08/06/2023
More words of wisdom from my mentor! So thankful to have had Amanda to learn from and she always helps me whenever I ask. ♥️
I NEED TO FEEL SAFE
Like all living creatures, dogs just want to feel safe – it’s a basic need.
When we think about feeling safe it’s natural to just think about not being harmed or being in danger, but it’s not just about physical safety - feeling safe emotionally or psychologically is just as important.
While physical safety may be obvious and simpler to address, emotional safety is far more complex and not always easy to recognise or identify.
The same applies to our dogs – they are sentient beings whose behaviour is very often triggered and driven by an emotion.
Many behaviour problems that we see in dogs stem from them feeling unsafe.
A dog that lunges and barks or behaves aggressively with another dog or person is probably doing so because they feel unsafe. They are trying to make the scary thing go away.
A dog that is guarding resources is doing so because they are afraid that the resource will be taken away – they don’t feel safe when another animal or person approaches that resource.
A dog that is reacting to fireworks or thunderstorms or other noises is doing so because they don’t feel safe.
The same can be said for separation anxiety, certain types of aggression and other behaviours.
We can help our dogs feel safe by acknowledging their fear even if that fear doesn’t make sense to us.
We can be a source of comfort, predictability, allow them to make choices where we can, never force them to face a fear, never use punishment but positively reinforce their good choices, all while doing what we can through management, desensitisation or counter conditioning to help them feel safer.
Some dogs may never get over a specific fear, but doing what we can to help dogs feel safer in our world is so important.
Be the person that your dog can rely on and trust to help them feel safe.
Be a secure, reliable, stable base that they can count on when they feel unsafe.
