+top trainer of animal actors (SVU, Sex and the City, Disney, the list goes on!) +have fun with your dog learning cool new tricks +http://subscribe.dogpotentialunleashed.com/ + https://linktr.ee/dogpotentialunleashed
Does my dog know that I know that I'm not a dog?
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We know our dogs are not human. We teasingly anthropomorphize their intent and action, we give them 'voices' and speak the words we pretend are in their heads, but we know they are dogs. There was a time when we went too far, dug our heels in and believed with a vengeance that being a dog, or really any animal other than human, meant being something so much lesser that we over-elevated ourselves. We've been chipping away at that fantasy ever since. Animals have language, use tools, have complex social structures, and memories. Animals have imagination, a sense of fairness, and the ability to learn things we once deemed only in the human realm. All of this while continuing to not be us. To see the world quite differently, to experience everything from sight to sound to touch in a way that we cannot really imagine. And yet... We and they are hopelessly intertwined. There would be no dogs without humans. Whether humans would exist as a species without dogs is debatable. Thankfully, we don't need to know the answer. Dogs exist and our lives are forever richer for it. A puppy, new to the world, emulates those around them, learning everything, step by step. They know they are not us, even as they learn who they are from us. Do they asked themselves what we are, why we exist? Do they wonder whether we think we are dogs? I imagine that dogs don't ask the big questions at all. But there are so many things we've been wrong about, when guessing what dogs were capable of. Who knows? Are they as glad for us as we are for them? They seem to be. Recently I was involved in a conversation on social media in which someone suggested that people who were not experts should refrain from giving their opinion or interpretation of what dogs' body language meant, because they could have seriously wrong or misguided ideas, and their answers could be damaging to people and dogs. Obviously anything written on social media should be taken with caution, but more than that, perhaps the oddball with the crazy idea is the person at the forefront of realizing something new about dog cognition. There is so much we don't know about each other. How did Know Me understand, the very first time my grandson held his leash, that he should not pull at all? That he should stay very close and keep the leash from getting tangled no matter what my grandson (who is not yet 2) did? We know that dogs know things, but we don't know how they know. They know we know things too, do they wonder all the time about us? Reminder - there's a DPU Zoom tonight, SUNDAY NOVEMBER 1ST 6 PM EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME
ALSO - LAST CHANCE TO GRAB 'OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!' An all access pass to EVERY online class we offer for only $500. From Foundation to Fetch! That includes Star Power, our flagship trick class, Obedience, Scentwork and more. These classes are designed to work at your own pace, with personalized help when you need it. Fully downloadable too! The 'OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!' ALL ACCESS PASS will no longer be sold after December 31st! (if you have previously purchased the Perfect Puppy or Retrieve Bundle, email me to get a coupon for the 'OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!' All access pass prorated)
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DOG POTENTIAL UNLEASHED
+top trainer of animal actors (SVU, Sex and the City, Disney, the list goes on!) +have fun with your dog learning cool new tricks +http://subscribe.dogpotentialunleashed.com/ + https://linktr.ee/dogpotentialunleashed
One of my dogs, Logic, has a early onset deafness. I've known since she was a puppy that she might go deaf earlier than normal as she carries two copies of the Early Adult Onset Deafness For Border Collies linked mutation. Dogs who have two copies of this are at significant risk of going deaf earlier than normal. People who meet her, who see her in training, who interact with her, often seem to doubt that she has hearing loss. She appears to respond to most verbal cues quite nicely 'when she...
There is a common cultural belief that the lack of punishment and pain causes children to grow up entitled, out of control, selfish. It's not new, throughout history, any time people thought that the younger generation was acting poorly it was blamed on too much freedom and a not enough 'discipline' which was always meant as not enough hitting. What is incredible is the continued pervasiveness of the belief. You might be reading this wondering whether I forgot I was writing a dog newsletter,...
I don’t know how good a mother I was when my children were growing up. How are those things measured, and who measures them? It is patently unfair to ask one’s children, if they’re even moderately polite they will say something close to what one wants to hear. Did the kids turn out the way we wanted? That might mean that they might have survived despite our failures, because there’s so much else at play. And so it is with puppies, the vast majority of them turn out fine regardless of how many...