The only thing we have to fear is fear itself

[adelfjohanason]

For your average snowboarder, let's say that fear can manifest itself in three different ways: as a familiar encounter that went badly, an acknowledgment of something new and unknown, and in response to something completely beyond our control.

When injured trying a new skill or feature, many are met with great hesitation when they step up for a second try. This is reasonable, since getting hurt sucks; but the key to overcoming this fear is to understand that even though it was negative, what happened was an experience. Remember after the fall when you asked yourself, "what happened?"

You probably realized your weight was wrong, or you didn't pop high enough, etc. Since you know what caused your injury, use your mistakes to adapt a new approach and you have no reason to fear repeating the past.

 

[adelfjohanason]

Does Your Dog Have A Fear Of Thunder?

Fear of thunder and other loud noises is a common problem in dogs. No one really knows why some pets become afraid of noises and some don't. Dogs can easily develop these terrible sound sensitivities which tend to get worse the older the dog gets.

Left untreated the fear of loud noises can easily turn into a phobia (an excessive, persistent and irrational fear response to stimuli). The good news is that these fear-related problems can be successfully resolved with the right training and lots of patience.

A small recent study has found that certain dog breeds are more prone to developing noise phobias than other breeds. Many of these dog breeds at risk include breeds such as: German Shepherds, Collies, Beagles, and Basset Hounds.

Please realize that more research needs to be done in the area of fear of thunder since this particular single study was pretty small overall. This study did have another interesting finding: that dogs suffering from separation anxiety were also more likely to have noise and thunderstorm phobias.

What are the typical signs of a noise phobia, such as a fear of thunder?

Individual pets may display their particular signs of noise phobias in various ways such as: Panting, pacing, drooling, chewing, trembling or shaking, expressing anal glands, barking, urinating/defecating, trying to escape or hide.

 

[lookingfor_ruth]

Fear is your friend (tossing my hat in the ring)

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[CopperSkink]

German Shepherds are mostly personal protection dogs. The largest percentage of those sold go to private homes with single owners wheres only a small amount go to the police, who also choose Rotweillers and Belgian Shepherds for various jobs.
"Collies" is not a breed at all but a slip-of-the-tongue nickname. There are Border Collies (the originals), Rough Coat Collies, Smooth Coat Collies, Shetland Sheepdogs, and Bearded Collies.
Beagles and Bassets are in fact hounds rather than gun dogs who hunt by sight or smell (in the case of these two, smell), cornering or treeing the target and waiting for the handler to knock it loose (sometimes with a gun) so they can deliver the killing bite. Gun dogs operate by flushing out game (geese and shit) for the handler to gun them down in-flight. This type of work is for Poodles, Labradors, Goldens, and Nova Scotia Duck-Tollers who have coat and body for swimming rather than nose or eye for hunting.

Puppies are very sensitive creatures that soak up more information from the tiniest thing than you could possibly imagine. The more socialized a puppy is, the more sound of temper the adult will be. If the puppy is never exposed to loud noises, the adult will simply fear them as an unknown. If your dog is nervous about noise, you have problems that run much deeper than fearful shaking or biting. Contact your local professional for advice, but probably not some study group.

 

[Firebrain]

I like big butts and I cannot lie!

 

[lookingfor_ruth]

happy to be corrected on the dog front

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[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There are two cures for phobia: In the first cure you immerse the victim in the phobia stimulus and wait for his mind to reorganize the experience into something benign. Pushing him into the deep end of the pool is the best example that comes to mind. I call this the WHAT DOESNT KILL HIM MAKES HIM STRONGER STRATEGY.

The 2nd cure involves changing one part of the phobia's sensory experience. But changing the tactile sense wont do it. Change the appearance, sound, smell, or taste. Like, if you wanna change the victims phobia for turtle meat, prepare the meat like country fried steak and tell her its country fried steak. It looks like country fried steak. After she asks for seconds confess the lie.

Years ago, when I took my morse code test, the instructor came to class and announced that we'd take a practice test first, and do some review before the real test. I was nervous. But warnup was good. So we took the practice test, everyone did good, and the instructor confessed that the warmup test was the real test.

 

[lookingfor_ruth]

what they all said...

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[lookingfor_ruth]

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