For many of us this is a horrible position to be in. The dogs is hard to control and just doesn't listen, other owners look concerned even terrified and we feel like terrible dog owners and want the ground to swallow us up. On top of that there is the obvious risk of any two dogs coming to physical blows, complaints, vet bills etc.
One of the reasons it’s not always easy to fix is because dogs don’t always do this for one reason alone. Sometimes its fear, sometimes it’s us, previous experiences, illness, frustration or just a lack of experience etc. Each one needs a different approach.
Tackling this sort of behaviour at this stage is often workable, when it escalates to biting it gets harder to deal with,
It’s a very common problem within the UK dog population. Training doesn’t always work because often it doesn't change the underlying reason.
Rather than train the dog to do something else in these situations as a behaviorist I aim to understand your dog from start to finish, not only to understand what triggers cause the response but also why your dog feels that way about those triggers in the first place. Energy levels, character, genetics all play their part in why a dog does something.
Once that’s understood it means I can battle this on two fronts, firstly once the causes are fully understood I can start changing specific things to stop the need in the first place.
Once we’ve changed the motivation we're often left with the same behaviour but it’s no longer powered by anything other than habit, that makes it much easier to get on top of the situation and guide the dog to new behaviours through training and modification techniques.
Sometimes positive results can happen very quickly, sometimes it takes time, it all depends on what lies behind the behaviour.
If you have a dog with this or any other behavioural problem please get in touch and I can tell you more about how I can help.
Shares are always appreciated!
Thanks for reading.