Stress is just stress to an animal. For our canine friends, playing roughly with a new friend at the dog run can be as stressful as needing vaccines at the vet. Different, yes, but both events are stressful and have the ability to drastically affect a pup’s behavior.

Good stress

Playing at the dog run, meeting new people, reuniting with you after a long day alone – can very easily trigger behaviors in our furry friends that make us scratch our heads. Suddenly, the happy playing at the dog run turns into a scrap, the pup so keen on meeting new people starts obsessively humping anything that moves, or maybe the pup welcoming mum home from work goes into complete hysterics, unable to do anything but bark and pee on the floor.

Bad stress

Going to the vet, being suddenly grabbed by a stranger, being in a noisy environment – can also trigger behaviors we don’t necessarily want to see in our pups. We’re more apt to identify bad stressors, and understand our pup’s reactions though. We understand the fear of being in a doctor’s office, with all sorts of poking and prodding, and the pain of vaccines that make us want to cower or maybe snap at the hand holding those needles. Being touched, much less grabbed, by a stranger can elicit pretty spectacular responses (just get on a 4/5 train at rush hour). And noise? Senseless noise can drive us crazy.

Whats this have to do with dog training?

Think about how you like to learn. I like to learn when I’m relaxed – I have my coffee, its quiet, I’m not too excited about anything, and I’m certainly not scared of anything. In short, I’m in a low stress environment. Dogs like learning in low stress environments as well, but we often forget that good things are just as stressful as ‘bad’ things. Its difficult to pay attention, much less learn, when we’re too anything – excited, fearful, etc.

Our canine friends act the way they do for a reason, and paying attention to the environment and physical factors around our pup can often help us understand why, and better address the issue. If I know my pup gets excited about new people, and she just had a really rousing time at the run, I know to expect her to jump all over a new person she comes into contact with.

When working on new things with your pup, remember to keep the environment calm and free of things – both good and bad – that will trigger a stress response. Remember to slowly introduce your pup to situations with stress involved, and do so gradually. Instead of practicing polite greetings with new people with new people, practice them with one or two well known people at first, then with people your pups met but not spent time with, and only then with a new person. Same goes for bad stresses – instead of just jumping into a vet visit, take your pup for ‘happy visits’ – visits where you go to the vet and just get pets and treats instead of shots. Practice having your pup stand still to be poked and prodded in the comfort of home before asking her to stand still for the same in the more stressful vets office. Slowly desensitize your pup to the stresses she’ll need to handle, and you’ll see a boost your training efforts – plus a stronger relationship with your fur baby!