A Dog's Invisible War

If you’ve recently been spending more time at home, you may have noticed your dog behaving in less than desirable ways. Did your dog bark, lunge, and snap at visitors in your home? Did your dog greet a visitor by sniffing, only to unexpectedly erupt with barking and backing up? You may be noticing the invisible war your dog is battling. 

This invisible war may go unnoticed during normal everyday routines. Because dogs’ coping mechanisms are influenced by the predictability of their environment, resilience is tested and problem behaviors may arise when routines change. Perhaps your dog retreats to a crate or bed when you have a neighbor over for coffee. While you may wish your dog were more social, you support his choice to remove himself from the situation. Your neighbor also accepts his choice and doesn’t follow your dog. But, if you have several people over, the environment becomes a lot less predictable for your dog. Especially if some or your guests fashion themselves a dog maestro, and do not listen to your request to leave your dog alone. Forcing an interaction with a dog who wants to retreat is likely to result in aggressive behavior. When this happens, like medics on the battlefield, we triage the situation and call for help. 

The truth is, your dog has probably always been battling an invisible war. The invisible war may be wrought with fear, insecurity, and conflict. Wanting to avoid aggression, the dog may have found a coping mechanism to minimize conflict and maximize comfort. To you, this may look like your dog is "doing nothing." However, these coping behaviors can be so fragile, that everything falls apart with the slightest change. It’s important to notice the subtle signals of your dog’s invisible war before his behavior escalates to aggression. 

Look at this ladder of aggression and call a force-free trainer or veterinary behaviorist sooner rather than later. We'll dive into the foxhole with you and your dog to negotiate peace.

Jackie Moyano#behavior, #dogbehavior, #aggressivedogs, #snappingdogs, #resourceguarding, #strangerdanger, #dogtraining, #silverspringdogtrainer, #silverspringdogtraining, #wheatonmddogtrainer, #wheatonmd, #montogmerycountymd, #kennsingtonmd, #kennsingtonmddogtrainer, #bitingdogs, #growlingdogs, #barkingdogs, #takomaparkdogtraining, #takomaparkmd, #washingtondcdogtrainer, #washingtondcdogs, #canineaggression, #dogaggression, #reactivedogs, #adogsinvisiblewar