Day three with Noel was relatively uneventful. She continues to progress with her housetraining. She has had no accidents today. What Noel needs is what all dogs need; their needs to be met. Once you know what a dog needs, it's then all about finding a human who can provide for the needs. As I went through my day today, Noel's predicament kept coming to the forefront of my mind. Why aren't dogs needs being met? Why am I teaching an 8 month old what should have been learned many months ago? This afternoon I received a call from a woman who has a 10 month old dog. She got the dog from a local shelter. The dog arrived at the shelter at 8 weeks and stayed until it was 6 months old. The age of critical learning (when fear grows or doesn't) is from roughly 5-16 weeks. The dog had time to learn, but no one to teach it. The dog is afraid of doorways, people, noises, the car, the harness, taking walks..pretty much life. Why didn't the shelter prepare this dog for a home life? Why didn't the vet who prescribed the prozac, also insist that she call a behaviorist? Sometimes genes play a role in behavior problems, but most dog behavior is learned. Fear can be learned...or not...with exposure, but being locked in a cage prevents any learning from occurring. When people say they rescued a dog...what are they talking about? Rescuing implies the dog's life is better, but it seems most dog's lives are predetermined in those first few months of life and then their bodies just change locations. Another dog I saw today chewed a hole in the wall in its living room, yet the owners weren't complaining, just telling me what's new. This family has some hurdles to climb, but isn't considering giving the dog up. So what about Noel? Who was her caretaker during her critical learning period? After her family gave up on her, who else came into contact that could have taught her the rules of living with people? For all the dogs that are purchased from breeders or pet stores or adopted from shelters, how many come with operating instructions? A car comes with a manual, a class has a syllabus, even a frozen dinner has directions on the package...but a dog? When will the public catch up and learn about dogs' needs? Why don't the people who sell or place dogs give the new owners an operating manual? Tomorrow is another day for Noel to learn. She's a good little learner. If she could talk, I'd like to think she'd say thank you for all the supervision and consistency I am providing for her. Before I head to bed, I will take her out one more time and then lock her in her crate and say a prayer that there is someone out there who would like to learn to operate this sweet dog. |
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CategoriesBasic needs, shelter, food, medical, exercise, dog's needscrate training, potty training, puppy training dog blog, dog training, leadership, dog needs, good dog owner dog love dog training, dog blog, myths about dogs, truth about dogs, dog behavior dog training, dog lessons, people and dogs, inspiration dogs behaving badly foster dog, dog training, housebreaking, new dog foster dog, new dog housetrainig, foster dog, consistency, dog behavior, dog training housetraining, dog behavior leadership, ownership, alpha, listening, good behavior new blog, dogs, dog training, puppy, new dog new dog, dog training, dominance, dogs fighting, new blog problem behavior |
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