08/27/2026
This is me on the floor doing my physical therapy exercises while my pup, Indy, does her best to keep me company.
I’m sharing the picture because the story relates to dog training and how easy it is to draw conclusions about our dogs’ behavior.
Like when a happy-go-lucky pup suddenly starts slinking away when we go to clip on the leash and we decide “she’s being defiant”.
Or perhaps our typically friendly dog growls and snaps when someone reaches to pet and say hello and we determine “he’s becoming aggressive”.
So often we are quick to assign an intentional motive to our dog’s behavior.
But what if we’re wrong?
Earlier this summer, I was teaching my Dog Camp workshop. I was having a wonderful time with the group, but behind the scenes I was pretty miserable (and grumpy!) My family knew I was popping ibuprofen like Skittles to keep moving through the weekend but the audience wasn’t aware until I decided to use the situation as a teaching moment.
I asked the group to guess, on a scale of 1–10, how much pain they thought I was experiencing at that moment in time and where they thought it was coming from.
There were a few guesses—a stiff neck, perhaps some back problems acting up but no one was really able to see any significant problem.
I was dealing with a lot of knee pain that was radiating up into my hip and down into my shin. I had never had knee problems so had no idea what was happening or why.
When I finally got to a doctor he said the knee looked fine and recommended physical therapy for a suspected IT band issue.
A couple weeks later I met with the physical therapist. He watched me walk and had me perform a few simple movements and within minutes, he recognized things that neither I nor my doctor had identified.
The problem wasn't originating in my knee or the IT band. It was all due to a compensation pattern that had developed from an old injury. Over time, that pattern had caused my hip to subluxate which had a ripple effect on everything else.
I knew something was wrong.
I could feel something was wrong.
But to the untrained eye, it wasn't all that obvious.
So how does this all relate to dogs?
Well…
How often do we assume our dog is being stubborn, defiant, naughty, or "acting out" when there might be another explanation?
What if the happy-go-lucky pup has an ear or bladder infection and just doesn’t feel well?
What if the friendly dog jammed his neck and shoulder jumping out of the truck or has an abscessed tooth and doesn’t want to be touched?
Dogs don't always display obvious signs of discomfort. Just because they "look fine" doesn't necessarily mean they 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 fine.
I'm not saying that challenging, pushy or dominate behavior doesn’t exist. But before assigning an intentional motive, particularly to a sudden change in behavior, consider whether there might be something physically going on that is the root problem.
And if you can't figure it out, get another set of eyes to take a look. It may take someone with more expertise to see what isn’t obvious to you.
After all, that's exactly what my physical therapist did. Because he has a particular area of expertise in gait analysis, he found what neither me, nor my doctor did.
The good news is that my hip is now being "trained" to stay in place. And Indy is very good at supervising my homework. 😂
