Canine Identity Crisis

I can hear it now, “You have got to be kidding!”  I am hard serious! I talk at end about leadership and how critical it is to dog mental health. Very few dogs these days do not have some sort of anxiety, whether it is separation anxiety, approval anxiety, inability to calm themselves in the house, re-directed aggression, even reactivity to events or other dogs.  What is even more unfortunate is that so many people do not recognize the signs of anxiety and continue to let their dogs live in quiet misery. Our dogs cannot tell us or even talk about how they feel.  To top it off, we place feelings on them as if they were people instead of dogs, which is good old-fashioned anthropomorphism. This doesn’t mean dogs don’t have feelings, but they do not have feelings for the same reasons as people do.  This is where the dog identity crisis begins.

A Canine Cancer Journey

Most of my Facebook friends know that in October, black long coat shepherd, Kalidor was diagnosed with Lymphoma. That began a very difficult journey. I thought I would share some things I learned along the way that might help others. Since I am not a veterinarian, my approach is from a dog training instructor point of view and from some personal point of view.

“Balance” in All Things Dog

These days, if you do an internet search about dog training, you will find extremes from one end of the spectrum to the other.  I read an article the other day that talked about “the state of your dog’s mind” in how it relates to the dog responding to a simple command like “sit.”  It was encouraging that we consider what the dog was feeling before we ask a dog to do something.

The Popularity of Dog Anthropomorphism

Just what is anthropomorphism?  It is humanizing dogs.  The media and pet suppliers, the dog training community and dog care specialist have begun to refer to dogs as “fur babies” or “fur children”.  Not a day goes by that we don’t see dogs in clothes that make them look like little children.  I posted a photo on the Positive Puppy FaceBook page that had a Weimaraner with painted toenails and a bracelet on her leg.  A Weimeraner is a hunting dog with huge energy and the need to run, and hunt.  In order to paint her nails, her “guardians” had allowed the nails to grow especially long.  As a result, this dog will end up with health issues with her feet that could result in pain the rest of her life and unable to run.  For what purpose?  So her “guardian” can enjoy their dog looking like a human “princess”.

Aggressive Dogs

This is a very complex subject to write about because many people find it difficult to recognize the warning signs of aggression that will escalate. Many people may even deny their dog is being aggressive.  The new language to soften that fear is “reactive.”  I hope to bring awareness to this very scary subject and the many variables.  I simply cannot explain them all in a short essay.