22/12/2024
This is from a trainer I’ve huge respect for 😊
They’ve helped, fostered and adopted many different dogs. Their deaf and blind dog is truly amazing! 💛
I love the way they talk about quirks, helping the dogs cope and acceptance here. So many times people want their dogs to do things that the dog obviously doesn’t like, whether that be mix with loads of other dogs or perhaps be a cafe dog. Who is this for though, them or the dog?! 🤔
Then there’s pressure and comments from others, which can make people feel judged too 😔
Dogs are individuals though, just as we are.
They have quirks, personalities and needs, just like we do.
They should not have to put up with things that make them anxious or fearful just to suit what we want from a dog, just as we shouldn’t be put in needless situations etc, that make us anxious or fearful.
And that is all not humanising dogs, it’s accepting our dogs as individuals with quirks and their own personalities!
Once we can do that the pressure comes away and things are easier for all 😊🐾
Poodle doesn’t like dogs.
Poodle is a very selective dog that has a tendency to respond aggressively to strange dogs.
We’ve had him since he was a pup and from day 1 he has always been very stiff and combative when greeting new dogs. If we were to do things again we would have done a few things differently but hindsight is a bitch and we are always learning and changing how we do things for the better (hopefully). Even now, with dogs he likes he will not roll over and we have to make sure the interaction is nice for both dogs.
As dog trainers, this is a mild inconvenience. Having a dog that is very selective towards other dogs can make things tricky but through careful planning and training we have a dog that can tolerate other dogs at a small distance. Poodle has helped us with countless reactive dogs as a stooge over the years.
This is only one thing that makes things a bit tricky. Having a dog will likely mean we will have to compromise at some point and accept the cards we are dealt. We can choose a breed that might meet our expectations and what we are after in a dog, but it can never guarantee how they will behave, what they will like and what they won’t like. Training is there to teach them how to behave but we can’t teach them what to like and what not to like. Counter-conditioning and/or classical conditioning can create pleasant associations but very rarely can it make our dogs like something they simply hate.
If we are stuck focusing on one or two things that our dogs a bit tricky this will likely over-shadow all the things that make them a pretty damn good dog instead.
Around the house Poodle is super easy. If we're not up for a busy day and want to blob he'll just blob with us. If we're up for hiking for hours he's keen as too.
In nearly all aspects he's the ideal dog for us. He is very responsive and very tolerant in nearly all situations and he's very safe - meaning, though he might respond aggressively, it's very loud but it would be incredibly unlikely any damage would be caused. Plus, through careful management and training we almost never see the aggressive responses now.
Adolescence was tricky, but it usually always is and that's usually the most important time to train but often a time lots of people give up as they don't see results immediately.
If there was one piece of advice I could offer anyone struggling with a dog that is between 6 months and 2 years is to just keep going and get help if you need to get more support.
Moral of the story - don't focus on the bad stuff about your dog. They're dogs, they're going to have quirks that we might not agree with but having a dog means we need to compromise certain things and accept some of those quirks. If you can't change it, focus on things you can change or just be thankful for all the good things they naturally dog that others might be struggling with.
Training will modify behaviour, it won't make them any less of a dog and dogs are individuals just like us. Work with the dog you have, not the one you had hoped for.
Here’s Poodle with our latest adoptee - he naturally acts as an unpaid babysitter. We couldn’t really have hoped for much better than that with our lifestyle.
www.Thinkdog.nz
