In my previous article, I talked about addressing your dog’s issue from the root cause of the source rather than the surface. What does that mean exactly and why is that so important?
When you find out that your dog’s behaviour is bothering you, it is a sign that the behaviour has become an “unwanted behaviour” from your perspective and the “unwanted behaviour” has been brewing for a while without you being aware of it or you may have encouraged it unknowingly. All that means is that your dog has developed stress which in return it has led to the progression of “unwanted behaviour”.
You may ask, “…but how can I be stressing my dog when I have been providing the best for my dog?”
As a dog owner, you want the best for your dog, and you may be providing things or doing things that in your mind are logical and beneficial for your dog. Not realizing that certain things can cause real harm to your dog mentally. All dogs and dog owners are different and certain actions can be harmful to certain dogs whereas in other dogs has no impact at all.
So, there are things that you may have been doing for possibly a month or a year that may have led to developing some form of stress in your dog. Stress is responsible for 90% of the unwanted behaviours of dogs.
When a dog is stressed, it has no choice but to deal with it by either keeping it inside, which is dangerous and scary. We call these the silent killers. Or sometimes they will be expressing it through actions which is much healthier. We call these the reactive ones. When a dog decides to express itself through actions, some of these actions could be visually frightening but at least the dog is expressing itself. No matter how a dog is expressing itself, you should know that it is time to help your dog.
How do dogs express themselves? By acting up. Some start peeing in the house, jumping on people, and chewing on things. Some, start digging in the yard. Some others get aggressive and bite the neighbour’s dog or a child. Some want to get to a dog during the walks so they can harm that dog…
Can you help a dog at this stage? Yes, in most cases we can help them to live a normal life but, in some cases, we can only help to improve their lives by making them less stressful.
Stress comes in all forms and shapes and for a variety of reasons. A dog can get stressed because the owner is sharing affection at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. Some dogs get stressed because they are over-exercised. Some get stressed because they are fed the wrong food or the wrong amount. Do you know if you are stressing your dog? Are you the reason why your dog is behaving so badly?
How can you tell if you are the cause? To learn, you need to talk to a professional who knows dogs and dog owners very well. I have worked with dogs and dog owners for over 15 years. So, I can confidently tell you that I know a lot about dogs, and I understand dog owners. So, if you want to know if you are the cause of your dog’s bad behaviours, set up a day and time to talk to me to find out.
Before I end this segment, let me ask you this. When a dog is stressed, do you think, treats or sharing affection will help that dog to be less stressed? Find out the answer in the next blog.
