The Love Fallacy

Sometimes your love gets in the way of your dogs growth and potential. As a dog trainer, there are zero dogs that I see that have behavioral issues from a lack of love. The same cannot be said from giving “too much love”, always at the wrong time. 


We put every human emotional onto our dogs, hell most of you have a separate dog voice for each different dog you have. The issue is, when we make up emotions, feelings, that our dogs are not even having. 


“Awe he looks sad.” As the dog calmly walks off the couch and lays on his dog bed. 


“Look how happy he is!” As the dog has a stress face, frantically barking at the Squirrel on the other end of the window.


“I don’t want him to not want to cuddle me tho” When a dog gets kicked off the bed because they are protective over it. 


“He doesn’t like that” When the dog finally lays his head down during a stay command, whilst the family eats dinner.


WE make up so many scenarios inside our head, and we overthink (go figure) everything! 


Something I want you to think about. Love is not affection. Affection is a part of love, but it’s just a piece of the puzzle. Your dog needs more than that. Honestly, your dog would be happier working than they would be sitting on the couch getting affection. 


“But I love him” is a line a hear all too often. If you love him, you’ll do what is necessary, and what he needs. Not what you want. 
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Now we are here, what was the point of this post.. ⬇️


I’ve been in this industry 9 years, and I’m not sure if it’s just me, but it seems that dogs are getting more and more worse behaved. I believe it is because our perception of love. If you think back, it was fairly common for all dogs to live outside not too long ago. I’m absolutely not advocating for that by any means, but we have made a huge directional change in the way we interact with dogs, an animal with 42 teeth, in a very short period of time. 


The market and the media have twisted love. It’s not only about cuddle time, new toys, bones and other materials. It’s about meeting their instinctual needs. Your dog was bred to work. Bred for a purpose, and the average dog doesn’t have that in their life. We took a German Shepherd Dog, painted his toe nails, and give him a 15 minute walk a day, and wonder why he’s an absolute psycho in the house. He’s not fulfilled, he’s not loved, in the way he needs to be. 


I want you to do me a favor. Research your dog breed today, and dive into a little. Look at what they were bred to do, and used for in the past. When you make the commitment to bring that breed into your house, make sure you are doing enough to meet their needs, physically and mentally. Also make sure you meet their needs by giving them direction, by leading them. I can promise you this, your dog will love you significantly more when you take the driver seat. 


You have to make sure you stop humanizing him. Love him, but love him as your dog, not as your child. However, in the same instance that you would with your child, you need to create rules, and more important stick to them! I know your dog is cute, but that cuteness is not a get our of listening to rules free card. 


Change your mindset, and it will change your outcome. Happy Training.