Great analogy Kristi. The dog trainer in me has to comment though! As you accurately stated, when dogs are faced with a scary thing, their options are fight or flight. The reason that dogs often react to scary things (barking, lunging, biting)--especially when they are on a leash-- is because their flight option has been taken away. Thus, their only remaining option is to "fight" (i.e., react). What do we tell people who encounter a bear in the woods? Try to make yourself big and scary by waving your arms, yelling and lunging! In dog training, we generally start by managing the fear-- i.e., giving the dog the option of flight (so moving away from the scary thing-- in fact we actually teach owners and their dogs a "retreat" command) and then slowly introduce desensitization and counter conditioning-- changing the dog's feelings about and ultimately behaviors towards the scary things... so they aren't so scary anymore. Both of these techniques work for humans too and I am going to challenge you to work them into the scenario you described...maybe in a follow up post? Thank you for letting me comment! :)
Kathie! I so appreciate your comment and insight. This gives me more to think about and adds depth to the metaphor. Makes me think about how we need to slowly and deliberately expand our comfort zones. When we go from safety to “terror” right away, we are ill equipped. If we can slowly get more comfortable with the scary things, we expand our ability to face them safely and with confidence. Thank you for taking time to read, to comment and to share your wisdom.
Great analogy Kristi. The dog trainer in me has to comment though! As you accurately stated, when dogs are faced with a scary thing, their options are fight or flight. The reason that dogs often react to scary things (barking, lunging, biting)--especially when they are on a leash-- is because their flight option has been taken away. Thus, their only remaining option is to "fight" (i.e., react). What do we tell people who encounter a bear in the woods? Try to make yourself big and scary by waving your arms, yelling and lunging! In dog training, we generally start by managing the fear-- i.e., giving the dog the option of flight (so moving away from the scary thing-- in fact we actually teach owners and their dogs a "retreat" command) and then slowly introduce desensitization and counter conditioning-- changing the dog's feelings about and ultimately behaviors towards the scary things... so they aren't so scary anymore. Both of these techniques work for humans too and I am going to challenge you to work them into the scenario you described...maybe in a follow up post? Thank you for letting me comment! :)
Kathie! I so appreciate your comment and insight. This gives me more to think about and adds depth to the metaphor. Makes me think about how we need to slowly and deliberately expand our comfort zones. When we go from safety to “terror” right away, we are ill equipped. If we can slowly get more comfortable with the scary things, we expand our ability to face them safely and with confidence. Thank you for taking time to read, to comment and to share your wisdom.