fear Archives - eileenanddogs

Desensitization of Disgust

Posted on November 15, 2019December 17, 2022 by Eileen Anderson

two images of a bearded man in 19th or early 20th century clothing looking disgusted — **Two versions of a “disgust” response. See note in the photo credits about the non-universality of emotions and how they are portrayed.**

Disgust can save your life. But sometimes it gets attached to weird stuff, just as fear does.

I’m interrupting this dog blog to talk about human beings for a little while. I have to share something fascinating I learned back while researching a previous post.

I have written a fair amount about desensitization and counterconditioning. One of my more extensive posts was “You Can’t Cure MY Fear by Shoving Cookies At Me!” In that post, I designed a hypothetical DS/CC protocol for my phobia of crawdads. While reading studies for that post, I ran across a pocket of research about desensitizing the emotion of disgust.

Does a Wagging Tail Mean a Happy Dog?

Posted on October 14, 2018December 5, 2019 by Eileen Anderson

Black dog with tail held high — **Zani’s tail is up, and you’ll see in the video below that it is wagging. Does she look friendly and happy?**

Why do dogs wag their tails? The prevailing view is that they do so when they feel happy and friendly. Many do, but dogs also wag their tails in other situations. So the answer to the title question is no. Dogs wagging their tails are not always expressing friendliness or joy. Not by a long shot.