Lizzie is a Patterdale Staffie mix. Her previous owners split up and Lizzie has now lived in her new home for four weeks. She used to live with another dog.
She is a quiet little dog. She also seems a rather worried little dog. She is only three years old and it would be nice if she was a bit more carefree.
Lizzie sometimes seems to shake with fear for no apparent reason. When her very loving gentle owners come home she sometimes cowers slightly. She has peed. She may lie on the floor and wriggle appeasingly towards them – especially the man.
Being touched
In the time I was there Lizzie looked asleep but you could tell by her ears she wasn’t really relaxed. She likes to jump on the people and to sit on them but while being stroked she was yawning and licking her lips – classic signs of unease.
By reading her body language, her people can learn when to just let her be near them without constantly petting her. A little gentle tickle from time to time seemed to work best.
We assume that because our dogs like to be beside or on us that they want to be petted, but this isn’t necessarily so. We also assume they jump onto us and even walk all over us because they love us. Just sometimes this is the case, not always. A dog does not necessarily jump onto us because it wants tactile affection.
Constant petting may even be telling our dog that we are needy which is a big sign of weakness and no good to the dog at all.
Playing a little hard to get can be a good thing! It’s very hard for us humans to resist a lot of touching of our dogs – they do feel so nice!
Other dogs
Lizzie is increasingly showing wariness of other dogs. This may just be because, having had time to settle in her new home, her true traits are now coming to the fore; it may also be because with ‘weak’ owners she feels unprotected.
She is very submissive as soon as she sees a bigger dog but may grab smaller dogs by the neck and try to dominate them. The incidents are increasing.
Lizzie’s behaviour with other dogs is the only behaviour that actually impacts upon them, but this case is a good example of how nothing can be taken in isolation and is part of a bigger picture.
Lizzie needs to be more confident at home, more confident in her owners’ ‘leadership’ (I may now call this ‘parenting’) and generally more chilled. In a less stressed and more confident state of mind, she will then be better equipped to face the big outside world and other dogs with confidence.
