Monday, July 6, 2009

Tenacity.

I don't know if people realize that dogs (animals of any kind really) are tenacious to a very alarming degree. I often hear people say, "Won't he stop pulling on the leash when he realizes that he's choking himself [and that is uncomfortable or painful]?" The answer is "no."

If an animal wants something or is motivated by high drive or worse, anxiety or fear, they will do anything to get to the goal they have in their mind. This goal may be harmful to the dog but they will endure the pain to get to the end result.

I've met dogs who have eaten through metal, sheetrock and have broken teeth and bled profusely in order to get to their desired location. In these situations the dogs were highly nervous and anxious to get out of an enclosed room or enclosure and took whatever measure they had to in order to get out. The sheetrock was amazing. You looked from one side of a wall through the wall to the other room just like someone got a giant sledge hammer and just knocked a hole in the wall!

So if you have a dog that is nervous, scared or has high anxiety for some reason you are best to try to help the dog through it (if you need professional help get it!) so that your dog won't harm himself. Dog's don't care about pain. Animals can endure quite a bit of pain, unlike humans, before they will stop something if they really have their mind set on something. This is primarily true when fear is driving the force.

Here is a story about a dog who was so afraid of fireworks (not uncommon at all) that he escaped a pretty highly secure fence to get away from the racket on the 4th of July.

No comments:

Post a Comment