For the Love of a Dog (50 page)

Weber, Bill, and Amy Vedder. 2001.
In the Kingdom of Gorillas
. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Weiss, Emily. Video:
The SAFER Test
.
www.emilyweiss.com
.

Zimen, Erik. 1982. “A Wolf Pack Sociogram.” In
Wolves of the World
. Fred H. Harrington and Paul C. Paquet, eds. Park Ridge, N.J.: Noyes Publications, pp. 282-322.

I am infinitely grateful to the neurobiologists Deric Bownds and John Ratey, whose informative and delightfully accessible books,
The Biology of Mind
and
A User’s Guide to the Brain
were invaluable to me. I can’t imagine writing this book without them. Much of my discussion about the development of the brain draws on those two books; I learned about the work of Dan Stern, on critical periods in emotional development, in the latter. Jaak Panksepp’s
Affective Neuroscience
is always an excellent resource; I learn something new from it every time I pick it up. Deborah Blum’s
Love at Goon Park
is an excellent source for the impact of touch on the brain’s development, and is the source of my stories about children in orphanages (and of the tragic experiment by Frederick II). If you’d like to read more about touch and development, start with Tiffany Field’s article, listed below.

Stanley Coren’s
How Dogs Think
has the best summary available on the comparative perceptual abilities of dogs and people. I also recommend Stephen Budiansky’s
The Truth About Dogs
, Vilmos Csányi’s
If Dogs Could Talk
, and Bruce Fogle’s
The Dog’s Mind
.

Ackerman, Diane. 2004.
An Alchemy of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of the Brain
. New York: Scribner.

Battaglia, Carmen. 1995. “Developing High Achievers.”
AKC Gazette
112, no. 5. New York: American Kennel Club. (Also see:
www.breedingbetterdogs.com/achiever.html
.)

Blum, Deborah. 2002.
Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection
. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus.

Bownds, M. Deric. 1999.
The Biology of the Mind: Origins and Structures of Mind, Brain, and Consciousness
. Bethesda, Md.: Fitzgerald Science Press.

Damasio, Antonio. 1994.
Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
. New York: HarperCollins.

——. 2003.
Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain
. New York: Harcourt.

Field, Tiffany. 2002. “Infants’ Need for Touch.”
Human Development
45, no. 2, pp. 100-103.

Griffin, Donald. 2001.
Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness
. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Hauser, Marc D. 2000.
Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think
. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

Myers, David G. 2004.
Psychology
. New York: Worth.

Panksepp, Jaak. 1998.
Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions
. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ratey John J. 2001.
A User’s Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain
. New York: Vintage Books.

Scott, John Paul, and John L. Fuller. 1965.
Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog: The Classic Study
. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

General information about the biology of fear can be found in John J. Ratey’s
A User’s Guide to the Brain
and Jaak Panksepp’s
Affective Neuroscience
. The study mentioned on serotonin regulation and genetics was done by A. R. Hariri and is listed below.
Animals in Translation
has an especially interesting discussion about fear in animals and people with autism; I highly recommend it. The study on noise phobias and handedness in dogs was done by Branson and Rogers.

There is a plethora of material about shyness; the sources named here can get you started if you’d like to learn more. See Myers’s text
Psychology
for information about the nature/nurture debate with respect to shyness in people and for references to individual studies. Carl Schwartz and colleagues did the work on “inhibited” and “uninhibited” infants, while Daniels and Plomin did the study on cross-fostered babies born of shy mothers. The story about the shy but boisterous woman, as well as the percentage of people who report themselves as shy, is in Philip Zimbardo’s book
Shyness: What It Is, What to Do About It
. For more information about the relationship between genetics, brain function, and shyness, see Schwartz et al., Jenck et al., and Sinn (who knew squid could be shy, too!) and Davis for a summary of early work on the amygdala and fearful behavior.

Shyness in animals has been studied by many; see Steven Suomi’s work on a variety of species as a good starting place. He is the one who cross-fostered monkeys and found that mothers who provided a secure attachment base could ameliorate the effects of “shy genes.”

William Campbell, who has written many excellent books on solving behavior problems in dogs, was the first to label dogs as having “active” or “passive” defense reflexes. His most recent book,
Owner’s Guide to Better Behavior in Dogs
, is a great resource. The early work on the heritability of shyness in dogs was done by Scott and Fuller (see
Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog)
. Helen Mahut wrote as early as 1958 about the inheritance of shyness in laboratory puppies— it’s her article that contains information about the brood bitch who had so many
shy puppies. Also see Thorne, 1944, for a truly early work on the subject. See Ray and Lorna Coppinger’s book
Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution
for an interesting discussion about shyness, wolves, and the evolution of dogs. See Stephen Budiansky’s
The Covenant of the Wild
for an interesting discussion of Belyaev’s work selecting for docility in fur foxes. Goddard and Beilharz did the study on the predictability of shyness in young guide dogs. See E. O. Price for a thorough review of the behavioral aspects of domestication in general.

The work on “nervous pointers” was originally done by Oddist Murphree (I did not make up that name). Currently the work is being continued by Karen Overall, a prolific researcher and writer on canine behavior and behavior problems. See the reference below and her book
Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals
.

Ian Dunbar deserves our thanks for understanding the impact of Scott and Fuller’s work and initiating puppy socialization classes nationwide. See his
Before and After Getting Your Puppy
and
How to Teach a New Dog Old Tricks
. I also highly recommend Pia Silvani’s video,
Kindergarten Puppy Training Gone Wrong? Avoiding the Speed Bumps
, and Trish King’s
Are Puppies Really Learning What We Are Teaching?
to ensure that your puppy learns the right things, rather than being traumatized.

A good source for information about post-traumatic stress disorder is Williams and Poijula’s book
The PTSD Workbook: Simple, Effective Techniques for Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms
. Another is
Neuropsychology of PTSD
, by J. J. Vasterling. The story about Watson traumatizing poor young Albert is described in many sources, but a good description can be found in both Blum’s
Love at Goon Park
and Coren’s
How Dogs Think
. The study done on Beagles who were brought back to the room where they were shocked (using a standard electronic training collar—be aware that these collars are available for sale or rent all over the country to anyone, whether they know anything about behavior and training or not) was presented by Renate Jones-Baade at the 2005 International Veterinary Behaviour Meeting. The traumatized-rat research was described by Servatius and Shors, listed below.

Blum, Deborah. 2002.
Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection
. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus.

Branson, N. J., and L. J. Rogers. 2006. “Relationship between paw preference strength and noise phobia in
Canis familiaris.” Journal of Comparative Psychology
, in press.

Budiansky, Stephen. 1999.
The Covenant of the Wild: Why Animals Chose Domestication
. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.

Buss, Kristin A., et al. 2003. “Right Frontal Brain Activity, Cortisol and Withdrawal Behavior in 6-Month-Old Infants.”
Behavioral Neuroscience
117, no. 1, pp. 11-20.

Campbell, William E. 1995.
Owner’s Guide to Better Behavior in Dogs
. 2nd ed. Loveland, Colo.: Alpine Blue Ribbon Books.

Coppinger, Raymond, and Lorna Coppinger. 2001.
Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origins, Behavior and Evolution
. New York: Scribner.

Coren, Stanley. 2000.
How to Speak Dog: Mastering the Art of Dog-Human Communication
. New York: Free Press.

——. 2004.
How Dogs Think: Understanding the Canine Mind
. New York: Free Press.

Daniels, Denise, and Robert Plomin. 1985. “Origins of Individual Differences in Infant Shyness.”
Developmental Psychology
21, no. 1, pp. 118-21.

Davis, Michael. 1992. “The Role of the Amygdala in Fear and Anxiety.”
Annual Review of Neuroscience
15, pp. 353-75.

Dunbar, Ian. 1998.
How to Teach a New Dog Old Tricks
. Berkeley: James and Kenneth Publishers.

——. 2004.
Before and After Getting Your Puppy
. Novato, Calif: New World Library.

Goddard, Michael, and Rolf Beilharz. 1985. “A Multivariate Analysis of the Genetics of Fearfulness in Potential Guide Dogs.”
Behavior Genetics
15, no. 1, pp. 69-80.

Hariri, A. R., et al. 2002. “Serotonin Transporter Genetic Variation and the Response of the Human Amygdala.”
Science
297, pp. 400-403.

Jenck, R., et al. 1996. “Animal Models of Panic Disorder—Emphasis on Face and Predictive Validity.”
European Neuropsychopharmacology
6, supp. 4, pp. S4.

Jones-Baade, Renate. 2005. “Stress Symptoms Caused by the Use of Electric Training Collars on Dogs in Everyday Life Situations.” 5th International Veterinary Behaviour Meeting. Minneapolis: AVSAB.

King, Trish. 2001. Video:
Are Puppies Really Learning What We Are Teaching?
Salt Lake City: Tawzer Dog Videos.

Mahut, Helen. 1958. “Breed Differences in the Dog’s Emotional Behaviour.”
Canadian Journal of Psychology
12, vol. 1, pp. 35-44.

McConnell, Patricia B. 2005. 2nd ed.
The Cautious Canine: How to Help Dogs Conquer Their Fears
. Black Earth, Wisc.: Dog’s Best Friend.

Myers, David G. 2004.
Psychology
. New York: Worth.

Overall, Karen. 1997.
Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals
. St. Louis: Mosby.

Overall, Karen, et al. 2001. “Frequency of Nonspecific Clinical Signs in Dogs with Separation Anxiety, Thunderstorm Phobia, and Noise Phobia, Alone or in Combination.”
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
219, no. 4, pp. 467-73.

Panksepp, Jaak. 1998.
Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions
. New York: Oxford University Press.

Price, E. O. 1984. “Behavioral Aspects of Animal Domestication.”
Quarterly Review of Biology
59, no. 1, pp. 1-32.

Ratey John J. 2001.
A User’s Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain
. New York: Vintage Books.

Rentz, Timothy O., et al. 2003. “Active-Imaginal Exposure: Examination of a New Behavioral Treatment for Cynophobia (Dog Phobia).”
Behaviour Research and Therapy
41, pp. 1337-53.

Schwartz, Carl E., et al. 2003. “Inhibited and Unihibited Infants ‘Grown Up’: Adult Amygdalar Response to Novelty.”
Science
vol. 300, no. 5627, June 20.

Scott, John Paul, and John L. Fuller. 1965.
Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog
. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Servatius, Richard J., and Tracey J. Shors. 1994. “Exposure to Inescapable Stress Persistently Facilitates Associative and Nonassociative Learning in Rats.”
Behavioral Neuroscience
18, no. 6, 1101-1106.

Silvani, Pia. 2004. Video:
Kindergarten Puppy Training Gone Wrong? Avoiding the Speed Bumps
. Salt Lake City: Tawzer Dog Videos.

Sinn, David L., and N. A. Moltschaniwskyj. 2005. “Personality Traits in Dumpling Squid
(Euprymna tasmanica):
Context-Specific Traits and Their Correlation with Biological Characteristics.”
Journal of Comparative Psychology
119, no. 1, pp. 99-110.

Suomi, Stephen. 1998. “Genetic and Environmental Factors Influencing
Serotonergic Functioning and the Expression of Impulsive Aggression in Rhesus Monkeys.” Plenary Lecture: Italian Congress of Biological Psychiatry, Naples, Italy.

——. 2001. “How Gene-Environment Interactions Can Shape the Development of Socioemotional Regulation in Rhesus Monkeys.” Round Table: Socioemotional Regulation, Dimensions, Developmental Trends and Influences, Johnson and Johnson Pediatric Round Table, Palm Beach, Florida.

Thorne, Frederick C. 1944. “The Inheritance of Shyness in Dogs.”
Journal of Genetic Psychology
65, pp. 275-79.

Vasterling, J. J., and C. R. Brewin, eds. 2005.
Neuropsychology of PTSD: Biological, Cognitive and Clinical Perspectives
. New York: Guilford Press.

Williams, M. B., and S. Poijula. 2002.
The PTSD Workbook: Simple, Effective Techniques for Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms
. Oakland, Calif: New Harbinger.

Zimbardo, Philip G. 1977.
Shyness: What It Is, What to Do About It
. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus.

Both
Psychology
as an accessible text, and
Blink
as a can’t-stop-reading story, are great sources for information about classical conditioning in humans. I first learned about the impact of reading words like “old” and “wrinkled” in
Blink
, which recounts the work of John Bargh and his colleagues. Michael Domjan did the study on male quail and red lights, and Michael Cook and Susan Mineka are excellent sources for nature/nurture interactions and phobias in nonhuman animals. See Doogan and Thomas below for an interesting article about cynophobia (the fear of dogs). Read
Full Catastrophe Living
by Jon Kabat-Zinn for inspiration on how meditation can reverse much fear-based physiology and boost your immune system.