What is behaviour?
- Behaviours are everything that the dog does. Behaviours serve a purpose for the dog to adapt to its environment in some way.
- Behaviours are driven by motivations that are fuelled by emotions. They are shaped by influences of genetics, early and later life experiences and learning, and the current environment and health.
- Domestic dogs have general species motivations such as the desires to eat, explore and feel safe. The domestic dog also has a range of motivations that we have selectively bred, enhanced and manipulated over the years for our benefits, such as the motivation to herd in a Border Collie bred to work sheep and the motivation to bite in a Belgian Malinois bred for the military. .
Unwanted behaviours or maladaptive behaviours?
- Problem behaviours in dogs can be unwanted behaviours that are difficult for us to live with, but are exhibited by a normal dog with normal emotions and motivations. These include puppy and adolescent behaviours such as digging, mouthing, chewing, barking and high activity levels.
- Problem behaviours can also be a maladaptive coping mechanism indicating that the dog is struggling. The dog may be living under stress, be experiencing excessive emotions, or it may have an underlying emotional health disorder. In these scenarios the dog may exhibit reactive, impulsive, aggressive or compulsive behaviours or signs of fear or anxiety.
Normal behaviour
- Dogs continue to learn, even as adults, in order to best adapt to a changing environment. An emotionally healthy dog is behaviourally flexible and shows a collection of positive behaviours, such as seeking social interaction, curiosity, interest and exploration in the environment and play. The dog is often wiggly and smiley. He is optimistic that good things are likely to happen, bounces back from small adversities and has learned to ignore unimportant stimuli in the environment and save attention and energy for when it is necessary.
- A normal dog will perceive a collection of stimuli in the environment (such as "strange dog walking in the distance"), then use his memory and learning in higher brain areas to process and link this information to what he already knows ("that doesn't affect me"), and then decide on a response ("I will just keep walking").
- The emotions and response are logical, appropriate and proportional to the situation. The response is adaptive and useful to the dog. It doesn't waste energy or impair the dogs welfare. The response "makes sense".
Fear and anxiety behaviours
Anxiety (apprehension about a possible future threat or challenge)
- hypervigilance, distracted attention
- can't settle, pacing, disturbed sleep
- can't perform easy previously trained behaviours
- hyper-attachment
- licking lips, yawning, muscle tension
- house soiling
- vocalising, destruction
- conflict resolution behaviours - avoidance/sniffing; mouthing/grabbing; appeasement with lowered body, showing belly, "grovelling", licking; zoomies/frenetic activity; barking/lunging
Fear (concern of being harmed by a specific threatening stimulus)
- avoiding the trigger, hiding
- cowering, lowered body, tail tucked/down, flattened ears
- looking away, turning head away, leaning away
- whale eye (showing whites of eye), eyes wide
- urinating, defecating, releasing anal glands
- trembling, drooling, panting
- flight or freeze
- immobile, moving slowly, "shut down"
- easily startling
- aggressive behaviours - stiffen, lip lift, showing teeth, growling, barking, lunging, snapping, biting
Sympathetic nervous system activation
- hair standing on end (piloerection)
- increased heart and respiration rate
- dilated pupils
The problem of anxiety and stress
Anxiety is a normal emotion that warns the dog to be careful and ready to respond to new circumstances. The stress response is also a normal physiological response, involving the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary system (SAM), and the messengers cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline. The stress response prepares the body to respond to threats or challenges.
Anxiety and stress can be adaptive and help the dog to best survive in the short term. However, If your dog is suffering from anxiety that is easily triggered, excessive, or unrelenting, or is under high or chronic stress, the everyday functioning of the brain is altered. The brain is concentrating on immediate and emotional survival mechanisms instead of logical calm decision making.
The dog may have difficulty in distinguishing between what is safe and unsafe, or where his attention should be directed. He finds it difficult to relax or sleep. He may lose his ability to limit his emotions and impulses. His responses may be exaggerated and inappropriate. His memory may be muddled and new learning may not stick. He may not be able to respond to easy known cues. He may have a limited behavioural repertoire and get stuck in bad habits. Fears are easily generalised and hard to forget.
In addition to learning and rehearsing poor coping styles and habits, over time there are actual physical changes to key brain areas such as the amygdala, hippocampus, frontal cortex and the HPA axis. In a vicious cycle, these changes further impair the normal perception, processing and responses to stimuli in the environment and the ability to regulate stress.