When Dogs are "Not Themselves"

On my morning walk, I ran into a woman who has a Lab mix I like a lot. The dog likes me as well, as evidenced by the way she normally all but mugs me for petting and attention whenever we meet. Of course, I love it! But this morning, as I casually reached to pet her while chatting with her mom, I noticed her lips retracting horizontally. No hard stare accompanied it, but there was the slightest movement away from my hand. Thankfully, I knew this to be a submissive grin rather than a sign of potential aggression.

I mentioned it to the woman, who agreed about the submissive grin. (I love when dog owners already know about subtle body language.)  She then told me there had been loud construction work happening near her house and it had scared her dog, who had been a little “off”—just not herself—ever since then. That made perfect sense. It could have been a case of trigger stacking, where something makes a dog nervous, anxious, or upset, and then another thing happens on top of that, until finally, the dog reacts in a non-habitual way to something that wouldn’t normally upset her.

I don’t know for sure what this dog was feeling. But it made me think about how much grace we should give dogs—actually, grace and space—when they’re not feeling quite themselves. Every one of us has had “off” days, or times when we’re in a mood where the things we’re normally okay with just don’t feel right. Maybe we’re not up to chatting that day, or interacting socially in any way. I haven’t read scientific studies on the subject, but really, do we need a study to tell us that our dogs have moods, just as we do?

All of this is to say that if a dog seems “not themselves” somehow, it’s not the time to push them in any way. In the case of the dog this morning, she was telling me she really wasn’t up to having any social interaction, and that was perfectly fine. It’s not that we need to cater to our dogs’ every mood, but we should keep in mind that when we notice our dog seeming “off” somehow, it’s not the best time for a training session, or pushing them to interact with people (which we shouldn’t be doing anyway!) or to do anything that’s not really all that important. Then we need to consider what’s behind the mood or the way the dog is behaving and, depending on whether it’s something physical, mental, or emotional that needs addressing, follow through to help as best we can. _________________________________________________________________________

My new book The Afterlife of Buddy Gooddog: A Short Novel About a Forever Love releases on amazon tomorrow, 7/21! You can still pre-order the ebook today, and both the paperback and ebook will be available tomorrow. You can also find my books and streaming seminars at www.nicolewilde.com and follow me on Facebook @NicoleWildeauthor. My mentoring service can be found at Dog Trainer's Friend. And if wildlife photos are your thing, check out my Instagram at nicolewildeart.