03/10/2022
This. Expand our trust in what nature has created.
We often enter a relationship with dogs with the idea that we know what’s best for them and they don’t know better. With that comes a sense of hierarchy, with us humans at the top.
Some of us may feel that being a “benevolent leader” for our dogs as opposed to trying to be the “pack leader” is better and kinder. And while it may seem like a step forward, I would love for us to go further and not see our dogs as just “followers” at all.
When we see dogs as “followers” or “having a follower mindset”, attempts from them to do things on their own, cope in their own way, and even cue us for things they need and want are seen as “disruption”, “demanding”, or even “manipulation”. If they’re doing something we don’t understand yet, we try to label it, often with something negative as we feel our position of power is being threatened.
We truly learn about our dogs and learn more from our dogs when we finally abolish all hierarchical concepts towards them. We can understand them better, meet their needs better, and help them feel safe more effectively when we look at our relationship as one that is collaborative.
Here’s an example: Perhaps we’ve bought our dogs a particular brand or type of food and they refuse to eat it. With a hierarchical mindset, we may label the dog “stubborn” or “fussy” and force feed them or starve them till they eat. But if we abandon this mindset, we may start to see that they have shown signs of nausea after eating this food or we may see that that they show discomfort with the location of where their meal is placed.
Our dogs decide what what is reinforcing or punishing to them. Our dogs express how they’re feeling with their body language. Our dogs’ changes in behaviour tells us what’s happening in the environment and how it’s impacting them. Our dogs tell us what works and what doesn’t, and they don’t lie.
“And I think it takes–I don't know what the word is. Is it faith? Trust? To kind of let go to some extent and say, ‘I think you know better. I think I may not be the expert of you. I think you may be the expert of you and I have the courage to trust your knowledge about yourself’.” – Sindhoor Pangal (Out of The Woofworks Ep.15)
ID: A photo of Dave, a brown mongrel dog with pointy ears and wearing a blue collar and a blue harness, is standing in a field with some yellow flowers in the background. The text on the top says “Adopt the humility to realise our dogs are the experts of themselves”.
