“My dog is 95% perfect”

That's what I hear from almost all of my clients. Whether the dog just needs a little work on manners, has attacked a couple dogs, or even bitten a child, my clients say that the rest of the time the dog is the loving, cuddly, fun companion they dream of. But the other 5% of the time, the dog’s family becomes frustrated, embarrassed or even scared.

First, let me say that dogs are as close to perfect beings as you’ll get. There is no evil or bad intentions in dogs. They are pure love. I have worked with some dogs with a mental dysfunction that has caused them to be unpredictable and therefore unsafe. But that is less than .1% of the troubled dogs. Usually, there are perfectly good reasons for why a dog “misbehaves”.

The main reason is that they truly do not know what they are supposed to be doing differently. We can’t just tell a dog “no” and expect him to figure out what the right answer or action is. But, that is how we typically communicate with dogs. We make them keep guessing until they figure out something that works. Sometimes, it’s exactly what the owner wanted, but often it is simply “good enough” for the owner, so they accept that behavior.

My programs asks “what exactly DO you want your dog to do?” Then – and only then - can we ask your dog to do it! Do you want him silent when the doorbell rings, or just a few barks? Do you want him in another room while you eat, or next to the table, as long as he's not begging? Often, couples disagree on what they want, so of course the dog is confused!

So, what is empathic dog training?

Empathic means you see things from the point of view of the other being. Most people take words they hear or actions they see from someone else and interpret them through their own experiences and make assumptions about why people said or did something. And they are usually incorrect.

Instead, if you ask questions and really find out what's going on with that person, you will see that their actions and words have little to nothing to do with you (or at least what you thought). Perhaps now it is completely understandable as to why the person did something. Because now you know where they were coming from and how they perceived the situation in the first place. That’s empathy!

My role is to explain to you how your dog perceives the world, or a specific situation, and why he is making the decisions he’s making. Once you understand how he sees things and why he reacted the way he did, your empathy will help you to more easily and quickly change the way he's behaving to a way that you prefer.

Examples of these actions he's taking might be: he jumps on visitors, steals your food, barks at other dogs, nips at your child, tries to “attack” motorcycles, or gets on the furniture. He's doing these things for reasons in his head that make perfect sense to him and because he has not been trained to do otherwise.

I often need to explain how the human has misinterpreted the dog's intention and behavior before the human can understand the steps needed to reeducate the dog to do the right thing. A prime example is aggression… Dogs are not “mean” by nature. Almost all acts of aggression come from fear: Fear of (being hurt by) people, fear of losing a prized possession, or fear of the unknown. Once we become empathetic to the dog’s underlying fear and fix that issue, the resultant aggression will go away (with the help of some additional behavior modification techniques).

My empathic dog training program will enable you to understand your dog's needs, responses and feelings. With a deep understanding of why your dog is behaving and reacting the way he or she does, along with detailed and easy to understand steps to follow, you will quickly and easily be able to turn around even the most troubling situations.

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info@poochcoach.com     415-643-3333

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