Have you ever noticed as dog behavioural changes over the holidays?
Christmas is a time people’s front gates and front doors become busier with deliveries, service providers doing last minute maintenance, and the arrival of guests. Even if the home environment remains unchanged it’s not uncommon for neighbourhoods to experience a significant increase in general traffic and noise at this time of the year. All of these things, along with children being home on holidays, can impact how safe a dog feels in its environment or how protective it feels of it’s territory. As creatures of habit even slight changes, that we has humans find hard to perceive, can significantly impact how a dog behaves.
For many dogs these environmental changes generate heightened feelings of fear, anxiety and/or stress, which in turn elevates or spikes their cortisol levels. When cortisol levels are elevated dogs find it hard to regulate their response to things that threaten or frighten them, which in turn can result in an increased risk of aggression, bites and attacks. Even dogs that are ordinarily calm, friendly or welcoming can show uncharacteristically protective or aggressive behaviours when experiencing prolonged periods of stress.
At this time of the year, I encourage people entering properties where there are both known and unknown dogs, to take additional care and be mindful of early warning signs that a dog might be fearful, anxious, or stressed which could pose a greater risk of a bite or attack.
More activity equals more opportunities for stress
Dogs are creatures of habit and even the slightest change to their environment can make even the calmest dog feel unsettled.
Already anxious dogs can find the increase of activity in and around their home environment (even in your general neighbourhood) extremely overwhelming which can significantly impact their behaviour.
In the lead up to Christmas parcel deliveries significantly increase, weekend postal deliveries start (if your dog already hates the postie this can be deeply distressing for dogs who are acustomed to three visits a week) and many deliveries are made direct to your door (which can be very stressful for dogs).
Many people use Christmas as an opportunity to have their windows cleaned or other maintenance work done which can mean additional service providers are on your property. If you live in a country area you may also have additional services attending to bush fire prevention maintenance around this time also.
Christmas is also a time children are home for an extended period and many pet owners report their dog’s behaviour dramatically changes (generally becoming more protective) when children are around.
Conversely you may find your social calendar blows out in the lead up to Christmas and your dog is left alone more than usual.
Stressed dogs are more likely to display body language or behaviours that may seem strange or out of character – they’re trying to tell you they’re not comfortable.
Trigger stacking
Trigger stacking is where one seemingly insignificant event triggers a spike in stress hormones for the dog, it’s then closely followed by another event, and another – all stacked on top of each other.
Each of these triggers may ordinarily not phase your dog but in quick succession they may cause your dog’s stress levels to build to a point where their bite threshold is drastically reduced.
These stacking of triggers can result in your dog biting or responding to a stressful event with a behaviour that’s out of character.
Over the holidays there are significantly more opportunities for dogs to experience trigger stacking than at any other time of the year.
Normal Vs abnormal dog behaviours
Over Christmas many people have the opportunity to spend more time than usual with their dog. This can be a great thing, but also often people start to notice behaviours in their dog that might seem abnormal.
If you’re worried about any behaviours your dog is demonstrating it’s worth reaching out to a qualified Animal Behaviour vet for an assessment.
For more information about participating in our dog safe workplace training contact us at info@dbpp.com.au.