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Zoey, the Knowledge Keeper of the Pack, outside the reading room

21 · CASE

The territorial, insecure dog

He charges the gate, then backs away. Tell territory from frustration, then build his confidence and take the guarding off him, from his corner to the lift.

  • 31 min read
  • 17 figures
  • In the book
Text

A dog stands at a balcony grille watching a man and a dog pass below, chest pushed forward but tail low and weight back, while his person folds clothes inside.

You know this dog. Maybe he lives with you. He sits on the balcony all afternoon, and every dog that goes by below gets barked at, and every stranger. When somebody comes to the gate he charges it. And then, sometimes, at the very moment you think he is about to go for someone, he turns and backs away, and you see that he is frightened.

Families find this confusing. Is he brave or is he scared? He is both. There are two things in him at the same time. One is territory: he has decided that this house, this gate, this balcony is his, and that it is his job to guard it. The other is insecurity: he is not at all sure he is able to. So he charges, because the place is his, and he backs off, because he is afraid. In my experience this is the dog who bites the most, and that is why it is so important to work with him, and to understand him before you do.

Two panels inside a society compound, the gate shut between the dog and the lane. The dog rears against the bars, barking at a man walking past outside. A moment later, as the man turns to look, the dog slinks away from the gate, low, tail down, worried., open the figure larger
Two things in one dog. He charges the gate because the gate is his. A moment later, though the man outside has only turned to look, he is slinking away from it, low and worried, because he is not sure he can hold it. Territory and fear, a second apart.

Families end up frustrated with this dog. The neighbours complain, nobody can come over without worry, and slowly the relationship goes bad. It is not his fault. It is a gap in our understanding. Many dogs are born territorial, and many are born sensitive. When nobody understands that, the territory grows and the sensitivity turns into insecurity, and you get the dog on the balcony. Understood, both can be tuned down.

First, is it territory?

Before you do anything, make sure it is territory. Not every dog with his tail up and his hackles up is territorial.

In our course, the group once watched a video together. A dog was being walked back towards his building, and as he came near the ramp he changed completely. Tail up, hackles up, growling, snapping at his own leash, going for one man. Everybody in the group had an answer straight away. Territorial. He is nearing his house, and he is guarding it.

I could not make sense of it. So we looked at the rest of the account, every video, and the story turned around.

With other dogs he was a sweet, happy-go-lucky dog. He played. With other people he was fine. He had a problem with exactly one person, the man in the videos, and the videos showed why. The man teased him. He loomed over him, raised his hand over him, walked at him, made him growl for the camera, and from the look of it had been doing that since the dog was a puppy. The dog had no wish to bite him. Some dogs are like that: biting a person is their very last option and they will not take it, so they put all of it on something else, the leash, a pillow, the door. But he was frustrated with that one man right through.1

Two panels. The dog plays easily with two other dogs in the lane. Then, near his own building, he stands stiff with his hackles up, growling at one young man who leans over him with a hand raised., open the figure larger
Same dog, two scenes. With the other dogs in the lane he is easy and loose. Near his own building, with the one man who has teased him since he was a puppy leaning over him, he is stiff, hackles up, growling. It looks like territory. It is frustration with one person.

That dog is not territorial, and he is not insecure. Treat him as territorial and you will ruin him. Nothing needed to be done to him at all. Something needed to be done about the man.

You will not see a case that extreme at home, but you will see smaller ones all the time, made by love rather than teasing. A dog who growls when you walk towards him while he is lying down. A dog who snaps when someone bends over him. So before you call it territory, ask about his puppyhood. Did somebody keep lying down next to him while he slept, or hugging him tight, or picking him up and kissing his face? Did somebody step on him in the dark once? Did the children in the society, the housing complex you live in, all run at him when he was small while we stood there too embarrassed to say no? Did anyone ever hit him? Each of these leaves a dog touchy about movement towards him, and it looks a lot like guarding.

Two panels. A woman lies on the floor hugging a sleeping puppy tight, and his eyes open wide. In a society compound, five children run at the crouching puppy with their arms out while the woman stands back, not stopping them., open the figure larger
Made by love, not by teasing. The hug while he sleeps, the children all running at him while we stand there too embarrassed to say no. Each one leaves a dog touchy about movement towards him, and it looks a lot like guarding.

And sometimes it is only that he has too much energy in him. One of our students brought us a dog who would jump at the new wife's legs as she went towards the bedroom, and snap at the door, the sofa, whoever was nearby. He had bitten nearly everyone in that house, he guarded his food, and a small child there laughed when he growled. The family was sure it was territory. He was getting ten or fifteen minutes of walking a day. He was frustrated, and a new person with bangles and swaying clothes, carrying things out of the room, was more than he could put up with. The family started an hour's walk morning and evening and gave him a corner. That is where the work began. Until it is done, a child in a house like that stays away from the dog and is never left with him.

Two panels. In a flat, a dog leaps and snaps at the legs of a young bride with bangles and a swinging dupatta as she carries folded clothes to the bedroom. Then, in a lane at dawn, a young man walks the same dog briskly on a short leash, the dog trotting beside him, easy., open the figure larger
The family was sure it was territory. He was getting ten or fifteen minutes of walking a day, and a new person with bangles and swaying clothes was more than he could take. An hour's walk, morning and evening, is where the work began.

So investigate before you decide. The moment you are sure you have worked a dog out from one video or one evening, your mind closes, and nothing new comes in after that. And if it started suddenly, in a dog who used to be easy, take him to the vet first. Pain makes a dog guard.

The rest of chapter 21 is in the book

Chapters 01 to 03 are free to read. The other 21 chapters cover, in order:

  • The rest of the Foundation
  • The Six Rituals
  • When Something Is Wrong

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