My GoodDogge

09/16/2022

09/03/2022

A dog struggling with emotional regulation is quick to be criticised as "rude", "bolshy", "lacking in manners".

The problem with seeing it from this perspective is the goal becomes about enforcing politeness (from our perspective as polite for us does not necessarily equal polite for a dog!); often with a focus on squashing unwanted behaviours with a corrective technique. Our focus in this case is on what WE want from the dog rather than what is really driving the dogs' behaviour: need and emotion.

Dogs don't need to be sent to etiquette school. They're not choosing to behave "out of line", they've just not got the coping skills yet for what you are asking of them. A huge coping skill we underestimate is the ability to cope with strong emotion, positive or negative! The force of the emotion in the moment is actually more important than the direction it leans towards. Mildly excited or mildly frustrated for example is less of a burden than extremely excited or frustrated. Emotions aren't as black and white as positive = good, negative = bad. What's more of an issue generally is the severity of the emotion and the lack of coping skills and/or very small window of tolerance.

Build on the coping skills, widen the window of tolerance, and ensure a dog is getting their needs met 🐾💜

08/08/2022

It's hot.