TulsaPets Magazine March 2022

18 TulsaPets • March/April 2022 For the Life of the Dog Build Trust with Your Canine by Mary Green CPDT-KA: Certified Professional Dog Trainer Knowledge Assessed CDBC: Certified Dog Behavior Counselor CNWI: Certified Nose Work Instructor K9 Manners & More, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma D ogs, like people, have life stages. Each stage of a dog’s life presents special oppor- tunities and challenges. The thread that weaves this fabric of life is relationship — the relationships your dogs have with the humans in their lives and with other pets in the home and the security they find in their environment. Learn- ing never ends. Training changes over time, but there is never a day when you can declare, “This dog is completely trained.” Learning and experiencing happen throughout the dog’s life. What do dogs need during all life stages to live their best lives? Dogs need a solid relationship with you, the most important person in their lives. Whether you are bonding with a young puppy or an older dog, relation- ship is the foundation for learning and training. With every encounter you have with animals, they are learning something. What do you want their takeaway to be? That they are loved, respected, and safe? Or that they should be fearful, aggressive, or wary of us? Each dog has a relationship with the owner; it might be good or bad. Let’s make it a good one. SET CLEAR RULES Build a foundation of trust. For example, if it is not acceptable to you for a grown dog to get on the furniture, don’t let the puppy form that habit. Don’t change the rules. That creates mistrust. You can set clear rules. Allow the dog only on a certain piece of furniture or only when you are seated or only if a particular object (mat, throw, rug, blanket) is on the furniture. Some games might seem like fun until the puppy grows up. Activities such as wrestling and chasing can be painful or even dangerous with an adolescent or adult dog. The dog doesn’t realize that it is bigger, stronger, or faster than when you first engaged. So don’t get that started. Dog-dog chase and wrestling games are different than the dog-person version. They are clearer about boundaries and rules. They have wonderful signals to let the “playmates” know they are out of bounds. Predictability builds trust. Dogs need to learn routine. Dogs need to know where the water bowl is. They need to know that there will always be food (that can mediate resource guarding). I don’t mean that the food bowl needs to be always full. I don’t generally like free-feeding, but dogs need to know that at certain times of day, their wonderful person will provide meals. Even an empty water bowl has a negative effect on the relationship. If the bowl is empty frequently, the dog learns to drink it dry in case it doesn’t get filled again. That is not healthy for the dog and certainly not healthy for a positive relationship. Where is the dog bathroom? So many dogs are abandoned or sur- rendered because they potty in the house or in places that are unac- ceptable to us. A good relationship built on trust means that you have established clear potty rules early on. It is not fair to punish dogs for pottying in the house if they have no way to indicate that they need to go out or if they have no access to outdoors. Don’t damage a re- lationship by getting angry about an accident that was probably your fault anyway. TEASING CAUSES CONFUSION Teasing can certainly create mistrust and can damage any relationship. Teasing is confusing to dogs because it sends mixed messages. For example, in playing keep- away, you tease the dog by not letting him have his toy. So he grabs for it. Or he grabs you! And you get upset. The dog doesn’t understand. Teasing could even be as simple as using a key phrase such as, “Wanna go for a car ride?” You like to see the dog get all excit- ed, and then you let him down because — just kidding. That is teasing. Don’t play teasing games. Find mutually agreeable ac- tivities (including tug games and toy-chase games) with good boundaries. Games are not about who wins. A great relationship needs honest communication. Relationships grow throughout the life of the dog. Be sure you grow that relation- ship in the right direction. Trust TRAINING TIP