Understanding Dog Behavior Beyond Training

If your dog is aggressive, reactive, fearful, anxious, shut down, hypervigilant or struggling after adoption, you are probably looking for more than another list of training commands.

You may have already worked with a trainer. Maybe more than one. Your dog may know sit, stay, place, heel and come — and you still have a behavior problem.

That is what this section of K9 Coach is about.

Here, we look at the difference between teaching a dog what to do and understanding why the behavior keeps happening in the first place. You’ll find information about aggression, anxiety, fear, trauma, reactivity, rescue and shelter dogs, resource guarding, household conflict, over-arousal and dogs whose behavior has continued despite previous training.

We will still talk about training, because training is often an important part of behavior work. But we will also look at the things that can influence behavior underneath the surface — stress, past experiences, environment, relationship, pain, physical health, nutrition, nervous-system state, genetics, breed tendencies and the dog’s ability to recover after something overwhelms them.

Some dogs need better training. Some need a different kind of behavior plan. Some need their veterinarian involved. Some do best when a behavior professional, trainer and veterinarian work together.

The goal here is to help you understand what you are seeing, what may be contributing to it and what the next sensible step may be for your dog.

Because a dog can be trained and still not be okay.