What his behavior is trying to say…
Conducted an IBAC with this family, their dog, and 2 grand-dogs. What I loved most about this, was that everyone came together for this session... even their daughter's boyfriend who sat in from Richmond.
The white dog is the main concern, as the other two are only in-home periodically. He's just over a year old and has been with his family since a young pup.
The behaviors that are starting to take shape include: aggressive responses, using people as his personal jungle gym, over-asserting himself, "claiming" and taking ownership of one family member in particular, using his mouth to make a point and/or get his way, on-leash craziness, demanding-ness, repetitively digging for gold in the yard, human disregard and "selective hearing", social/ separation/ general anxiety, and nervousness.
While there are a number of ingredients that have contributed to the development of these behaviors (there always is), the main ones are:
- Energy discrepancy between the human and the dog. Strong energy dog, soft energy human. The woman of the family is who he's reportedly bonded to; however, what's being perceived as "bonding" is actually quite the opposite. The woman is the one he's, essentially, trained. She's whom he places his demands upon, whom he's claimed and staked ownership of, whom he blows off and disregards, etc. Shifting what represents and how this dog perceives her will be a big part of this work.
- In-home big free-for-all. No structure, rules or boundaries, consistency, leadership, discipline (there's a yin and yang to this), etc.
- The only training he's receiving is, what I call, "reactive training." People only reacting to choices, states of mind, and behaviors once they've already gone down, instead of teaching, equipping, and setting up ahead of time. Reacting to what not to do, instead of teaching what to do first.
- Not getting the daily exercise he needs to meet and deplete his individual energy stores. PSA moment: Having a back yard is NOT a replacement for structured exercise. This is one of the biggest daily needs dogs have that go unmet and unprovided for by many Americans. It's also one of the biggest behavioral contributors.
There are more, of course, but those are the major drivers.
It was a most insightful IBAC, and I assured them- over and over- no one is "wrong" here. There's much we don't know that we don't know. The beauty is, when we do know, we can make the tweaks and adjustments necessary.
Behavior is information. It's feedback. It's also a manner of expression and a response. This family finally understands what his behaviors have been trying to say....