I’m writing this as a response I got from a dog owner. They asked me to define a dog. What is a dog?
When you look at your dog, what do you see? An intelligent animal capable of thought, emotion, choice etc? Or just an animal? Society needs to step back and try to understand the dog. They are amazing creatures. We spend alot of time in dog parks. It’s hands down the best therapy you can get, nothing like dogs to make you feel good. I love animal behaviour and it’s a great place to watch it – humans and dogs.
When you can go look in the mirror and understand the animal staring back at you – the dog becomes easy. Your dog is your mirror, a reflection of the animal that you are. I’m not afraid of dogs – it doesn’t mean they can’t scare me in the moment. I’m not scared of people – doesn’t mean they can’t scare me in the moment. It’s not hard to figure out the animal.
When I first meet a dog, the animal that I am asks a simple question. What would it take to put the animal that I am into the same mental state the dog is in? It doesn’t happen overnight. The dog isn’t broken, stop trying to fix the dog. Just stop – I’m not doing anything in the back yard – I’m just existing. I’m calm, I’m chill, I’m not making anything a big deal. I’m doing nothing – the onus is on the dog to make a choice. You can stay there scared, or choose to calm down and invade my space to check me out. When they finally make that choice – it’s not a pet the dog moment. They are making a choice to investigate me, I don’t want to screw that up. If a dog wants affection – they will tell you. This is the start of building trust.
I am the new environment that the dog is going to operantly condition themselves to. And in the end, I have to be a positive consequence to the dog – a positive reinforcement. Most dogs have never experienced a real relationship with a human – that’s reality. The clients dog will become my best friend, they don’t need to feel insecure when they are with me. That’s what a best friend does, makes you feel safe. Why can’t the dog have that? I want the owner to watch it, that’s why I record any time away from the owner. They need to see their dog capable in order to start healing that trauma bond. When the owner has seen enough, time to come in and join in. They learn that they can trust their dog and start building that relationship. They are usually walking their dog around a dog park. I haven’t done anything up to this point. I’m just holding the leash – the dog is making most of the choices. Every step they choose to take forward is a positive consequence – and that can become addictive. This is why choice is so important.
Monty is my secret weapon. A scared dog will come to trust a calm and confident dog much faster than any human. It’s generally a human that’s caused this. Many dogs have never been around a dog, they don’t know how to be a dog – or how to act like a dog. And if a dog doesn’t know how to be a dog – can they understand the relationship they are supposed to have with us? There is only one animal in the back yard that can teach a dog how to be a dog – and it’s not me. Monty will not engage a dog until they are calm – he does his thing, sniffing and marking – he doesn’t care about the dog. I’ve watched females that were so fragile, they were learning to lift their leg from Monty. At some point, he usually vouches for me and brings the dog to me.
It’s mutual trust and respect that builds confidence in any relationship. You cannot be confident in that which you do not trust – or respect. And where trust doesn’t exist – a relationship cannot exist. It’s a toxic relationship. And people wonder why you have to train recall? Ever stop and think that maybe your dog doesn’t want to be with you? And you are being told to punish them into a relationship. Just how are we defining relationships? Cause society itself is on the brink of something bad. .
Most of these dogs are a reactive basket case – they are afraid. The question has to be asked – why is the dog acting this way?
Man fears that which he does not understand – if he can’t control it – he destroys it. That’s dog training today. We fear that which we do not understand – that’s reality. Why don’t we understand the dog anymore? Dogs can’t lie, they can’t hide their emotions and they sure as hell can’t hide their intention. That to me deserves trust and respect and they get it out of the gate. People, not so much.
I don’t care about behaviours – any animal can exhibit the same behaviours. It’s fight (aggression) and flight (avoid) – same for you. You cannot fix a behaviour – you cannot fix aggression. Aggression is simply the outcome of a problem – it’s a symptom of something underlying. The majority of behaviuors are fear related. What is fear but lack of trust and understanding? So why are you supposed to focus on fixing the behaviour – instead of understanding why the dog doesn’t have any trust for you. It’s trust that conquers fear – not treats.
One cannot diagnose a dog over the internet or over a fence. Barrier aggression? How many would step into the back yard? I already know from the sound of the bark that I’m dealing with an insecure dog, the dog is scared before I even meet the dog. That barking and rage is the dogs positive reinforcement – and it’s all a bluff. A dog will not attack someone that isn’t scared and is confident. When I get bit, it’s in moments where the dog manages to make me afraid. All it takes is one second, when the hair stands on the back of your neck – that’s not a choice you’re making – that’s your operant conditioning. If you’re not willing to let the dog disengage and remove that barrier – you’ll never see the scared.
When you look at your dog – what do you see?