Splinters
Most of us get a dog or puppy because they are an addition to our lives. We have an image of what we want. Long leisurely walks, a jogging partner, a dog who will accompany us on the boat or to the park. But the picture we have in our head fractures when things begin to go wrong. If we had a rewind button on life, we could go back to the point where things went wrong, where we got a splinter in a relationship.
In the life of humans, a lot of things have no meaning. We are rather blind to the world around us. Dogs however live in the natural realm. Everything means something to a dog. We put the dog's food bowl down. We turn around to do something at the kitchen sink. If the dog gave us a dirty look, we weren't paying attention because we were focused on what we were doing in the moment. Humans are very focused on their plans. But from that little dark look from the dog can breed problem behavior. That is what I call 'the splinter'.
I have read from various training methods how wrong behavior is to be ignored & good behavior rewarded. This may work well for a number of dogs who are pretty okay with everything in life. For a good number of dogs, it can mean disaster. The love-bug dog that you cuddle with on the couch suddenly turns into a red-eyed monster when you go near Fido's favorite bone or food dish. And just like any splinter, when you let it go without taking charge & cleaning the foreign object from your skin, it festers, gets infected & soon comes out in a nasty way. So goes it with the dog who has silently warned off an owner & the human takes no heed of this behavior. The next thing said is, "he suddenly..." (fill in the blank). In truth, that splinter has been there awhile but not until the thing becomes infected & ugly do we humans take notice.
Were you to be present in my home with my dogs, it would not be uncommon for everyone to be having a good time & for me to use a warning tone, "leave it" to one of the dogs. I will correct them in this manner for those hard-eyed looks. I make every effort to stop unwanted behavior at the onset, before it becomes learned behavior. If I go to place a young dog's food bowl down & I see guarding behavior, I will immediately take charge, behave like a leader. The bowl & food is mine, the rules are mine. Abide by my unchanging rules & you will eat like a king & all will be at ease, all will be well. Polite correct dogs never have to wait for a meal at my house. They are fed & happy & should I ever have to collect a bowl to early, there is no fear or anxiety. My dogs know I would never deprive them or cheat them. They also know I do not use their food as a game or to tease them.
The majority of problems we have with dog behavior stems from a splinter that wasn't removed immediately. We drop a scrap of food on the kitchen's floor. We bend to collect it & the dog rushes to snatch it up before you do. There's a splinter. But far too often we don't think & laugh it off. But in the dog's mind, perhaps he's 'shown us' (meaning he taught us a lesson). This is not an emotional matter for the dog, it's just who is the leader & who is the follower. By our lack of understanding, lack of reading body language the festering of the splinter begins until one day... ka-boom.
Most behavioral issues come from a splinter where we did not correctly read our dogs or we did nothing about what we saw. When we make a change in ourselves, immediately pulling the splinter & answering all the questions in the dog's mind about who is in charge, who is leader & who is follower then we have harmony with our canine partner.
In the life of humans, a lot of things have no meaning. We are rather blind to the world around us. Dogs however live in the natural realm. Everything means something to a dog. We put the dog's food bowl down. We turn around to do something at the kitchen sink. If the dog gave us a dirty look, we weren't paying attention because we were focused on what we were doing in the moment. Humans are very focused on their plans. But from that little dark look from the dog can breed problem behavior. That is what I call 'the splinter'.
I have read from various training methods how wrong behavior is to be ignored & good behavior rewarded. This may work well for a number of dogs who are pretty okay with everything in life. For a good number of dogs, it can mean disaster. The love-bug dog that you cuddle with on the couch suddenly turns into a red-eyed monster when you go near Fido's favorite bone or food dish. And just like any splinter, when you let it go without taking charge & cleaning the foreign object from your skin, it festers, gets infected & soon comes out in a nasty way. So goes it with the dog who has silently warned off an owner & the human takes no heed of this behavior. The next thing said is, "he suddenly..." (fill in the blank). In truth, that splinter has been there awhile but not until the thing becomes infected & ugly do we humans take notice.
Were you to be present in my home with my dogs, it would not be uncommon for everyone to be having a good time & for me to use a warning tone, "leave it" to one of the dogs. I will correct them in this manner for those hard-eyed looks. I make every effort to stop unwanted behavior at the onset, before it becomes learned behavior. If I go to place a young dog's food bowl down & I see guarding behavior, I will immediately take charge, behave like a leader. The bowl & food is mine, the rules are mine. Abide by my unchanging rules & you will eat like a king & all will be at ease, all will be well. Polite correct dogs never have to wait for a meal at my house. They are fed & happy & should I ever have to collect a bowl to early, there is no fear or anxiety. My dogs know I would never deprive them or cheat them. They also know I do not use their food as a game or to tease them.
The majority of problems we have with dog behavior stems from a splinter that wasn't removed immediately. We drop a scrap of food on the kitchen's floor. We bend to collect it & the dog rushes to snatch it up before you do. There's a splinter. But far too often we don't think & laugh it off. But in the dog's mind, perhaps he's 'shown us' (meaning he taught us a lesson). This is not an emotional matter for the dog, it's just who is the leader & who is the follower. By our lack of understanding, lack of reading body language the festering of the splinter begins until one day... ka-boom.
Most behavioral issues come from a splinter where we did not correctly read our dogs or we did nothing about what we saw. When we make a change in ourselves, immediately pulling the splinter & answering all the questions in the dog's mind about who is in charge, who is leader & who is follower then we have harmony with our canine partner.