In clinical practice we have observed cases where phobic behavior (both towards the dog’s immediate surroundings and towards humans with which the dog has little contact) and anxiety develop in pre-puberty. This occasionally leads to an anxiety syndrome which I call “anticipated defense behavior” (Dehasse, 1990a). A Bernese sheep-dog (raised in Belgium) developed intermittent anxiety (with pathological anticipations) around the age of 6 months, despite a social and sensorial enrichment between 3 weeks and 4 months. Her sister acquired the same tendency in a completely different environment (Netherlands), as did her brother (in Switzerland). A family of briards (Brie sheep-dogs) displayed the same tendency, despite differences in the surroundings in which they were raised. This enables us to propose two hypotheses: the hypothesis of inherited temperament and that of the phase of pre-puberty sensitization.
A bibliographic study confirms there is a phylogenetic and/or epigenetic tendency for pre-puberty sensitization. Fox (1978) studied primary and secondary socialization in wild dogs and other canines that were raised in identical environments and had daily contact with the trainer and intermittent contact with unfamiliar humans. The wild canines all remained attached to the trainer, at least until they reached maturity, and then became less tolerant to contact with or proximity to the trainer all the while welcoming him with appeasement postures (whereas in the beginning he was welcomed with active postures: jumping, licking, nudging).
Wariness of strangers develops:
- quickly in the solitary species (from 4 months in foxes),
- later in species of average sociability (around 1 year for jackals and coyotes),
- and much later in social species such as wolves (between 6 and 18 months) or dogs (beagle, pointer or Chihuahua – between 1 and 2 years).
There is a correlation in canines between wariness and the arrival of puberty (10 months in the coyote, 2 years in the wolf), except in foxes (wariness largely precedes puberty) and dogs (wariness follows puberty which appears around 6 months). In dogs, precocious neutering can delay or preclude the emergence of wariness towards strangers (Brunner, 1968, in Fox, 1978), which could possibly confirm the tendency’s hormonal cause. It is Fox’s opinion that domestication led to a dissociation between gonadal maturing (precocity) and maturing of the central nervous system (late).
Figures given for dogs, however, are hardly conclusive. We all know how the age of puberty, temperament, emotivity, sociability etc. can vary among breeds and individuals. It is thus normal to see the appearance of wariness towards strangers (or the unknown) or a loss of certain social experience and sensorial references between 4 months (as in foxes) and 2 years (as in wolves). This can also be compared to the development of so-called territorial aggressivity.
Woolpy (1968, in Fox, 1975) accustomed adult wild wolves to contact with humans in 6 months’ time; he then isolated them somewhat from humans: in this case they retained their socialization experience. He also accustomed wolf cubs to humans, then isolated them: in this case there was de-socialization (instability of precocious socialization). Young animals need continuous reinforcement.
The same holds for dogs: when a normally socialized puppy is isolated from humans and placed in a kennel from 3-4 months of age to 6-8 months he becomes fearful in the presence of humans, even the trainer. Woolpy’s interpretation (for wolves) is that socialization is limited by fear of the unknown. Although the behavioral signs are precocious, the subjective element evolves gradually over a year (at least). Thus before socialization can be acquired, the subjective (cognitive) element of fear must first mature.
In other words, fear of the unknown has both an emotional and behavioral phase (starting around 5 weeks) and a cognitive phase (near puberty).
It is my hypothesis that an optimal period of attraction-habituation (acquiring sensorial and emotion homeostasic referentials) closes with an emotional and behavioral phase of aversion-fear of the unknown (5-14 weeks). There follows a vulnerable period of cognitive sensitization at pre-puberty or puberty during which minor trauma can occasionally entrench wariness or fear, (ill)adaptations, and cognitive and emotional distortions that are undesirable in a dog living among humans in a city environment.
Risk factors:
Sensitization (and the often indissociable generalization) is the process that engenders wariness, fear, phobia and anxiety. The cognitive process it entails leads to a dog’s anticipating harmful situations that exist only in its mind (in a way, fear of being attacked) and thus behavioral strategies (defense mechanisms: flight, aggression, inhibition).
It is at this sensitive age that dogs often begin group training courses. It is imperative for the training environment to be controlled to ensure the dog does not suffer any psychological trauma. At pre-puberty, however, dogs emit pheromones that activate demonstrations of authority by the group’s dominant dogs. It is best to begin group courses around 3 months of age, so that the dogs can become familiar with each other and hierarchies before puberty.
Puberty and hierarchization
Dogs are social animals that need company, living in a hierarchical pack (or family-pack). In clinical practice we continually observe cases of conflicts (competitive aggression) at puberty, and later in adulthood. These conflicts revolve around access to the opposite sex (intra- or interspecific), but they can also arise over occupation of certain areas of the group’s common space (in the house in cases of conflicts with the dog’s owners, and rarely outdoors), in particular feeding and sleeping areas.
Our hypothesis is the following: an optimal period of intraspecific socialization (identification) is followed by several crucial periods of hierarchization that occur in successive phases: food, territory, socio-sexual at puberty and maturity.
Pageat (1984) demonstrated the existence of a triple surge of social aggressivity in dogs (male spaniels):
the first peaks around 4-5 months with the dog returning to normal around 6-6½ months, when it begins obedience lessons (the owners assert their dominance);
the second surge coincides with the production of sexual steroids (±5 months);
the third corresponds to a “second attempt to obtain reproduction rights” and only occurs in dogs who are allowed to live in the house. Pageat explains this as follows: in a dog-pack, adolescent males at puberty are pushed to the fringe of the group (by the alpha male and the other older males). The third aggressivity surge does not appear at this time. This is because in a group, the dominant members react and put the young dog in its place each time it tries to compete aggressively, barring its access (satellisation) to socially invested areas and sexual partners. If the dominant members fail to react, aggressivity is reinforced and the young dog rises in hierarchy.
In Fox’s experiment (1975) with various wild and domesticated canines, there was a surge in aggressivity in male jackals and wolves at the onset of puberty which increased until it peaked at 2 years. Aggressivity was directed toward males (canines and humans). Note that canines are perfectly capable of distinguishing the sex of humans, even when they are dressed alike; this is probably through their sense of smell. Fox also pointed out that competitive aggressivity may not appear in wolves (males as well as females) until 4-5 years of age (maturity).
We have seen that hierarchization occurs during a first “food” phase between puppies (from 5 weeks and is practically established, depending on the breed, between 3 to 12 months), then between adults and puppies (around 4 ± ½ months). This phase corresponds to the first surge of social aggressivity identified by Pageat.
The second phase of hierarchization, puberty, is sexual, social and zonal-spatial. The young dog develops an interest for the opposite sex and for areas occupied by the dominant members, who react by pushing the adolescent to the fringe of the group. The process is complex: sexual pheromones are awakened at puberty, activating “desire” (Vincent, 1986), the dog exhibits courting behavior and is rejected outright by the dominant member of the same sex, the only one of the group with the right to exhibit his/her sexuality openly. The adolescent is pushed from areas occupied by the dominant members (high-placed positions, controlling passages, preferential sleeping areas, etc.). It no longer has the right to greetings, licking and other social attentions given by the other dogs. This is why this phase is social, spatial and sexual.
This phase is generally accompanied by territorial defense behavior. In some breeds it occurs earlier, appearing from 2 months. In females, progesterone favors territorial defense behavior, just as it favors whelping and pseudocyesis.
A third phase of hierarchization occurs at maturity (adulthood), an age that varies in dogs depending on the breed (from 8 months to 3 years). It reproduces the same characteristics as the second phase, only this time with all the weapons, strength and passions of a mature adult.
Risk factors:
If adolescent dogs do not undergo hierarchization-satellisation, they gain hierarchy – access to the privileges of the dominant member. The dog’s relation with its master thus becomes ambivalent, with conflicting messages: demands (dominance) – tolerance (submission). The lack of comprehensible appeasement rituals favors attitudes of competitive aggression (sociopathy) or substituting behavior (sometimes self-directed).
Discussion and conclusions
No quantitative studies have been made on intra-breed variability, and inter-breed studies have only concerned a few family lines in selected breeds. It is thus impossible to form conclusions based on breed in view of the number of dog breeds identified up to now (more than 200).
Furthermore, the studies we have cited have never been conducted on a large number of animals. The results mentioned are thus qualitative and speculative, as are the dates and periods.
Nevertheless, a dog’s ethogenesis evolves in (at least) three overlapping phases, each related to a particular system: the neuro-vegetative (neuro-glandular) – 1 to 7 weeks, the emotional (limbic) system – 3 ± ½ to 12 ± 5 weeks, and the cognitive system (cortex) - 5 ± 1 to 18 ± 10 months).
The different phases of development
Neuro-vegetative
from -4 (before birth) to +7 weeks
Imprinting-Identification
from 3±½ to 12±5 weeks
Filial, fraternal and sexual imprinting
Intraspecific sociability
Emotional-Relational
from 3±½ to 12±2 weeks
Socialization – Thymostasis – Conditioning, etc.
Cognitive
5±1 to 18±10 months
Hierarchization – Rationalization - Territorialisation
Each phase presents a series of risks that can undermine the dog-dog and dog-human relationship. A dog’s epigenesis engenders multiple temperaments that can be partially foreseen by controlling its environmental stimuli. One factor favorable to emotional and relational well-balance of a dog that must live with humans in a city context is enrichment in the breeding environment.
It is the breeder’s role is to ensure temperamental selection and to enrich the development environment (under veterinary guidance).
The role of the veterinarian is essential because he/she sees the animal from 6 to 16 weeks for its vaccinations. He/she thus theoretically has several occasions to assess the puppies’ early emotional and behavioral development and can recommend preventive measures and training techniques.
The media can also play a role in educating potential dog owners to adapt their relational needs to the dog’s ecological and social reality, rather than their own personal wishes.
The trainer must not only inculcate the bases for instrumental learning, he/she must also take advantage of having a group of dogs to continue their socialization and avoid de-socialization, both towards other dogs and towards humans.
Dog owners must find adequate counseling to prevent multiple relational (systemic) and behavioral dysfunctions in their dogs. But they must first be aware of the problem and know where to go for advice. It is up to the veterinarian to inform them!
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