07/02/2025
𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀
We all benefit from clear boundaries and rules. Imagine for a moment you moved to a foreign country with a very different culture from your own. Different social norms, different manners, different language. Now imagine no-one explained the rules of that society to you. They gave you no guidance and just let you do what made sense to you and then got angry with you when that turned out to be wrong. How would you feel? Frustrated? Anxious? Angry? Tense?
But we do this with our dogs all the time. We don't provide enough clarity about what we want, we don't set clear boundaries and then we get angry or frustrated with them when they do what makes sense to a dog!
We owe it to our dogs to create clarity and to actively teach them the human rules we want them to live by. And, if we don't, we absolutely shouldn't get frustrated when they make choices we don't like.
Buddy's lovely owners are first time dog owners and they know that they haven't always given him the guidance he needed. So the first thing we've done is create more clarity -
• we make it really clear to Buddy what behaviours we like
• we use control & management to make the behaviours we don't like less likely
• we make sure we aren't inadvertently reinforcing the things we don't like
• we are consistent
• we actively teach him the skills we'd like him to have instead of assuming he "should" just do them
Boundaries & rules are essential. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 creating clear boundaries is far more harmful than having clearly defined rules in place. Permissiveness does neither your dog nor you any favours in the long run. But boundaries absolutely don't need to be enforced with physical force, coercion and threat....they can be set & maintained gently, kindly and without resorting to the infliction of pain or discomfort.
Create clarity. Create it kindly.
