This column is written for the Stray Ferret by Kimberley Metcalfe. Kimberley has an MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare. Her company Pooches Galore is based in Harrogate and specialises in dog training and resolving canine behavioural problems.
As we are in the midst of another national lockdown one phrase that we have heard over and over again is ‘social distancing’. The thought that we cannot be close to others is an alien one to us. And the same goes for dogs: we spend a lot of time when our puppies are young encouraging them to be friends with every dog they see. Unfortunately, not all dogs grow up to want to be around other dogs – it makes them feel anxious or scared and this anxiety manifests as aggression.
As a behaviourist, I work daily with dogs who cannot cope when other dogs invade their personal space. For the owners in this situation the sight of another dog bounding over towards them is terrifying. This over excited, bounding dog, is often paired with an owner calling out “it is ok, they are friendly!”.
Unfortunately for the anxious dog, their brain is unable to compute this as friendliness. Instead their fight or flight system has been activated, and being trapped on a lead often leads to only one outcome: fight. The sympathetic nervous system releases several brain chemicals to help with the survival of the animal and the dog is no longer thinking rationally.
As a dog owning community, we need to help these anxious dogs by keeping social distanced not just from a human standpoint but for our dogs too. This is especially true when we see other dogs on a lead.
For most of us, our dogs leads are for keeping them next to us when we are on a walk, however, for owners of reactive dogs they can feel like the only way to have control over situations.
Of course, there are other reasons that dogs are on leads: they could run off when the owner unclips the lead, they could be in pain or be injured, they could be old or in season. However, for any or all of these dogs, having dogs run up into their face can cause a lot of frustration or anxiety and this in turn can become aggression over time.
So, let’s make a promise, if we see another dog off the lead, or an owner who is working hard to keep their dog calm in the presence of others, we help them out – keep our dogs close to us, under control, increase social distance. With reactive dogs it often takes a village – or in our case a town.
