by Alan Papszycki (THE SPIRIT DOG)

So what exactly is “normal” dog behavior ? Well, actually it will be much easier for us to understand, what is NOT normal dog behavior.

Normal inherited and / or learned behaviors, which in actuality are derivations of the same inherited behavior ¹. Can and often will, encompass the entire spectrum of displayable behaviors a dog can exhibit. These behaviors can range greatly, from being very innocuous in nature. All the way to those demonstrative behaviors, that can be readily perceived as the most abhorrent acts, that can manifest themselves by a dog.

So in a nut shell, there aren’t any behaviors that a dog can display, that can be considered abnormal. There are plenty of behaviors that we do not like, but these are normal. Whether or not we are successful in modifying these behaviors, depends on two things. -1- The dog training professional you hire, and your comfort level and willingness to work with the dog.

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1A ;  “Normal inherited and / or learned behaviors, which in actuality are derivations of the same inherited behavior” :

(a) Inherited behavior of digging : Because of a dogs inherited behavior, digging comes naturally ; ( that’s the inherited behavior part) . A dog in a fenced yard that happens to dig a hole near the fence line, then escapes. If then on subsequent occasions he recreates the same digging behavior, that facilitated his  escape in the first place. Then that is a learned behavior that’s tied to an inherited behavior. ( derivation of, the same inherited behavior )

(b) Inherited behavior of survival ( survival instinct), most commonly displayed as fear aggression. The inherited behavior of a dog, tells them to growl when they perceive something that is a potential threat to them ( usually a person). (  that’s the inherited behavior part). Because most people are afraid of a growling dog, a person will back away from the animal to be safe. Hence the dog learns, that by growling he scares away what makes him nervous or uncomfortable. Again, on subsequent occasions, if he repeats this behavior. He has learned that by growling  he scares away the threat. ( This is now a learned behavior, tied to an inherited behavior ). ( derivation of, the same inherited behavior )

THE SPIRIT DOG

copyright©2008 alan papszycki

This is not the case, with every single male or female trainer. But the majority of them, fall into one of these two categories.The inherently obvious problems with either one of these training methods is, an fundamentally inadequate knowledge of canine behavior. Because contrary to popular belief, it has nothing to do with being your dogs, boss, alpha, pack leader or any other hogwash they can come up with. And yes, in canine packs whether it be Wolves, Coyotes, Dingos, African Wild Dogs or Junk Yard Dogs, there is an Alpha. And their primary job is protectors of the pack. Much more on this alpha thing later.

The problems that you will run across, in your quest to find a dog trainer. Is their inability to distinguish the differences between being a good dog trainer, and truly understanding canine behavior. Unfortunately they equate their ability to successfully train a dog, to respond to a given command. With the ability to understand canine behavior. Training, plain and simple is constant repetition until the animal reliably executes a command each and every time. It has nothing to do with, how your dog actually thinks.

So who should you choose. A man or woman dog trainer. It’s really up to your personal preference.
But I will tell you this, interview as many trainers as you can fit into your schedule. Make the time if you have to. Your dogs life may depend on it. And make sure they come to your home, and meet your dog. Depending on the issues you are having with your dog, a training facility may or may not be your best choice.  Some animals act a lot worse in unfamiliar places, and some dogs act a lot better.

The Spirit Dog

Additional Information

Dog Training, Finding the Perfect Dog Trainer

Obedience Training does not teach your dog to be obedient.

© 2008 THE SPIRIT DOG a.s.papszycki

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How to make our dog a little healthier and happy.

Sure we all know that if we have a dog that can be kept happy, and is easily entertained by constantly chasing after a ball or stick, that’s just great for our dog. And if we’re lucky enough to have a dog that just absolutely loves to play with his squeaky toys or tear up his stuffed animals, these guys are really in doggy heaven.

But what if we have a dog that has very little interest in doing those things. Some people will think of their dog as being a couch potato, if he doesn’t chase after a ball or shows very little desire to play with toys. Some of these dog owners will actually believe that their dog is happy, and prefers to lay on the couch all day like a lump. They may be happy, but they could be happier.

If we have a dog like that, he is definitely not a happy camper and most likely is just totally bored out of his mind. When someone says, ” is your dog feeling alright” we reply, “Yea he’s fine, that’s just Fred”.

NO, that is not just Fred, that is just US.

It may take us a little time to learn, but it’s a relatively simple matter to get our couch potato dog or any other bored dog off his butt and play. In a earlier article , I mentioned that there are only three ways a dog will play with another animal. Those three ways are, tug of war, play fighting or running and chasing each other around like maniacs.

If we have a couch potato we can really help him be happier and become a little more healthier by getting him to exercise in the form of playing. We have to try and entice him to play, by acting like another dog. What does this mean? We have to be excited when we attempt to play with him. Don’t be to embarrassed to act like an idiot with your dog. If your to reserved, don’t be. If your a little to shy, come on, nobodies going to see you.

We have to act like a child, to communicate with an animal that has a child like brain. It’s like when we play with a three, four or five year old child. We have to be imaginative, creative and emotional when playing with our children. Our dog is no different, we have to take the initiative and motivate them to play.  So lets go, release your inner child, you may feel stupid doing it. But your dog is going to love you for it.

The Spirit Dog

Copyright © 2008 A.S.Papszycki

Our dogs emotions although complex, are on par with a one year old child’s emotions. The particular emotions that are being displayed by our dog at any given time is devoid of any intelligent reasoning. Which simply means, a dogs emotion is an immediate response to an external stimulus.

Example A ;

We come home and find that our dog has chewed something up, or has gone to the bathroom in our home. We often misinterpret the submissive behavior as guilt, shame, regret, remorse, disgrace, a guilty conscience and so forth. A dogs mind can no more understand the definitions of those words, than a one year old child can. Never the less the concept of what those words mean.

A contributing factor or more to the point, main factor in our dogs behavior in this matter can be us. This usually happens once our dog has chewed something up in the past. Because we are anticipating some sort of destruction when we come home. Instead of walking in the door with a smile on our face, we walk in looking to see what got chewed up. Our dog reads this body language as anger, and we mistake his submissive body posture as guilt.

Example B ;

Often in a home that has multiple dogs, when one dog passes on. We can mistake our dogs initial confusion and unsureness that is related to the change in pack structure, as a feeling of sorrow and loss. What happens most often in this scenario is, we project our feelings and emotions onto our dog. In this case our dogs emotions, are an appropriate response to our body language, which is displaying sadness, sorrow and loss. We can help our dog in this situation, by us not showing him our sadness.

Example C ; If our dog does something we do not like, and we lose our composure while yelling at him to stop it. He will process this information based on our body language and emotions. And since our body language and emotions are out of control at that time, our dog responds accordingly. That’s to say, our dog will act more crazy because that’s how we are acting. Again, we will mistake his excitable behavior as being defiant or as challenging us.

For some of us this reality about a dogs brain can be very disheartening, and it shouldn’t be. That would be like us loving our one year old baby less because he doesn’t understand words. Yet we are easily able to communicate with our child by using our emotions. Our dog is no different, emotions are our dogs language.

The Spirit Dog

Need to be a better alpha, practice your acting skills.

How to be your dogs, Alpha Dog

If you have successfully dealt, with any behavior issue that your dog has displayed, in the past. DO NOT GET COMPLACENT !!!

Occasionally some of us forget to adhere to, and remember the simple rules we set for ourselves. That eliminated the behavior problems, that we had to work through with our dog. Some dogs once the behavior modification is complete, will never display that behavior again. While other dogs, it will be a life long process making sure we follow the rules, of not putting them in a position to have setbacks.

So any time a situation might present itself, that could potentially cause problems. Take a second to think about it. And if putting your little or big guy, in another room or his crate, will keep things happy in your home. Then do it.

The Spirit Dog

We often make the mistake of thinking, because we have grown up with dogs, in our family. We have the experience it requires to successfully integrate a new puppy or dog into our home. The reality of it is, if you grew up with a dog, that was your parents dog you grew up with, not yours.

Your parents, ( most likely your mom) where the ones responsible for housebreaking, general training, feeding, veterinary care, grooming, socializing, playing and all around general maintenance for that animal.

Sure you may have walked the dog once in awhile, maybe even fed them on occasion. But the daily needs, 365 days a year fell on someone else’s shoulders, and not yours.

The point of this is. To many of us out there have the tendency to dump our dog at the shelter, at the first signs of trouble. Because we think we have experience, and our experience tells us, that a dog shouldn’t do that. As a child, we didn’t have to deal with the behavior issues that pop up in our dogs. Our parents did.

ourdogs

The Spirit Dog

I think you know, what my big beef is !! The idea that if you buy a certain breed of dog, your not going to have any behavioral issues. All dogs have issues, just like we all have issues. And it’s our job to work through those issues.

Remember, every breed of dog. Has hundreds of thousands, if not millions of animal rescues. Dedicated to that breed of dog alone. I think that’s pretty proof positive, that, there all gonna give us some problems sooner or later. Otherwise, why would every breed of dog, need all those rescues.

I Have dedicated my life to dogs, and to studying canine behavior. It’s my hope, that as enough time passes. More and more dog lovers, novices and professionals, with a little help from me. Will come to the conclusion, that the currently taught behavior principles in regards to inherited canine behaviors, are wrong.

And that is our primary reason for failure, when attempting to help out clients with their dogs. It’s not from a lack of trying or caring, on our part. How can we teach effectively, if we were taught wrong.

The Spirit Dog

“Basic Dog Obedience”, for those of us that are willing to put the time in, is just constant repetition of a given command until our dog gets it. The problem is that we often make the mistake of thinking, because we have taken the time to train our dog in basic obedience. When problems do arise, it confuses and annoys us that our dog no longer listens to the simple commands we taught him.

Problem solving is not dog training or basic obedience training. For some reason we like to teach,” that your dog needs a job” to do, or “exercise him” until he passes out. Unfortunately neither one of these methods, address the problem at hand. Although they will help in certain circumstance. Some of those circumstances arose, because we weren’t spending enough time with our dog , in the first place. And now we’re gonna ask you to spend a lot of time, problem solving your dog or exercising him. It’s not gonna happen.

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There is a much simpler and less time consuming way.

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Roughly, sixty percent of the dogs that are turned into animal shelters, or if they were lucky enough to get a dog rescue interested in them, are completely obedience trained. Yet the problems that a dog trainer was hired to fix, still persist.

By making more people aware, of what dog training can, and cannot do. It’s my hope to save some people from a lot of unnecessary stress. And save some dogs lives, along the way.

You have a great day.

The Spirit Dog

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