YOUR DOG CANNOT PUT A FOOT WRONG (part 1)

It's true.  

When your dog is doing something you don’t like, you can be sure that either-

• she’s just deliciously doing what dogs love to do - being a dog, 
• or she’s doing what you have taught her to do.​

I have found this to be true in every case.

Today we’ll talk about when she’s just doing what dogs do and it doesn’t suit us.

If you don’t like what your dogs doing, you can adapt both your expectations and how you manage our dog’s environment.

E.g. if our dog loves rolling in badger poo, and we don’t like it, it can help to know why he’s doing it - To disguise his smell ready for a really great tracking and hunting session. What an exciting prospect. How understandable-if youre a dog.

Somertimes we get there in time - we’ll spot the tell tale intense sniffing, preparing to lean into a good old roll, or we’ll stop them before they squirm and rub it all deliciously into their fur. 

But we might also be able to change the game plan. Redirect the energy. We’re still offering fun, in a good outdoor experience, but not THAT particular version of fun.  A good old walk, but we can make choices about where we walk, how much off lead time, in which places. 

Something else that helps is setting up a home environment to manage the consequences of occasional scent marking – a handy hosepipe at home, towel and maybe somewhere to dry off after walks.

And lastly, we can change our reactions to the hunting perfume. It sometimes makes life easier to relax our human social standards. I now don’t mind a little bit of badger whiff after a Sunday afternoon adventure.

All together – problem behaviour sorted!

And we can use this approach to all sorts of behaviours we might not like.

So: be informed about the behaviour, manage the environment, and manage our own expectations.

Where I'm coming from