Cooperation defined: the process of working together to the same end.
Control defined: to command, restrain, or manage.
Which relationship would you prefer to have with anyone or anything?
I will admit, there has to be some controls when it comes to dogs – but it can’t be their whole life. It’s still an animal – just like human beings – and their life cannot be all about what you want.
Humans share so many behaviours with members of the animal kingdom and with most animals, we share many of the same genetics. But for some reason, we’ve taken ourselves out of the animal kingdom – and so to with the dog. It’s not about “animal behaviour” or “animal psychology”, it’s “dog behaviour” and “dog psychology”. We really need to get back to focusing on animal behavior.
There is a channel on youtube that I love, it’s called “bird tricks” with Jamie-Leigh Womack. Jamie is a wonderful trainer – better yet, she has a gift for explaining how to work on relationships with owners. She firmly believes in trust and respect as well. The birds she works with need to trust that the handler knows how to handle them without hurting them or dropping them. They need to trust the handler in order to fly to them etc.
She explains the “clicker” very eloquently. She uses the clicker to turn behaviors into tricks – everything becomes a trick right down to flight training.
The difference with the bird – and she is so right with this statement – the bird doesn’t care about you – they are moreso “what’s in it for me”. No treat, no trick.
This isn’t your dog. Your dog wants to be with you, they want to please you. You can beat a dog, and it will come back and apologize to you cause it must have done something wrong. Dogs, horses and people – we are beatable and the only ones in the animal kingdom that will accept blame – and keep coming back.
Every dog owner should watch the “Morgan Finale”, it’s a beautiful look into the world of a different animal – and how you should work with the animal to gain its trust and respect – cause that is really what builds confidence in the relationship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1bQasRvelM
Robert Hynes Dog Training
Serving Edmonton, Alberta and surrounding areas.
admin@roberthynesdogtraining.com