I’d also like to point out how dogs who stop showing signs of distress or aggression aren’t safe dogs for anyone around them – human or animal – if anyone who reads this and is thinking it doesn’t sound so bad to have a “chill” dog all the time. Dogs with learned helplessness almost always go from 0 to 60 in an instant because they skip all other warnings (moving away, stiffened posture, growling, air snapping, all other “I am not okay so stop what you’re doing and leave me alone or I will escalate things until you do” types of communication). They’re the dogs who are “fine” one moment and the next someone is on the floor with a bleeding dog bite.
Which also happens to mean they’re at increased risk of having to be put down, not to mention injuring, disfiguring, or even killing someone or something.
Once you get to the point where a dog has learned helplessness, there’s really very little you can do and they’re extremely hard to work with as a behaviourist. Because they don’t give off any signs of what they’re feeling until it’s too late, there’s a mountain of trial and error you have to go through before you can actually start working to help the dog. And every trial carries the risk of the dog reacting, which puts the people around in danger, can end the session early because the dog is in no mental space to continue, and can erode any trust the trainer has built with the dog.
(You also have to convince the owner not to do X and Y and have the owner be able to convince anyone who comes into contact with the dog not to do X and Y, which can be super difficult because I swear some people just want to be bit. I have lost count of the number of times people and clients have been told not to do X to their dog, only for them to do it in front of me, or admit to doing it at home, or letting family and friends do X, and then they wonder why all the training isn’t helping.)
Some dogs do respond well with specialized training and work, but others are too traumatized. The most that can be done for them is setting them up with a safe and calm space in a home with people who won’t push them, but in some cases the dog is so traumatized and so unsafe that euthanasia is the only humane option.
I can’t speak to things on the vet side of things, but dogs with learned helplessness are some of the scariest dogs to be around. They hide what they’re feeling for fear of punishment so you have no clue if the dog is fine and relaxed or if it’s getting close to 60. I’d rather deal with a dog that growls and muzzle-punches than one who seems perfectly fine no matter what, since at least with the former you have behaviour to react to and know where you stand.
So you may have a “chill” dog for the moment, but the next moment may be very different.
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