What do you think of when you picture a resilient dog? Is it a heroic character from a classic movie? That family dog that sleeps soundly through a child’s tantrum? A police K9?
Maybe you just want your dog to be able to exist in this world peacefully, without feeling like they have to react to their environment by barking, growling, cowering, or running away. It is good to want a resilient dog, but it is also important to have realistic expectations. There are more factors than just training that give a dog the ability to easily recover from stressful situations, such as genetics, age, personality, history, and physical health. What were your dog’s parents like? Often, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Has your dog had any traumatizing experiences In the past, and how long ago was this? Is your dog experiencing any pain? We now know that the presence of pain can greatly influence how easily triggered a dog can be around stimuli, like noises, highlighting how important it is that your dog attends their annual veterinary check up. If they are a senior, it is sometimes recommended that they receive a physical exam every 6 months to monitor for any health conditions.
While keeping the above information in mind, there are things that you can do to help your dog more readily bounce back from stressful situations. Like all things, resilience takes practice, and it is important to remember that we all have bad days. The most important thing is that we teach our dogs with compassion and understanding. Below are 5 helpful things that just might make your lives a bit easier:
1. Watch the world together - at your dog’s pace.
One activity that I love is to find a shady patch of grass amongst nature, and just watch the world go by while enjoying some fresh air. If I’m working with a dog who might be a bit reactive, or is in a critical socialization period, we do just that! Healthy socialization should never be about throwing your dog into the deep end when they aren’t yet strong enough to tread water. The most important part of this activity is that your dog feels SAFE, and that you have an escape plan if needed. Make sure to keep enough distance away from bigger stimuli so that your dog is capable of relaxing, taking deep breaths, and regularly checking in with you. A dog that is overly fixated on something, trying to escape, or just too excitable, is much too close.
Allowing your dog to observe humans, dogs, objects, and other animals pass by is a great way for them to gather information and allow them to assess situations, without having to be forced into them. Dogs do not generalize as well as we do, so we want them to learn that for the most part, other individuals are harmless (and that we will keep them safe if not).
If you can’t find a semi-private area in a park to comfortably enjoy this activity, try it from your car; perhaps while sharing a dog-friendly treat together!
*Tip* Beware of encouraging your dog to watch things pass by your living room window. While it can be a calming pastime for some dogs, a lot of dogs find it reinforcing to bark at delivery people and neighbours, and if this becomes a habit, it can become incredibly difficult to undo because the environmental set up is harder to control. If this is the case for your dog, it is much easier to block their view with window coverings, rather than constantly nagging them to stop barking.
2. Pair new experiences with things that your dog loves.
Empowering your dog through choice and desensitization and counterconditioning is just one way to help build their confidence over time. If you set up slow, gradual exposures AND pair those exposures with something awesome, even better!
Is there a special treat that your dog just LOVES, but they only receive on special occasions? What if those special occasions were about new experiences? Say that your dog is obsessed with hotdogs, but we know that it’s probably not wise to feed them hotdogs every day. In that case, reserve them for situations where your dog sees, feels, or hears something a bit alien to them (at a low level to start), and teach them that strange experiences = deliciousness!
Keep in mind, that this method can have zero effect if your dog is in a stage of fight, flight, or freeze, so monitor their body language. Your dog should have a loose, curved spine, neutral ears, soft eyes, and a relaxed and open mouth. The tail is the last thing that you should look at, because a wagging tail is just related to arousal (tail wags aren’t always friendly), but pay close attention if the tail is straight up, or tucked between the legs.
Speaking of things that your dog loves…
3. Play!!
Research shows that animals learn best when teaching is incorporated with play. Playing with your dog is also a very accurate way of judging their comfort levels around environmental stimuli, all the while building happy emotions. Have you ever tried playing your favourite game when you are feeling, angry, stressed, or afraid? Your head usually isn’t in it and things can sometimes go south, but with time and patience, you notice that you begin to feel calmer. An individual’s ability to let loose and have fun says a lot about how they are feeling in that moment, and if they refuse to partake in what is usually their favourite activity, then you know that something might not be right.
Many trainers are now incorporating play into behaviour modification programs (check out the Play Way by Amy Cook), because of the enormous positive effects that it can have on a dog’s well-being and ability to handle stress. Of course like anything, a dog first needs to LEARN how to play with their human, before attempting to do so in a brand new environment. Whether it be tug of war, fetch, hide and seek, catch that stick, scent games, or parkour, your dog needs to know how to follow your rules from the very beginning, and it is up to you to teach them (like that the tug game pauses if teeth touch skin). Then, you can have the freedom to get creative, build lots of engagement, and once this game becomes your “thing” between the two of you, consider venturing out to new places and spaces for your playful sessions.
Any new environment will take some getting used to (especially if it has some fantastic smells to check out first!), but if your dog does not want anything to do with you or their favourite game, then you might need to take a step back and either attempt it in a less distracting environment, or practice a bit more at home.
If your dog stops playing with you altogether, then certain things should be ruled out, such as dental pain, and neck and back discomfort. It could also be possible that they have experienced something highly aversive while playing the game in the past (i.e. are you ruining the fun by being too strict? Did you accidentally step on your dog’s paw?) .
4. Practice coping skills (i.e. how to “tap out“ of uncomfortable situations).
We all require coping skills for handling powerful emotions - and so do our dogs! Many of us have natural behaviour patterns that occur during times of fear, anxiety, and stress, and we also develop different coping skills for dealing with certain triggers that may very well work for us, but aren’t necessarily ideal. In case you have not heard this before - growling and biting is a NORMAL dog behaviour. While most dogs do give reasonable warnings before resorting to these behaviours (i.e. whale eye, head turn, stiff body, yawn, kiss to dismiss, lip lick), they are often ignored by humans and uneducated dogs, leaving the dog to resort to saying “BACK OFF!!!!“ - often with their teeth.
With that being said, these behaviours that are undesired by humans can eventually get out of hand. This is often because the dog cannot properly assess for potential danger, but they do know that snarling and snapping works for them.
Rather than punishing the growl, you want to teach your dog what behaviours ARE appropriate, and that their new coping skills will benefit them. A coping skill might look like your dog offering you eye contact as a plea for help, so that you can calmly guide them out of an uncomfortable situation. A dog who is fearful of strangers can opt to touch your hand with their nose in exchange for a food reward to create distance from a person reaching to pet them. A dog who learns that these behaviours keep them safe from danger, has less reason to resort to fight or flight.
5. Encourage SLEEP!
Like us, sleep is an important factor towards your dog’s ability to retain information, and a proper amount of sleep is crucial for brain health. How much sleep is your dog getting? While the exact number is debated, dogs require an average of 11-16 hours of sleep within a 24 hour period, with puppies and seniors often needing more. One thing that I have noticed with dogs who live in big families, is that when young kids are running around, the dog usually isn’t getting enough uninterrupted sleep. This, along with some other factors, often leads to irritability or difficulties during training. Another thing to note is that dogs are a crepuscular species, meaning that they prefer to sleep throughout the night and day, and are most active in the early morning and evenings. However, dogs are also social sleepers, so if their human is up, they likely will be too. If your dog is struggling during social activities, or having trouble recovering from exciting events, one of the first things that you should assess is if they are getting adequate sleep.
A final note:
One of the best things that you can do for your dog is to acknowledge when something is too much for them, and to allow them to skip out on an interaction if needed. Just because your dog can just barely tolerate something, doesn’t mean that they should. Planning on bringing your dog to the parade? Before you do, ask yourself if it is really fair. Are they actually going to enjoy themselves, or are you bringing them because you want them to be there? Human cultural norms are totally foreign to dogs, so we cannot expect them to understand or enjoy all of them. If you really feel that the experience will benefit either of you in the long run, then come up with a plan where your dog can be rescued if needed, and set them up for success so that they come out of the other side feeling like you will always have their back.
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