Understanding your dogs behaviour

8 Apr 2022

Dog jumping
Have you ever said "That was out of the blue!" Or "They're not normally like that!" about your dog? It can take 72hours for stress hormones to leave your dog's body!

A build up of things that have caused your dog to feel uncomfortable, aroused or overwhelmed can result in a drastic change of behaviour and possibly a bite. Looking at the bucket in the picture you can see that it isn't just stressful situations that add to your dogs 'Emotional bucket'.

When your dog is faced with situations that are high stimulants and arousals it can become difficult for us to enjoy the little things together. We never want our dogs to feel overwhelmed right? because we love them and feel as if we should strongly protect them!

In order to prevent this we have to look at the overall picture. Rather than thinking, "why is he/she not listening to me!?" Try thinking "what has made them get to this level of arousal in the first place?" Maybe that squirrel running across the field and then the fireworks last night has a connection to this behaviour?

Within the 72hour period, look at what your dog has been faced with and if in-between they have had time to enjoy things that soothe them.

I always like to compare dog behaviour to human behaviour so it's easier to get a better understanding..

You've had a busy week at work. Your manager has been questioning your work, you're tired from lack of breaks, you've had a disagreement with your partner and all these things stack up. Then at the end of the week, you knock your tea onto the floor. You snap and end up crying in histarics! You're not crying because you dropped your tea, you're crying because this was the final straw after the week you've had.

So how would you prevent yourself from getting into this state? Some calming methods maybe? Yoga? Breath work? A bath?

How could we help our dogs from reaching their threshold? Our dogs may enjoy things like playing with their tennis ball and running around but dont confuse these high stimulant, fun and arousing activities with the calming activities they may actually need.

In order to take away percentages from your dogs emotional bucket they will need things such as scatter feeding, a loosely filled Kong in their safe space etc.

Once you learn what are arousals for your dog Vs what is calming, you can help your dog have a more stable and relaxed mind which will be much nicer for the both of you resulting in easier training and a calmer environment that you can both enjoy.