The Do’s and Do Nots of “Dog Dealing”

Yesterday, as the crew and I were out on our afternoon pack walk, we encountered another dog who lost his marbles at the sight of us. I had "the Frank" with me who will usually match this kind of energy (or one-up it; Franklin- a former client and foster-turned-honorary-pack-member- is "a story", bless his crazy lil' heart )- especially the closer in space we are, so I created a bit more space and waited for them to pass.

The guy had his dog on a retractable leash and was trying to reel his dog in, which- of course- took some time. Then he bent down, began petting and talking to the dog while he was still completely spun up.

Now, this is a *very* common approach to dealing with dogs who are experiencing big, intense, or uncomfortable emotions of any kind, as this is how we would approach humans experiencing the same. While our intentions may be good, their impact is not- and here's why.

Dog psychology is not human psychology. We're a completely different species of animal.

Our dogs are looking to us for what to do, their cues, guidance, and directives, and how to feel about each situation and scenario we bring them into.

If and when we're more grounded, confident, and calm, this will help them feel more grounded, confident, and calm. If and when we're not concerned, they can be more relaxed. If and when we're reacting to a certain situation, circumstance, etc. in a super-charged way, this will raise some flags and likely inspire the dog to do the same.

How we feel and how we're responding to our moments and circumstances is sending a direct message to the dog. It's also impacting their perceived level of safety and security being under our guidance and care. How safe are they following our lead? Can we handle whatever the world may blow our way?

Being in a stationary position can often create more hyper-fixation and increase intensity. Keeping movement flowing is key.

We've been charged a number of times while out on our pack walks by dogs who've slipped out of doors when someone was coming out or going in their home, dogs who were off leash (and had no business being off leash; see our "unhook the leash? yes or no" post here), etc. My saving grace each time has been to keep the pack moving. To keep movement going. To keep turning and moving, turning and moving.

"Space" is huge in the canine mind... as it is for people. Not too long ago, we wrote a piece of the 4 levels of space. This is an important concept to understand since we're all sharing the same spaces.

Addressing state of mind is a big one. The body follows whatever the mind is doing. When the mind is jacked, juiced, and revved up- we'll see this reflected in the body. This is why people make little headway on walks when the focus is solely on controlling the physical body of the dog. It's important to note that even aggression and reactivity are both "excited", overly-aroused, overly-escalated states of mind... just not-so-good ones. We have to know thy dog - what holds meaning and what doesn't- in order to learn how to address state of mind effectively.

There's a saying in the dog training world: "we get what we pet."

We nurture and reinforce what we feed (with food, yes; but also with affection, attention, being picked up and held, coddled, etc). This is especially true for state of mind. If your dog is practicing an intense, out-of-balance state of mind (nervousness, anxiety, fear, aggression, reactivity, etc.), experiencing big emotions, is triggered or activated in any way.... do not coddle the dog verbally or physically. Do not give the dog food. Do not let the dog *gain* anything in any way, including access to whatever their blow up wants. Even if he "sits" or "stays" when you ask him to (a sitting dog does not denote a calm dog; the body can be doing one thing while the mind is doing another). We've got to pay attention to the state of mind a dog is practicing, as we'll get what we reinforce.

Behavioral conditioning, training, modification, and rehabilitation is a layered process and is, most definitely, not a one-size-fits-all scenario.

Conditioning and training ("real world and functional") behavior (associations, perceptions, responses, states of mind, "manners", etc.) on top of "obedience" (attaching meaning to verbal cues and directives) so both ends of the leash don't struggle in life is so key in being able to explore and enjoy the world together. *We condition and train so we don't have to modify or rehabilitate later.*

Hope this serves someone <3

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