Animals and anxiety
Last week, our work team met at my boss' house to set our 2016 goals. While we were there, we met his dogs - three vislas and two St. Bernese mountain dogs. They were all beautiful, lovely animals and I'm sure they were heavily doted on. My boss' wife works from home and they have no kids. The vislas were all closely related, besides being purebreds. Two were outgoing and active. One was extremely shy, timid, and anxious. My boss talked about how confusing that was, as she'd never been mistreated in her life, and in fact had been treated the same as the other two vislas. Yet for some reason, she cowered a lot and was fearful.
It got me to thinking about a pair of german shorthair pointers my dad got years ago. They were littermates. One was outgoing, attentive, and diligent like GSPs are. He took to training easily and well. The other was loopy, like extreme ADHD. He barked constantly, couldn't be trained, and wouldn't come to his name. My father eventually gave up on him and gave him away to someone who thought they could make something of him. The dog ran off wearing an expensive shock collar and was never seen again.
When I was a kid, I had a pet rooster named Blackie. I carried him everywhere. He was extraordinarily gentle and well-behaved. He rode on a motorcycle with me. He had been on a boat, in a tree house, the barn loft, all over. He didn't mind anything I did with him either - turn him upside down, fluff his feathers, try to get him to eat weird things, etc. After a while, I picked out a hen that seemed like a good match for him. She was good-sized and took well to my gentling program of handling her every day. She sat on her eggs dutifully and hatched out as I recall 13 chicks. Seven of them were male. I handled them daily for a while, but as they got older, they quit tolerating me, which was opposite of normal. Usually the more you handle a chicken, the calmer they are about it. But not these. They would freak out and the hen, being a hen, would get protective. So I stopped doing it and they matured normally into healthy, gorgeous-looking roosters ... but every single one of them was crazy. I have never seen such crazy chickens. They were so flighty and high strung that I don't recall if we managed to pit any of them. I remember that training them did not go well, but their ultimate fate I've forgotten.
I bring this up to shed some light on human anxieties. We so often think of them as environmental, being responses to horrible things that have happened to us. But I've known some animals who clearly had mental issues who had no environmental stressors that I know of, or at least no different from others who did not develop the same problems. Genetics are not always a protection from it either. Just because your parents or siblings are fine doesn't mean you will be. So there it is. Just don't be too hard on yourself, because sometimes that's just the way you are.
It got me to thinking about a pair of german shorthair pointers my dad got years ago. They were littermates. One was outgoing, attentive, and diligent like GSPs are. He took to training easily and well. The other was loopy, like extreme ADHD. He barked constantly, couldn't be trained, and wouldn't come to his name. My father eventually gave up on him and gave him away to someone who thought they could make something of him. The dog ran off wearing an expensive shock collar and was never seen again.
When I was a kid, I had a pet rooster named Blackie. I carried him everywhere. He was extraordinarily gentle and well-behaved. He rode on a motorcycle with me. He had been on a boat, in a tree house, the barn loft, all over. He didn't mind anything I did with him either - turn him upside down, fluff his feathers, try to get him to eat weird things, etc. After a while, I picked out a hen that seemed like a good match for him. She was good-sized and took well to my gentling program of handling her every day. She sat on her eggs dutifully and hatched out as I recall 13 chicks. Seven of them were male. I handled them daily for a while, but as they got older, they quit tolerating me, which was opposite of normal. Usually the more you handle a chicken, the calmer they are about it. But not these. They would freak out and the hen, being a hen, would get protective. So I stopped doing it and they matured normally into healthy, gorgeous-looking roosters ... but every single one of them was crazy. I have never seen such crazy chickens. They were so flighty and high strung that I don't recall if we managed to pit any of them. I remember that training them did not go well, but their ultimate fate I've forgotten.
I bring this up to shed some light on human anxieties. We so often think of them as environmental, being responses to horrible things that have happened to us. But I've known some animals who clearly had mental issues who had no environmental stressors that I know of, or at least no different from others who did not develop the same problems. Genetics are not always a protection from it either. Just because your parents or siblings are fine doesn't mean you will be. So there it is. Just don't be too hard on yourself, because sometimes that's just the way you are.