Whenever I meet someone new they ask me what I do for a living and I tell them that my wife and I own a pet sitting and dog walking company. This is actually a great conversation starter because most people love pets and people love to talk about themselves and their pets. Which again I need to remember as my wife and I are abysmal at small talk and asking people if they have any pets at home is an easy conversation to have.
What came up this morning was someone said to me that I must have met a lot of bad dogs. I hesitated for a second and then I said that no I haven’t met any bad dogs but I have met some interesting ones.
I will tell you that I have been bit twice in my time as a dog walker and pet sitter and attacked a few others. Nothing has been vicious and everything has been my fault. The one was a crate aggressive dog that had to be made to sit before opening his crate. I failed to do this because I was a tad bit overconfident and didn’t read the visit notes before going to take care of the dog, and the second time was handing a very old dog a treat.
Dogs that act out aren’t bad. There are no such thing as bad dogs. Dogs misbehave because they are either misunderstood, they lack a proper outlet for their behavior, or they were not socialized enough when younger. It is very important for young dogs to be socialized with both people and other dogs.
Think about certain common dog behavioral issues like resource guarding, food aggression, and high prey drive. All of these are normal dog behaviors that make perfect sense in a dog based society. The unfortunate reality for these dogs is that we live in a human based society. We, at times, make demands of our pets that are very difficult for them to follow.
Imagine the world a dog would choose to live in if a dog got to choose. Then overlay that world on the human one they occupy. It can easily be understood where humans and dogs have a bit of a culture clash.
This is how we should understand our dog’s behavior. Not that they are acting out because of some imagined slight or because they want to be alpha or whatever, but because they are from a dog culture and we are from a people culture and while our cultures have great overlap and benefit from their mingling they are not always in sync.
The most important question we can ask, of anything and anyone, is why? Why is my dog behaving in a manner I do not like? The answer is because of this culture clash we have. When we see our dogs acting in a manner that is not conducive to our world we must first seek empathy and understanding. To see the world from their perspective and then we can teach them a better and more conducive way to behave, and always remember there are no bad dogs.