Rise in Aggressive Behaviour Since COVID-19 Pandemic
By Friends of the Dog
By Friends of the Dog
In addition to us and our behaviourists seeing an increase in aggression in the dogs of our clients, dog behaviourists and trainers have been discussing this topic on various message boards and podcasts for the last few months. If you search the topic on-line, you will find that this is not just a problem in SA, it is happening globally, and the main reason seems to be the stay-at-home policy and other covid19 related lifestyle changes are to blame.
There has been an average of a three fold raise in children being taken to doctors and hospitals due to dog bites based on the figures from 2019 internationally. If we look at the combination of dogs being over stimulated and under exercised, children being kept off school and bored at home, it is easy to see why this situation has occurred.
What we, and others have also seen is that due to people spending so much time at home with their dogs, behaviour issues such as over dependency, separation anxiety and resource guarding of owner when people do come into the home, has also risen dramatically. Additionally, many owners are faced with additional stress with loneliness, illness and financial stresses. What we do not always realize is that our dogs pick up on our stresses and it affects them, and impacts on their behaviour, and often the result is aggression.
The types of aggressive behaviour being found varies - aggression between dogs in the home, aggression towards other dogs, especially at gates, resource guarding of objects, food bowls etc and aggression towards people that come to visit.
So, What Can We Do About This?
There has been an average of a three fold raise in children being taken to doctors and hospitals due to dog bites based on the figures from 2019 internationally. If we look at the combination of dogs being over stimulated and under exercised, children being kept off school and bored at home, it is easy to see why this situation has occurred.
What we, and others have also seen is that due to people spending so much time at home with their dogs, behaviour issues such as over dependency, separation anxiety and resource guarding of owner when people do come into the home, has also risen dramatically. Additionally, many owners are faced with additional stress with loneliness, illness and financial stresses. What we do not always realize is that our dogs pick up on our stresses and it affects them, and impacts on their behaviour, and often the result is aggression.
The types of aggressive behaviour being found varies - aggression between dogs in the home, aggression towards other dogs, especially at gates, resource guarding of objects, food bowls etc and aggression towards people that come to visit.
So, What Can We Do About This?
- Walks, walk, walks! Get your dog out for a walk at least once a day. This does not necessarily mean you have to take up jogging and long walks either. Scenting and sniffing greatly reduces stress levels in dogs, and helps to balance the serotonin levels, and even a 15 minute walk, can do wonders for a dogs stress levels. We have to remember that on average a dog has a 25-45 times stronger sense of smell than us (breed dependent), and scenting to them is something that is crucial - imagine us being locked up in the toilet all day, we would go nuts - this is similar to what a dog experiences when kept confined to the house and the garden - there is precious little scenting occurring, no matter how big your garden is.
Rather take your dog for a 15 minutes around the local park and allow it to sniff, scent and mark as much as it wants too - this is your dog's walk, not yours. If you can make it longer, and try to vary the locations you take your dog to walk, then so much the better.
Willow happily chasing the flirt pole
If your dog is already exhibiting aggressive behaviour, please do not try to remedy this yourself if the additional mental and stimulation does help to change the behaviour. Rather get hold of a professional that can tell you exactly what to do, and has the experience needed to deal with aggression. www.animal-behaviour.org.za
- Exercise - In addition to walks, find ways to exercise your dog in the home environment - put up a few jumps made from buckets and brooms or whatever you have at home, and build yourself a mini agility course. Dogs love these and if there are children at home, they too will enjoy themselves. You can even build in some basic exercises such as asking the dog to Wait before sending it over the jumps.
Another wonderful way to really exercise your dog at home is the Flirt Pole. This really tires a dog, plus satisfies the innate chasing aspect. As in the agility above, you can bring in some obedience exercises as well. Here is a link to see how to make them, plus we do sell them at Puppy school for only R100. They can either be collected or sent by courier (additional charge). Just get hold of Charmaine at [email protected] - there are dog scenting mats available as well. https://notesfromadogwalker.com/2012/04/24/flirt-pole/
Nothing wrong with games with balls and toys that can be thrown either! If you vary the ways you exercise your dog in the home environment, you will be providing more variety and the dog is less likely to become bored. - Dog Parks - if your dog is a social butterfly and you can take it to one of the many dog parks, then even better, and do try to do at least once a week. This way you keep in place the dogs social skills as an added bonus.
If you have a friend that walks their dog and the dogs get on, then both of you go for a walk - social distancing can still be maintained. On a similar vein, if you have extended family with dogs, and the dogs get on and the current restrictions allow it, then visit with your dog as well. - Scenting at Home - this satisfies the dogs innate scenting needs and can be done with pups right through to the older dog, both inside and in the garden. Really helps to alleviate boredom which are often major components in behaviour problems, and excellent for dogs that tend to become over excited. Even just hiding part of the daily food allowance around the garden and getting your dog to find the food, will give some stimulation. We have put in a link to an article below, which will give you some ideas to do at home.
- Chew Toys - Invest is some top quality chew toys that can be stuffed and vary the stuffing put inside. Don't leave chew toys like these just lying around for the dog to play with. Stuff it, give to the dog and then take it away when finished. These keeps the anticipation of getting this particular chew toy high and more likely to be enjoyed - on average do once a day, or once every two days.
If your dog is already exhibiting aggressive behaviour, please do not try to remedy this yourself if the additional mental and stimulation does help to change the behaviour. Rather get hold of a professional that can tell you exactly what to do, and has the experience needed to deal with aggression. www.animal-behaviour.org.za
Great article by Dr. Dunbar that tells you all about natural instinct and the other types of chewing that can occur.
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Some ideas for mental and physical stimulation in the home environment
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Here are 10 tips for you to start playing agility at home with your dog.
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