Are we turning our dogs into victims of assault? A glimpse into the creation of reactivity.

Let's get uncomfortable together for a minute. I'm actually going to trigger warning this because it might legitimately make some of you, some of you who have been in uncomfortable situations... really uncomfortable.

I want you to imagine that you are somewhere that scares you. Not the spooky Halloween kind of scares you.

But the.... "being on a busy street in a foreign country, while everyone turns to stare at you....... they start talking and waving and saying things that you cannot possibly begin to understand... AND you're naked" kind of scares you.

Now, you're probably thinking.... WHY would I ever put myself in a situation like that?

You wouldn't, right?

There are actually probably a few people who wouldn't feel that uncomfortable with that scenario, but I think you get what I mean.

But now I want you to imagine that you have a friend with you. A friend standing next to you. A friend that you love. That you trust (or should be able to).

Imagine that your friend, when you turn to look at them, to ask for help.... they take a few steps back, and ALLOW strangers on the street to touch you.

And somehow they seem to know the language of these people. They are talking with them, and laughing with them.

They see you, with that uncomfortable, tense feeling, and the petrified pleading look you keep giving them.

THEY SEE YOU.... and they step back, and they allow strangers to assault you.

You want to scream. You want to ask WHY you are being left here like this.

You feel powerless, like you can't even move. Like you can't talk.

You feel trapped, and exposed. You feel betrayed.

You are a dog. In a humans world.

Is your dogs food making them crazy?

You've probably been told that it's their age, their energy, or maybe you've just been made to feel like a bad dog owner. 

It's no surprise dog owners are so confused. I mean, pet food companies are constantly competing on your television to give you the most feel good message they can think of, in an attempt to earn your trust... and in turn... your money. 

That means that the information floating around is being stretched into hundreds of different directions (this article is no exception). 

So, what exactly is it that I'm going on about? 

First, I'm going to mention a growing realization that is coming to many not so furry friends... other humans. We've always known that a healthy diet will in turn make for a healthier us.

Recent research however, has begun to make it alarmingly obvious that our diet impacts much more than just our physical health. 

In fact, our every day diet impacts our mental health and our behavior in huge magnitude. 

What does this have to do with our dogs being crazy? 

Dog food is full of sugar. 

Well, not ALL dog food. But more than you would ever imagine. 

Studies in humans have shown increased rates of depression and anxiety in humans who have higher sugar intake, and reduction in depression and anxiety has been recorded in others who have used dietary changes (read: much less sugar) to help improve their mental health. 

Why would it be any different in dogs? 

While there is little to no controlled study on the impact of sugar and processed ingredients in canines (I may just personally fund one myself, if I ever get the opportunity), the anecdotal evidence is strong. 

Am I saying that changing your dogs food will cure their separation anxiety or aggression? 

Absolutely not. Behavior problems are still very real, with or without diet. 

What I am saying however, is that being aware of the long and short term impacts your dogs diet is having on their mental health is important, and it CAN impact the severity of their behavior. 

Do you need help knowing whether your dogs food is right for them? Reach out for a free nutrition discovery consult to help you become clear on what to avoid.




 

How exercise couldn't fix my neurotic dog.

And how it actually made him more crazy. . . 

Now, I want to tell you guys a story about one of my personal dogs. 

To this day, he's probably my most solid, most obedient dog. He's the one that's pretty enough to catch attention from everyone on the street, and well mannered enough to get compliments from almost all of them. 

But he didn't used to be that way. 

In fact.... he's the only dog of mine that I had ever considered rehoming....

Those moments of thought were brief, and made me feel extraordinarily guilty. But they existed. 

Let me tell you why. 

See, he was insane. Legitimately insane. 

I didn't have him from a young pup like I have with my other two. He was someone else's dog for the first 8-10 months of his life. 

One day, his owner at the time (a nice older woman, whose daughter had gotten him and then went off to college without him), posted him in a Facebook group. She needed to find him a new home. 

He was too energetic. Too crazy. Needed training. He was.. too much for her. 

I don't blame her for making that choice for him. In fact, I'm grateful, because without her choosing to let him go, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to learn so much from him. 

She lived in a duplex... he was a 10 month old, working bred Australian Shepherd (for anyone who needs clarification on that, it means that his parents were working dogs, and less mellow than a "pet bred" version of his breed). 

A few weeks after he dislocated her shoulder... from taking off after a bird while she was hanging onto his leash, is when she decided she couldn't be what she needed to be for him.

So, here I was, looking at his picture in a Facebook classifieds group. Wondering how crazy it was that just a few weeks earlier I had said "my next dog will be an Australian Shepherd"

I'm going to really get into it now. Since that unimportant backstory is now out of the way. 

My dog... my new 10 month old dog was absolutely insane. 

So insane... that he NEVER settled down. He was always up, pacing in circles, panting, with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. It looked like he was fixated on something... chasing some imaginary bird that none of us could ever see. 

He always had this look in his eyes that made me think he looked completely nuts. 

To top it off, he actually was awful on the leash, chasing after everything that moved. Pulling so hard that he actually caused damage to his throat. 

He CHEWED A HOLE THROUGH MY WALL. For what? 

And then we noticed.... it was a quick flash of light from a cellphone screen. 

This entire time. He was chasing lights. And shadows. It got so bad that he would literally stare at the ceiling for hours after the sun fell and a single shadow crossed in front of the lamp and plastered itself up there. 

He was OBSESSED with lights and shadows.

So, a few weeks after bringing him home, I contacted his previous owner. I had heard of dogs being neurotic, but I had never seen anything like this. He was driving himself mad. 

 That's when I found out where it came from. 

"He needed exercise" she said.  "So I used a laser pointer and let him chase it along the fence in the yard all the time". 

Now, remember she is an older woman, who had the best intentions. But she couldn't walk him without hurting herself. She didn't have the energy to keep up with him. She didn't ever ask to be burdened with a dog that was too much for her. 

I've always been a pretty active person, and spring was on its way. 

Piece of cake, I thought. I'll hit the hiking trails with him and wear him out. We'll play fetch for hours every day. 

He'll be too tired, and that will fix him. He'll become better. He won't have the energy to chase and drool and pant over the shadows or light reflections on my walls. 

Boy, was I wrong. I worked that dog until he was zonked out cold. We went out every single day. 

I have never been so exhausted trying to burn energy on a dog before in my life. 

But a 20 minute nap later and he was back to the panting and the pacing and the constant searching for the lights and shadows. 

The dog never. freaking. stopped. 

A few months had passed and he was MORE nuts... not less. I had literally exercised him so much he could go for hours. He DID go for hours. 

He was like an energizer bunny except the batteries never ran out, and there was no off button. 

That's when I started to question myself. 

Was I being selfish for keeping him? Did he need MORE? 

How could a dog possibly even get more? How would anyone have the time?

See, this was in the very early formation of my career in dog training. I was still serving at a sushi joint part time back then. 

I didn't have any idea how to work with this. It was, as I know now, considered a pretty significant behavioral problem. 

But why, with all the exercise he was getting, all the "mental stimulation", was he getting WORSE? 

It didn't make any positive difference in him, aside from the fact that he'd nap for a little window of time before popping back up again. 

That's when I gave up. Not on him. 

I gave up on the exercise. I was tired. It wasn't working. Despite the fact that a few dozen people on the internet, and almost as many how to articles told me that was the answer. 

So I gave up on it. 

And do you know what happened? 

He CALMED DOWN. 

I stopped "stimulating" his brain and body 24/7..... and HIS BRAIN STARTED TO REST. 

I started interrupting the chasing, the panting, the drooling. 

I taught him how to lay down in one spot doing NOTHING. 

I stopped walking him, and instead, started taking him to the park just to SIT. To sit in one spot and just BE there. 

And it didn't happen overnight... but it worked. 

Somehow... it worked. 

Now that I know what I know about how to change the way a dog thinks, and how to modify behavior patterns, it makes sense that it worked. Of course it worked. 

But I didn't know that then. I wish there had been ONE... just one article on the internet that told me to STOP before I got so deep into the "Dogs who misbehave only need more exercise" myth. 

And let me tell you, it is a HUGE myth. 

See, what really happens when we constantly have a dog "on" and occupied and stimulated and going and going... is that their brains go into overdrive. Their brains get almost stuck in this constant cycle of adrenaline. Their brains learn so well how to be constantly on, that they never figure out how to turn them off. 

Imagine living a life where you were CONSTANTLY feeling like you were 3 coffees in, every day, all day, for your entire life. Without ever having a chance to just stop, to take it all in, to relax, to have peace and quiet in your brain. 

The thought alone makes me cringey honestly. 

Now my dog is older, and my most trusted dog. 

The dog who can literally let life fly by him. 

He's still got his wild spirit. He'll still scream at a lurecourse event (because he wants that lure so badly!). 

He will still jump in the water after a ball, hike with me, run with me, and do all sorts of other active things with me. 

But now, now he can nap with me too. He can go weeks without "formal" exercise. 

And he just naps. And that's the way it has been, since he was about 18 months old. 

Thankfully, my current 18 month old pup, who is just as drivey and energetic (if not more), also has that skill. 

Because with him I could do it better. I could teach him how to regulate himself, and how to think critically, and how to chill out when the situation called for it. 

So to all of you guys... take only two things from this story, if you take nothing else. 

1. Exercise will NOT fix your dogs behavior. 

2. A laser light may just make them legitimately crazy. 

Don't fall for either of them as solutions.