03/07/2022
If we’ve ever had a session together, you’ve heard me say “there’s a function behind every behavior. They’re trying to meet their needs the best way they know how”
Also, this is a great example of how sometimes the witching hour zoomies are a sign of an overtired pup!! Naps or earlier bed times can make all the difference!
Puppies are just babies. Babies behave the way they do to ensure their needs are fulfilled. There’s always a function behind behavior.
As I’m writing this, at 11pm, Willow is growling at me. Her intentions aren’t malicious, she’s trying to get my attention. She’s agitated, grouchy and very, very sleepy. She thinks she’s bored, she’s fighting off sleep by squeaking her toys and rolling around the bed, but I know she’s just overtired. She may be a year old, but she’s still a baby.
Sure enough, a minute later, she’s curled up and fast asleep.
As you spend more time with dogs, experience different personalities and immerse yourself into their lives, it becomes easier and easier to understand what they’re saying. But to somebody less experienced, to somebody who knows dogs just at a basal level, a growl can only mean one thing: aggression. And how do you stop aggression in dogs? You show them that you’re the boss.
Willow, feeling all antsy and full of sleep, doesn’t need to be told who the boss is. She’s a toddler on the brink of a tantrum, growling “but I don’t WANT TO GO TO BED!” Meeting that grouchiness with aggression on my end will only end up in a full blown palaver. I’m the grown-up, I know better than to tell her off, pin her to the ground or prod her in the ribs and hiss “tssh” at her. I’m the grown-up, she’s the baby, so I need to cultivate a condition where she’s more likely to succumb to her tiredness and go to sleep.
So I let her get all her grouchiness out, I let her squeak her toys and dig the bed in protest, offering her some calming strokes and a gentle “shh, night night.” Babies fight sleep. It’s what they do. You can either be the grown-up and encourage them to relax, or you can “challenge” the baby in front of you, until they’re so pumped up on adrenaline and fear that sleep is no longer on the cards.
Willow growled because she was cross at being tired, not because she was mad at me. It wasn’t personal, just a baby doing what babies do. I feel like people often read too much into the little facets of our pups’ communication, trying to pin it on something like dominance, when the reason is often far more obvious.
This isn’t to say that puppies cannot develop behavioral problems, and it certainly isn’t to say that we should ignore all growls and grumbles, but sometimes… it’s just a baby being a baby.
