28/02/2022
IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT BEHAVIOUR
One of the most common questions we as dog training professionals get asked is ‘Can you give me a few tips on [insert behaviour here] and whilst I can give you a few tips, I want to explain to you why I probably won’t and the reasons behind it.
Recently on a FB live I did in my Romanian Rescue Community Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheDogsPointofView)
I shared a slide I had quickly put together to help me get this point across, and I want to share that again with you here, although I’m glad to say I have since made the slide look a whole lot better! (You can see the shockingly bad original one on my FB live recording in the group, when I also shared a few general tips for Romanian Rescue Adopters)
As you can see from this picture, the observable behaviour you actually see your dog ‘DOING’ can be underpinned, driven by and be a result of a large number of OTHER things. These could be major contributing factors or minor contributing factors, it doesn’t really matter, but what it means is, if none of these POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS to your dog’s behaviour are taken into account and considered from the DOG’s Point of View, then any ‘tips’ I give you are unlikely to be the best advice I can give that would help.
Not only that, but I could give you tips or recommendations that might be wrong for your dog and your particular circumstances. I could give you tips that make the behaviour worse. I could give you tips that may upset your dog, or cause them to feel threatened in some way, because I’m missing important pieces of the puzzle.
This could result in them changing their behaviours in a less positive way and/or doing something unexpected. This is why giving a ‘few tips’ or ‘bit of advice’ can actually be dangerous in some cases.
People seem to forget we are living with an animal that has 42 teeth that were designed to rip into flesh and crush bone! Thankfully, for the most part, our dogs avoid using them in a confrontational way, but that doesn't mean they won't if pushed.
This is why I am often horrified to see some of the advice given on Facebook posts where someone has asked for some ‘tips’
Often it is advice that is incorrect, given by the general public, but even if it is advice that is suitable and worked for that person and their dog, it doesn’t mean it will work for someone else and their dog, who will be experiencing the world in a completely different way.
To give an example...
A question I see asked often in Facebook posts is around excessive barking, a common issue for adopters of Romanian or Foreign rescue dogs because of their GENETICS (that’s one contributing factor there)
Even if I gave one BEST piece of advice I could, if that dog had just ONE thing from that list of possible contributing factors, let’s say elevated baseline stress levels, then my advice is likely to be ineffective.
Not only that, but it’s likely to create frustration and discord for both the human and canine halves of the partnership in trying to apply it because the underlying cause of the behaviour is not being addressed.
In fact, let me just say, relative to the seemingly simple problem of excessive barking (most pet parents perceive a dog barking is simple to resolve, which it isn’t necessarily), it is entirely possible that all of those contributing factors could be impacting on or driving the behaviour and they NEED to be taken into consideration for progress to be seen, that not only reduces the degree and intensity of the barking behaviour, but that also supports that dog’s physical and emotional wellbeing whilst doing so.
Can you see how it really isn’t as simple as ‘just giving some tips or advice?’
Even something as simple as how long a dog has been in the home or how old they are can make the progress plan for that dog look very different.
It is SO IMPORTANT to remember your dog is A THINKING, FEELING, EMOTIONAL BEING, JUST LIKE YOU, BUT DIFFERENT.
They can be affected by not only life and the world around them as much as we are, but also by how they are experiencing the world at any given moment, in the same way that we are. They are as individual and unique in both their perspective of the world and how they respond to it, as much as we are.
I hope this article has helped provide you with a bit of a deeper understanding of your dog and of why it simply isn’t possible or appropriate to ‘give you a few tips.’
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