Dr. Larry on the San Diego Living Show Tuesdays 9-10am Fox 6:
YOU DOG'S MENTAL HEALTH:
A Dog's Emotional Needs
Dogs do experience a psychological identity. They can relate to time and do put in priority what is important to them. One of the most important things for canines is their pack -- their family! Dogs are pack animals just as their wolf ancestors. The two most important things pack animals do are eat and sleep together. Isolating a pack animal such as a dog, and insisting on it maintaining a solitary lifestyle, is akin to taking a human member of your family and placing him in solitary confinement. The human, like the dog, will go nuts! Of course, we're familiar with how people go nuts: they get depressed, have nervous breakdowns, start hearing voices or go on shooting rampages. Dogs react a bit differently.
When dogs "go nuts" or experience overwhelming anxiety – especially what we call "isolation-induced anxiety" – might exhibit one of a number of troubling behaviors to try and relieve that anxiety: they become aggressive, they hide, they submissively urinate, they uncontrollably shake, they display neurotic repetitive behavior such as obsessive tail chasing, incessant nuisance barking, digging or destructive chewing. Dogs will indeed, chew through drywall, patio furniture and Jacuzzi decking. Some dogs mutilate themselves to relieve anxiety by chewing their front paws raw.
Isolation
If your dog is "outside," and you work all day and you sleep all night, then out of a 24 hour period, that only leaves roughly three to four hours of intermittent contact with your dog. That's not enough for a dog. In our opinion, it is emotionally abusive and cruel to leave a family dog alone day and night with only three hours of intermittent contact a day. Why have a group-dependent animal? Such limited contact is more appropriate for a goldfish or canary. A group-dependent animal like a dog needs quality and quantity time with its pack.
Failure to properly integrate the dog into the family accounts for about half of Larry's in-home consultations. The various disruptive or destructive behaviors exhibited by the family pet are a direct result of its isolation and loneliness. It's a human-caused problem.
Socialization
The other half of Larry's in-home cases result from inadequate socialization of the dog. If dogs aren't introduced in a positive manner on a repeated basis to other dogs, cats, and people, the dog will become estranged to these populations and view them as threatening. This can lead to a fearful or angry-aggressive response by the dog. It is the responsibility of the breeder, and then the recipient family, to adequately and positively socialize their puppies with a variety of people and with other vaccinated and safe dogs.
Dogs first need to be gently and positively socialized with human beings between the ages of four and seven weeks. Then, after the puppy is purchased or placed in a new home, it is crucial it be gently and positively introduced to a variety of people of different genders, ages, sizes and races. (Introductions to small children need to be very closely supervised.) If this is done over the first several months of its life, and the dog is neutered or spayed around six months of age, then the developing dog usually assimilates appropriately into its family and the community.
When a person meets your dog, especially for the first time, have the person crouch down (making themselves smaller and less-threatening to the dog), avoid direct eye contact and extend their hand for your dog to sniff.
Give the person some dog treats to give your dog while they are in this position. If this goes well, the person can progressively pet your dog UNDER its chest area and gradually rise to the full standing position. The person should not reach his hand over the dog's head and try to pet it there.
This approach to meeting a new dog also applies when you meet a dog for the first time. Running up to a dog you don't know; or reaching quickly or suddenly toward an unfamiliar dog's face will provoke a defensive response. This defensive response can take the form of either fearfulness or counter attack, both of which can lead to biting. This will then establish a phobic or traumatic experience for the dog and can adversely affect its mental health. In addition, directly staring in a dog's eyes, especially a dog you do not know, communicates a threat and challenge to that dog and may also provoke an aggressive response.
Teaching young children these safety rules and the appropriate ways in meeting dogs would save many dog bites from occurring. Dog bites in this country disproportionately involve children. This can leave severe physical scars in addition to emotional scars or dog phobias for a young child.
