To think that dogs are not born anxious

[bonbon2023]

And that their owners make them the way they are?

I'm on a couple of Facebook groups for the breeds of dogs I own and the amount of reactive/anxious dogs is getting ridiculous now. I'm seeing countless posts a day to the point I've left the groups. Dogs are not born this way it's what you do in bringing them up. The not ever leaving a dog to settle/be alone. Thinking a dog won't survive home alone if you leave the house for 5/6 hrs. A normal dog can be but the helicopter dog ownership is not helping them at all. And they are creating a rod for their own back, therefore ending up with a dog they can't control (or is controlling them) and then they are ending up rehomed. The final straw for me was a woman asking if she could give her dog a raw chicken wing that the butcher had given her saying her dog would love it, the comments went wild saying she shouldn't give her dog it, to the point she just threw it away. Some even telling her to freeze it first for two weeks 🤦🏻‍♀️
Dog ownership has changed massively in the last 10/15 years (since socially media) it's like dogs aren't treated like dogs anymore or aren't allowed to be because their owners are an anxious mess themselves 😬

I can't be the only one who thinks like this?

@CallumDansTransitVan that's because they are not suppose to eat raw meat from a super market. You get them from raw food supplies they've been frozen so the bacteria is gone. They can eat them frozen or thawed. I take it you know nothing about raw feeding of dogs

@lightinthebox it's over the years not together. I'm not gonna have 3 different breed litters am I 😏

As it happens my now 13 year old dog has been raw fed without incident (using fresh chicken) from the first day I got him at around age 4. I have never heard anywhere that I should buy my chicken from a specialist supplier ever.

I take it you know nothing about bacteria in food? Freezing does not kill food poisoning bacteria. It simply stops it multiplying.

Some dogs can be shyer or more timid than others but I agree with you in that people treating dogs like children doesn't do them any favours at all.

@Prescottdanni123 you sound anxious 😥

A dog breeder who has had multiple litters from different breeds and does not know how dog temperaments can be affected by breeding? Screams cowboy, puppy mill and just trying to make money. Feel sorry for the dogs this person churns out

Cockapoos aren't even a bloody breed as such. They are a cross. Albeit they do make nice dogs if the parents are well matched.

You need to do a bit more research - look up epigenetics. Ideally before you breed any more dogs.

Dogs absolutely can be born with a predisposition to anxiety/fear. They can also experience things early on, in the womb and in the litter that will predispose them to anxiety/fear, and of course can have experiences in later life that the owner had no way of preventing.

Dogs can be breed disposed or individually disposed to anxiety, absolutely.
You can do everything right and STILL end up with an anxious dog.

However anyone who lives in my area where there's approximately 4 million pandemic puppy cockapoos, and 4/5 of them are anxious, would tell you that there's some really stupid, underprepared dog owners out there.
'Well, I WFH so he's never left alone so he gets anxious'
So you are saying that in the first 6 months of your dogs life, you magically did not have any time to spend a few minutes leaving your house, walking to the end of your road and back, to get your dog used to you not being there? Bullshit.

'Well we got them during the pandemic, so they weren't socialised'
Dog walking was one of the few things you could do. Why didn't you reach out to a trainer and ask for suggestions, like posting on area fb groups and seeing if anyone would be walking a friendly dog at the same time/area as you. Asking friends and family if you could do distanced walks with their dogs. Going to local dog walking hotspots. If you were shielding, you could have gone on fb and seen if someone would walk your dog for you. Bloody hundreds of things you could have done rather than going 'oh but fluffy didn't SEE another dog for two months'
Oh and maybe don't get a puppy during a pandemic if you don't have a socialisation backup plan (before anyone comes at me, i'm obviously not talking about puppies you signed up for before we knew about the pandemic!)

Gives me the rage. Also I meet so many owners who had no training plan whatsoever, or thought puppy class once a week would be enough. Do some bloody research on your dog breed! I have a cocker spaniel, they are prone to separation anxiety and resource guarding, so I did research and trained accordingly - yes, that training might have still failed but the amount of people I know who either didn't know what their breeds potential problems areas were or did really half arsed efforts towards setting their dog up for success... makes me so mad. You can do everything right and still end up with an anxious dog, but I'd say at least half of owners do more research into what crate ot food to buy than the actual raising of a puppy. The dogs are the ones who suffer.

100% agree there's a huge rise in anxious dog owners ergo pets who have never been socialised. Please don't let your dog sniff mines bottom as he's reactive is one of the most absurd things I've heard recently

Though one of mine is very sensitive and I've ensured she's well socialised and exposed to different situations.

Some dog breeders had their bitches churning out puppies as fast as she could to feed the pandemic increase in dog ownership. They didn't give a crap about ensuring both parents were healthy. All they could see was £1200 for the likes of cross breed dogs like cockapoo's.

I agree and disagree. Disagree in that there are certain breeds that are more prone to anxiety, as mentioned already, border collies and grey hounds and other breeds that are less likely to like other dogs and be more reactive to them, some terriers for example. Also puppy farms and irresponsible breeding. Also many rescue dogs who we would not know their back story and well as many unsocialised covid dogs! All contribute to this.

However I got my dog 1 year ago having not had a dog for 7 years and I have noticed a massive difference in dog owners more than anything else. When I walk my dog I am always looking out for other dogs and their signals, that's fine. It's not that difficult to spot an anxious or reactive dog, they all give warning signs. But owners are much harder to read!! Too many times my dog has been playing with another dog, both very happily I hasten to add, but the owner clearly does not like their dog playing with other dogs. I get this if their dog is a miss match with every levels and styles of play, but I am perplexed as to why if they are both having fun and getting great exercise. I have also met people who have been told to never let their dog spend more than 3 seconds with another dog. I get that if you're walking past and they want to say a quick hi. But for me 2 dogs of similar energy and playing styles happily playing together is wonderful! Luckily I have got to know many local dogs and their owners so I have learnt my own local etiquette!!

There’s a person near me who has mobility issues and bought a spaniel. All she does is complain about her dog having too much energy and she blames the dog. It drives me mad when people don’t do basic research.

@bonbon2023

Just because I choose to feed my dog different things to you??? Christ! She doesn't have an awful life just because I don't feed her raw chicken bones. She is confident, happy, very sociable and the complete opposite of anxious. I feed her loads of different things but I don't give her chicken bones because they are not safe for this particular dog. I appreciate that other people might feed their dogs raw chicken bones and not have anything bad happen.

You sound ignorant and judgemental.

@Prescottdanni123 your first post says dogs can't eat raw chicken wings 😂

yabu - all dogs have an innate amount of anxiety like humans. Yes environmental factors can make it worse but some dogs will tend towards being anxious regardless.

@WhatWhereWho you feel sorry for pup who grows up to have excellent temperaments ok 😂

I fully agree with you OP but people don't want to believe it because then they spent £1000s on dog walkers, dog crates, dog trainers, anxiety medication etc etc for something that was totally avoidable.

Worse, something that they caused.

Before the last 5 years I met precisely 1 dog who had anxiety, and she'd been very abused.

When people treated dogs the way they'd treated them for the last 10,000 years (since we domesticated them), they behaved the way they've behaved for the last 10,000 years. When they started trying to humanise dogs and force them to fit with our modern world (which isn't even fit for purpose for humans) the problems started.

But no one wants to accept they caused their dog's problems.

Whilst I don't think dogs are born anxious, there are dogs that are born with nerve meaning they can't do the job they were bred to do.

It seems to be prevalent in the GSD & Belgian Malinois according to friends I have in the dog sport world.

I think that you're right that the majority of dogs are extremely anxious and I think this is put down to the wrong type of socialisation.

I believe that the correct way to socialise a dog should not be to let it learn how to be neutral with dogs rather than let it run riot with other dogs. Not all dogs are very good at reading signals which can lead to bullying or dog fights. It's the same reason I don't think doggy day care isn't a good idea either.

@bonbon2023

I meant some dogs can't eat raw chicken wings. So I accidentally missed a word out. It doesn't mean I am a shit owner with an anxious dog.

@CallumDansTransitVan if bred right can make excellent dogs.

My dogs had a dog run in the back garden and that's where they went during the day. DSis still does this. MIL was absolutely shocked that DSis lets her dog be alone during the day.

I'm more shocked that SIL gets MIL and FIL to "dogsit" all day every day. She works from home and can't stand the idea of training the dog to learn "no" or to be on its own while she works. 🤪

And don't even get me started on dogs in pushchairs. Either walk your dog or take it home, don't cart it around like a bloody baby with no food or water while you prance about pretending you live on Instagram.

And your initial post says that no dog is born predisposed to anxiety. 😂

I'm sure one can make a dog reactive or stressed.
I have two dogs (and have had a few before). One is Mr Laid Back, quite bouncy in his youth (14 now) never met someone who wasn't a potential best friend.
My other dog (12) is Ms Anxiety. Not at all reactive or aggressive and is extremely obedient, but my goodness she cannot relax! If she's sitting with us and a cat wanders in she immediately gets all out of sorts until they all settle down again. The other dog barely notices. Should someone make a noise outside she's on high alert. The other one barely flicks an ear.
They are barely two years apart, similar but not identical breeds, brought up the same.
They just have different personalities.

I think sweeping generalisations are never helpful, but I completely agree that the current “accepted” way to raise dogs, e.g. not socialising them with other dogs, overthinking diet, never leaving them for any length of time and so on, is absolutely making rods for their own backs.

I’ve known some anxious dogs in my time but most of those are anxious as a result of poor or neglectful owners.