What is sensory deprivation syndrome in dogs?

CANINE SENSORY DEPRIVATION SYNDROME

Approximate reading time: 6 minutes

All dogs have different temperaments that make them unique and unrepeatable. While some furry dogs are more outgoing and adventurous, others are more shy and fearful. But what happens when this fear is extremely intense and frequent? Although phobias in dogs can have different origins, such as traumatic experiences, if your pet is afraid of almost all everyday situations, people, objects and noises, it could be sensory deprivation syndrome.

This behavioural disorder in dogs is characterised by a generalised fear of any everyday element: unfamiliar people, cars, bikes, rain, sounds, other pets... This syndrome is triggered in puppies that spend their first weeks of life in an isolated, low-stimulation environment, preventing them from adapting to their surroundings correctly. The consequences of this hypo-stimulation and lack of exposure to the environment during the puppyhood stage of the dog have very serious consequences in the medium and long term, with serious behavioural alterations that can prevent the animal from enjoying a normal life.

Table of contents

1. The puppy's socialisation stage

2. The effects of hypo-stimulation on the puppy's brain

3. Symptoms of Sensory Deprivation Syndrome in Dogs

4. What to do if my dog is suffering from Sensory Deprivation Syndrome?

5. Can sensory prevention syndrome in dogs be cured?

6. How to stimulate a puppy at home?

The puppy socialisation stage

The socialisation stage for dogs is from about 3 weeks to 4 months of age. This stage is critical to their learning. The more experiences and stimuli that occur during this stage, the more proteins are generated in the brain. These proteins are responsible for forming neural connections and building learning. In the first weeks of life, puppies get this socialisation from living with their litter. They will learn certain social behaviours from their siblings and mum, such as bite inhibition (i.e. not biting too hard in play to avoid hurting them). The problem often lies either in premature weaning of the puppy or in being raised exclusively with dogs, without human contact. The ideal is to have a balance and wean the puppy no earlier than 6 weeks. In this way we guarantee an adequate mixed socialisation in which the puppy is adapted both to life with its litter and to people.

The effects of hypo-stimulation on the puppy's brain

Stimulating a dog properly from the first weeks of life is not just a matter of getting them used to their environment. Hypo-stimulation and isolation in the socialisation phase means that interneuronal connections do not develop well. All this happens in the period of maximum synaptic expansion of the brain, when a healthy dog develops their learning and adaptive strategies. In isolated puppies, on the other hand, there are malformations in the nerve areas of the brain that handle sensory information, so that no adaptive strategies of any kind are developed.

Symptoms of sensory deprivation syndrome in dogs

The main distinction between canine fear or phobia and sensory deprivation syndrome is that in sensory deprivation syndrome the fear responses are constant and generalised. Each case is different and a variety of symptoms may be present, but the following are some of the ones that should alert you. If your dog is afraid all the time and of everything, and you are certain that they have spent their puppyhood in a kennel, crate or otherwise isolated, consult your vet or, ideally, an ethologist, who, as an expert in animal behaviour, is best placed to help your furry friend. These are the symptoms of sensory deprivation syndrome in dogs:

• Generalised and excessive fear of any element in the environment.
• Body language that expresses submission or tension, low posture.
• Constant anxiety.
• On walks, they try to hide between their owner's legs.
• Sleep disturbances or insomnia.
• Hypervigilance: the dog seems to be always in tension, never relaxes.
• Episodes of fear blocking.
• Constant barking.
• Urinary incontinence.
• Depression, apathy.
• Hyper-attached relationship with the owner.
• Aggressive fear reactions to people and other pets.
• Fear can activate neurovegetative responses, causing digestive, urinary or skin problems.

What to do if my dog is suffering from sensory deprivation syndrome?

The best way to help your dog if you suspect they may be suffering from Sensory Deprivation Syndrome is to consult an ethologist. This canine behaviourist will confirm the diagnosis and begin behavioural therapy with your dog. The aim of this will be to improve your dog's emotional management of whatever it is that frightens them and, on the other hand, to give you the tools you need to treat your dog. A misinformed owner can make sensory deprivation worse by, for example, forcing the animal to be exposed to frightening situations all at once, or by scolding or overprotecting them.

Can sensory avoidance syndrome in dogs be cured?

The evolution of the therapy to help your dog adapt to the environment, developing coping strategies to the stimuli that cause them fear, will be greater or lesser depending on the severity of the sensory avoidance syndrome. Depending on the degree and length of isolation, the damage to the dog's brain may be more severe or less severe.

In more complex cases, this treatment with the ethologist will be lengthy and will require a lot of dedication from all members of the family. Sometimes the use of soothing pheromones or medication may be necessary, as with very high levels of anxiety it is very difficult to work on learning. The level of recovery of the dog may vary depending on genetics and many factors that are difficult to predict, but it is important to know that sensory avoidance syndrome is difficult to treat in adult dogs. The goal is to improve the animal's quality of life, although not all fears can always be eliminated and in some cases the result will not be a dog that is as balanced and healthy as if they had never been isolated as a puppy.

How to stimulate a puppy at home?

For prevention, they do not have all their vaccinations completed. As their immune system is weaker, being still developing, exposing them to the environment without these vaccinations completed is taking too great a risk. However, this does not mean that you cannot amuse, entertain and stimulate your puppy at home. Indoors, you can experiment with different toys, both classic and interactive (the puppy kong is very useful). You can also play different street sounds on your mobile phone, such as traffic, birds, people talking..., take them out for a walk in your arms, starting in quiet areas, ride with them in the car, starting with very short and pleasant journeys and rewarding them. It is also a good time to show them their carrier and get them used to it little by little, you can also start practising the first training signals. Encouraging your puppy's stimulation from the very beginning of your partnership is the best way to ensure that they enjoy a balanced, happy and, of course, fear-free adult life.