Dog Ownership & Training

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At Compassion for Canines, we have years of experience training a variety of behavior issues, including poor manners, impulse control, arousal, dog- and human-directed reactivity, resource guarding, confinement/separation anxiety, phobias, and other anxiety-related behaviors. Poor manners and impulse control typically stem from a lack of adequate socialization and training during puppyhood, but most behavior issues are a side effect of unregulated stress and anxiety. This page will not be able to fully explain our processes of behavior modification—this training is far too complex and nuanced for that—but it will explain the basic processes underlying these anxiety-related disorders.

Poor Manners: Typically a result of inadequate socialization; manifests as inappropriate interactions with other dogs.

Impulse Control: Result of failure to train discipline/boundaries during puppyhood and includes behaviors such as counter surfing, demand barking, and hyper-vigilant alert barking.

Arousal: Result of inadequate coping skills to regulate stress; manifests as humping, mouthing, jumping, and tugging on clothing, leashes, etc.

Reactivity: Result of inadequate socialization and subsequent fear/anxiety regarding dogs and/or humans; manifests as barking and lunging to scare them away. Reactivity can occur at home, in public, in the car, etc. and is treated via management and exposure therapy (systematic desensitization).

Resource Guarding: Result of neglect/deprivation and/or theft of resources (e.g., food, toys, comfortable locations, human providers) during sensitive period; treated with strict management and exposure therapy.

Phobias: Result of inadequate socialization; treated with exposure therapy (exposure to handling, vacuum, sounds, etc.).

Confinement/Separation Anxiety: Result of inadequate socialization/training/impulse control as a puppy; treated via exposure therapy. Management is crucial throughout training duration, as severe separation anxiety can result in self-mutilation and panic attacks. It is normal for a dog to be stressed or bored when they are home alone, but if they are too stressed to eat, they might have true separation anxiety.

Focus on one issue at a time.

Every dog has an anxiety threshold—a level of anxiety beyond which training is not possible because they are unable to focus on what you are trying to teach them (the fight-or-flight response of the limbic system is activated, so the cerebrum is inhibited). Every one of your dog's triggers adds to their anxiety, and when there are multiple stressful stimuli present, it results in trigger stacking, getting your dog closer and closer to that threshold. If you can control the training environment so that only one trigger is present, it will keep your dog as far away from that threshold as possible in order to maximize training efficiency and minimize the stress your dog experiences.

Psychotropic Medications

Some dogs have such severe anxiety-related issues that they are always at or just below their anxiety threshold, and training is very tedious or even impossible. These dogs—whether they have generalized anxiety, one or more of the issues listed on this page, or both—may benefit from psychotropic medications such as fluoxetine, alprazolam, gabapentin, and/or clonidine. Other dogs, however, will habituate to the medication and regress back to their baseline, so it may be best to wean back off the medication, but it is always worth trying if it might help your dog's quality of life. If your dog has anxiety issues, reach out to a behaviorist who can determine what would work best and prescribe medication for your dog. If it doesn't work or stops helping, let them know and together you can decide the best course of action. For most dogs, these medications should be a short-term solution that allows the dog to be trainable enough to alleviate their stressors and wean back off of the medication, but for some dogs it is part of a lifelong solution of medication management and behavioral modification training.

Behavioral Euthanasia

Euthanasia is always a tough call to make regardless of the circumstances, but it is the merciful thing to do in any situation in which a reasonable Quality of Life is no longer possible. This can happen due to physical pain and health issues, but it can also happen due to anxiety and stress when a dog is living in constant fear of their surroundings. If a dog is truly miserable and would require extensive training just to live a somewhat less miserable life, behavioral euthanasia is the best remedy, as unfortunate as it may be. Euthanizing a beloved family member is never easy, but if it ends up being the most ethical route, we will be supportive of our clients and connect them with whatever resources they need. If you need to objectively evaluate the QoL of your pet for health or behavioral reasons, Journeys Home Pet Euthanasia (a veterinary practice in Wisconsin) created this useful tool.