Labeling Our Dog’s Doesn’t Help Them - Education Does
Yesterday I went to see one of my clients. He is a big, beautiful, young working line German Shepherd. And like many of these dogs, he has a big personality. He throws himself into life!
However, he went to a boarding facility over the holidays. When his humans returned, he was given a not so gleaming report of his behavior, even though they had been able to view it on camera. They were told that he was "resource guarding" and "reactive".
Those two labels stung his owner. I could see the look on her face when she explained to me what they told her. She looked saddened thinking that her boy had been labeled now with a serious behavior problem.
This is the problem with people without a professional background in canine behavior, who toss out their diagnoses and labels on our dogs - especially on dogs that they don't really know.
1. Resource guarding is a NORMAL canine behavior. We humans will also resource guard if we feel a resource is needed and we don't want others trying to take it. Otherwise, we would leave our garage doors open for all to see and take (over simplified example). Many time this behavior can be avoided if we respect the dog's space, don't tease or stick hands in bowls or their food, or otherwise harass them when they are eating or with a chew.
2. It puts a label on the dog that is not helpful to the human, or the dog. It tells some other person's storyline that can get adopted by the human partner, and stuck on the dog. A description label can make the difference between a dog in a shelter finding a home or not; living and not. It's unfair to the dog!
3. The label makes the human partner feel like they are in a mess with their dogs and doomed to live with a serious behavior issue. Some people will take the label and get rid of their dog because they don't want to deal with it.
4. Experience with dogs is not education necessarily. Sure, you can learn a lot by observing them and being with them, but that doesn't mean you are describing them accurately. I see this ALL the time. It drives me nuts! It would be easy to attach some kind of story to him and his behavior in that situation, if you didn't know him. Sure. It "looks like",... but that is missing a whole lot of information.
5. Dogs are dogs. They have a limited means of communicating their feelings. They should never be punished or thought of as bad animals when the way they express their emotion is considered in a negative light by humans. When dogs behavior is perceived as a negative in human's perception, humans often get into the mindset that the dog "needs to be fixed" (nothing wrong with the dog. Plenty wrong with humans but that's another day), and winds up on a road of being "corrected" (forced or punished for behavior). I deal with this happening a lot to people that come to me for help with their dogs. It makes things worse!
If you try to take my ribeye off my plate, and try to correct me for growling, snatching it, running away with it, ummmmm our problems just got worse.
6. How many times are shelter dogs put down, or rescues narrowing their "perfect" homes for dogs that are being inaccurately labeled? Maybe they come into those places with a label already stuck on them.
Some behavior issues prevent those dogs from being placed in certain homes and that is a great consideration for sure! Again, it is information about the dog's struggles with life and emotional state of mind. This can be applied to any dog with a behavior issue. A “reactive” dog, an “aggressive” dog, a “stubborn” dog, etc. Either we are helping the dog or we are contributing to the issue. Labels don't help.
Sure there is legitimate resource guarding issues with dogs. They can be serious. But we should not be defining dogs based on labels, especially when they are just tossed out there because Jo Beth thinks she's an expert on dogs - & never been to a class in her life. Instead we can use the words as a description of behaviors that we are noticing. This detaches the word from the dog's identity.
This is why I have such a heavy emphasis on my client's education. I don't want them to feel sad because someone who doesn't know the client's dog deep enough, or understand canine behavior well enough, put such a label on their dog.
He is a happy guy! Has one of the best temperaments I have seen in a German Shepherd (the breed has pretty much been wrecked with irresponsible, uneducated breeders). In this case, he was simply stressed out and communicating his feelings. That's it. That's all. I ripped that label off his head and tossed it in the bin. His human looked so relieved.
If you need help with your dog, please check out my website and feel free to drop me a line.
Yesterday I went to see one of my clients. He is a big, beautiful, young working line German Shepherd. And like many of these dogs, he has a big personality. He throws himself into life!
However, he went to a boarding facility over the holidays. When his humans returned, he was given a not so gleaming report of his behavior, even though they had been able to view it on camera. They were told that he was "resource guarding" and "reactive".
Those two labels stung his owner. I could see the look on her face when she explained to me what they told her. She looked saddened thinking that her boy had been labeled now with a serious behavior problem.
This is the problem with people without a professional background in canine behavior, who toss out their diagnoses and labels on our dogs - especially on dogs that they don't really know.