Find the right support for you and your dog

I see so many posts on social media seeking advice. Today was which task a person should concentrate on teaching their dog – sit, stay, come or retrieve

Another day it’s my dog won’t come back to me what do I do.

There are multiple posts, literally thousands, from people seeking help but the trouble is unless they can see the exact problem play out they can’t give the best advice no matter how hard they try.

If a dog isn’t coming back there can be a million reasons why that’s being triggered, yes there are some really common reasons but if advice is given based on the most common reason and that isn’t what’s happening then that advice is potentially damaging.

Many times people will post a video and the comment that is put with the video is their understanding/belief of what is occurring, not what is actually occurring and these are a great demonstration of how damaging advice could be if the video had not been included.

Here is an example I witnessed recently – 

Video was of a dog that the owner explained was refusing to come back, they had worked on basics hard over last month, no off-lead fun, just onlead drills etc (yuk to all of that as an answer to a dog that doesn’t recall, but I digress!), they had made sure they were firm but fair (in their opinion) and their dog was still being super stubborn and wilfully disobeying them every time they were recalled (again definitely just their opinion). The corresponding video told a very different story (now don’t get me wrong this owner wasn’t intending to be mean, he had followed previous advice on social media and this was just how he interpreted the advice and along with his complete lack of knowledge this was just what he thought was what he was supposed to be doing).  The video showed a dog so unhappy and fearful, its body language was so stressed out, low and crawling when asked to come back, sniffing all the way back to the owner (this the owner took to be disobedience but it was in fact obvious that the dog was exhibiting displacement behaviours as it was so uncomfortable at the idea of returning to its owner). When it did finally return there was zero praise given to the dog. The on lead work was indeed drilling, harsh tone of voice and leash pops were causing the dog even more stress as at no point was it actually been shown what ‘heel’ meant and it clearly had no clue.

All 4 short clips were just heartbreaking and all from a dog owner that was just trying to do their best but it was based on random internet advice.

Don’t try to follow social media advice on how to train your dog, find yourself a lovely, kind supportive trainer who will use reward-based training to help you and your dog not only reach for the training goals you have but do so whilst building on your beautiful bond, that’s what owning a dog is all about isn’t it?

Shared companionship, enjoying life together and making memories, the kind you can look back on fondly and smile about.

xoxo Nina
Confident Canine ~ “Bringing balance to both ends of the lead!”