31/08/2025
Not much bothers Hunter these days.
He's pretty chilled & laid back and he has a calm, inquisitive, way about him.
He knows he can make his own choices because I've always allowed him too.
Back in the very beginning he would jump straight in with the barking / lunging / growling if anything bothered him but, over time, I taught him that he could communicate with me in other ways and he learnt that I read his body language.
From there, we progressed onto "invitation" ....What I mean by that is, is that once Hunter was communicating with me (and not lunging, barking etc) and once he started to remain calm , I was then able to start inviting him to investigate things that concerned him.
He trusted me by then.
He knew he could say "yay" or "nay" and that I'd listen.
So, the end result is that he's now very happy to go off and investigate things.
This is *only* a scent blowing in on the wind (I say ONLY - scent is huge to a dog but I just mean its not a major, big threat of a stranger or another dog etc) but the point is , he became aware of "something" and his human invited him to go and investigate it, if he wanted to.
And THAT is how all of us begin to feel better about our fears or the things that worry us;
You become aware of it (a spider!)
You're given time to process it (not forced to approach it or run away from it)
You tell your best mate how it makes you feel (scary spiders!!)
Your best mate listens to you (phew!)
Over time, you begin to feel safe enough to go and look at the spider for yourself (meh!! Whats all the fuss about?!)
https://www.kangaldogtraineruk.co.uk/blog
