The Snapping Turtle

Sometimes we will have a dog that is very resistant and has a disrespectful attitude towards most things that humans ask of her and stubbornly refuses to move when asked to walk, get off the furniture and resorts to some serious snapping turtle style biting

Making changes in dogs with severe behavioural issues like this is a slow and steady process and requires every person involved in the dog’s life to be on the same page training wise. This means following and applying the same rules/boundaries/structure/accountability consistently across the board and also having the self discipline required to always do what betters the dog’s behaviour and mindset.

That can mean that we need to put our human emotional indulgences aside like allowing her in furniture, into our personal space, or spoiling her with unearned treats and affection because these things are interpreted by these kinds of dogs as rewards and actually serve to reinforce the unwanted behaviours and negative mindsets.

It’s counter intuitive for a lot of us to be strict with the rules, highly structured, control privileges like free roaming, set non negotiable boundaries and apply accountability to our dogs when our dogs are grumpy, rude, anxious, etc. and we just want them to be happy and peaceful. But a lack of these things aka a lack of leadership only serves to make the dog grumpier, more rude, more anxious, more reactive, more aggressive, etc… more of all the things that the human doesn’t want. Zadie, one of our recent Board and Train dogs, is a perfect example of this concept… I’ve given her no kiss (she would bite my face off if I did 😂), no hugs, no time on my furniture, no treats, and no access to my personal space and yet she is happier and politer walking with me than she has been with any other human in her entire life. What sorcery is this, you may ask?🧙‍♀️🪄It’s not magic… it’s LEADERSHIP!

Dogs feel more happy, behave more politely, give humans more respect and occupy a much healthier and more balanced state of mind when we humans give them leadership aka the true definition of ‘love’ from the dogs point of view!

Remember that old adage: ‘You get what you pet!’