Story and photos by Karen Dugan Holman, B.S., B.S.E., M.S.
Help! I don’t know why my dog is growling at me. He has never done anything like that before. He has always wanted me to pet and play with him. Now he just bares his teeth and growls.
To get to the bottom of the change in your dog’s behavior, it is important to determine what has occurred in his life to make him behave differently. It is crucial to get to the root of the behavior. Approach the problem the way a behaviorist would — backward.
Winston Churchill said, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.” We should learn from past mistakes and try diligently to not repeat them. How can we use a look backward to help our pets? Where do we start?
Rule Out a Medical Problem
When your dog’s behavior changes, it is important to consider the possibility of a medical issue. One of the first ways that dog owners know something is not quite right is a change in behavior. Often, the behavior has a sudden onset and is drastic.
For example, is your dog growling at you and his best doggy friend in the home? Is this a drastic behavioral response that had not been an issue in the past?
Has the dog’s body posture changed?
An evaluation by a veterinarian would rule out medical issues. The vet might run blood work, test urine, manipulate limbs and vertebrae, and follow up with X-rays. The medical diagnosis can help owners understand what might be leading to inappropriate behaviors.
Dogs who experience pain might anticipate interactions with their favorite beloved humans or dogs as painful. They might respond defensively in their efforts to protect themselves. The dogs might be less likely to walk away from unwanted interactions because a painful condition makes moving uncomfortable. Instead, they might rely on other forms of communication such as growling or baring teeth to say “Back off.”
Pain can wax and wane, so what is tolerable one minute or one day might be intolerable the next. Signals of pain can be very subtle. Medical information allows you to treat the behavior with more accuracy and efficacy
Has the Environment Changed?
After you have ruled out a medical problem, explore whether something has changed in the dog’s environment. A perfect example of this change occurred often during the COVID-19 pandemic.
People had many changes in their routines and in their home or work situations. Many children were home all day, and parents were attempting to work from home. To dogs, kids sitting on the couch playing video games or watching television might just be infringing on the dogs’ favored resting place. And children have lots of snacks. Dogs love snacks too. Most dogs enjoy naps during the day, and they have a routine. Many disruptions occurred, and the results were that dogs didn’t handle those changes very well.
Other environmental concerns might be a new home, new neighbors, construction, children who left for college, a new pet, an illness, or stress in the home. Many unsettling shifts in your environment can result in changes in your dog’s behavior.
What about Fear, Anxiety, or Boredom?
Anxiety and fear can be paired with boredom or can stand alone. Could there be a change in your lifestyle — such as a lack of environmental enrichment and exercise — that has led to your dog’s boredom or increasing nervousness? Maybe you have a new job, and you need to work more hours or even a different shift. You might be exhausted and have less snuggle time or play time with your dog. Often, the usual one-hour walk or ball-throwing session is not in the plans.
The resulting tedium can lead your sweet dog to look for another outlet to take out frustrations. That could lead to destructive behaviors, barking, pacing, inappropriate elimination, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and counter surfing, to name a few. You come home to a mess and become irritated and often angry. To your bored dog, this negative attention is better than no attention. That can reinforce your dog’s bad behavior.
Is there more arguing or stress in the home, more visitors, grief, or financial worries? Dogs are very perceptive animals, exquisitely tuned into our emotional state.
It is very hard to hide our feelings from our dogs. They read our body language much better than we read each other.
Whatever it takes to make your dog feel secure and loved can go a long way toward curbing unwanted behaviors. An extra 10 to 15 minutes of attention could be very beneficial to your dog. Canines are very forgiving and love us unconditionally.
Think of ABC
In applied behavioral analysis, principles are researched and are practiced routinely. There is never “just a behavior.” Behavior almost always depends on the environment in some way. Following the antecedent-behavior-consequence (ABC) approach to behavior improves intervention success to decrease problem behaviors and increase new alternative behaviors.
Begin with the behavior (B). A behavior must be measureable. The next step of the functional assessment is to determine the antecedent (A). What comes just before the behavior? Antecedents are the conditions present prior to the behavior and are predictors of the problem behavior. They are loosely called triggers. Next in the functional assessment is the consequence (C). The consequence follows the behavior. Consequences will drive the behavior, affecting the dog positively or negatively, causing the behavior to increase or decrease.
It is important to take it a step farther and consider what the dog gets out of the behavior and what the owner does about
the behavior. We can often change how the owner responds so that the response does not reinforce the inappropriate behavior or increase fear and anxiety for the dog.
It is important to ask yourself what is in it for your dog.
Maybe a simple example of ABC would be in order. Dogs often counter surf, especially if they are large and their paws can reach something yummy on your countertops.
Here is a dog’s counter surfing simply analyzed into the antecedent-behavior-consequence paradigm. You left your meatball sandwich on the counter. That is the antecedent (A). You can stop doing that. The dog jumped and reached ever so far and pulled your meatball sandwich to the floor. That is the behavior (B). He’s a thief! The dog ate the meatball sandwich. That is the consequence (C). And that sandwich was very yummy! The dog got out of the behavior exactly what he wanted — he ate the sandwich. Counter surfing is self-rewarding to dogs.
By determining the ABC, an intervention can be designed that will carefully alter the antecedent and consequence of the behavior. Your dog should be rewarded only for the behaviors you like. By looking backward, using a functional behavioral assessment, you can humanely change behaviors for all kinds of learners — dogs included!
Happy Tails, Karen!
Three Oaks Animal Behavior
Counseling LLC
