Behavioural Problems Of Dogs : Some Examples

A popular adage amongst dog folk is that one man’s behavioural nightmare is another’s perfect pet. A border collie that chases and attacks joggers will probably also be a good herding dog, good at flyball and heelwork to music. A dog that barks at night may be a useful alert to intruders, alternatively an irritation to insomniacs. So much of what constitutes a behavioural disorder or problem is in the eye of the beholder and there can be no operational definition except by reference to the wants or expectations of the owner. To treat the problem, however, the wants and expectations of the dog have also to be taken into consideration.

There has been a tendency to medicalize the subject of canine behaviour therapy (Overall, 1997), to apply precise-sounding diagnostic terms such as ‘hyperattachment syndrome’, ‘obsessive compulsive disorder’ (OCD) or ‘dancing doberman syndrome’, etc. The use of behavioural ‘labels’ or ‘diagnoses’ such as these is a subject of fervent debate amongst veterinarians and animal behaviour therapists: does such a label disguise our ignorance of underlying causative mechanisms? This writer’s view is that the boundaries between abnormal and normal in canine behaviour are so blurred as to make the debate pointless. Better to fully describe the behaviour and its context rather than to prematurely label it as a syndrome. There are, of course, many clinical and physiological factors which contribute to changes in the behavioural or emotional state of dogs. Of these, pain is the most important factor (see later), as also are a number of endocrine and metabolic factors.

The types of behaviours about which owners complain are many and various, but referrals to behaviour specialists such as the writer are overwhelmingly concerned with aggression-related problems. Separation problems are essentially a reflection of a normal attachment process, where a dog misses its human companions and in distress might howl, lose accustomed bowel/bladder control or engage in destructive chewing. Elimination problems or failures to learn to urinate/defecate in approved places at approved times are also a common source of complaint by dog owners, especially where an owner’s lifestyle requires that a dog does not have easy access to a garden or other outdoor area. Finally, a large number of behavioural problems are triggered by fear or anxiety. These may be of a generalized nature, where the dog is afraid of many and most everyday situations; alternatively, there may be an acute and overwhelming fear of one or a few stimuli. The latter are known as phobias, and the most common canine phobia is towards loud noises such as from gunshot or fireworks.

Methods for treatment of bang phobias in dogs are now well developed by a combination of desensitization tapes, some means of physically attenuating the dog’s hearing, clicker training and possibly short-term use of anxiolytic drugs, including homeopathic remedies. The skilled behavioural practitioner requires detailed information about the problematic behaviour and a detailed questionnaire may usefully be employed, e.g. BSAVA (2002). This defines the nature of the behaviour which the complaint is about, where it occurs, when it occurs and who in the family is most affected. Answers to these questions will probably then reveal why the behaviour occurs, and from that will come pragmatic strategies for behaviour modification.