Are we expecting dogs to NOT be dogs now

Zeitgeist means the spirit of the time.

Every now and then there is a shift (sometimes a big shift) with cultural, moral and just general ideas of the time.

This happens in lots of areas and it happens with our dogs too. We have shifts in ideas and the pendulum swings in a certain direction. It seems now that for the majority of people living with dogs, the idea of what a dog is and should do has massively shifted. There seems to be this idea that if a dog behaves like a dog, then they are showing problematic behaviour.

If a dog barks, this is normal. If a dog chases a rabbit, this is normal. If a dog pulls on a lead, this is normal. If a dog jumps up, this is normal. If a dog chews things, this is normal. If a dog jumps up on a counter to get something, this is normal. If a dog growls after being stepped on, this is normal. If your dog reacts after suddenly being woken up by a child, this is normal. If a dog doesn't want to be separated and left alone for 8 plus hours, this is normal.. You get the gist.

When we bring a dog into our life we should expect them to behave like a dog. That sounds obvious but this means we should expect them to bark, dig, jump, growl, bite etc. That’s normal behaviour. Our training is something we can then do to modify the normal behaviour that we don’t like so much.

A common example is pulling on a leash. It’s completely normal for a dog and especially a puppy to want to go and explore new places which in turn will mean if they are leashed they will pull to get there. It would be super abnormal if a puppy just wanted to always walk beside someone - this would likely be a sign that the pup is lacking confidence and does not want to leave their safety zone. Over time we can modify that behaviour but when I first start working with a pup I don’t worry too much if they are pulling. I expect them to and expect over time that will lessen with training. I don’t want to punish them for expressing normal behaviour at such a young age.

Dogs are not born wanting to please us. They are born wanting to seek out pleasure and to avoid any unpleasantries. They are also pre-programmed to behave in a certain way. The more I work with dogs, the more important I think genetics really are. If you get a border collie or a herding breed, or even certain gundogs like pointers and your main goal is for them to be calmer, then that’s not a dog you should be getting. Calmness is like a byproduct of a fulfilled dog. We don’t aim for calmness in many contexts but our dogs are pretty calm 90% of the time. That’s not because we have trained them to be calm - it’s because we do our best to meet their needs first and give them lots of outlets to practice normal behaviour. They are then more likely to be snoozy outside of these training sessions/outings.

A lot of problematic behaviours are not because the dog is naughty or stubborn but due to unmet biological needs. That’s not to say we have to walk our dogs for hours and hours each day or work our border collies into the ground but it does mean that if our dog’s behaviour is not what we expect them to do, we do then have to educate them how to behave instead and that isn’t a simple case of waiting for them to practice the unwanted stuff and telling them off. It’s a case of teaching them what to do when you don’t need them to do something, so when you do need them to do something, they are more likely to then be able to comply with the thing you have already taught them to do.

For example - if your dog’s a barker teaching them to shush on cue would be a good idea or if they are an incessant puller teaching them that on some walks they need to plod rather than pull your arm off.

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