The Common-Sense Dog

I hope this article finds you all in good health. With all of the recent health concerns and the recommended “social distancing,” many people have been keeping to themselves and staying at home, but just like us, dogs can struggle with the isolation from the world and develop unhealthy mindsets.

Dogs are predators by nature. They were bred to chase, hunt, forage, scavenge, and move as a pack. While we may be acing the pack aspect by staying home with them each day, we may be neglecting their other behavioral needs.

When dogs don’t get the proper mental outlets (obedience training, trick training, jobs to do, hunting for food, etc.), physical outlets (tug, fetch, walking, running, treadmill, etc.), and social outlets (exposure to people, dogs, sounds, smells, places, etc.), their mental stability can decline.

If these needs and drives are not fulfilled in the dog, we typically see issues like anxiety, aggression, and reactivity take their place. Sometimes these arise simply from frustration on the part of the dog. Sometimes they are a result of the dog losing the life skills it had learned to adapt to a human world. Either way, these behaviors can be stressful for both dog an owner.

Unfortunately, with stress and behavioral issues usually comes additional isolation. Owners grow increasingly wary about taking their anxious, reactive, or aggressive dogs out for activities (even something simply like playing fetch if the dog is playing more rough than usual.) But isolation feeds the fire, and behavioral issues will only increase the more we restrict the dog from its natural tendencies.

If you find yourself at home with your dog over these next few months, try to make sure the dog’s needs are being met each day. If your dog seems more anxious, do more. If you dog seems more reactive, do more. If your dog seems more aggressive, do more. If your dog is having potty accidents, fence fighting, barking, whining, digging, chewing, bolting, DO MORE.

Sometimes we take for granted the stoic nature of dogs. They don’t tell us when and where it hurts. They don’t always communicate with us in a way we understand. And sometimes they are genuinely struggling and asking for help the only way they know how. Take the time to listen, and your dog will love you for it.

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Stephanie Vichinsky is the owner/head trainer of Method K9 in Post Falls.