What is an holistic approach to dog behaviour?

To improve your dog's behaviour, it's essential to understand the factors that influence it. Behaviour modification in dogs is a complex process that involves addressing specific issues and considering various factors. By working with or changing these factors, you can have a significant impact on your dog's behaviour without formal training. Let's have a look some of these factors.

Baked In Factors
Things you can’t change but should be aware of when developing your training plan, tailoring your training and management strategies accordingly.

Genetics
Some aspects of your dog's behaviour are influenced by genetics. This can include traits such as amount they bark, vigilance, anxiety and desire to work. While you cannot change your dog's genetic makeup, understanding their breed and ancestry can help you predict their predisposition to certain behaviours.

Epigenetics
Epigenetics refers to changes in gene expression that occur as a result of environmental factors. For example, stress or malnutrition during critical developmental periods can lead to epigenetic changes that increase the likelihood of anxiety and other behavioural issues later in life.

Age
Understanding the different developmental stages and age-related changes is an incredibly important factor to bear in mind as it will directly influence your dog's behaviour. Puppies, for example, go through various developmental stages that can impact their behaviour and learning ability. Senior dogs may also experience changes in their behaviour as a result of cognitive decline or health issues.

Trauma
Traumatic experiences, such as abuse or neglect, but also single event learning experiences like involvement in a dog fight on a walk can have a profound impact on a dog's behaviour. Dogs that have experienced trauma may be more fearful, anxious, or prone to aggressive display. While we an't change the past, supporting a dog through these underlying emotional issues is a key part of behaviour modification.

Factors You Can Address
Things you can change and that may well have a huge impact on your dog’s behaviour… without having to do any formal training at all.

Health Status
Ensuring that your dog's health is at an optimum is essential. This means addressing any potential health issues such as allergies, joint or dental pain, or yeast infections. Your dog's behaviour may be a sign of pain or discomfort, so it's important to address any potential health issues first with help from a canine health professional.

Diet
What your dog eats can directly affect their behaviour, carefully assessing the nutritional value of your dog's food is crucial. Ensuring your dog is getting a balanced and nutritious diet can improve their mood and overall well-being. If you feed a commercial dog food, check it out on All About Dog Food to see where it rates nutritionally. If it’s lower than 80%, it is best to look for a more nutritious food for your dog.

Baseline Stress and Contributing Stressors
Baseline stress levels and contributing stressors will impact your dog's behaviour negatively. At home, creating a safe and calm environment to give your dog opportunity to decompress can help them to cope with stress and anxiety better. It's also important to address any specific stressors such as on-walk reactivity, pulling on lead or window barking that compound their baseline stress levels.

Behaviour History
If your dog has been performing the behaviour you are struggling with for a long time, it is imperative to manage their environment in order to reduce their opportunity to rehearse that behaviour while working on building alternative behaviours.

Relationship
Does your dog see the people in your family unit as safe people who deal with them with kindness and understanding, or as unpredictable people who are nice one moment and nasty the next? Consistency with criteria and building a two-way communication between the dog and their humans will mean they are less likely to feel the need to perform “unwanted” behaviours.

Sleep Quality
If your dog is not getting enough quality sleep, it can contribute to irritability, reactivity, and anxiety.

Unmet Needs
A number of things to consider when assessing your dog’s needs have been covered in this post as a jumping off point, however, Linda Michaels’ Hierarchy of Dog Needs is a fantastic resource to refer to when looking at where you may be missing out on the cognitive, training, social, emotional, and biological needs of your dog.

Things to work on
When the above factors have been addressed, the work begins.

Canine  Skillset
Before embarking on a behaviour modification plan, it's essential to ensure that your dog has the required skills they need. If positive reinforcement is new to them, they may need to start with very simple behaviours before moving on to more complex ones.

Human Skillset
Assessing your own skillset as a dog owner is also crucial. Do you have the necessary training, planning, handling, and body language reading skills to effectively work with your dog? If not, it may be helpful to enlist the support of a training or behaviour professional to guide you on your journey.

Do you need some professional help?
If you are ready to start working with a professional, take a look at the services page or book a free call back to discuss your needs and start the journey towards improving your dog's behaviour.