Behavior Problems Are the #1 Terminal Illness in Dogs
Common problems like house soiling, destructive chewing, excessive barking, and home-alone behavior can have devastating consequences—but they are also predictable, preventable, and often surprisingly easy to resolve.
When people think about serious threats to a dog’s life, they usually think about diseases like parvovirus, cancer, or heart disease.
But Dr. Ian Dunbar argues that ordinary behavior problems may be an even greater threat.
Dogs are surrendered, confined, abandoned, and euthanized every day because they pee in the house, destroy furniture, bark excessively, or cannot cope when left alone.
The tragedy is that these behaviors are not rare, mysterious, or unexpected. They are normal dog behaviors being expressed in ways that people find unacceptable.
And in all of these cases, the solution is not harsher punishment of the undesirable behavior. It is to predict the behavior, prevent mistakes, and teach the dog what to do instead.