Let Them Be Hound Dogs: 4 Lessons

I have a soft spot for hound dogs, especially beagles. I’ve learned many valuable life lessons just by observing my two beagles: Kona, who’s eight years old and Huckleberry (Huck) who’s a year old. However, my biggest insight, with respect to healing anxiety, has been through training them.

My older dog, Kona, has always been a “reactive” dog. While he’s super sweet at home and is great with my kids, he’s very difficult to take on walks because he flips out (barking and lunging) whenever another person or dog walks past us. Even though he’s never hurt another dog or person, walking him in the neighborhood or on hiking trails is very embarrassing. At home, he’s also hypervigilant, barking at people, animals, and sometimes cars that pass by our house.

My husband and I have taken Kona to multiple dog trainers to help him with his reactivity. While we learned a lot with each of the previous trainers, their techniques did more to suppress his behavior rather than fully resolving his core reactivity issue.

Then last year we adopted our beagle, Huck, who was one of 4,000 beagles rescued from a facility in Virginia that bred beagles for pharmaceutical testing. Because of Huck’s trauma and Kona’s reactivity, we sought out a new trainer (who was recommended by our vet) to help us acclimate our two dogs. However, now that Huck and Kona seem to be friends, we’ve noticed that Huck is becoming reactive too. While Huck is picking up good behaviors from Kona, he’s also picking up some problematic ones too.

Reactivity

To nip Huck’s reactivity in the bud and to help Kona, we enrolled in our new trainer’s “Reactive Rover” class. This class was surprisingly unique compared to the other dog training classes I had already taken. Instead of learning a bunch of commands to control my dogs, I learned how to work with my dog and eliminate many reactive situations and manage the others. In summary, I learned how to honor who my dogs are. Below are the four highlights from the dog reactivity training.

1.     Of the six total classes, only two were in person with our dogs. The four virtual classes were for the us, the dog owners, where we learned tools and techniques to help train our reactive dogs. Knowing our dogs’ needs and being prepared for them helped us to curb their reactivity. Having the training plan and materials in place ahead of time ensured our dogs’ success when we brought them to the in-person training.  

2.     I learned that once a dog has a reactive episode it takes three days for their bodies to resume their natural states. This means it takes three days for their adrenaline and cortisol to lower. By limiting their exposure to reactive triggers, in our home and outside our home, we’re creating a new and calming baseline for them. Controlling certain variables in our home and their environment helps to rewire their nervous system so that they’re no longer in a perpetual reactive state. For example, we have put velum on the bottom parts of our windows so our dogs can’t see people walking by.  We also started taking our dogs out for walks at night, when there is less of a chance of seeing another person or dog.

3.     We learned the history of different dogs, what they were bred to do, and how this impacts their behavior. Beagles are pack dogs who were bred to track down rabbits. Their true nature is to roam wide areas with their noses to the ground, allowing certain scents to lead them. We also learned that of all the dog breeds, hound dogs were one of the last breeds to become domesticated and live indoors. For years, beagles were kept outside.

4.     I learned that our dogs need opportunities to do what they were bred to do in order to build their confidence and give them autonomy. For this we used an app called Sniff Spot, where you can rent someone’s fenced-in backyard for around ten dollars an hour. During this time, our dogs can run around freely and sniff to their hearts content. Both of my dogs are more relaxed after spending time at a Sniff Spot.

After our Reactive Rover class we had a private consultation with our trainer, updating her with our progress. We also wanted to ask her a question – should we build a fence for our backyard? Although we had a big backyard, we had resisted building a fence because we didn’t want to become complacent and stop walking our dogs.

“YES! Build the fence!” she immediately answered, almost shouting at us. She prescribed we build a fence so our dogs can have their own Sniff Spot at home. She said beagles are not meant to be walked on leashes. They need autonomy and opportunities to engage their noses.  Roaming around our backyard will now be their exercise. She finished up by saying, “Let them be hound dogs, for your sanity and theirs.” My husband and I left our dog training session feeling like a massive boulder had been taken off our shoulders.

Anxiety

With this experience training my dogs, I couldn’t help but see the parallels with anxiety. Their reactivity is not too different from our anxiety. At times, anxiety can feel as if we too are living with shock collars around our necks, shocking us into submission every time we try to live our truths. Instead, we also need autonomy and freedom to live our lives on our own terms. Below are how each of the four highlights from dog reactivity training apply to anxiety.

1.     To heal anxiety, we must also set ourselves up for success. We need to put ourselves in situations that ensure anxiety isn’t triggered so that we can begin to rewire our brains to be less reactive. Every experience where we mitigate or significantly reduce anxiety is a positive experience for our bodies, minds, and souls. My blog, Your Needs First, goes into more detail about how to set ourselves up for success with the tools and techniques we need.

2.     Setting ourselves up for success also helps to break the damaging adrenaline cycle that’s perpetuating anxiety. After understanding that it takes dogs three days for their bodies to regulate after a reactive episode, it becomes clear that we also need time to calm our bodies so that our nervous and endocrine systems can heal and rebalance. My blog, Anxiety and the Adrenaline Cycle, describes the cyclical relationship between anxiety and adrenaline.

3.     There are narratives that we’re highly encouraged to adhere to that dictate what we “should” be doing, how we “should” feel, and how we “should” live our lives. These narratives are creating anxiety for us because they’re not our truth. Just as not all dogs are meant to go on leashed walks, not all narratives are right for us. Our truth is who we were born to be, not who others want us to be.

4.     Give ourselves permission to roam free, to put our needs first, create our own narratives, and unearth who we are born to be. Release the need for acceptance and approval from others and instead accept and approve of ourselves. Living our truth is the path to healing anxiety.

For years I hid my true self out of fear of judgment, derision, and shame. I tried for too long to be who others wanted me to be. When other people made it clear that who I was at my core was not OK, I believed them. I held off on my dreams and ambitions. I silenced my needs. And I hid my anxiety as much as I could. I abandoned my true self because of other people’s narratives, and my anxiety worsened. By stepping into the most authentic version of myself, my inner hound dog, my anxiety is healing.

My family and I are building a fence. It’s grueling work, but so worth it. This fence will give my family and I and our dogs the freedom that we crave. I can’t wait to see our dogs happily running around our yard doing what hound dogs do.

Look for my book Bold Trust – 6 Steps to Unravel the Long-Term Effects of Gaslighting, Unapologetically Trust Yourself, and Heal Anxiety which will be available this fall.