Although its difficult for us humans to do, we must not anticipate a problem. We need to learn from our dogs, to live in the now, live in the moment. When we anticipate we create a state of mind. For example; If you’re out walking your dog and you see the notorious bad dog of the neighborhood coming towards you and this dog has gone for your dog in the past, you start to think to yourself ‘how will my dog react?’, ‘do they have control over that dog?’, ‘should I turn around and find a new place to walk?’ All of this creates your dogs state of mind and your dog will react accordingly either with aggression or fear.

There are many different behaviors that our dogs can exhibit. Understanding the how’s and why’s can help you to help your dog.

Fearful: Our dogs can become fearful over the smallest of things. The noise the toaster makes when it pops the bread up? The high-vis jacket the postman wears? How did they become scared of these things? Most of the time it’s misdirection, maybe the pop of the toaster happened at the same time a book fell of the shelf and hit the dog on the head? Instead of realizing it was the book that hurt him he’s now frightened of the toaster! How did the owner react to all of this? For the most part we do exactly what we do when a child gets hurt, we give them a cuddle and say its going to be ok. While this is comforting to us humans it not the same for our four legged friend. Understanding this can make a huge difference.

Aggression: The first thing to remember when it comes to aggression is that aggression is the outcome of a problem. There is no such thing as an aggressive breed. Dogs are not born aggressive, we make them that way. The lack of leadership and exercise lead to frustration and dominance which leads to aggression. This is why it’s so important to choose the right breed for you and your lifestyle.

Anxiety: When it comes to anxiety people contact me specifically about separation anxiety. ‘I can’t leave my dog in the house alone, she destroys everything’, ‘I go to leave and my dog pees on the floor’. You need to remember your dog is a pack animal so its only natural for them to feel anxious about being separated from you-their pack. Before leaving your dog at home, take her for a long walk, come back and put her to bed, after a walk dogs want to rest, this is what they would do after roaming out in the wild. This is when you can leave, you’re leaving your dog in a calm resting state.

Obsession: If you look at obsession like you would with a human and an addiction you would see a dog who needs help, yet people look at a dog who’s obsessed with a ball as funny or their obsessed with next doors cat and you allow him to stare at it through the window because they don’t get on. There’s a very good chance that your dog can and will hurt himself or others around him should this obsession continue. You should seek help for any obsession before it gets out of hand. You need to control the intensity of your dog. If you’re playing ball with your dog stop the play the second they become obsessed, remove the ball from the dogs sight, place it in another room. Should your dog stare at next doors cat remove the dog from the area and allow him to calm down, slowly reintroduce him to the window where he watches the cat.

Hyperactivity: This is an easy one, your dogs board! Dogs just like people have different energy levels and if your dog is high energy (or ultra high energy like Jack Russell’s) then you need to match that energy level. The games you play with your dog need to be stimulating, a normal tug of war game might not be enough. When you go for a walk put a doggie backpack on your dog and put a couple of bottles of water on each side, this will drain more energy and give your dog a job. Also try lavender, its relaxing for us humans and also our dogs, get a spray for the house and watch your dog relax.

Jumping/Licking: Many people make the mistake of thinking that when a dog jumps up that its them saying hello but in actual fact its their way of asserting their dominance over you. When a dog jobs up at you don’t back away, walk forwards and claim your space, your dog will soon learn that they can’t jump up.

Licking has many reasons from grooming to healing to obsession and affection. You need to know the difference to fully understand what your dogs telling you, do they need to go out? Do they need water in their bowl? Licking is a way of communicating but it only works if we understand what they mean. If your dog is licking the same place over and over it might be an idea to seek help both trainer and medical.

Barking: A dogs bark is their way of communicating, to raise the alarm, to say they are scared/confused. Constant barking can be your dog’s way of saying ‘I’m bored!’. Have you fulfilled your dogs needs?

Chewing/Digging: Chewing if you have a puppy is very normal and something they need to do to relieve the pain for their new teeth coming through, to save your furniture make sure you have plenty of chew toys in. If this is something which is happening with a fully grown dog then they could be showing signs of separation anxiety. You need to discourage chewing unless it’s during the play time you have with your dog. Digging is something which is deep in your dogs DNA. They will dig to find food/hide food or chase small rodents. Digging on a hot day can provide them with some cool earth to lay on.

In some cases, there may be a need for full on rehabilitation.

This could require your dog coming to live with me for one-two weeks (maybe more) in order for me to help your dog. This is when being with you isn’t helping, the behavior is extreme, or the behavior is life threatening to you or your dog.

This should not be taken lightly, should I feel it necessary for your dog to enter a rehabilitation program I would sit down with you and discuss all the options and come to an agreement with you. As this is based on a weekly basis the price would be worked out differently to the one to one sessions. A weeks rehabilitation would cost £180.

If you feel that your dog is in need of rehabilitation please contact me.