Dogs Think In Black And White
Dogs are very black and white in the way they think.
People on the other hand are very gray.
For Example, a person thinks to themselves "I'm mad at my wife, I'll yell at my dog.
" Any number of things can change our mood or temperament, things that we are not even aware of.
When the mother dog is raising her puppies, and they start getting teeth and sucking on her for milk, it hurts.
She doesn't go, "Please stop that.
" She snaps at one of them.
And from that point on, that puppy knows.
That's not a maybe.
That's a no.
So she doesn't have to nag them and nag them and nag them.
So if you're going to ask your dog to do something, you want to be prepared to make it happen.
You don't want to make your dog work just because you're mad.
Even though you can be mad, you have to fake it with your dog.
And even though at times I may have to be more firm in my corrections of my dog when I am training him, it's not a personal thing for me.
I'm not mad at you, but the second you do it right, I'm happy, happy, just giddy.
And then the dog understands! They are very black and white in the way they see life.
Say you come home and you let your dog jump on you every time.
But today you have to wear a suit.
So now, if you come home in a suit today, and your dog jumps on you and you go, "Get off me, damn it," well, he doesn't know you're wearing a suit.
You're the same idiot he's known all this time, and he's going to jump on you! Here's another example.
Say your puppy is allowed on the couch because he's so cute.
When he gets to be 110 pound Rottweiler in Schutzhund training, and you don't have a couch left, you say "Now you get off.
" You want to start them off that way, so that they are never allowed on it.
So that they don't go, "Why was I allowed before?" They don't realize they're 110 pounds.
They are still thinking black and white, wondering "Why did you change the rules on me?" When you are training your dog to compete in a sport like Schutzhund training, you should make an extra effort to be centered emotionally.
Don't get out on the Schutzhund training field thinking "You know, I'm in a bad mood right now, I'm going to really make you work.
"
People on the other hand are very gray.
For Example, a person thinks to themselves "I'm mad at my wife, I'll yell at my dog.
" Any number of things can change our mood or temperament, things that we are not even aware of.
When the mother dog is raising her puppies, and they start getting teeth and sucking on her for milk, it hurts.
She doesn't go, "Please stop that.
" She snaps at one of them.
And from that point on, that puppy knows.
That's not a maybe.
That's a no.
So she doesn't have to nag them and nag them and nag them.
So if you're going to ask your dog to do something, you want to be prepared to make it happen.
You don't want to make your dog work just because you're mad.
Even though you can be mad, you have to fake it with your dog.
And even though at times I may have to be more firm in my corrections of my dog when I am training him, it's not a personal thing for me.
I'm not mad at you, but the second you do it right, I'm happy, happy, just giddy.
And then the dog understands! They are very black and white in the way they see life.
Say you come home and you let your dog jump on you every time.
But today you have to wear a suit.
So now, if you come home in a suit today, and your dog jumps on you and you go, "Get off me, damn it," well, he doesn't know you're wearing a suit.
You're the same idiot he's known all this time, and he's going to jump on you! Here's another example.
Say your puppy is allowed on the couch because he's so cute.
When he gets to be 110 pound Rottweiler in Schutzhund training, and you don't have a couch left, you say "Now you get off.
" You want to start them off that way, so that they are never allowed on it.
So that they don't go, "Why was I allowed before?" They don't realize they're 110 pounds.
They are still thinking black and white, wondering "Why did you change the rules on me?" When you are training your dog to compete in a sport like Schutzhund training, you should make an extra effort to be centered emotionally.
Don't get out on the Schutzhund training field thinking "You know, I'm in a bad mood right now, I'm going to really make you work.
"
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