Dogs have come along way from living on the outskirts of human settlements to sleeping on our beds. We plan holidays around them, we feed them gourmet food and we carry them in purses. Sometimes we anthropomorphize (humanize) them and when we do that, we tend to forget the most important thing about our relationship with them and that is; they are dogs. A species that eats poop, licks private parts, chases squirrels and cats and happily and deliberately rolls in nasties.
But when dogs act in ways that we don’t like but are natural to them, we sometimes label them. He’s a ‘bad’ dog or ‘untrainable’ are common labels put on dogs that are based on the breed, the dog’s history or a variety of other reasons (excuses) that are justified in the mind of the owner. Either way, labeling a dog provides owners with an excuse for doing nothing to change an unwanted behavior.
I don’t think dogs behave badly.
Dogs behave as dogs and like you and me, their behavior is based on their life experience, their environment but more than that, it comes down to their nature and instinct. Now, with all that dogs are and with all the behaviors they perform including the afore mentioned behaviors to name just a few, why would a dogs’ behavior change when you put it in the context of a home? Why, when he does something in your home that you don’t like, does he become a bad dog or a dog with bad behavior? Hes a dog, remember? Your dog has his perception of a situation and his aggressive, fearful, submissive, anxious or destructive behavior is serving him for reasons that you may not understand.
It’s the perception and not the behavior itself that becomes an obstacle.
When people put these labels on dogs, it makes them feel better because they can blame the dog when they can’t fix the behavior. They don’t want to change their behavior because whats the point?; They have a bad dog. Its easier to continue this belief which they perceive to be true because it justifies their actions, their suffering, their choices.
This is one reason why trainers don’t get compliance from dog owners and why dog owners don’t follow thru with a trainers recommendations; People refuse to change their beliefs because they’ve made up their minds about their dog and they don’t believe the behavior can change. A mindset that has labeled a dog can be difficult to work with. People expect all the other elements involved to change but themselves.
You need to change the way you look at your dog’s behavior.
What if you remembered that this source of indescribable joy and love is just a dog?
What if you didn’t label the dog as bad or the behavior as bad but just saw his behavior as something you didn’t want in your home or out in public? Would it then change your attitude towards your dog and further change your attitude about yourself and what your capable of?
And aren’t you giving up on your dog in some way when you place a label on him? Isn’t it your responsibility to show him a better way to help him cope or to teach him a different, more acceptable reaction or behavior?
Changing, shaping or extinguishing behavior takes time and patience. The bigger challenge for some people is believing that they can, in fact, change unwanted behavior.
See behavior for what it is:
The way in which an animal acts in response to a particular situation or stimulus.
Remember that what is bad behavior in one home may not be in another. Its only bad when we decide its bad. Its our perception.
Stop Labeling and start the change:
Believe you can change your dogs behavior and leave the labeling for the labeling machine. Approach the changes you need to make, positively, patiently, without expectation and without ego. You don’t have a bad dog. Your dog just needs you to show him how to behave in the manner that works for him and you.