Where issues start

Every first call I have ever taken starts with one word.

He is aggressive. She is anxious. He is hyper. She is scared of scooters. He is obsessed with the crows on the balcony. The word is said like a diagnosis, the name of something the dog has, the way a person has diabetes, and the family waits to hear the treatment.

In all my years of houses I have heard eight of those words, more or less. Aggression, of two kinds. Hyperactivity. Anxiety, and separation anxiety. Obsession and fixation. Phobia. Low self-esteem. If your dog's issue is behavioural, it is on that list.

And here is what I have said on every one of those calls, before anything else. None of those words is the issue. Each one is a symptom. Chapter 01 said this about aggression: if someone has malaria and a headache, nobody treats the headache. This chapter says it about all eight, so that you can look at your own dog and see what is underneath the word you have been using for him.¹

One thing before any of this. A dog who changes suddenly, who starts growling when he is touched, who cannot settle, who licks or chews at himself, or who is frightened of things that never bothered him, may be in pain or unwell. Pain is behind more aggression than people think, and a dog who has had surgery, or is in heat, or is under stress, will growl more. So the first stop for any new issue is your vet, and only then this book. If there has been a bite, or someone in the house is afraid of him, or there are children living with him, get one of my pros to stand beside you while you work. The ones taking cases are on ohmydog.rocks/pros.

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Underneath every word

When a dog's needs are not met, three things build up in him. Frustration, insecurity and nervousness. Those three are the issue. The eight words are what they look like from the outside, depending on which dog they are building up in and what the house does when they show.

The needs you know by now. Exercise, discipline, affection, in that order. Cesar Millan put it in those three words and I have never found a better order. Affection is the one families give in abundance, because it is our own need most of all, and the other two are the ones they miss.

So the question on every call is never what is the treatment for aggression. It is which need is missing, which state is being nurtured, and which dog is this happening to.