Molly’s owners came to Way of Life Dog Training concerned with a range of issues displayed by their four-year-old Cockapoo. These issues had become increasingly hard to deal with, as they attempted to balance managing Molly’s behavior with the needs of their two very young children. Molly did like the kids and was excellent with them, thankfully. But much else was problematic:
1. Molly was reactive to the noises that are typical of a home, especially one with children – TV sights and noises, and rings and whistles from various kitchen appliances.
2. She barked ceaselessly at the door and the living room bay window, which my clients thought she’d enjoy looking out of when they bought their house. This would wake up the kids and garnered my clients an anonymous note from a neighbor.
3. Molly also reacted to people and dogs on the streets, pulled on the leash, and despite her petite size, was impossible to walk, much less walk alongside the stroller.
The Way of Life Dog Training approach to working with issues of sensitivity to sound is not to desensitize and counter-condition the dogs to these sounds, as behaviorists do. In fact, my clients had worked with a trainer who used this approach, and just as I expected, the behavior modification strategy made Molly that much more aware of, and obsessed with, these sounds.
Regarding barking at windows and doors, this is a common issue because we allow the dogs to patrol our homes and yards, we allow them near these boundaries, not realizing that their inner territorial nature, plus any underlying stress that’s building up because of a messy way of life, will make them reactive to anything near these boundaries. Dogs are not cats; they do not need windows looking out into the world for entertainment. They need to be taken out into the world, stimulated, and brought back home and regulated, until a certain level of maturity is reached.
With reactivity to dogs and people on the street, a dog that’s stressed because it’s not handled properly is bound to redirect that stress onto something. Moreover, dogs change when they’re taken from one familiar space (the house) to an unfamiliar space (the outside), and with that change, any kind of underlying stress will show up more honestly and find something to beat up on.
It’s normal for dogs to be sensitive to some of our noises. It’s also natural for dogs to be protective of their space and to not necessarily welcome interactions with all dogs and people. That’s all legit. Still, I know for sure that extreme versions of otherwise normal or natural behavior have a lot to do with a dog’s way of life. That is precisely what we work on.
Ultimately, a dog that’s composed will deal with things differently than one that isn’t. A calm dog is a thoughtful dog who is better able to modulate emotions and better judge what’s worth reacting to and what’s not. I ask my clients to look at these issues as symptoms and to reflect on why their dog is so easily triggered.
Our job with Molly was to bring down the agitation by regulating her access to things such as doors and windows, structuring her time, supervising her more carefully, and challenging her innate talents.
With the changes we introduced, Molly has settled down a great deal and everyone in the family is happier, the two kids included. When the family moved again, I was thrilled to hear that Molly adjusted seamlessly. She’s better able to deal with the various sounds of the house and take in stride the children’s ruckus. She and her mom look forward to the end of the day for their girls’ night out, leaving dad and the kids at home for a while to head out for a run or walk.
Watch a video featuring Molly on our YouTube page to see her progress!
