Like humans, dogs tend to feel a wide range of emotions and show us all sorts of behaviors. Now, when a pup lacks confidence, his fears may be translated as aggressive behavior. This manifestation can mean that your dog feels very insecure.
Insecure dogs may manifest a particular set of signs. These may be apparent when you meet them, or these insecurity signs may display after a while.
Either way, as a pet owner, you must know what signs to look for to identify if your dog is facing insecurity issues.
Pethelpful.com has mentioned the following signs of an insecure dog. If you are not sure about your pet’s behavior if it is insecurity, then check out this list:
Your pet often sits in a corner by himself
It is a general observation in insecure dogs. You will find them crouched by themselves. This is a position where your pup might feel the need to protect itself as it perceives everything as harmful.
Your dog growls when you get close
Aside from crouching by themselves in the corner, expect insecure dogs to growl at virtually anything they find threatening.
This may be conceived as both an offensive and defensive behavior of these fluffy animals.
Your dog often makes a submissive posture
A dog’s submissive posture is when they crouch into a small ball and have their ears folded back.
This provides us with body language saying that your pup is not very confident of his environment.
Your dog often urinates
When your dog urinates a lot, it may be due to various reasons. It may be due to accumulated stress due to his surroundings or even a medical condition. Make sure to identify which is which.
To make sure that you do not let your dog feel neglected during these episodes of insecurity, it would be best for you to follow the following tips.
According to Pethelpful.com, these tips can help you understand what to do if you notice some of the signs of insecure behavior on your pets.
- Avoid cuddling your pet when they are afraid. This may seem counterproductive, but as it was shown, cuddling your pet during their most dreaded time will enforce the wrong behavior. Try rewarding your pet when they act confident and bold.
- Slowly let your pup face their dreaded fears by safely exposing them to what they perceive as threats.
- Try to establish yourself as the pack leader so that you can show more trust with your pets and the environment around you.
Aside from these tips on helping an insecure dog, Wagwalking.com also mentioned essential safety tips.
- Make sure that you create a secure environment for your pet
- Try to be aware of instances where insecurity of your pet leads to aggression.
- It would be best to put a leash on your dog during walks
Insecure dogs, like any other cuddly pets, need the appropriate response to help them recover from what they are feeling.
Hopefully, this article gave you a glimpse of what you need to do the next time you see an insecure pup.
