Untreated Pain kills

Text across top: When pain is overlooked in a dog using aggressive behavior. Image: House with his head cocked to the side, with side eye and sarcastic open mouth expression. Text across bottom: Treating for wrong diagnoses can have side effects… like death

Diminished quality of life is not the only way pain can lead to a dog's death. ⁣
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Pain can:⁣
1) Cause aggression directly,⁣
2) Exacerbate existing aggression, ⁣
3) Make it difficult to tease apart the function of aggression in different contexts. ⁣
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Dogs who repeatedly use aggressive behavior are more likely to be:⁣
1) Rehomed or surrendered. ⁣
2) Subjected to abusive training methods. ⁣
3) Subsequently euthanized for too many bites. ⁣
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Pain undoubtedly contributes to negative emotional states. However, irritability is not the primary cause of aggression in painful dogs. ⁣
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Aggression is like limping:⁣
• Pain exists to tell the body something is wrong, do something about it to prevent it. ⁣
• Aggression prevents pain caused by people and other dogs. ⁣
• Preventing pain is important, therefore sensitization is fast. ⁣
- You only need to step on a sprained ankle once or twice, before you limp without thinking about it. ⁣
- A painful dog only needs one or two exposures for aggression to happen earlier in a situation & with less cognitive effort.⁣
• Engaging in compensatory behaviors long-term leads to additional suffering. ⁣
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It would be cruel to force someone to walk on a sprained ankle without limping - even if you used positive reinforcement. And if you talk to people who refuse to adequately care for sprained ankles, we will tell you they're permanently fucked. ⁣
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It's equally cruel to approach pain related aggression with training, even if you use positive reinforcement. Additionally, long-term you a creating a ticking time bomb. Dogs cannot suppress their pain forever. ⁣