All living beings are “food motivated” – otherwise they’d be dead. And dogs specifically are opportunistic scavengers, geared to eat whatever they find whenever they find it.
When we say that a dog is “not food motivated” it usually means that they won’t eat in certain contexts. That’s because *the behavior of eating* is influenced by learning, so it is more or less likely to occur in certain contexts. Just like it might be easier to ask your dog to “sit” at home than in the dog park.
Nowadays it’s become very possible to say that someone is “traumatized” or “has PTSD” – both referring to people and to dogs – but it’s often not the case. In reality many “behavior problems” do not meet criteria of PTSD or other trauma related conditions. And it’s important to remember that while they might be scary or inconvenient to us, even severe behavior problems are an attempt at coping and they serve a function to the animal.
Let’s have a look at what we know about trauma related problems in animals.
First of all, there is a whole range of reactions to traumatic events:
It is estimated that 75% of people make full recovery after traumatic events. There is no data about non-laboratory animals, but a study done with laboratory rats showed a similar rate of recovery.
Since we’re talking about aggression, I have to tell you about our rats. We’ve had the older trio for a year now and the young once arrived in the beginning of March. They could move into a shared cage after two weeks and during that time we had opportunity to observe plenty aggressive behaviors (see video below).
The truth is that we know very little about the social life of rats. And whatever we do know is not 100% applicable to our situation because they looked either at wild rats, or laboratory rats. At the moment we have 6 rats and while we do let them out to roam for 2-3h a day, their territory is much more limited and they live in a much smaller group than wild rats.
Even though the stigma surrounding psychotropic meds for humans has decreased in the past decades, many dog owners are still afraid of pharmacotherapy. They worry that medication will change their dog’s personality, turn their companion into a “zombie”. Many still believe that medication is a last result, but actually in some cases behavior modification can be quicker and more effective if it is paired with a medical intervention.
(Disclaimer: It is not my goal to diminish the problem. Aggressive behaviors are not acceptable in our society and showing them can have serious consequences for the dog and their owner, as well as for the victim. Living with an aggressive dog can also cause a lot of stress and anxiety for the owner. It might be a good idea to see a therapist yourself!)
“Aggression” is one of the most frequent reasons for seeking out professional help. Basically, any strong reaction (barking, lunging, snapping) in any context can get labeled as “aggression” and people usually assume bad intent behind it. While some dogs certainly aim to bite, many – if not most – show aggressive behaviors simply in order to get more space. When dealing with any kind of problems, it is important to separate our narrative from the facts.
This post examines what aggression is and how it can be analyzed. Catch up on what aggression isn’t in part one.
