Does your dog easily startle when sleeping, resting, or lying down? Perhaps your startled dog snaps at you or growls at another dog who has disturbed them. This behavior is likely due to touch sensitivity, and can happen to dogs of all ages. In this blog, we will discuss touch sensitivity behaviors so you can better understand “Why does my dog startle so easily while sleeping?”.
What is touch sensitivity?
Touch sensitivity is when a dog is overly sensitive to being touched. A dog may show signs of aggression or fear when touched, particularly in sensitive areas such as their ears, paws, head, and rear.
Touch sensitive behaviors will often get worse as a dog gets older and if the behavior is not addressed. A touch sensitive dog may become reactive, avoidant, or aggressive when:
- Having their collar or harness put on or off
- Being grabbed or pulled by the collar
- Being bumped or moved after lying down, including on your bed or couch.
- Having vets examine them or having a grooming appointment
Now that we have discussed what touch sensitivity is, let’s discuss why a dog has developed this behavior.
Why can your dog startle easily because of touch sensitivity?
Limited socialization as a puppy
- There are many risk factors that can influence a puppy developing touch sensitivity behaviors, including being:
- Raised with few or no litter mates
- Housed in tight quarters, such as a cage in a puppy mill
- Taken from their litter at too young of an age
History of abuse and neglect
Sadly, adult dogs, especially rescue dogs, can have a history of abuse and neglect that can influence touch sensitivity behaviors. Some examples of this abuse can include being kicked or having things thrown at them.
Medical conditions that cause pain and discomfort
Senior dogs can be touch sensitive due to medical conditions that cause pain and discomfort, such as arthritis. You should always recommend taking your dog see your veterinarian if you suspect medical conditions are causing discomfort and pain.
Harsh training techniques
Harsh training techniques can often be harmful to the dog and cause touch sensitive behaviors. These techniques may be used to assert dominance over the dog, such as by pinning them to the ground, using shock collars, and throw chains.
Behavior modification training can effectively address touch sensitivity behaviors
If you notice early signs of resource guarding or touch sensitivity in your puppy, the best thing you can do is contact a local animal behaviorist. Touch sensitivity behaviors are not behaviors that your puppy will typically grow out of. They tend to worsen as your puppy matures, so it’s best to get that behavior treated while your puppy is still young.
At Beyond the Dog, we treat touch sensitivity with a combination of classical conditioning and positive reinforcement, including teaching specific obedience behaviors. You can contact our Pet Behavior Team for a free consultation, where we can chat with you and provide a personalized recommendation that meets your needs. We recommend you check out our puppy training blog or our Tik Tok channel.
Beyond the Dog offers board-and-train programs and virtual training programs to clients in Tampa Bay and to clients nationwide. While our Tampa Bay location offers personalized one-on-one training sessions, including training at your home and local Tampa neighborhood
We use scientifically proven training methods, backed by over 20 years of hands-on experience. Beyond the Dog Tampa Bay is led by our co-founders, Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage, a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) and Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and Sean Savage, a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA).
