When we think about dog guardianship, where do our minds go first? For many, it’s training.
We get a puppy or bring a dog home, and we immediately start thinking about what we need to teach them. Recall. Loose leash walking. Sit. Stay. We focus on getting it “right” from the beginning, on getting our dogs to understand what we want them to do.
When their dog is struggling, most people immediately look for a trainer. But what if training is only a small piece of the puzzle?
Dogs are living, sentient beings. They have the emotional and cognitive capacity of a toddler. They have preferences, feelings, personalities, and biological needs. They are unique individuals, and it takes time to get to know them.
When we look at every behavior challenge as a training problem, we miss the bigger picture of who our dogs actually are. We miss truly seeing our dogs.
I see a parallel to this in the parenting world. Whether or not we want to admit it, modern parenting involves an extremely high level of control over children's behavior. And sure, maybe that produces “well behaved”, compliant humans on the surface. But how is that actually working for us?
How are we functioning as a society? What does our emotional health look like?
With our dogs, before we jump to training to solve every problem, I think it’s worth asking an entirely different set of questions:
Are our dogs’ needs actually being met?
How much autonomy do they have in their daily lives? How much freedom of movement? How much choice?
How much time do they spend resting and decompressing?
What stressors are present in their environment?
Are they comfortable in their bodies? Are they free from pain?
What if it’s not actually about training, most of the time? What if training is a much smaller piece of the puzzle than we’ve been led to believe?
What if we paid more attention to what our dogs need, and what they are telling us through their behavior, before trying to shape or change it?
Training and management absolutely have a place in keeping our dogs safe and bringing more ease and connection to our lives together. But high levels of structure and control can never replace the building blocks of well being, for any of us.
What if we focused on building a life together that centers our dogs needs and preferences as much as our own? A life that prioritizes, comfort, safety, choice, and joy for both of us?
We believe that this life includes more time to sniff, more freedom to move, and more space to explore safely. It looks like choosing quiet, low stress locations for outings. It can look like something as simple as using a slightly longer leash to allow for more agency, freedom of movement, and choice, while still keeping everyone safe and connected. It means taking our dogs’ physical comfort and wellbeing seriously.
It looks like creating a life that meets our dogs' needs, rather than constantly asking them to cope. When we do these things, many “problems” may start to fade, and we build a trusting relationship that training alone could never create.
