16/04/2024
Well worth the read...
The reality is, dogs haven’t changed, we have.
We continually allow ourselves to be influenced and manipulated by those who sell reality-ignoring, fantasy-based, emotionally appealing, ideologically consumed training and lifestyle approaches which are destroying our dog’s and our lives with them.
Which means the challenge is us.
Why? Because as a society we’ve moved into an emotions-as-the-only-priority and feelings over reality mindset, which means we’re not only ripe for the manipulation, we embrace it. We’re an easy sell, and that means there’s an awful lot of sellers pedaling their services and their beliefs—some for money, some for reputation status, and some for “the righteous cause” (aka, pathological empathy).
Regardless, the only bulwark against this insanity which is destroying our dogs… is us. The responsibility for making healthy, logic-based, unselfish decisions—even when they’re exceptionally hard or uncomfortable—lands squarely on our shoulders. It’s not the manipulator’s fault is we open the door and invite them in, it’s ours.
Your dog is counting on you to make the best decisions for them. They can’t speak directly to what they’d prefer or what they need, but the crisis of overwhelming behavior issues and our dogs’ inability to function in a safe and healthy fashion in our world should be a more than sufficient and eloquent cry for help and change.
It’s really simple. Dogs need leadership and guidance in the form of structure, rules, and accountability to thrive. But unfortunately, many of us have been sold on the fact that the preceding are not only unnecessary, but also harmful. And because all the preceding involve not just large amounts of physical effort but also emotional discomfort, we happily buy what we all know down deep is dysfunctional, toxic, detrimental nonsense.
Your dog deserves better.
