concerns, time constraints, and concerns about sedation. We made a plan to administer gabapentin at drop off, wait a couple of hours, and then give an opioid injection about 20 minutes before trying the rads, with the agreement that we would not continue if the dog was still painful or stressed. The tech informed me that she was unable to administer gabapentin because the dog was trying to bite. I asked the client to return to the clinic to help us give the medication, and when the client offered the meds in a treat, the dog took them immediately. After an hour, he was lying down sternally in his kennel, had stopped whining, and was coming to the front of the kennel for petting. When it was time for his rads, we still placed a basket muzzle as a precaution, but the dog was an FAS of 1, semi-sedate, eating treats, and much more amenable to the ortho exam and imaging. It wasn’t my initial plan, but it still worked for the client and the pet, who did have a torn CCL.

According to the AVMA Language of Veterinary Care Initiative¹⁶, “Clients want a strong relationship with their veterinarian. To clients, the word ‘relationship’ signals that the veterinarian is trustworthy, will make their pet feel comfortable, and goes out of the way to provide personalized service.” Focusing on long-term thinking and relationship-building can also help with client communication and Fear Free, especially for high FAS pets. We’re not just thinking about how to get through this visit, we’re thinking ahead to the next 5 or 10 years of vet visits. If we push your pet now when he’s already so stressed, the next visit is going to be that much harder for him. We want to build a relationship with you and your pet, and provide them with a lifetime of humane veterinary

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Julie Liu is a veterinarian and freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. In addition to advocating for fear free handling, she is passionate about felines and senior pet care. Learn more about Dr. Liu and her work at www.drjulieliu.com.

Continue learning about managing patients with high FAS through Part One, Part Two & Part Four of this series.

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Managing Patients with High Fear, Anxiety, and Stress: Navigating Roadblocks

A four-part “from the trenches” series, written by a Fear Free veterinarian for Fear Free veterinary professionals.This is Part Two of a four-part series on helping Fear Free Certified Veterinary Professionals handle patients with high levels of FAS and communicate with their owners.

By Julie Liu, DVM

You see a historically high FAS dog on your schedule for planned sedation and feel confident in your plan. The client has done a great job with positive basket muzzle training and administering PVPs as directed, and while the PVPs don’t really seem to have had much of an effect, surely the sedation you just gave will help her feel calmer. So, you wait. And wait. No effect. Did you miscalculate your doses?

Unfortunately, despite all your careful planning, you will encounter some hurdles when managing high FAS patients, particularly during procedures that are more painful or aversive. Here are some tips on circumventing roadblocks during Fear Free care:

Re-evaluate wants vs. needs. It’s easy to lose sight of this Fear Free fundamental when you’re in the middle of handling a pet, especially since vet professionals tend to be very goal-oriented. When a patient’s FAS escalates, take a mental step back and ask yourself whether your current task is truly medically necessary for that pet at that moment. With a Fear Free approach, much of what we do in general practice is considered a want, not a need. Making the ethical call to stop before you cause further emotional damage to that pet can be difficult, but it’s amazing how much further you get when non-urgent concerns are deferred for a follow-up visit.
Reassess your analgesia and decide if sedation or anesthesia is more appropriate. Sometimes we underestimate the level of pain caused by procedures we want to accomplish. When a high FAS pet escalates from pain, upgrading to stronger analgesics such as a full mu opioid or engaging multimodal pain relief can help bring FAS back down. However, in some pets this will be inadequate, and stepping up to sedation or even general anesthesia may be needed. One high FAS dog I saw would take treats readily during the initial visit, but would try to bite whenever I tried to examine the area of matted hair on his rear leg. He was rescheduled to come back the next day, but PVPs, analgesics, initial sedation attempts, and adding on more sedation medications didn’t touch him. He finally ended up needing general anesthesia, and what I thought was a matted hotspot was actually a several cm region of semi-necrotic tissue that was much more painful and inflamed than I ever could have guessed.
Teamwork makes the dream work! When interacting with a high FAS pet, think of your team outside of the vet clinic as well, particularly if you encounter a roadblock. I’m eternally grateful for the veterinary behaviorists, in-home providers, positive trainers, behavior consultants, groomers, and pet sitters in my area. Establishing a referral network of ethically aligned pet and vet professionals will help that pet receive the care they deserve throughout their life, while also making your job easier. For example, since most vet clinics don’t have trainers on staff, I routinely refer to reward-based trainers to help with skills that can reduce FAS during vet visits such as reducing arousal around other dogs: desensitization and counterconditioning to restraint, basket muzzles, nail trims, injections, Elizabethan collars, going into carriers; and training for veterinary cooperative care. And if you aren’t lucky enough to have veterinary behaviorists in your area for direct patient referral, many provide virtual behavior consulting with other vets to help manage challenging patients.

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Julie Liu is a veterinarian and freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. In addition to advocating for fear free handling, she is passionate about felines and senior pet care. Learn more about Dr. Liu and her work at www.drjulieliu.com.

Continue learning about managing patients with high FAS through Part One, Part Three & Part Four of this series.

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Managing Patients with High Fear, Anxiety, and Stress: A Guide to Effective Handling

A four-part “from the trenches” series, written by a Fear Free veterinarian for Fear Free veterinary professionals.This is Part One of a four-part series on helping Fear Free Certified Veterinary Professionals handle patients with high levels of FAS and communicate with their owners.

By Julie Liu, DVM

At least once a day, I see a high FAS patient. While I don’t always know their detailed backstory, the alerts on their patient files are like a roadmap to how they got there, as a “wiggly” puppy transforms into an adolescent that “may urinate” to a 3-year-old who’s a “CAUTION, WILL BITE!!!” Some days it seems like every pet has an FAS score of 4 or 5, and for Fear Free Certified Professionals, those days can be both emotionally and physically exhausting. It’s even more disheartening when we encounter ethical quandaries such as a pet parent who’s not on board with our Fear Free plan for their highly stressed pet. These situations are common, and according to psychotherapist and compassion fatigue expert Dr. Elizabeth Strand, moral stress is the number-one contributor to compassion fatigue in vet med¹.

So what do we do with these high FAS patients? How do we care for their emotional and physical wellness, while also caring for our own wellbeing and balancing the needs of the pet parent? Flexibility, communication, and supporting the Fear Free team culture are key to approaching these challenging cases.

After becoming Fear Free certified, I started realizing that a patient would be a lot less stressed if I approached the interaction like jazz–with a general sense of where it might go, but incorporating improvisation and responding to what the pet was communicating at that moment. This may mean giving the pet a brief break during handling to allow de-escalation, or even backing off completely on what I was originally trying to accomplish. Fear Free handling is a dialogue, not a monologue. When handling a patient with high FAS, a few other guiding principles can help:

Location, location, location. When handling any pet, try to choose the area where the pet prefers to be and is most comfortable. There are multiple places where a pet can be handled other than an exam table, such as the floor, on a lap, on the bench, or in the bottom of their cat carrier. In general, many pets with high FAS also do better with the owner present.
Give every pet a sense of choice and control where possible. Encourage voluntary movement by calling the pet using a happy voice, asking the owner to call them over, or luring them to move of their own free will with a treat or toy. Many dogs also know cues for sit and down, so instead of pushing a dog’s rear end down and pulling their legs out to get them sternal, ask or lure the dog to a sit and down. Respect the cat’s choice to stay in the carrier and access them by removing the top of the carrier and covering them with a towel to facilitate hiding. When restraining a pet, especially a high FAS pet, allowing them to stay in the position they prefer goes miles toward keeping them calm, whether it’s allowing a dog to stand instead of sit for a jugular draw or allowing a cat’s front end to remain sternal instead of forcing them into full lateral to reach the medial saphenous.
Less is more. Use the minimum number of people needed and the least amount of restraint needed while staying safe. The more hands on a pet and the more people crowded around them, the more likely they are to become stressed.
Prevent and treat for pain. Pain contributes to FAS and vice versa, and as mentioned in a 2022 Fear Free roundtable³, pain and fear are “two sides of the same coin.” Dull needles also hurt more, so try to make it common practice during sample collection to not reuse needles. During unsuccessful blood draws, I often see people pulling the needle out of a pet’s skin, re-palpating the vein, and then pushing that same, microscopically shredded needle back into that pet’s skin for a second or third attempt as the pet gets more and more stressed.
Sedate early, not as a last resort. With many high FAS pets, you will often reach a limit for what PVPs can accomplish. Injectable sedation may be the best way to help minimize FAS. Sedating earlier when the patient is calmer will be safer for the pet and likely allow you to use lower doses of anesthetic drugs. Familiarizing yourself with Fear Free in-clinic sedation protocols, lowering the charge for sedation to get client buy-in ($70 is more palatable than $140), and getting staff members comfortable with sedation/monitoring will also prove invaluable. Another way to approach stressful procedures for high FAS pets is to tack them onto an already-scheduled procedure involving general anesthesia. Depending on the patient’s needs, these could include shaving a matted cat, microchipping, trimming or dremeling nails, performing a cystocentesis, aspirating a growth in a sensitive location, expressing anal glands, or performing an orthopedic exam/radiographs. For more info on Fear Free in-clinic sedation, check out Fear Free Level 1 module 7b⁸, Fear Free Level 3 module 1⁹, and these other Fear Free resources^{10, 11, 12, 13}.

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Julie Liu is a veterinarian and freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. In addition to advocating for fear free handling, she is passionate about felines and senior pet care. Learn more about Dr. Liu and her work at www.drjulieliu.com.

Continue learning about managing patients with high FAS through Part Two, Part Three & Part Four of this series.

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Have Our Voices Gone ‘Horse’?

By Dr. Marty BeckerI’m sure that many of you, like me, can become numb, inured to human violence, whether it’s the war in Ukraine or the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. But when those of us who love or care for God’s creatures see instances of animals suffering, harmed, or killed, we are always ready to speak up or take action. What did you think when you heard that four horses died ahead of the 149th Kentucky Derby in May of this year?

Caring for animals is important. It has certainly been the bedrock of my life. But I care, too, about my fellow humans and the world we create for ourselves and all the rest of God’s creation. As members of the human family, we need to animate and activate our discussions, disgust, directives, and donations for all forms of suffering and injustic.

I’m sure the vast majority of people spoke out in support of the “Me Too” movement following the repulsive actions of Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein. When George Floyd was killed, we were horrified by the actions of those police officers, and many marched. When white supremacists descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, for the “Unite The Right” rally spouting hateful rhetoric such as, “Jews will not replace us,” “You will not replace us,” and “Blood and soil” (a phrase evoking Nazi philosophy on ethnic identity), we were shocked and sickened; I know there were many kitchen table discussions asking, “How can this kind of hatred still exist against a people vilified for most of modern history?”

Here we are, almost eight decades after the end of World War II, and anti-Semitism, yet again, has grown in breadth, intensity, and violence. And yet again, too few speak out to confront the rot we see exposed on the street, on campuses, in churches, and on the media.

I have made it a point over the past month to repeatedly call my Jewish colleagues and friends to see how they’re doing. My shoulders fell as I heard stories of their rabbi killed, of their children being bullied at school and no longer feeling comfortable wearing their Star of David, of them seeing anti-Semitic graffiti in their neighborhood. It’s bad enough to see global anti-Semitism on TV or your mobile phone, but it hits harder when you see it on a wall as you drop your kids off at school or pick them up from soccer practice.

I know in the Becker family, we talk about injustice and try to live up to the words in our constitution: “We the people,” or those in the Pledge of Allegiance, “One nation, under God, indivisible.” What also ping pongs between my heart and head is the congregational prayer I’ve heard and recited since childhood that includes the words, “All God’s children.”

This is not just a message of support for the Jewish population. There’s room in our hearts and wallets to support races that are discriminated against, ethnic groups like the Palestinians, the cruel crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, violence upon the LGBTQ+ community, and of course, any animal abuse.

Let’s make it a growing chorus of people who speak out against discrimination, violence, and abuse, and speak up for human rights, diversity, and equal opportunity.

Grow hoarse from making your voice heard.

Dr. Marty Becker, “America’s Veterinarian,” is the founder of Fear Free, which works to prevent and alleviate fear, anxiety, and stress in pets by inspiring and educating the people who care for them. This includes veterinary and other pet professionals as well as pet parents through FearFreeHappyHomes.com and animal shelter and rescue group staff and volunteers through FearFreeShelters.com.

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Fireworks Fears Can Change Over Time, Study Shows

Linda Lombardi
Fireworks and other loud noises are a common cause of fear and anxiety in dogs. A recent study provides some insight into the progression of this fear over time and provides evidence of the effectiveness of training and the importance of preventive training before fear develops.

“Not a one-way road—Severity, progression and prevention of firework fears in dogs” by Stefanie Riemer, published in PLoS ONE in September, analyzes the results of an online survey of dog owners who answered questions about the severity and development of fear, demographic factors, other behavior issues, and efforts made to address the problem. Out of 1,225 responses analyzed, 52 percent of dogs were affected by this fear to some extent. The severity of the fear was assigned a “Welfare-impaired score” based on the question “Please rate your level of agreement with the following statement: The overall welfare of my dog is strongly compromised by fireworks,” answered on a five-point scale from “disagree strongly” to “agree strongly.”

This fear often showed up early: in 45 percent of cases, at under one year. However, it also developed later, although in almost all cases before six years of age. Responses also showed that this fear can change considerably over time, both for the worse and the better, even if nothing is done to address it. Great improvement was reported for 10 percent of dogs and almost one-third of dogs tended to improve; just under one-fifth reported the fear had gotten worse, and 8.5 percent, much worse. One-third of dogs were reported to have shown no change.

Improvement was not always due to training or medication. For the subset of dogs whose owners had not sought advice for the problem and were not professionals such as trainers or veterinarians themselves, there was slightly less improvement, but also less deterioration – about half reported no change.

Owners of 530 dogs (43.3 percent) reported doing some training to prevent or treat firework fears. Preventive training was most effective: the median Welfare-Impaired score was 1 (lowest possible) in dogs trained in puppyhood and 2 in dogs trained as adults, compared to a median score of 4 for dogs with no training before the onset of fear. Statistical testing showed no significant difference between preventive training as a puppy and as an adult. However, there was a significant difference between having preventive training and having training only after fears had developed.

Training after fears developed was nevertheless shown to be worth doing, as those dogs were significantly more likely to show improvement. The effect of training was independent of whether the dog was treated with medication, as there was no difference in the proportion of dogs in groups that did and did not receive training.

The importance of some other factors investigated, including potential correlations with health problems and other behavior problems, were unclear, but one finding was that certain breed groups were more likely to suffer from this fear, including herding dogs. At the same time, one of the two most significant risk factors was being a mixed-breed. These results may seem contradictory, but they suggest that both genetics and upbringing are relevant. “Mixed-breed dogs originated from shelters or from the street more often so, on average, mixed-breed dogs probably had less positive socialization experiences,” says author Stefanie Riemer.

The other significant risk factor was older age. Again, at first glance this might seem to contradict the finding that fears develop at an earlier age, but fears are not static with aging. “While in over 70 percent, firework fear was noticeable before the age of two years, firework fear often does not disappear on its own, even though it may be improved, as I found in my study,” says Riemer. “Therefore, the longer the dog has been in the world, the more likely it is to have developed a fear of firework at some point in its life. Moreover, often the fear gets worse over time, which may lead to higher average fear scores in older dogs.”

The high number of owners who sought help for the problem (45 percent overall and 70 percent of owners of fearful dogs) was large compared with what has been found in other research. Riemer says, “I am sure the owners in the sample were above-average motivated to work with their dog. I don’t think this invalidates the finding regarding the effectiveness of training but of course a higher level of experience might make them more effective trainers.”

The results suggest that because preventive training is most effective, it’s a good idea to do some training with dogs who are not showing fear, but even after fear develops, it’s not too late. “This study shows that if your dog is afraid of fireworks or other loud noises, it’s important to do something about it, because it can make a difference,” says Zazie Todd, PhD, author of the blog Companion Animal Psychology. “There are several ways to help dogs who are afraid of fireworks, including gradual desensitization and counter-conditioning using a recording of the sound.”

Todd notes that Riemer’s recently published followup study on the effectiveness of various training methods found that owners reported that both ad-hoc counterconditioning and relaxation training helped.

She also observes that while some dogs’ response to noise is too obvious to miss, owners may need to be educated to notice it in others: “Other research has shown that sometimes people miss the signs their dog is afraid of fireworks, so it’s important to be aware and look for them.”

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Linda Lombardi writes about the animals that share our planet and our homes for magazines including The Bark, websites including National Geographic and Mongabay.com, and for the Associated Press. Her most recent book, co-authored with Deirdre Franklin, is The Pit Bull Life: A Dog Lover’s Companion.

Even Mild Fear of Noise in Dogs Has Broad Effects

Linda Lombardi
Mild cases of noise reactivity in dogs are often not considered problematic enough to treat. However, in a recently published study, even mild noise sensitivity was associated with lower performance on a puzzle test. This suggests that these dogs have impaired functioning even when noise is not present and that more screening and treatment is called for.

Researchers analyzed three types of data collected as part of a larger study of pet dogs. Dogs were evaluated for noise sensitivity via a questionnaire and a score was calculated based on the number of categories of noise that caused a reaction, the behaviors indicative of fear and anxiety that were exhibited, and the intensity of the reaction. Dogs were also tested for noise sensitivity using a custom noise recording that was played starting at a low volume and gradually turned up.

Learning Affected

Dogs were then evaluated for their performance on a puzzle-box test. The clear plastic puzzle box had nine holes on top and one at the end. A tennis ball was rolled into the box and dogs were given five minutes to try to get it out. If they succeeded in under two minutes, they repeated the test, up to three times in total. While attempting the puzzle, the dogs were wearing a device that recorded their movements.

Comparing data from 17 noise-reactive dogs and 11 non-noise-reactive dogs, those who were sensitive to noise performed worse on the puzzle box. Movement recordings also showed a difference, says lead author Karen Overall. “The ones who did the best moved very efficiently and very quickly. Their movements counted. The dogs who reacted to noise and who did more poorly, or could not solve the test, had very jagged and inconsistent movements.”

These dogs did not seem to be able to move in a deliberate, coordinated manner in response to how the ball acted when they tried to manipulate it. “They have to correct their behavior according to the movement of the object that they see,” she says. “These dogs couldn’t do that.”

Some of the noise-reactive dogs did not perform well enough to repeat the test, but when they did, they also differed. “Unlike the dogs who didn’t react to noise, the dogs who did react to noise couldn’t learn from their previous tests and didn’t improve their scores,” she says.

Sound Effects

While it’s understood that being in a state of anxiety interferes with functioning, the results show that being noise-sensitive has more wide-reaching effects. Even in a relatively low-stress situation where noise was not an issue, these dogs showed impaired performance: “The room is quiet, they’re getting food treats, their people are there, but they still can’t learn.”

Overall says it’s important to understand that this was not a clinical population of noise-fearful dogs. “Largely they were fairly mild, and yet they still couldn’t do this,” she says.

They also were not generally fearful, which was screened for. “The dog who was the worst in the test, the only dog for whom we had to turn off the recording, she was the meet-and-greet queen of the universe,” she says. “She was charming and social and lovely until you played noise, and then she was broken.”

“Moderate to severe noise sensitivity in dogs is a well-known behavior problem. A connection between separation anxiety and noise sensitivity has also been recognized before. What has not been appreciated until Dr. Overall and her colleagues published this research is the impact that noise sensitivity has on the general anxiety levels and learning ability of affected dogs,” says Bonnie Beaver, DVM, DACVB, of Texas A&M University. “These changes exist even in mildly affected dogs, impacting their daily lives with ever-present stress.”

Screening and Treatment

Overall concludes that even mild fear of noises needs to be aggressively screened for and treated.

“I think we don’t realize how much these dogs are suffering,” she says. “This shows that you’ve got dogs who are afraid of noises and it’s impairing other parts of their life that people haven’t looked at. It’s impairing their ability to get information from the environment and their ability to problem solve.” This has a broad impact on their social functioning and their fundamental ability to enjoy life.

Overall now believes dogs should be screened for noise reactivity on every vet visit and that it’s particularly critical to screen young dogs. “I want vets to see dogs three or four times a year in the first two years of life, when their brains are developing, and subject them to standard screening tests,” she says.

This is important because early diagnosis and treatment can make a huge difference. “The rodent literature has shown that if you’re anxious and fearful and from a genetically fearful line, and they treat you as a baby, your brain develops normally,” she says. “And what wouldn’t we give for that? There’s too much suffering; I want these dogs to have joy.”

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Linda Lombardi writes about the animals that share our planet and our homes for magazines including The Bark, websites including National Geographic and Mongabay.com, and for the Associated Press. Her most recent book, co-authored with Deirdre Franklin, is The Pit Bull Life: A Dog Lover’s Companion.