So What Makes a Dog Sensitive to Touch?
If your dog is sensitive to touch, you are likely struggling with an issue that has many negative repercussions. How can you safely have him examined by a veterinarian? How can you trim his nails? What if you need to insert eardrops to medicate an ear infection? How can you take him on walks if putting on the collar or harness leads to a struggle which can even put you at risk?
These are all things dog owners should be able to do with their dogs, but yet your dog rebels to this and maybe has even shown a serious intent to harm. Why is your dog reacting this way? And most of all, what can you do about it?
Many dog owners assume that dogs who dont allow their owners to touch them, restrain them or handle their feet, are dogs who are “dominant.”
While it is true that traditionally, several years back, dominance has been believed to be the underlying cause for aggression directed towards the owner, newer research has revealed that dogs arent vying for a hierarchy as we thought.
In reality, dogs relationships with people are not established by dominant/submissive social signaling; but are rather the result of several other factors, explain veterinary behaviorists Dr. Gary Landsberg and Sagi Denenberg.
Relationships with humans are therefore established as a result of genetics, early handling and socialization, and through experiences, as a result of learning and consequences. The dog dominance theory has therefore been debunked courtesy of new research.
The outdated dog dominance theory has caused many negative repercussions on the dog and dog owner relationship and some may still persist nowadays.
As a result of dogs being labeled as “dominant,” dog owners were often directed to establish themselves as higher ranking over the dog through the use of a variety of tactics (always eating before the dog, staring at the dog until the dog looked away, spitting in dog food bowls, etc) and several punishment-based tactics (alpha rolls, scruff shakes, hitting the dog).
With time though, it was discovered that such punishment-based tactics led to an escalation of the dogs aggressive responses.
According to a study conducted by veterinary behaviorists Dr. Meghan Herron, and Ilana Reisner, the impact of harsh confrontational techniques was demonstrated through some interesting statistics, which come to prove that when owners utilize such harsh methods, dogs respond with more aggression.
More precisely, just to get an idea, 43 percent of dogs responded with aggression when being hit or kicked, 39 percent reacted to an alpha roll, 38 percent responded aggressively to having an owner grab their mouth and take out an object forcefully and 26% percent responded defensively when given a scruff shake.
These methods have in common that they involve some level of “touch” or physical contact: dogs are kicked, forcefully rolled onto their back, forcefully grabbed to remove something from their mouth and forcefully shaken.
What does this tell us? It tells us that dogs are likely to come to learn that touch leads to negative experiences, triggering defensive aggression or a sense of perceived threat that may generalize to other circumstances such as when dog owners must reach for the dogs collar, medicate a wound or trim the dogs nails.
Of course, dogs who are sensitive to touch arent created equally as if made with a cookie-cutter. Not all dogs who are sensitive to touch have endured any of the above treatments. Actually, to the contrary, many dogs who are touch-sensitive are dogs who are loved and have a history of living with caring owners.
So what can cause a dog to be touch-sensitive? The following are several possible causes to consider.
Not all dogs sensitive to touch are created equally.
Signs a Dog Is Sensitive to Touch
Dogs may show a variety of signs suggesting they are sensitive to touch. These signs may include the following:
Did You Know?
Dogs show whats known as a cutaneous trunci reflex, also known as panniculus reflex, when they are touched along the spine. The skin twitch observed in this area is likely a defensive mechanism to remove foreign bodies or insects, explains veterinarian Dr. Deb.
Why does my dog yelp when I touch his back?
Your pet may yelp if they’re uncomfortable with the presence of a stranger petting him. Another possible reason is that your dog is suffering from separation anxiety. If you’ve been out for a vacation, the dog’s reaction may be a combination of excitement and stress because they haven’t seen you for a long time.