Hey Woofa’s,

Have you ever thought, ‘To Change Your Dog’s Behaviour, First You Must Change Your Own?‘

Just sit on that thought for a while and see where it takes you!

I’m a self confessed book NERD!!!   I can’t go by any store that has books without taking a look.

So, I was in this book shop (surprise surprise) and I happened upon this book – Dognitive Therapy by Laura Vissaritis.

I read it from cover to cover and tagged the pages that jumped out at me!!  As you can see by the pic above, A LOT jumped out at me!!!

I got excited because, ‘finally someone has stopped blaming the dogs and is making the owners accountable.’

Dogs keep things simple!  They don’t ask for much at all but they give mountains in return.  Us humans make life crazy for them!!!

We smother them with anxieties and most of the time we’re not even aware that we’re doing it!  We over complicate their lives by trying to treat them like humans would want to be treated!  And to top it all off, we didn’t even ask them if that’s what they wanted!!!

We expect behaviours of them without putting any effort in communicating with them in the way THEY understand!  Then we get cranky with them for not doing what we want!!!  The list goes on and on!!

Many trainers that I follow all say the same thing, ‘it’s not the dogs that we have trouble training, it’s the owners’!!

AN EXAMPLE –

Little Missy (the Jack Russell) only took 5 minutes to understand what we wanted her to do.  It was Missy’s owner who still doesn’t get it and doesn’t keep up with her training at home so Missy has relapses and Missy’s Owner can’t understand why the training isn’t working.  Or why Missy gets it when the trainer does it but not when Missy’s Owner yells several different commands at her all in the one sentence!!!!!!

This is not only confusing for Missy but it’s frustrating for the Trainer!!

Out the front of my Salon I’ve experienced the below scenario!!!

People pull up with their dogs in the car and the dog is yapping.  The car door opens and I hear in harsh tones – shut up, sit still, keep still, sit down, no don’t jump up I have to get your belt unhooked!  Don’t jump out of the car, sit still, oh my god you dumb dog you just jumped out of the car, you’re going to hurt yourself one of these days!   What are you doing now, come here you’re all tangled in your lead, you stupid thing!   Don’t go over there, stay here, OMG can you pull me any faster, slow down you’re going to pull me over.  What are you doing??  OMG don’t pee on the garden, go potty on the grass, OMG they’re doing a poo I’m so embarrassed!  Why are you doing a poo here, did you save it up just to do it here??

All that is usually said in a manner of 1-2 minutes!!!  I stand there thinking the dog’s not the stupid one here, they never are.  It comes down to total miscommunication!!!

This brings me back to what Laura’s book title conveys, To Change Your Dog’s Behaviour, First You Must Change Your Own?‘

BRIEF OVERVIEW

The first paragraph of the introduction reads ‘ The cornerstone of my approach to dog training is that dog training is not about dogs: it’s about people.  Our dogs are a reflection of us. Every day, we make simple but critical mistakes that not only have consequences on our dogs’ wellbeing but on our wellbeing too.’

What’s Dognitive Therapy?

Laura’s Dognitive Therapy is her simplified version of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy .

Very briefly the definition of CBT is –

Laura takes this definition, simplifies and modifies it for people and their dogs.

Laura’s Essential Holy Grail’s to her Dognitive Therapy are – to be a  Consistent, Patient and Respectful Leader.  Empowering your dog to walk alongside you because they WANT to, not because they have to.

And – as a follower we want to instil qualities such as – Calm, Cooperative and Controlled behaviours in our dogs.

We are also shown how to apply these techniques to our own life.

Basically this book helps you to help yourself so you can help your dog!!!

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS BOOK!

Can I say, everything????

Okay I’ll narrow it down.

Dognitive Therapy makes the dog owner accountable for their dog’s behaviour!!!  It makes the dog owner get right down and ask themselves – am I causing this behaviour because I’m either ignoring my dog or because I don’t understand their behaviour?  This is not always intentional, sometimes we don’t even realise there’s such miscommunication!

Not only does Laura make us accountable but she also helps us to understand our dog’s behaviour and helps us to see where we might be going wrong.  By using example situations with other dogs, we can apply similar techniques to our own dogs.

Laura also provides exercises for us to do with our own dogs, in order to help us bond and become that Consistent, Patient & Respectful Leader our dogs want to follow in a Calm, Cooperative and Controlled way.

She shows us extensively how NOT to set our dogs up for failure, just as WE wouldn’t do the same for ourselves.

Laura very cleverly demonstrates how we can use said techniques in our own lives with those around us.

No matter what your dog is going through, behavioural wise, if you are willing to work with them using Laura’s techniques I’ve no doubt you’ll be successful.

HOW I HAVE APPLIED DOGNITIVE THERAPY!

Billy is 6 and I have only just worked out that he has anxiety when we go for a walk!!

I am Billy’s second owner, the guy I bought him from had him for 2 weeks and got him when he was only 4 weeks old!!! WAY WAY WAY TOO young to be taken from his pack.

Tracing this back, tells me that Billy never got to run with his litter mates and have the comfort of other dogs around him.

When I got Billy he was 6 weeks, Isabel (12 years) became his surrogate mother.

I mistook Billy’s anxiety as over excitement to be going on a walk.  Turns out most of his energy is anxiety, because he fears what other dogs might do to him.  He can’t get his walk over with quickly enough.  He tugs on the lead, turns around and plays tug-o-war with it and basically doesn’t seem to enjoy it at all.

NOW that I understand where his anxiety has come from I can work with him Consistently – by taking him for shorter walks where nothing happens to him.  I can also sit with him out the front calmly until he learns that it’s okay.  Patiently – we do this until he is comfortable, then slowly increase his walks, and Respectfully– know that it will take time and that’s okay.

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I recommend this book to every dog lover and owner purely because it makes sense.

Thanks to Laura for writing it!

Have you read this book?  What did you think?  Do you think you and your dog would benefit from reading this book?

Billy and I would love to hear from you, in the Comments below – Tell us what you think?

Cheers