Ok so the title of this is a bit dramatic, but I need to get your attention because so many people do this without even realizing the affects it has with our dogs. Im going to jump right into this because i’m sure 99.9% sure you’re rolling your eyes thinking how is my love and affection killing my dog?
Have you ever watch a wolf documentary? or watched how dogs interact with one another in the wild? If not, please do so! There are lots of them online, on demand, and on discovery channel.
A small run down on what you’ll see. After a kill the pack leader wont go around to each pack member and pet them and kiss them and tell them what good dogs they’re, and how great of a job they did chasing down that deer. You wont see the pack members kissing and cuddling and loving on one another constantly. Sure you will see the youngsters playing, and the mother teaching and showing love to her babies. But you wont see the adult wolves or wild dogs. Hugging, kissing, coddling and loving on one another. The only time you will see them cuddling is when its for survival, when temps drop so significantly that they have to huddle up in order to stay alive.
The reason dogs don’t hug, kiss, show love, and praise one another is because in dog language that is a sign of weakness. It shows fear, and submission, it tells the dog you’re cuddling that you are inferior to them and scared of them.
You ever see a puppy go up to an adult dog, and they roll on their back pee a little, and show their belly. That’s submission. That puppy is showing and telling that adult dog “I know you’re bigger than me, I know you can hurt me, I don’t want to fight or challenge you, I just want to say hi and show you that I will submit to you”
So when we, as humans a completely different species who don’t normally hunt for our food or chase down prey, who doesn’t have teeth that can crush bones or overpower our dog’s strength. Yet we hug, kiss, and love our dogs. It shows our dogs that we’re weak and we’re submissive to them and they can do anything they want because they’re alpha.
If your dog shows any type of behavioral problem such as leash reactivity, fear, aggression, blatant disregard for you even existing, barking excessively at home, barking at the door, separation anxiety, etc. That’s because your dog thinks they need to protect YOU. The love and attention you have been giving your dog tell them you are weak and you can’t defend yourself. So your poor dog who knows nothing about our world has to take charge and is protecting you because he/she thinks you cant protect yourself. So how do you fix it? You completely back off on the love and affection.
Now am I saying you can never love your dog, no. Am I saying your dog doesn’t deserve love or affection, NO? What I am saying is your dog has already won the lottery with you. You feed them, shelter them, keep them safe. That to them is enough. You don’t need to cuddle them 24/7. I mean take chihuahuas for example. 99.9% of them are vicious little monsters, why? because their entire life has been nothing but being carried around, pampered, and loved on. They think their 4-pound self needs to protect you.
We already ask so much of our dog. We ask them for companionship, protection, stress relievers, emotional support dogs, etc. The least we could do is alleviate them from thinking they need to protect us to the point it does nothing but cause anxiety and problems for them and us.
If you don’t believe a word I just said, try it for 2 weeks, and see what happens. Try not constantly touching your dog, try ignoring them, try keeping them off the furniture and out of your bed. Try not spoiling them for 2 weeks and see how their behavior changes. Try only telling them what you don’t like, and that’s it. Tell them then walk away. Don’t praise, give a treat, and tell them how amazing they’re once they stop doing the behavior you didn’t like.
YES, dogs deserve the world. They deserve the highest Petta-stool humans can offer, but their view of luxury/winning the lottery is so much different than ours. Dogs need very few things to stay happy. They need a full belly, a cozy place to sleep, and physical/mental exercise. Trust me they don’t need nor can they handle the complexity of being a human.
Photo by La Miko on Pexels.com
So why do I say Love is Killing your dog. Because more often than not people will take their dog to the pound because of behavior problems. Problems they created and don’t want to take the time to fix. They’re over barring love and affection toward their dog has made their dog leash reactive, protective, anxious, and out of control. They won’t back off on the love and affection so their dog never changes their behavior. They take the dog to the pound. Dog gets adopted, the dog then goes to its new home where the owners think this dog has been abused his entire life and needs nothing but the best and all the love they can give. Then the vicious love and affection cycle continues until the new family takes the dog to the pound for the same behavioral issues. Eventually, that dog will end up on a euthanasia list and be put to sleep because the behaviors have gotten so bad he now bites people, or he’s not adoptable due to his behavioral issues, that humans caused. Humans are the problem, not the dogs.
Thats how Love will kill your dog.
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