Suzy's Blog

If you are dealing with a behavior in your dog that seems like it cannot be explained or changed you might be dealing with a decision your dog has made.

For example: I had the wonderful opportunity to work with a Boston Terrier, who had a sensitivity to his back and hind quarters. If he was being touched in a certain way it would trigger a bite response. The owners had him since puppyhood and the behavior started a few years ago. The biting was directed at anyone who was going to pet the dog by approaching over the head towards the back. The dog would bite regardless of who was petting.

While it is not really relevant to have the information to why this behavior started I found out that it started after having a severe skin problem a few years back that got the dog associating pain with being touched in this way.

Have you ever thought you might have picked the wrong dog? Are you having sleepless nights over your dogs behavior?  Are you one of the people that picked your dog by breed, or because she or he looked cute? Is there a possibility to change the situation you are in? Well, you have definitely challenged yourself by choosing a dog that might not be the right dog for you. Your energy levels just don’t match. You are not compatible. Now what? Would it be best to find a different owner for the dog and a different dog for you? Or can this be remedied?

There is definitely not a single answer to this situation. But you can start by asking some questions. The first question I would ask your dog is: 'Would you like to own somebody else?' Yes, just like that. Since we do not own them, they own us - after all who goes out to work to feed them? So, really who owns who? I realize this might be a tough question to ask, especially since you are probably attached to your dog. But have you considered that your dog might know a thing or two as well? And would it be possible that he or she might give you a hard time because it’s time to move on? Just one possibility.

If the answer is that your dog would like to still own you the next question might be: 'What can we do to change this behavior?' Your dog will know what it would take. The answers to this question might be plenty, or just a single one. You might get them from all kinds of sources, not just your dog. If you are willing to keep asking the question, you could be surprised by all the different possibilities that present themselves!

Do you ever ask your dog a question? A real one, like "What do you require of me?" (not, what did you do that for?). Most of us use everybody else's dog as a reference on what we should expect from our dog. What if your dog was just as different as you are? What if your dog required a totally different thing than anyone else's dog? Would you be willing to start listening to your dog? And to yourself? How often have you actually already known what the 'expert' was telling you? Dogs are quite amazing creatures and they get a lot more information energetically than what we give them credit for. So what if we started asking our dogs what they require from us? And actually start to listen? In the beginning this might sound a bit strange, but really it is not that difficult. It is just like developing another muscle, it might take a bit of practice!