If you own a dog with behaviour issues, at some point you’ve likely blamed yourself for their behaviour. It’s easy to be riddled with guilt, constantly asking yourself what you did wrong? What you might have done to make things worse?
It’s time to give yourself a break! Most pet dog owners want their dogs to live the best life possible, they don’t want their dog to feel the need to bark or lunge at other dogs or people. They don’t intentionally set their dog up to fail. There are a great many factors which influence how a dog behaves.
Humans have been selectively breeding dogs for hundreds of years to enhance specific breed traits. Border collies, for example, are genetically predisposed to eye, stalk, and chase. If they don’t have an outlet for that behaviour, they will find their own, often herding cars!
Podencos are a hunting breed, it should be no surprise that they enjoy chasing rabbits…or anything else that moves! The Spanish Mastiff (mastín español) was developed as a livestock guardian dog, they usually have a big bark and can be wary of anything new.
Dogs’ temperaments are also directly affected by their parents. If their mum was bold and confident, they are likely to inherit those traits. If their father was afraid of everything, they’re more likely to be a nervous dog. They are even affected by the stress levels of their mother during her pregnancy.
We call the first 12-16 weeks of a dog’s life the critical period. This is the time they need to be gently exposed to the world in which we wish them to live. After this period, they will take longer and be more suspicious of new experiences.
One trial learning occurs when something, usually negative, happens just once and it is committed to memory. A big dog runs towards and pins them down, so now they are afraid of all big dogs. A firework goes off when they walk into their favourite park, now they don’t want to walk through the park.
Training methods used also affect behaviour, the use of prong, choke and shock collars are now known to have negative fallout. Forcing dogs to perform behaviours by physical manipulation of their body, pokes, lead jerks and similar also can have unwanted side effects. If you’ve used these training methods on your dog, however, don’t beat yourself up. Unfortunately, there are still many people who continue to use and advertise these methods as effective training. You do the best you can until you know better!
I hope you can now understand there are many reasons why dogs develop behaviour problems. Every dog is an individual and we must treat it as such. The most important thing to remember is you can get professional help from a force free, qualified trainer who can help make your lives better.
