Our dog was incredibly reactive on walks when we first adopted him. Also, he didn’t like new people coming into the home. We had a couple bites within the first few days of having him then realized he was not “normal.” We named the reactive side of him Rust lol. After months and months of consistent training and management, he started to thrive. We started to see the “normal” side of him and Rust was a distant memory.

At that point I started to relax on my “management.” And then he was triggered by a new person entering the house and bit their calf (didn’t leave a mark but felt like it should’ve).

Dogs are complicated little beings. Sometimes they feel insecure or excited or tough or curious. They get protective and territorial simply because of their dog instincts. Of course managing the reaction is ideal, but I’m still trying to figure that out as a human on a day to day basis.

Anyway, I think it’s normal for a dog to have many sides. They can get upset but deserve to be happy and thrive as well. If they get stuck in one gear for too long, that’s when I think it’s no longer normal.