12/01/2024
When we do aggression consults, addressing pain is of utmost importance.
It is one of the primary things a well educated and experienced behavior consultant will consider.
I cannot diagnose pain.
That is for your wonderful Veterinary professionals to do (as you may have heard me say if you are one of my incredible clients “I’m not a Vet, nor do I play one on TV!’). They will be able to assess and treat for pain.
Pain can often be a significant contributor to aggressive behaviors. (Pain and Problem Behavior in Cats and Dogs- Mills et al. 2020)
But I DO consider ALL the ways that WE, you the owner and me the animal professional, along with your Vet teams, can limit the many ways that pain is, or could be, a factor in your dogs behavior challenges .
One of the ways that I can help is to identify and to limit potential things that can exacerbate pain!
For example, in my cases today, we discussed amongst many, many things: access to sofas, beds, food and water (how they are obtained, elevation etc…), movement around the home (slippery floors and stairs), touching and petting and so on…
Something as basic as sitting on a slippery floor could potentially exacerbate pain in many places such as the hips, knees, spine, neck etc…
A slippery surface will add the potential of discomfort during the sit and after the sit, and if we did repetitive ‘training’-ooof!!
It is our job to discuss and bring awareness to ALL of these small (or large) potential agitator’s.
For a successful behavior change plan to work, we often must get into the ‘nitty gritty’ finer points.
Not always, but when we have more complex situations with varying and often seemingly unpredictable causes (antecedents and distant antecedents) those finer points can be what makes or breaks a plan!
Check out the cutest sploot sit below- cute right?
Cute…But potentially a very painful position for this adorable young dog, which could be a single factor among many causing discomfort or pain.
For this kid, I recommended (among many other recommendations)using more mats and rugs around the house to prevent slipping and unstable movement.
Walking on slippery floors for many dogs is like trying to walk with slippery soled shoes on ice. It will increase tension and tightness in their body which will exacerbate pain. Slipping can create injuries or worsen them as well.
Pain lowers thresholds. And that will often lead to a ‘grumpier’ animal (I know my severe neck issues this year made me less than a joy to be around!).
If you are concerned about pain, please see your Veterinarian!
Take videos of the movement you see (or don’t see) of your animal from different angles, and show those videos to your Vets (it helps them a great deal to see natural movement outside of what their clinical observations enables).
