17/08/2022
Please do NOT listen to this type of irresponsible advice. The statement in general terms is totally wrong, and is only meant to pander to those emotional people that even believe positive punishment (P+) and negative reinforcement (R-) are cruel and inhumane.
This meme is suggesting you cannot reinforce or strengthen an emotional state in a dog. Can you see how stupid that suggestion is? So then, obliviously, going by their advice, we shouldn't be able to increase, strengthen or weaken happiness or excitement (both psychological states) in a dog by the way we interact with its behaviour.
The author of this meme also obviously has no knowledge or understanding of the power of classical conditioning, and how it can have a direct influence on emotional states in dogs. And how we can weaken fear, shyness and anxious states or strengthen them, dependent on the way we interact with our dog. Just as you can increase or decrease other emotional states such as happiness and excitement, you can certainly have a direct influence on how your dog handles fearful or anxiety triggering situations.
This type of advice is one of the main reasons we have so many psychologically messed up dogs in society. People read these memes or listen to this type of advice, and start pandering too, comforting and mothering anxious, shy and fearful dogs.
We can certainly positively or negatively affect the emotional state, dependent on how we respond to a dogs behaviour!
Never accept generalised advice like this, as all situations are different, and need to be observed and assessed before deciding the best course of action to take to help a dog through these situations. Please do not believe that you cannot negatively affect a dogs emotional state by comforting or mothering, its just not true.
I put the red NO, over this meme!