Feeling overwhelmed by your dog’s behavior? Start here.
Estimated reading time: 3 min
Listen. We aren’t here to shame, blame, or take names. Having a pup with behavior issues is tough. No matter the intensity. No matter the comparison to others. It’s tough. You might be worried about if you’re making things worse. You might be ashamed of things you’ve done while you were overwhelmed. You might also feel resentful or disappointed that this isn’t the life you envisioned with your pet.
All of your feelings are valid. You aren’t broken. But it doesn’t have to stay this way.
So where do you start?
How to start working on your pet’s problem behavior(s)
- Let’s first get you in a place to think. Prep a Kong with some delicious schmearables, give it to your dog, take a seat, and take a breath. You cannot prep for the future when you’re currently experiencing the crisis.
- Once you’ve got a second to yourself, first list all the things you love about your pet. The things that make you smile, the things that make them unique, the things that are working for you and the life you want to live. Then, list the worrisome things. The things that keep you up at night, the things that drive you to your breaking point, the things that bother you on a daily basis, the things that are not working for you and the life you want to live.
- Now take those tough things and think about the ones that have an affect on your daily lives. Separate them into “for nows” and “for laters.”
- Ask yourself—does this need to happen, why does this need to happen, and if so, is there an alternative way to provide this need? You’re now creating a management plan. This works because it helps to prevent the rehearsal of unwanted behaviors—aka if it’s not practiced, it ain’t getting better.
- Got your management plan for your biggest pain point? Great. Let’s implement that for a week and observe what happens for you and your pup.
- Ask yourself if you need to make a training plan or if your alternatives are serving everyone just fine. If you’re not sure, are there even additional alternatives you can experiment with?
- Need to train some skills? Let’s go back to that list of things you love about your pet. Is there anything you can use from this list that you can modify when making a plan to build skills for those troublesome behaviors?
How to troubleshoot dog behavior issues
The list above is a troubleshooting cycle, and this cycle continues. Reflect, experiment, observe, tweak, reflect, experiment, observe, tweak. And sometimes that means going back to basics, not just increasing difficulty.
You can’t fix every problem at once, and your progress is likely not going to be linear. You’ll start to see how different environments and stress levels and handlers and times of day and health needs (and, and and …) affect their behavior. While that can feel overwhelming, I invite you to celebrate that you’re feeling overwhelmed because you have more knowledge of the complexities of your pup’s big beautiful brain, which means you’ve learned more about your dog and that’s an incredible thing.
It’s important to realize that you don’t have to be alone in this. Your pet’s care team—vets, walkers, behavior consultants, groomers, family—all are a part of this. The vet can help you rule out medical concerns. Your walker can tweak their route or timing. Your behavior consultant can help to identify patterns and triggers. Your groomer can provide feedback. Your family can help ease some burdens. And all of this plays a role in behavior history and modification.
Overwhelm is not something to be ashamed of, but it certainly does not help you meet your needs, which makes being a caregiver super tough.
Lastly, it’s important to say it again– we all have our limits. Knowing when you’ve reached yours is not a weakness, but a strength. Additionally, if you’re looking for support with the emotional toll of caregiver burden, I highly recommend looking into the Human Support Services with Insightful Animals (you do not need to be a client to use these services).
Here’s to harmony,
Corinne
Now What?
Get some calming activities prepped for your pup and find some time to take a breath for yourself. Work through the flow listed above to create a list of priorities.
If you need support in creating a behavior plan, we’re here for you. Click here to check out our services.
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Results are not guaranteed because behavior, human, canine, or otherwise, are not guaranteeable.
