Quote:
Originally Posted by elisabeth_00117
I guess my thoughts are "how healthy is this" for the dog?
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I think it would depend on if the handler didn't recognize what type of impact they were having on their dog.
If you didn't realize that your behavior was causing your dog to fall apart, but you saw that your dog was falling apart and then YOU created an even more unstable environment it would once again impact your dog and it would continue to spiral out of control. I think you would then see behaviors developing in your dog that you have actually conditioned to happen.
But (IMO) since you realize your impact, you're able to walk away, pull yourself together and create a stable environment for your dog. Maybe even take additional steps to totally seperate your dog from you in the future (like a kennel in the living room at night) when you know you are having a tough time.
Due to recent events at my home, Hondo who is normally a solid, stable dog was developing DA behaviors towards the other dogs at our home. My first thought was medical issues (as you did). Then I realized
I was creating the environment that was feeding his aggression towards the other dogs. (Keeping everyone away from hubby but him, because he's quiet.) I quickly changed my (new) routine, brought it back to as normal as I could and he is back to his old self. Honestly, had I bought into his new behavior (crate & rotate), I think I would have conditioned him to be DA towards any dog in our home.