What his behavior is trying to say…
While there are a number of ingredients that have contributed to the development of these behaviors (there always is), the main ones are:
Punishment and abuse are two entirely different things.
This is a post about punishment.
That’s right. BIG. BAD. UGLY PUNISHMENT… or is it?
This one little word has been misconstrued, misunderstood, misrepresented, and misinterpreted for years now, thanks to the heavy-handed, forceful style of some “trainers” and their far right-wing counterpart, the “purely positive” un-caped crusaders.
Sadly, there’s a stigma now attached to this word. One based on total untruth and continues to get perpetuated… and I’m done with it.
The detriment of “busy” in our dogs.
Busyness.
There's a hyper focus and fixation on "busyness"(in this country, especially); so much so that it's bleeding into our dogs and their behavior.
"Busyness" is being used to emotionally regulate, distract, numb, avoid, and suppress. We practice this in our own lives, and this has trickled down into how we're raising our dogs, as well.
Behavior as a response.
We've written about the 2 categories we break "behavior" into before ("classroom" and "real world/ functional" behavior); both speaking to very different, yet connected, aspects of the dog (mental and emotional). This is like the difference of what children learn in school (brain training) vs. what they (should be) learning at home (manners, self and world concept development, etc).
Behavioral Influencers.
Behavior Influencers.
"Behavior" is highly contextual and heavily layered with multiple variables at play.
Interrupt…then direct.
Interrupt... then direct.
"State of mind" and "Energy" are fuel for any given behavior.
If not controlled or kept in check, state of mind can quickly and easily escalate paving the way for reactions (as opposed to responses), poor choices, and inappropriate behaviors.
Behavior isn’t breed or size-specific.
We've already spoken to this before, but it bears repeating after a few instances that crossed our awareness recently. This is how we see things…
Numbing, avoiding, and delaying never resolves.
Behavior is a manner of expression. It's the external manifestation of an underlying internal driving force. Regardless of species.