Reducing Exercise To Assist Separation Anxiety

[Cosmolo]

Yes that is what the title says

I have heard a theory a few times now (re told to me by clients who were told by another trainer) relating to reducing/ eliminating an anxious dogs exercise so that they don't get too fit. The suggestion is that owners (with their highly anxious dogs) cease all exercise for minimum 2 weeks and then resume in in small doses infrequently.

Does anyone else think this is crazy?

Or can anybody explain the logic behind it as i may be wrong and it may be a great tool?

Mental stimulation was not discussed in any of these examples so the reduced physical exertion is not being replaced in whole or part by games/ tricks/ obedience etc.

ETA- referring to separation anxiety, not general anxiety

Edited April 7, 2009 by Cosmolo

[Quickasyoucan]

Weird, I'm not a dog, but I do suffer from anxiety. Exercise is one of the best ways of reducing anxiety.

Anyway over to the dog behaviourists...!

ETA: thinking about are they talking about over stimulating the dog, ie getting it too excited, that could heighten anxiety? Maybe it is certain types of exercise...

Edited April 6, 2009 by Quickasyoucan

[JulesP]

Have done that sort of thing with horses....

[Cosmolo]

Can you explain Jules P? Genuinely interested- i have spelled horses before, is that sort of what you mean? I had a horse with general anxiety and spelling him and 'letting him be a horse' was helpful (until i started to work him again lol) but bit different from separation anxiety.

Instruction was clearly no physical exercise, not no off leash or no ball throwing etc. No walks or jogging with owner- dogs in question were also well behaved on walks so there was no anxiety issue or high arousal levels on walks.

ETA in all cases- dogs behaviour has worsened considerably

Edited April 6, 2009 by Cosmolo

[poodlefan]

I don't follow the logic myself..

A physically understimulated dog would be more unstable wouldn't it??

[Keshwar]

Can you explain Jules P? Genuinely interested- i have spelled horses before, is that sort of what you mean? I had a horse with general anxiety and spelling him and 'letting him be a horse' was helpful (until i started to work him again lol) but bit different from separation anxiety.

Instruction was clearly no physical exercise, not no off leash or no ball throwing etc. No walks or jogging with owner- dogs in question were also well behaved on walks so there was no anxiety issue or high arousal levels on walks.

ETA in all cases- dogs behaviour has worsened considerably

I think the bit I've bolded answers your question.

I have to say from living with an extremely anxious dog that the more exercise stimulation - both mental and physical - the better he was. If I backed off the stimulation his anxiety got worse as you describe above.

Bear.

[ruthless]

I'm too lazy to search for the thread I started a while ago where I proclaimed that Chopper seems a lot calmer since I stopped throwing the ball for him. He used to get a 30 minute walk followed by 20 mins of fetch. Because we were going away and I didn't want the pet sitter letting him off lead I weaned him off "fetch" during the month before our holiday. Now he goes maybe once a week and I think he's HEAPS calmer. Perhaps there's other contributing factors I think it was Poodlefan that said the adrenalin can stay in their system for four days.

[poodlefan]

I'm too lazy to search for the thread I started a while ago where I proclaimed that Chopper seems a lot calmer since I stopped throwing the ball for him. He used to get a 30 minute walk followed by 20 mins of fetch. Because we were going away and I didn't want the pet sitter letting him off lead I weaned him off "fetch" during the month before our holiday. Now he goes maybe once a week and I think he's HEAPS calmer. Perhaps there's other contributing factors I think it was Poodlefan that said the adrenalin can stay in their system for four days.

Yep, that was me.. I was talking about very high levels of arousal though, not just ordinary exercise.

Unless the dog is just over the top, I can't see how NO exercise would benefit the dog.

[shoemonster]

Yeah I would think it would depend on the exercise

Ball throwing gets them hyped up, in drive, same as free running I guess (if they are the type to bolt off, and chase birds/bugs/imaginary things!), whereas a walk or a bike ride is a calmer exercise

Edited April 6, 2009 by shoemonster

[ruthless]

Clearly you've never had a bike ride with Chopper :)

[shoemonster]

[MolassesLass]

Perhaps the intention was to reduce the dog's fitness levels so that when it is exercised it's far easier to tire out (tired dog is a calm dog). So intead of having a dog that is still ready to go after a 5km run, it is asleep after a 1km walk.

I did a Google search but even in the wide expanses of the net, no one is advocating no exercise for anxious dogs.

[Quickasyoucan]

I would have thought exercise lead to endorphin release, calmer dog.

I guess also it depends on what is behind the "anxiety", after all there can be many causative factors. What form did the anxiety take?

[persephone]

I have seen dogs who are fit, and who anticipate their daily workouts, get anxious, and start pacing, etc if it doesn't happen... so perhaps going 'cold turkey' may help with these???

[Cosmolo]

ML- yes i think thats the theory. I'm just not sure why mental stimulation would not be suggested to tire the dog rather than no exercise. With the dogs who i know have tried it, it creates unbearable activity levels and an increase in anxiety in the short term- the owners give up after a week or so because the dog has been so much worse and so out of control.

I think its different if the dog who's being exercised is engaging in drive activities and has other problems that relate to the same drive if you know what i mean.

[Nekhbet]

depends what the anxiety is about.

If the exercise is unstructured and increases anxiety then yes - cut it right back and start in small increments of controlled 'exercises' and stop before the dog gets out of control.

I can see the merit, especially in dogs that go bananas after say going off leash, playing rediculously in the backyard. Just because a dog runs around for an hour or two doesnt mean it will be tired. But this should be coupled with focus training and anxiety supression then just short bursts

I tire my clients dogs out with a half hour structured walk, low energy and encouraging focus - then they did walking randomly for well over an hour. They pack up and go to sleep on a calm, focussed walk more then the dogs that strain and rush about.

[Kelpie-i]

Cosmolo, not a silly concept and I will try to explain how Brenda Aloff explained similar in her recent seminar here.

Erny will be able to fill in blanks here since I was in/out of the room organising morning tea and lunches so there is good heap I missed out on.

When a dog is either anxious, exercising or just in a state which lends no control or thinking, then the dog is utilising hind brain functions only.

When a dog is quiet, doing obedience, relaxing or attentive, then he is utilising his front brain functions.

I am not sure of the science behind it here so this is where Erny may step in to explain it from her notes.

Using relax exercises and as Brenda terms "Be still cues" to teach the dog to relax when it is in a state of arousal or anxious (or when there is no thinking being applied), helps bring the dog back to front brain use. Once front brain use is engaged, more learning occurs and the dog is able to calm down.

The thing is that dogs need to be taught how to switch from hind to front brain and this is done using restraint/relax exercises and "be still cues". Once the dog learns this, the owner can affectly calm the dog down from any anxious situation or over excitability.

I don't believe in not exercising the dog to help alleviate anxiety, but I think if you combine exercise with be still cues and some obedience exercises in between, you can teach the dog to switch to front brain more readily and this, in turn, alleviates the anxiety.

An anxious dog is almost constantly in hind brain, therefore no learning occurs - only the reinforcing of his own actions.

Clear as mud??

[nanna]

I have read about this approach in Ali Brown's 'Scaredy Dog: Understanding and Rehabilitating Your Reactive Dog'. However, I think it's more about reducing arousal than about exercise/fitness....

Basically, Ali Brown suggests that before starting a training program with a reactive/anxious dog you need to keep it calm for a minimum of one week to allow the stress hormones to dissipate from your dog's system (for many dogs this would mean keeping them at home). She talks about how stress hormones can build up with each exposure to an arousing/stressful situation (in both humans and dogs) and that when stress levels are high, learning levels are low. So the idea is that by removing stimulating/stressful situations for a week, the dog will be more receptive to learning.

[Cosmolo]

Thanks Kelpie i. I understand those concepts but what confuses me is how to apply them to pure and raw separation anxiety- not general anxiety if that makes sense? And if we did that- wouldn't we just be switching from physical to mental stimulation because it would be mentally stimulating to the dog to be taught how to switch from brain to brain? Therefore different to eliminating all exercise?

Nanna- i think thats great information and would definitely help with dogs that are reactive when out and about. But surely if applying the theory to separation anxiety, that would require the owner to not leave the house for a week rather than eliminating exercise for the week?

Edited April 6, 2009 by Cosmolo

[Erny]

Cosmolo - are you specifically referring to "separation anxiety"? (You didn't mention that in your OP, so I'm unsure.) Is it THAT condition for which this 'advice' of not exercising dogs is suggested to be applied?

I do know of a 'regime' by a certain franchise company who seems to have a standard way of dealing with just about all behaviour problems and part of that is to not give the dog walks/exercise for 2 weeks.

I wonder if this is where this (seemingly 3rd hand) information is coming from?

I'd like to know a bit more before I put a response together as there are "yes's" and "no's" to this, depending on the specifics of the circumstances.

Edited April 7, 2009 by Erny