Understanding behaviours
First things first, when working with dogs we are dealing with behaviours (reactions, emotional responses etc) you need to do a lot more than just training, .You are focused on adjusting their mindset to help them to feel more comfortable in certain situations.
Having a dog is so rewarding but also can be hard work. Before you even start to put any effort in there are already factors in place that will impact the way your dog behaves. The genetics of the parents plays a big part in temperament, what happens to the mum during pregnancy, the place the pups are in utero, the breed, and then the personality of the dog as well. With your dogs in particular they may have experienced some considerable trauma in their previous homes, which will impact on their feelings of safety and security, and their ability to learn in the first few months. With all these factors it’s important that you learn all about the dog that you have rather than base this just on experiences in the past, a neighbour’s dog or what you think you know.
It’s important to remember that in order for our dogs to be able to learn, they need to feel safe. Safety is everything for dogs, without it our dogs will really struggle to absorb anything other than what is happening in the moment. This is why it is so important to understand your individual dog, what signs they show when they are feeling worried, scared and anxious, and help them through that before you start on any training.
What is also critical is to understand the breed you are fostering / adopting as pure breed dogs are predisposed to certain characteristics, behaviours and reactions.
Before we talk about behaviour, there are a few popular myths to dispel when it comes to dogs:
MYTH: “All dogs are trying to be top dog”
This theory comes from Pack Leader theory whereby it is believed that dogs descended from wolves, are pack animals and always fight to be top dog. This theory came from a study on wolves in captivity, the person who did the study has released many articles since trying to detract from what was said, as in the wild there isn’t a linear hierarchy structure.
The more modern view theory of dogs are that within a litter of puppies there are a number of different characters of dog, all of which at one point in time would have had a place (job) within a group of dogs when they used to hunt in groups. These characteristics still underpin a dogs personality, and this is why within a litter of puppies there are confident pups, easy going pups, very alert pups and often anxious pups. This will impact the behaviour of your dog, and often working with their character helps especially if you are living with more than one dog. There would have only ever been one Alpha within a litter, perhaps 2 if 1 male, 1 female, however the characteristics of these dogs are not what you would think. These dogs are cool, calm, collective, tend to stay out of trouble with other dogs but may want to go where they want to on a walk (not always).The issue with the Pack Leader theory is that punishment is used to get a dog to behave, for example when working with a reactive dog (that barks, lunges on a lead) the pack leader theory would see the dog as misbehaving and the dog would be punished (corrected). However, if you see a reactive dog as a dog that at that moment in time cannot cope in the environment that they are in, and the behaviours are behaviours to escape (which may seem odd as they won’t run away), once they are reacting they are over threshold, full of cortisol and adrenalin and going into Fight or Flight mode.
MYTH:”You must not let your dog on the furniture or your bed”
Again a common theory that by going above us they are trying to exert their authority, letting them on the furniture has no impact what so ever on their character as such, its just whether you are happy for them to or not. I would say the only thing is to be consistent, or to have a blanket if its only at certain times.
MYTH: “We need to go through the door before our dog”
There are no doors in the wild for starters, but in all seriousness it’s good to teach dogs to wait due to safety, but no other reason.
COVERING THE BASICS BEFORE STARTING TRAINING
When we are working with dogs for behavioural problems, the following always needs to be considered: For all dogs we need to consider –
Their Health – Is there anything medically going on that could impact their behaviour, a lot of behaviour, especially a sudden onset is often due to pain.
Stress – How stressed are they, can they learn or are they living in a fight/flight mode.
Their environment – do they feel safe, are they able to rest, are they warm, comfortable.
Their Diet – Do they have a healthy diet that meets their needs. Are they getting too much / too little protein for their size and breed
Exercise – Are they getting the right amount, and the right exercise. Are the walks suitable for them, or increasing their stress levels.
Breed – are you dealing with predisposed breed characteristics
All of the above need to be taken into consideration, as it is often a mixture of all or several having an impact on their behaviour.
Trigger Stacking:
Historically Dog Training hasn’t taken into account Trigger Stacking, and the impact this can have on our dogs, and therefore the information out there is limited. But it really does impact our dogs and their behaviour. It is a particular issue for rescue dogs that have come from difficult or troubled environments.
A trigger is anything that stimulates the dog. Stimulation can be good or bad, it is just what happens when cortisol and adrenalin are released into the body. When something stimulating (stressful or exciting) happens cortisol levels rise in the body to get ready for the flight fight response. In some dogs it can take some time (up to 72 hours) for those cortisol levels to come back down … so if a second trigger (good or bad) happens while the cortisol level is raised you are now “trigger stacked”.
Stimulation / stress isn’t always bad either, ball throwing, barking out the window can all increase adrenalin in dogs, which in turn contributes to the trigger stacking. What started off as arousal can soon tip over into stress. Our dogs have a base arousal level which in turn increases with different activities, ball throwing, playing with us, frustration on the lead etc.
A good example of trigger stacking is dogs around the Xmas period. For many the change in routine, visitors coming over, tree appearing, can trigger stack a dog and often, for many dogs there is a period of a few weeks where they may seem more reactive, or even crazy as they recover from all of the triggers.
Your dogs are coming to you with a huge “bank” of experiences that will have induced stress in their brains. These “triggers” will be very important over the coming months when it comes to dealing with their behaviours. The things that are stress inducing triggers that impact your dogs may seem bizarre when you stumble across them, but will have a deep seated reason behind them.
An example might be, they were badly treated by someone who always turned up in a yellow mini. You won’t be aware of this, but you’ll start to realise that your dog will always be triggered by the sight of a yellow mini.
Its very important therefore to watch for these reactions and try and make the connection between behaviour and trigger so that you can support your dog moving forward. For some dogs, they will never be able to cope with that trigger if the experience is so embedded, so avoidance and reassurance is the key.
When working with a dog that’s potentially stressed, you need to:
1) Look at ways of reducing their stress (for some rescues this can be a few months)
2) Increase the amount of positive/fun things they do in their lives (enrichment, play, games, training)
3) Start a modification plan after we have reduced the stress levels.
4) In some extreme cases medication may assist the recovery process as well.
You have to work on the emotional side of the dog before any training takes place. An effective way of doing this is by offering chances to de-stress. Their environment is very important for a dog, they need to feel safe and secure. What is safe and secure can be different for every dog. For some the environment only feels safe when the human is around, and for others they are happy whether the owner is there or not. For some if things get moved around, stuff changes then they may start to no longer feel safe in the home, for others they wouldn’t even notice the change, or it wouldn’t bother them. For some a change in the home can have a knock-on effect on how they are when they are out, if they are stressed in the home they are likely to react to distractions in the environment.
Dogs behaviour can also change depending on other dogs around them, for some high energy dogs are too much and can stress them out, for others they can be scary, and slow dogs that aren’t keen on playing could be frustrating for youngsters.
A dogs behaviour and character is a rarely reflection of their owner (of course the owners can have a impact but some of the most awful owners (abuse cases) have the loveliest dogs, and some of the most awesome owners have the toughest dogs to live with).
Getting to know your individual dog, their personality traits, their breed traits, how they cope in different environments, changes in temperature, changes in the home etc is one of the most important things you can do for your dog.
In order to have the best relationship with your dog you have to understand them, you need to meet their needs, and you need to equip them with the tools to cope with the experiences they will have – and it’s your responsibility to do that