07/02/2024
BUILDING UP THE ‘TRUST BANK’ …
I recently attended a webinar with The Canine Behaviour and Training Society, of which I am a member. The lady giving the talk used the phrase of ‘building the trust bank’ between ourselves and our dogs. I thought this was worth sharing as if there is trust it leads to a lot more co-operation and also in cases of emergency or unexpected events then your dog should be more trustful of your actions and motives.
I have experienced this many times with clients and their dogs, and personally when with dogs of my own or others’ dogs.
The basics of building trust are:
• Be fair.
• Be consistent.
• Be kind.
• Remember you need to gain respect and trust – it is not an automatic right just because you are the owner.
Recently I was clipping a large guarding breed dog as a favour to a friend and he was sensitive to this procedure and didn’t like to be restrained. So I didn’t tie him up at all but, having built trust over time, verbally encouraged him back to me and did a little at a time. The dog started coming in closer and remaining in position and I was very careful not to hurt him to retain his trust.. It takes time to do things this way, especially at the start, but you will reap the benefits of your patience for the long-term.
Photos of me are demonstrating how to build a good relationship through play-training – just one way of many to build the trust.