Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
What does your dog want?
The relationship between an owner and their dog has to be a symbiotic two-way relationship that has benefits for both. Some owners may not have an accurate picture of what their dog wants from them and as such, this is a teaching issue.
Dogs need to be fed well, kept comfortable and healthy, live a life reasonably free from fear and anxiety and be allowed to act as dogs as much as possible. What matters is that dog owners do the best they can do for their dogs.
If a dog doesn’t have to want for anything, (i.e. the human controls the resources) then overall the dog will be much more relaxed and less likely to actively guard or protect the resources that they do have.
People are not connected to dogs instinctually…they are connected emotionally…we are dog lovers!
Everybody wants to train their dog, basically “what I want the dog to do for me”, that’s the relationship. But if you slow it down a bit, that’s a rather selfish relationship because it’s all about what the human wants….nobody asks, “what does my dog want from me…how can I make them happy…what makes them happy?”
It’s all down to a simple three-part formula that gets back to basic
- exercise
- discipline
- affection
In summary, to the question “what does your dog want”, the simple answer is “to be fully understood”.