Hi there! I am bringing you another collaborative post, as I did last week, for full disclosure while I did edit this post to better suit this space I did not develop the content or topic. I do not claim to be an expert on this topic but do agree with many of the ideas offered and thought it might be beneficial to share & pass on the knowledge.
Like all mammals, dogs are very delicate creatures, and it’s easy to put them in the wrong sort of mood. Going somewhere they don’t like or exposing them to something which makes them aggressive is never a pleasant undertaking. Of course, unfortunately, there are times when making your dog unhappy will be completely unavoidable, forcing you to search for ways to ease these times, rather than getting rid of them entirely. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of most troubling times for a dog, along with the tools you have at your disposal to help you through it.
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Meeting New Friends
Dogs are incredibly social animals. With ancestors which lived in packs, your furry friend can’t help but crave the attention of creatures from its own species. Sometimes this will be completely fine, and your dog will get along with other the friends you try to pair it with. But, in other cases, you could have to deal with aggression at the sight of ears and a tail, and your dog could be very hard to control during these times.
Of course, your canine pal can’t help their urges, and needs to be taught to behave in the correct way when they encounter other individuals during their outings. In this instance, training your dog to take on another task when in the proximity of dogs they don’t like can take away the need for punishment or assertion. Instead, teaching them some tricks could be a great idea, as this will give you a routine to go through when you’re out and about. Certainly some dogs may require professional training as they may have had negative experiences leading them to react in such a way.
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Meeting New People
People are a little bit different to most dogs. Rather than protecting themselves or trying to establish dominance, they will often be trying to protect you. It takes a while to build trust when someone is first meeting your best friend, making exposure the best way to help your dog with the pressure, though it has to be done in the right way. When first meeting your dog, it’s best for guests to pay little attention to him or her. Once enough time has passed, the worry of a treat will be gone, and your pooch will approach their new friend in their own time. Dogs which find new people particularly hard will often have a profile which makes it easy to forecast their reaction to someone before they meet.
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Going To The Vet
A dog doesn’t understand health, and this means that they don’t understand the vet. Instead, when they go to a place like this, they are exposed to strange smells, other animals, and invasive treatment from a stranger which they don’t get a chance to meet properly. It doesn’t take long for this to start impacting your visits to the vet, making a lot of dogs get stressed out and ill-mannered when they have to go through it.
Thankfully, this is all a matter of association, and this gives you a chance to alter their perceptions of their time in this place. Instead of driving to their checkups, walking them through their favourite park before and after the vets will make life easier for most dog owners. By surrounding the bad times with something they enjoy, you will make them forget about the negative side of the event. Of course, on each visit, this will also help to have them nice and tired when they first arrive, helping to prevent stress and bad behaviour.
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Taking Medication
Whether it’s for a parasite, a condition, or something in between, there will be several occasions throughout your dog’s life when they will have to take a pill or two. In some cases, this will be completely fine, and your canine friend will be happy to swallow the payload you conceal in their food or pop in their mouth by force. In others, though, the dog won’t be having any of it, and you will need to find a way to make this process easier. Companies like VetIQ offer extensive ranges of products which are designed to do this job. Concealing medication in treats which your dog will love, avoiding their pills will be impossible if they want to eat the delicious food in front of them. Most dogs will struggle to keep up their fussiness when a nibble is in the equation.
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Fireworks/Other Noise
There are loads of different occasions which trigger people to use fireworks, from birthdays right the way through to New Years celebrations. Of course, whether this is a large event or something smaller, your dog will be worried by the fireworks all the same. Causing loud noises and flashes of light, this sort of show can be terrifying to a dog, as they don’t understand that it is completely safe.
Your dog trusts you and will feel safe when you are protecting them. By simply acting calmly, reassuring them with words and actions, and giving them something to take their mind off of the commotion outside, you can make firework fear into a thing of the past. It’s wise to avoid leaving them on their own as much as possible, as this will only make it harder to make them feel comfortable. Again, your dog may suffer from more severe anxieties that require further training help or medical needs.
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Having A Bath
Finally, as the last area to consider, bath time for a lot of dogs is one which is filled with dread and anxiety. Thankfully, this is nice and easy to solve, and most people will be able to start making a difference right away. Most dogs will enjoy water when they have the chance to explore and approach it in their own time. By giving them some time to enjoy water before you start the cleaning process, you will change this experience into something they will be exciting about when they realize that it’s coming.
Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time you put into keeping your dog happy. While they have a complex range of emotions, controlling them can often be a simple matter of taking the right approach. With all of this in mind, this should be a simple thing to achieve, and any owner should be able to take it on. Of course depending on the extreme case your dog might have, use your own discretion on when to seek professional help.
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