Get help now
Some things need a person who can see your dog. Reading is not enough for them, and neither is a written plan. This page exists to send you to the right person quickly.
What means stop
- Aggression, or a bite
- Your dog has growled at, snapped at, lunged at or bitten a person or another dog. This includes a bite that did not break skin, and it includes growling at you.
- Severe fear or anxiety
- Trembling, hiding, panic, refusing to move, or distress that does not settle when the thing your dog is afraid of goes away.
- A sudden, unexplained change
- Behaviour that changed in days rather than weeks, with nothing in your dog's life to explain it. Sudden change warrants a veterinary examination.
- Suspected pain, or illness
- Pain often shows up as a change in behaviour rather than as an obvious limp. Irritability, restlessness, guarding a body part or a new reluctance to be touched all count.
- Anything dangerous
- A dog you cannot safely hold, a household where someone has been hurt or is frightened, or a situation you are managing by luck.
Where to find someone
Your own veterinarian, first
Every one of the categories above starts here, because the health question has to be answered before the behaviour question. Ask specifically for a pain and health work-up, and say what changed and when.
A qualified behaviour professional
For aggression, fear and separation-related behaviour, ask your veterinarian for a referral, and check credentials yourself in one of these directories. Choose someone who works with food and reinforcement, and who will tell you plainly what they will not do.
If someone has been hurt right now
Separate the dog and the person, in different rooms, before anything else. Get medical attention for the bite, and call your veterinarian the same day. Do not punish the dog after the fact: it makes the next warning less likely, not the next bite.
Directories change, and a listing is not a recommendation from us. Check the credential on the certifying body’s own site, and ask your veterinarian what they think of the person you found.
Where this comes from
Behaviour change is built with management plus reinforcement, and sudden behaviour change warrants a veterinary examination.
American Animal Hospital Association (2015). AAHA Canine and Feline Behavior Management Guidelines.
aaha.org
Pain frequently presents as a change in behaviour rather than as obvious lameness.
American Animal Hospital Association (2022). AAHA Pain Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats.
aaha.org
Punishment-based approaches are associated with fear, avoidance and defensive aggression.
American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (2007). Position Statement on the Use of Punishment for Behavior Modification in Animals.
avsab.org
Reward-based methods are recommended for training and behaviour change; aversive methods carry welfare and behavioural risk.
American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (2021). Position Statement on Humane Dog Training.
avsab.org
Coming back in is your choice to make, after a professional has seen your dog.