Many of us Love, Love, Love our dogs, however we are slipping into a relationship of too much of a good thing for us, but not for our dogs. I know you LOVE your dog. I do too, which is why I want all my dogs to feel safe all the time. Nothing is For Free with me. They know I am always the calm confident leader.
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| Denise is a Confident Pack Leader to Finn! |
Consider you are camping in a tent in the woods and you hear what you think is a Grizzly Bear outside your tent. You want to scream at the top of your lungs to scare it off!! You wake everyone in the tent and tell them to make lots of noise to scare the bear away, however the “guide” says ‘NO, trust me. You do not want to attract attention, just sit and be calm”. Having been in this situation before, you say, “But it works, I have done it once or twice before and it will make the bear go away” “SHHH…..Be…. Calm…Trust me.” says the guide. What do you do?
This is how your fearful dog feels when you confine him on a leash with scary dogs or people around. You are asking him to trust you. If all week you have earned his respect by having him work for his food, avoided petting him every time he asked and used placement cues (moved his feet) several times he may just respect you enough to trust you and Be Calm in a scary situation.
However if you LOVE your dog without rules and direction, he may not.