City Dogs, Urban Trauma (Stacking)

By Dr. Laura Donaldson, PhD, CDBC, KPA CTP.

City living is hard for dogs. Indeed, the myriad layers of noise, light, movement, vehicular traffic, people and smells of an urban environment offer the ultimate in trauma stacking*. Even getting inside or outside can be difficult because it usually requires an elevator ride or traversing a building’s staircase. Elevators, as a case in point, are small, confined spaces from which there are no escape routes, whose doors open and shut suddenly and whose up and down motion often precipitates feelings of nausea (or at least, butterflies in the stomach). With people and animals jammed closely together inside, a daily staple of urban life like an elevator can cause dogs to respond with avoidance behavior (“are you kidding? I’m not getting in that thing”) or barking and lunging at what must appear to them as a dangerous entity.

And then there is urban noise pollution. Imagine the noise levels accosting dogs from an average city street or even a high population residential building with very thin walls. We now know that canine hearing is much more acute than that of humans: dogs can detect sounds in the 40 kHz to 50 kHz spectrum whereas the maximum for humans is about half that (about 20 kHz). This puts dogs at substantial risk for noise distress issues (Garvey et.al, 2016), a vulnerability that urban environments exponentially multiply. A group of researchers, which included Dr. Temple Grandin, explored how noise acts as a powerful stressor for dogs, often leading to behavioral, physiological and neurobiological problems. For example, their study of kenneled dogs documented how elevated levels of noise-induced cortisol activated ear pain, immunosuppression, insulin resistance, disturbed sleep-wake cycles, cardiovascular diseases, catabolism (molecular decomposition) as well as intestinal problems (Coppola, Enns & Grandin, 2006). So what, you might ask, can we do to minimize such damaging sensory overload and traumatic stress for our city-dwelling canine partners?

Realistically, most of us lack the considerable economic resources it would take to renovate our residences with acoustic-dampening tiles or purchase a single building living unit in most urban areas. This is where and when management becomes your best friend. According to Juliana DeWillems in her excellent book, Manage It! Hacks for Improving Your Dog’s Behavior (2024), “management is meant to create a life where you immediately see less unwanted behavior from your dog. By rearranging your dog’s environment, you remove the cycle where the unwanted behavior occurs and you have to repeatedly jump in to stop your dog. With proper management in place, the unwanted behavior doesn’t even happen in the first place.” I want to offer a real-life case study of how management helped to heal Finn (not his real name), a dog who lived in a busy high-rise New York City apartment which he refused to leave.

The dog who refused to leave

Finn’s humans originally contacted me because this two-year-old labradoodle refused to leave the building in which he lived. Finn did eagerly exit his apartment and seemed “friendly and content in the lobby.” However, his humans reported that he nevertheless resisted leaving the building: “We often end up carrying him to try to kickstart the walk . . . We have tried patience, positive reinforcement, distraction, toys, bribes, changes in equipment—nothing really works.” Once Finn’s humans carried him outside, “he just sits and refuses to move in any direction.” Although an off-leash dog had attacked Finn when he was just a pup, the primary traumatizing agent here was the sheer blast of sounds, sights and smells unleashed by opening the door of his building and then venturing onto the city sidewalk. This is where management enabled Finn not only to feel deeply safe but also to exercise some agency in terms of deciding whether to interact with the environment. What precipitated this change? For Finn, it was what I call a Deep Safety Sensory Overwhelm Kit—and more particularly, the Portable Safe Space of a covered stroller.

While some issues of urban trauma require moving or stubbornly remain beyond our ability to resolve (I am thinking of irresponsible neighbors who let their dog accost mine every time we walked up or down the stairs), the Deep Safety Sensory Overwhelm Kit does not need acres of land or spacious residential areas to implement. For example, my dog’s kit consisted of noise dampening equipment (a 24” fan and a brown noise app playing through computer speakers), grounding pads, a weighted vest for calming and a Portable Safe Space (PSS). All these items are either free or available at a reasonable cost. Finn’s PSS was a pram, or stroller with an easily removeable top and good visual access to the outside. A setup like this offered him a protective barrier allowing him to navigate an intense urban milieu in his own time and space. When Finn wanted to engage, he could look out and interact with the environment; when he wanted a respite from engagement, he could duck into the back of the stroller or just lie down. The PSS worked brilliantly for Finn who, thanks to the stroller, was now able to leave his building with no issues.

Finn’s human communicated that her dog loved his pram: “I took him to the park in his pram again this afternoon and in spite of the fact that the streets were abuzz with people, police, limousines, squad cars flashing their lights, etc. . . . [Finn] was content for his whole ride.” If your dog has similar struggles, consider creating a personalized Deep Safety Sensory Overwhelm Kit. Sometimes management IS the best option.

Does this article resonate with you? If so, you can explore further! On Saturday, April 26^th from 11 am to 12:30 pm EDT and in partnership with EduCanine, I will be offering a deep dive webinar on “City Dogs: Urban Trauma.” Register now at https://educanine.thinkific.com/courses/citydogs-urbantrauma and help your dog navigate city life with confidence. Use the code “citydogs” (no quotation marks) to save $10 on the tuition fee.

Dr. Laura Donaldson, PhD, is a Professor Emeritus from Cornell University located Ithaca, New York, United States. She is an award-winning writer on dog behavior who has worked as a canine behavior specialist for 20 years. Laura is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC/IAABC) and a Karen Pryor Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP). She is also a Certified Trauma Professional. She created the very popular program, Slow Thinking is Lifesaving for Dogs® and given a number of online webinars as well as conference presentations. Laura currently lives in upstate New York (northeastern US) with her husband, working Border Collies, three cats, an African Gray parrot named Obi, her beloved Barred Plymouth Rock hens Thelma and Louise and a small flock of Navajo Churro sheep.

References

Coppola, C., Enns, R. & Grandin, T. (2006). Noise in the animal shelter environment: building design and the effects of daily noise exposure. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 9(1), 1-7.

DeWillems, J. (2024). Manage it! hacks for improving your dog’s behavior. Dogwise Publishing.

Garvey, M., Stella, J., & Croney, C. (2016). Auditory stress: implications for kenneled dog welfare. https://extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/va/va-18-w.pdf.