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This past week as I mentioned in the last blog had some successes and some goofs. That for me is okay. I laughed it off and celebrated the learning. This week is more about action and learning again. As the reality of being out on my own. Making this self employment thing work. I know that the only securities that I have are knowing the foundation of certain people that love and care about me. I understand that this goal or dream is of my own. I don't ask for people to understand what it is i'm trying to achieve.The ultimate goal is to help teach people how to communicate with their pets and understand that the relationship is not one sided. To me the goal has been simple. Give or show first. Encourage second. Ask for more until you can fine tune what it is you're trying to communicate.
Today, I wanted to talk to you about the relationship part of your dog. What creates that trust in with your four legged friend? Please understand that this is my opinion have not done any study except for my 10.5 years in training and 13 years of owning dogs. To me it's all about the giving. Being able to provide what the dog needs most first. Shelter, food, water, and structure. We often forget the last part. Structure is the one part that I believe is the ingredient that cements the trust game. Keeps your dog's emotions in a happy relaxed state. When you take your dog out, how do you want them to act on the walk or trail? If you want them to be relaxed. Then you must create that. You must first find the stimulation and work through that using communication to help get the dog to understand what you need from him. Most of the time, squirrels, rabbits, dogs, and people are the main culprits. When you find yourself in the midst of this, your dog obviously will not be paying attention. The first thing I always have people do is ride the wave. Don't move forward anymore, do not try and rush past the stimulation. Just wait. If you are strong enough, try and get between what is causing your dog to react. If you can get in-front, it is best to confront your dog and move him back. It is to be noted that dogs understand when you are dealing directly to them. This is straight communication. Moving them back by walking into them and telling them no first, will break their reacting. This will also start a communication that says you disagree with the behavior. Remember, dogs are there to please and do us a service. So when the dog clearly understands they are not doing that you may see a second or two of calmness. When that happens mark that behavior and reward with love or treats. You will notice time after time of doing this when the dog reacts on the walk he/she will learn to just pass by those environment challenges that were once stressful for you.
That brings me to the next part. Sometimes we accidentally reward the wrong behavior through our own uncertainty. If you know your dog reacts to oncoming dogs then you immediately show your dog you are not sure. Most dogs do not listen on the walk because we the owners are sending them a message we are not comfortable outside the home. A lot of my clients will say my dog is great inside but once out on the walk they're very hard to handle. Part of that reason is how you feel about it. Ask yourself if you're always on edge? If yes, then ask yourself why does my dog turn into a different dog? The answer is simple, you turned into a different person.
As I said in a previous post about socialization. Socialization is all about building trust to help your dog see that you can handle the challenges and help you dog get through those challenges. If you can see that your dog is looking to you, you then can start the process of protector for your dog. You can tell your dog at that point whether you will leave or stay. You! have that power. If you noticed your dog showing some emotions other than relaxed and confident then you can stay there show your dog you can help. That's where marking the progress of your dog is so important. It's a patience thing and a training thing. Once you see the emotion of the dog change for a split second you must mark it. Doing this will help begin to give your dog confidence that was created by you by helping your dog face things he/she was initially unsure of.
Please, always enjoy the time with your dog. Remember that communication is always a two way street.