Being Our Pet's Advocate When It Comes to Pain
In many ways our thinking about dogs as our pets has evolved immensely. I loved hearing Professor Tim Lewis who wrote “Biology of Dogs” say his 3rd dog, a border collie named Grommet converted him “from a dog owner to a dog partner, dog lover. Grommet fundamentally changed the importance from, “Yeah, you can be in my house” to “What do you need? You need us to…? You need a different yard? We can get a different yard. The car’s gotta be a little bigger to hold you? We can do that.”
I’d love for this evolution to continue as we think of dogs and greater sensitivity that they might be experiencing pain. A seminal article (Mills et al, 2020) written by veterinary behaviorists from the UK, Canada, and the US examined their cases and reported at least one third of the referrals to their behavior clinics had an underlying issue of pain and in some cases, it was as high as 80%. Acute and chronic pain from dermatological, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal disease processes can manifest as behavioral changes in dogs and cats. Research by Lopes Fagundes et al (2018) has shown, for example, that noise phobias can develop as a result of underlying pain.
There is also a growing understanding of the gut–brain connection. Dr. Ballantyne reports (2025) that “Gastrointestinal (GI) diseases are among the most common causes or contributing factors to the behavioral challenges we encounter in our veterinary behavior practice. In fact, in some of our canine and feline patients, a behavior change is their ONLY symptom of their GI disease.” Some of the most common behavior complaints seen in dogs and cats can stem from GI discomfort; these behaviors include: resource guarding, impulsiveness and hyper-arousal, difficulty coping with frustration, bouts of pacing, panting, trembling or restlessness without a clear trigger, repetitive behaviors like staring, fly-snapping, excessive licking, gagging, hyper grooming or sitting or standing in odd postures.
The relationship between pain and behavior is likely complex. Mills et al (2020) report it tends to show up in one of three ways:
Pain is the primary cause for the behavior problem
Unidentified pain is causing some aspect of a complex behavior problem
Pain is exacerbating one or more symptoms of the behavior problem
Unfortunately adding to the complexity of figuring out if there is a physical or structural problem causing pain, our pet is likely to hide gait abnormalities when experiencing a high level of fear, anxiety, and stress at their vet visit. Here’s where the ease of taking videos with your phone can come in handy in order to capture how your dog moves in the comfort of their natural environment; you are more likely to see subtle gait abnormalities and lameness that can then be shared with your vet.
There is growing awareness of pain related to aging with terrific resources like the Canine Arthritis Resources and Education. Far too often pet parents tell me “my dog still loves to go for walks” and I have no doubt that they do, but they fail to see how going on the length of walk that they did at a younger age results in their dog having difficulty getting up the next day or being more stiff.
If you feel this topic relates to your pet, I encourage you to talk with your vet. You can reach out to a behavior consultant like myself who is trained to conduct a structural and posture assessment. Being in pain sucks. I hope we can learn to be better advocates and guardians to support our pets especially if the pain is invisible and they can’t tell us where it hurts.
Cheers, Tracy
Mills, DS, et al. (2020). Pain and Problem Behavior in Cats and Dogs, Animals, 10(2), 318
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/2/318
Lopes Fagundes, AL, et al. (2018). Noise sensitivities in dogs: an exploration of signs in dogs with and without musculoskeletal pain using qualitative content analysis." Frontiers in Veterinary Science 5:17. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2018.00017/full
Dr. Kelly Ballantyne, (July 10, 2025), Is Your Pet’s Gut Making Them Moody? The Gut–Brain Connection and Common GI Signs that People Miss & Dismiss
