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.
Companies are developing products and devices around this. There are even trainers recommending this as a solution to deal with certain behaviors.
Aside from the fact that "busyness" doesn't effectively address the underlying core issue when it comes to behavior (such as "reactivity", aggression, fear, the various shades of anxiety, etc.), dogs are getting conditioned to constantly "do".... constant engagement, constant stimulation... so much so that they don't know how to BE outside of this.
As we often say, and it bears repeating, there is a yin and yang to dog training. We teach the dog what to do, but also need to condition the dog HOW TO BE. Training the brain AND **conditioning the mind**. Not just the "on and off switch", but also the *in between*. This is where so many "training" programs fail, and why we also receive many clients whom have been through several trainers prior to finding us **still struggling** with **behavior** (in the "real world" and "functional" sense).
Yes, we need to engage our dogs. Train the brain. But we also need to focus on conditioning the mind. Conditioning our dogs on *how to simply BE*. How to share space. How to self-regulate. Develop healthy attachments and associations without a over-dependence upon the presence of people or constant engagement and stimulation.
