Hugs mean love to us.
But to a dog, arms wrapped tight around their body can feel very different.

Suddenly their movement is restricted.
Their balance can become awkward.
Pressure increases and so may stress.
Faces and eyes are now very close.

Most dogs tolerate them because they trust us.
But tolerance and enjoyment are not the same thing.

Understanding how dogs experience our behaviour helps them feel safer with us.
And if you want a genuine “hug” from your dog, forcing it is not the way forward.

ARE YOU MANAGING?

Are we managing our dog’s environment to prevent or improve unwanted behaviour?

As people, we tend to prefer and look for more complicated solutions to problems. This tendency is termed “complexity bias” - the tendency to prefer complicated explanations and solutions instead of looking for the simpler ones.

Surely a complicated, time consuming, detailed solution has to be more effective, superior, impressive, or correct?

Complexity bias is so relevant when it comes to changing a dog’s unwanted behaviour.

We often get so stuck on trying to modify behaviour through counter conditioning, desensitization or detailed training plans when sometimes the simplest solution to the problem lies in simply managing the environment.

Dogs will do what dogs do – when an opportunity arises to help themselves to food left on a table, to bark at the gate at anyone passing by, to drink from the big water bowl we call a toilet, to go running off with irresistibly smelly socks, to rummaging through bins and eating anything that may or may not be edible, to running out an opened door in search of adventure - the list is long - dogs will be dogs.

Parents of little children use management all the time without giving it much thought. Baby locks on cupboards, covers on electrical sockets, valuable or dangerous items put far out of reach, fences and locks around pools, etc.

We wouldn’t just train a toddler not to stick their fingers in an electrical socket, not to open cupboards, not to touch a hot plate – it’s far safer, simpler and logical to first manage the environment, to prevent potential incidents.

The same principle should apply to managing a dog’s environment to prevent unwanted behaviour.

The more a behaviour is practiced the more difficult it is to prevent. The more a behaviour is rehearsed the better dogs become at it.

Preventing the behaviour from happening in the first place by using management is the logical, simple and effective way to address it.

Be a good manager – it’s far less stressful, for both us and our dogs.

Attention all members:
Please see the attached Press Release from Dogs Australia regarding Ehrlichiosis in Australia
https://dogsvictoria.org.au/media/6919/press-release_ehrlichiosis-in-australia-the-advancing-threat.pdf

Why won’t they switch off?
Because they don’t actually know how.

“Hey, you can’t reinforce an emotion.”
Correct.
But here’s the real kicker.

You don’t reinforce the feeling.
You reinforce the behaviours that make that feeling possible.

Stillness.
Disengaging.
Resting.

Switching off isn’t automatic.
Some dogs rehearse alertness and movement all day long.
Very few practice settling.

So we shape the environment and then calm has space to pop it’s head up (or actually down!)

What is reinforced is repeated and if it’s repeated often enough, settling and staying still stops being a rarity.

It becomes the “norm”.