When Reactivity Was Pointing to Pain
A newly adopted Rough Collie, reactions to people that seemed to come “out of nowhere,” and the knee problem that took months of investigation to find.
The situation
His guardians had adopted Rana from a rescue only two weeks before our first consultation. He was described as a happy, approachable dog, but within those first weeks he started showing clear signs of discomfort around people and reacted to a stranger who approached him. To them the reaction seemed to come out of nowhere, with no obvious warning.
That wasn’t the only thing going on. Rana startled at everyday sounds like trains, blenders, the vacuum cleaner, suitcases and visitors, and the list of sounds that set him off kept growing. On walks he barked and lunged at people who approached unexpectedly or changed direction suddenly. At home he whined, paced and couldn’t settle, especially after meals. Once he was upset, he couldn’t bring himself back down.
The stakes
Less than three months into the adoption, his guardians were questioning whether keeping Rana was the right choice. They worried about how people on the street would react, about where his reactions might lead, and about whether they could give him what he needed. The future with Rana looked bleak to them.
Looking beyond the label
It would have been easy to call Rana “aggressive” and build a plan around that. I deliberately didn’t. His reactions looked defensive. He was trying to get distance from things that startled him, made him feel trapped, or that he couldn’t control. He wasn’t looking for conflict.
Some details didn’t fit a purely behavioral explanation. Rana had a sensitive stomach and was vomiting bile. The pacing and whining clustered around meals. His behavior got worse fast, and his bad days lined up with bouts of stomach upset. He had also been approached and attacked by off-leash dogs several times, and his behavior escalated after each of those episodes.
What we found
Investigation, not diagnosis
- Behavioral — his reactions were defensive and fear-based. Small stressors stacked up through the day, so by the time a reaction happened Rana was often already overloaded. Not being able to recover after a scare made everything after it harder.
- Environmental & relational — before the rescue, Rana had spent most of his life confined to two bedrooms with very little contact with people. Then came the stress of rehoming, and repeated attacks by off-leash dogs.
- Guardians — his guardians were very knowledgeable about dog behavior. But when it’s your own dog at stake, it can be hard to see the forest for the trees, and being so close to the situation made it even harder, in spite of everything they knew. Understandably, worry sometimes led to more control, which could add to Rana’s stress.
- Physical — the stomach problems came first. Rana’s GI signs improved once he was on the right diet. But sudden behavior changes kept happening, so we kept pushing for answers.
Local vets were reluctant to accept that Rana’s behavior could be linked to physical discomfort; they saw it as a training problem. So I brought in a behavior professional experienced with aggression cases and a veterinary behaviorist. The veterinary behaviorist identified an abnormal gait. X-rays then showed fluid and mild arthritic changes in both knees. Rana had been living with pain no one had been looking for.
The plan
Safety came first: muzzle training, walks at quiet times on back streets, more distance from triggers, and asking other dog owners not to approach. Rana always had an escape route, and his guardians practiced calling him away the moment they saw he was uncomfortable.
Then we built skills he could use instead of lunging: emergency U-turns, engage/disengage, Look At That, hand targets, hand magnet, “find it,” and rewards for checking in voluntarily. We added gentle noise desensitization, a doorbell routine, and relaxation work (Karen Overall’s Relaxation Protocol) to help him recover after a scare. Sniffing walks in the woods and time with collies he liked gave him room to just be a dog.
A big part of the work was with his guardians. Together, we set labels aside and looked at each incident in detail: what happened before, where they were, what Rana’s body was doing. One conversation turned the case around. I asked them to name three things they loved about Rana. They couldn’t stop at seven.
When the pain was confirmed, the plan shifted. Rana started physiotherapy and better pain management, alongside the behavior work.
Where they are now
Rana now goes on ordinary walks without the level of management he once needed. He can ride public transport and settle in local cafés. He used to bark when his guardians stopped at traffic lights or to chat with someone; both have improved a lot. His guardians say pain management made the biggest difference of all. The flare-ups they still see line up with changes in his pain care, which helps them make sense of them.
His guardians now read his body language, spot when he’s close to his limit, and step in early without needing me. They send me photos and videos of Rana living the life they pictured when they adopted him.
What this proves
Treating Rana’s reactions as just an aggression problem would have meant months of training against pain no one had found. Looking at the whole dog, including his history, his stomach, his body, his environment and his people, is what moved this case forward.
Rana is still a dog with his own triggers and limits. Other dogs are what we’re working on now, and his knee is still being looked after. I would never promise his guardians that he won’t react again. What changed is that they understand why he reacts, they can see it coming, and they trust him again. They no longer see his limits as obstacles, just part of who he is.
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