Pet care: Why fight if a hard stare would send the message?

Third in a series.

A healthy canine brain is programmed to communicate with body signals and occasionally words like, “Grr!” Knock down, drag out fights in the wild can happen but they’re uncommon. Nobody has to take it. If you get seriously bullied you can get the heck outa Dodge. But confined by the walls and a fence of their loving human domicile, neither Tandy nor Atticus could escape each other.

There was another wrinkle: Tandy struggled with a significant anxiety disorder. When circumstances weren’t just right, her agitation escalated fast. While waiting and hoping to snag a hot chicken leg, her low-life underling Atticus foolishly made physical contact with Sylvia, their venerable leader. Tandy’s tenuous grip on impulse control evaporated. She attacked.

Hearing this story, you can bet I was concerned about Atticus’ safety. I also knew that Tandy-the-tyrant could pay an even bigger price. Backed into a corner, victims of assault are known to fight tooth and nail to survive, inflicting far worse damage on their tormentors. The mayhem didn’t end there. Sylvia freaked out, dropped her frying fork, and grabbed her dogs’ collars to break up the fracas. Nothing went as planned. Rather than enjoying a home-cooked meal with her husband Jason, they spent the evening at urgent care. Their dogs walked away spitty but otherwise unscathed.

If we’d focused only on the obvious, other important factors would have been missed. It turned out that Tandy was hypervigilant during leash walks, stopping often to look behind her. She was easily startled by almost anything: normal household noises, a fly in the grass, a leaf blowing in the yard.

Home surveillance video showed Tandy and Atticus doing just fine together when their people were away. They never mixed it up on leash walks either. Avoiding competitive triggers would be a must, but what about Tandy’s short fuse? Could she abandon her seething hostility when her subordinate approached? Could she live with him and food in the same house? Her wellbeing was suffering. Would medication help?

Next week: If Tandy could relax, would there be peace on Earth?

For help with behavior problems, you can sign up for a Zoom group conference at drjeffnichol.com

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