Dog Companionship Issues

Getting a dog for companionship seems like a great reason to own a dog and many canines do live up to their reputation as being ,man’s best friend,.   However it is important to realize that dogs are not a substitute for human companionship.   Many people spoil a dog to death or lose control over its training because they start projecting the qualities of a human on the animal’s personality.    Mistaking a dog for being a human is the number one reason why pets end up being overweight, overly dominant or submissive and aggressive to strangers. They are fed human food, encouraged to sleep on beds just like human children and never chastised as puppies for biting, nipping and growling.   An unhealthy emotional reliance on your pet can also lead to all kinds of behavioral and psychological problems for your dog such as possessiveness, submissive urination and separation anxiety.   It is also not good for you to develop a codependency with your pet. You may develop anger or resentment issues over a dog that you can’t control or take misbehavior personally.  Although it is a great idea to think of your pet as one of the family, he should not become the master of your domain.   To make sure that your dog is psychologically healthy and well behaved be prepared to withhold your tendencies to coddle him or her as a puppy. This includes denying the puppy food when he leaps up at the table and being too enthusiastic when greeting him or her when you come home.    An inability to establish healthy boundaries between you, the human and your dog, the pet can lead to problems that are so serious that the dog has to be put down. At the very least a dog that is treated like a human may have to take obedience lessons so that he treats humans with respect  Sometimes you can acquire a pet so that other pets in your home will not be lonely. . This is a fantastic idea. Just keep in mind that your costs of owning a pet will be double , including food and veterinarian bills.  Of course it is important to choose dogs that are peaceful and make easy friends with other dogs. It would be a bad idea to combine a Yorkshire Terrier with a Rotweiller for example, as the Rottie may perceive it as food. You are much better off to pair that Yorkie with a Dachshund who is very sociable with other animals.   However just because an animal is small does not mean it is more sociable.   Jack Russell Terriers have been known to kill other pets simply because they are jealous of the attention they are getting from the owner.  Whether you are getting a dog because you feel that you need companionship or because you feel like your other pets do the key to success is balance. Keep your expectations realistic and don’t try to turn your dog into your boyfriend or expect a dog that chases cats to become your kitty’s best buddy.

Pet Blog
, , , ,

Dog Whispering

You’ve probably heard of horse whispering but there is also such a thing as a dog whisperer.   These people talk wayward animals into behaving.  There actually was a television series about a Dog Whisperer. It made its appearance on the National Geographic Channel in 2004. The sponsor of the show is the Pet food company Purina and another American pet store chain called Petco.   I ran across it while looking for something to write about on this blog because it is one of the most downloaded of mp3s on the Internet.   I guess this is because people can take an iPod to the park and follow the instructions to train their pet live while viewing the episode.  The Dog Whisperer himself is Cesar Millan who has made a living from dog whispering. His specialty is working with difficult to train dogs , the typical alpha dog.   In each episode he tries to cure a dog of a bad habit such as being possessive of food or toys or biting, growling or nipping at people’s heels. Each of the dogs featured on the television show the Dog Whisperer has a serious problem and at the beginning of each show each is incredibly destructive.   You see lots of footage of these dogs trashing a room in just a couple of minutes usually because they are bored or lonely.  Millan uses the fifty or so dogs that he owns on his farm including dog breeds such as Rotweilers, Pit Bulls and German Shepherds to demonstrate how to be a dog whisperer.   This is impressive as these are know to be ,bad dogs, but he does not get his ear torn off. A dog is only as good as his owner, as they say, so the aim of The Dog Whisperer is definitely to teach people how to be better owners.  In essence being a good Dog Whisperer is actually about teaching a dog that is boss. Millan teaches each dog that the dog owner is the leader of the pack and not the alpha dog.    If you get a dog that thinks he is a leader, then you have an aggressive or even an alpha dog. This kind of dog is often overly suspicious, possessive and protective. One thing a good dog whisperer can do is calm this type of dog down by making him feel secure and like there is a leader. This persuades your dog to stop trying so hard to take over what he perceives in his doggie mind to be your incompetanace.    In the wild the leader of the pack would do this by being firm and direct with his body language. The Dog Whisperer cues humans to do the same so that the dog feels secure.  The motto of the Dog Whisperer is ,exercise, discipline and then affection., This is demonstrated on dog after dog in the many episodes of Cesar Millan’s shows.   The show is very popular as he makes it very easy for any dog owner to understand the principles involved in getting your dog to behave in all kinds of different situations.  

Pet Blog
, , ,