Stressors in Dogs

This topic is a very important one for dog owners because I find that owners, majority of the time, have NO idea when their dog is becoming stressed out.

What is a stressor?
A stressor is a moment where the dog is becoming uneasy about a situation. A stressor can also be known as a trigger.

For mild dog-aggression cases, stressors usually include the following:

• tags on collars (noise they make)


• certain environments if the dog has had neg. encounters with other dogs


• being in the vicinity of certain breeds if the dog has had neg. encounters with


• dog being overly tired


• dog being hungry


• dog being hot


• THESE YOU WILL MOST ALWAYS SEE WITH AGGRESSION CASES - aversive training tools -prong collars, shock collars, choke collars, leash corrections, yelling, screaming, alpha roles ect. if previously used for training.

This small list is just some of the stressors dogs can have, every dog has a different stressor for what ever the problem may be. The best thing you can do as a caring owner is, take the time to understand your dogs body language. On your walks, WATCH your dog sniff, walk, play and soon you will be able to read your dogs language and not put your dog into stressful situations where he or she is most likely to react and learn a new bad behaviour.

Here is a great video on communication with dogs

Watch the full episode. See more Through a Dogs Eyes.

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