Attention Seeking Dog Behaviour progresses through the following stages as the need becomes more and more acute and more excruciating to the dog who is experiencing the energetic shortfall in a visceral, whole body experience:
1. Awareness
Here, the dog (child, dog, cat, horse) first becomes aware that the shortfall exists and begins to look around for a likely "other" who may fulfil this need.
2. Approach
The dog will get up and start approaching the other and make some minor signs that it is in need of some attention. In a dog, that would probably be just coming over and presenting themselves whilst looking at the other.
3. Escalation
If the other ignores (read "refuses to provide the attention energy") this subtle approach, dog will now escalate its behaviours to "break on through" the barrier of ignoring...
– make sounds, push physically, engage in behaviours that have previously worked to
"gain attention".
4. Extreme Escalation
If these higher level behaviours are also ignored, the need turns to a pain and will now drive consecutively more extreme behaviour in turn in a direct cause and effect relationship. If the need is high enough, the dog may even attack.
5. Catastrophic Collapse
If still no energy is forthcoming, the system collapses in on itself in a catastrophic implosion which causes severe neurological damage; the stage beyond rage is autism, where the dog can no longer elicit the energy required nor process it when it is being offered because of the damage sustained by the receptors of the energy processing system during the catastrophe.
Depending on the severity of the neurological/energetic catastrophe and the age of the dog at which the catastrophe occurred (obviously the younger the dog, the greater the impact on the system overall), some individuals may never come back from the autism stage and remain there forever.
