A Holistic Approach: Why It Goes Further Than Traditional Practices to Build a Good Life With Your Dog
|
Life is all about balance. When we pay too much attention or spend too much time on one thing, the other things in our life can suffer. Have you ever focused so much on making that fabulous new side dish that you burnt the main course? Or perhaps you have invested so many hours on a demanding work project that it started to take a toll on your health, or your family life. When we are out of balance in one area of our life, it affects other areas; they are all connected in some way or another. For the same reasons that balance is so important for us humans, it is equally important for our dogs. |
Dogs, like people, are emotional beings. They feel sadness, anxiety, excitement, frustration, anger, boredom, and happiness to name a few. They mourn, anticipate, and are driven by their emotions just like we are. With that said, we shouldn’t just look on the outside to find the answers to their behaviors, which is what many traditional training methods do. Instead, we should consider our dogs’ emotional and mental states as well to get a good look at the full picture before prescribing to a method of action. This is considered a holistic approach, and I whole-heartedly subscribe to it when it comes down to finding harmony with our canine friends!
I believe we must look at the whole dog, and the relationships/dynamics in his world, before implementing a training plan. We should get to know how his unique personality and way of dealing with emotions affects his ability to process and learn, and how the dynamics he is experiencing between other members of his household affect his behavior. Like humans, dogs are all individuals. If we don’t take into consideration his individuality and only supply him with a “one-size-fits-all” methodology, we run the risk of finding only a temporary solution – or treating the wrong symptom. That’s why I believe in a holistic approach – why waste time and energy treating surface-level behavioral symptoms when you could get to the root cause of the behavior and shape it from the inside out? That way we know we are treating our whole dog and not just pieces of him – which means we really can find that harmony and balance we are searching for!
I believe we must look at the whole dog, and the relationships/dynamics in his world, before implementing a training plan. We should get to know how his unique personality and way of dealing with emotions affects his ability to process and learn, and how the dynamics he is experiencing between other members of his household affect his behavior. Like humans, dogs are all individuals. If we don’t take into consideration his individuality and only supply him with a “one-size-fits-all” methodology, we run the risk of finding only a temporary solution – or treating the wrong symptom. That’s why I believe in a holistic approach – why waste time and energy treating surface-level behavioral symptoms when you could get to the root cause of the behavior and shape it from the inside out? That way we know we are treating our whole dog and not just pieces of him – which means we really can find that harmony and balance we are searching for!
What Traditional Practices Miss
Traditional training and veterinary care practices tend to focus on only one aspect of living beings – the physical. They are driven to work primarily from the physical level and treat nearly all dogs with the same concern in the same standardized manner. Traditionally, veterinarians tended to prescribe the same medications, recommend the same surgical procedure, or the same course of treatment for seven different dogs with the same physical ailment. Likewise, traditional trainers will recommend the same correction techniques to rectify a behavior problem – such as kneeing a dog in the chest for jumping up. But what these professionals fail to take into account in practicing these methods is that there are other aspects of living beings that make each individual, and their situation, unique - and in order to find this balance we must look at the whole picture.
Traditional training and veterinary care practices tend to focus on only one aspect of living beings – the physical. They are driven to work primarily from the physical level and treat nearly all dogs with the same concern in the same standardized manner. Traditionally, veterinarians tended to prescribe the same medications, recommend the same surgical procedure, or the same course of treatment for seven different dogs with the same physical ailment. Likewise, traditional trainers will recommend the same correction techniques to rectify a behavior problem – such as kneeing a dog in the chest for jumping up. But what these professionals fail to take into account in practicing these methods is that there are other aspects of living beings that make each individual, and their situation, unique - and in order to find this balance we must look at the whole picture.
|
Holistic methods, which have been taught for centuries around the world but are just now seeming to have a bigger impact in our modern society, take into account the four aspects of living beings: not only the physical, but also the emotional, mental and spiritual sides of an individual. Often times, if a dog’s emotional and/or mental state is out of balance, this leads to behavior issues and can even manifest in physical ailments.
|
|
There are still many trainers who practice a “black and white” approach and their working with the dog is pretty one-sided: they focus mostly on obedience and not the underlying emotional/mental imbalances that are leading to the behaviors. Therefore, these methods commonly result in what I call a “Band-Aid approach.” You may have short-term success using these methods, but because the underlying root of the behavior has not been addressed and properly resolved, the behavior issue will keep popping up. It may come back worse, or it may manifest in other “side effect behaviors.”
|
Example: Let’s say a dog is barking at every little thing because he is frustrated or bored and seeking your attention. If you just yell at the dog, use a shock collar or physical leash correction, this doesn’t fix his reason for barking. The dog may begrudgingly learn not to bark to try to communicate with you, even though it is a natural response for him, because he will fear punishment. But this will often lead to anxiety (about not knowing a better way of communicating with you). He may start becoming destructive to items in the house, or purposefully jump up onto counters or grab inappropriate items in an attempt to get your attention. He may even resort to nipping at you. Now you have multiple issues on your hands! |
A holistic approach may instead suggest addressing the dog’s emotional, mental and physical needs to ensure he has the appropriate outlets, and teaching the dog’s humans how to split their attention to give the dog the appropriate amount of feedback when he is doing the right thing (such as laying quietly or chewing on a bone) rather than waiting to react to when he is doing the wrong thing (barking).
|
How Obedience Is Different From Behavior:
Obedience is surface level, whereas behavior is deep-rooted and is formed in the inner-workings of the mind. I tend to look at it like this… Obedience is like knowing the alphabet – you can sing the song from A to Z but that’s all it is by itself. In order to function more appropriately in society, we must go beyond knowing our ABC’s to understand how to spell words, write sentences, and communicate more effectively – this is like behavior. |
|
With this in mind, it can be easier to see how you can have a dog who has learned specific commands and will perform them when asked (obedient), but not a well-mannered (well-behaved) dog if he hasn’t been shaped and molded the right way. Obedience training is important because it gives you a set of tools you can use to direct your dog as to how to handle situations and build good behavior, but in order to really have a well-behaved dog, you must go deeper than simple obedience training. A big part of this shaping of behavior includes setting up parameters for your dog to succeed but giving him the ability to think for himself within these parameters to get his brain working the right way. Dogs have a more difficult time than humans when it comes to generalizing and understanding concepts. So unless they are given the opportunity to figure it out for themselves (with us there to coach them and control the circumstances, not the dog), your dog may only understand how to respond to obedience commands when you are managing him but not understand how to control his emotional and mental responses that dictate his behavior in a more productive way on his own. Understanding how your dog’s brain works and what his needs are - and meeting these needs – is an important key in shaping both an obedient AND well-behaved friend.
What Does Your Dog Need?
There are the basics: food, water, shelter, air. When it comes to food and training treats, feeding your dog a diet that is made of whole food ingredients (such as real meat, vegetables and fruits) can have a major influence on his behavior. If he is eating a low-quality kibble and mass-manufactured treats such as Pup-Peroni or Milkbones - full of artificial ingredients, fillers, chemical additives and artificial coloring - this can lead to hyperactivity and mental/cognitive imbalances in addition to a slew of other health problems.
There are the basics: food, water, shelter, air. When it comes to food and training treats, feeding your dog a diet that is made of whole food ingredients (such as real meat, vegetables and fruits) can have a major influence on his behavior. If he is eating a low-quality kibble and mass-manufactured treats such as Pup-Peroni or Milkbones - full of artificial ingredients, fillers, chemical additives and artificial coloring - this can lead to hyperactivity and mental/cognitive imbalances in addition to a slew of other health problems.
|
While you don’t need to feed your dog a raw food diet (though you certainly can if you choose and there are many benefits!), you should ensure that his kibble is made primarily with real, natural ingredients that are easy for your dog to digest (not meat by-products or grains such as wheat, corn, and soy). All of the ingredients should be meats, vegetables and fruits that you can identify, and you should steer clear of products that include added salts and sugars. Some companies include these additives to make the kibble more appealing to dogs, but much in the same way Entenmann’s adds refined sugars to their baked goods to make them irresistible, these kinds of items are not healthy for any of us! These additives are placed in human and pet food for marketing purposes and to keep us needing to buy more to feed our addiction! For training treats, why not try using some fruits and veggies from your own kitchen (like chopped carrots, apples, or blueberries) or some dehydrated chicken breast (chicken jerky)?
|
But because dogs are social and emotional beings, there’s more than just the basics. They also need social interaction (with people, other dogs, other animals), and they need both mental and physical stimulation to keep them emotionally balanced. Have you ever gone a little stir-crazy when you’ve been trapped in the house during a blizzard with no power, no generator and no real contact to the outside world? You may resort to the “old-school” hobbies of reading a book or playing a board game to pass the time, when technology is not available to keep you busy. But after a few days with minimal stimulation, your mental and emotional state is likely to become seriously unbalanced! The same is true for dogs. They need toys and natural dog chews to work out their emotional energy, playtime with their human and doggy friends to exert their physical energy, and puzzles/games to keep their minds fresh.
|
The Exchange of Energy:
Dogs don’t speak our language; rather, they have one all their own. Their senses are far superior to our human senses – it’s the reason why dogs can sense a storm coming before it even looks like it’s going to rain, how they can detect cancer and other illnesses, and why a dog can tell if a person is afraid of him. The flow of energy courses right through their bodies as it does our own; the only difference is that some of us humans don’t know how to pay attention to it, and dogs always do. |
|
Dogs, like humans, have both physical energy (the need to move about and get their muscles pulsing), as well as emotional energy (feelings that can cause tension or a frenetic flow if not given the appropriate outlet for dissipation). If a dog’s energy appears out of balance (usually as evidenced by “bad” behavior), we can greatly influence how our dog handles that energy by having better control over our own energy, since our dogs can sense this energy any time they are in our presence.
This is a perfect example as to why if a dog is acting “out of control” (with a bunch of frenetic energy) and we meet that by getting frustrated or yelling at the dog, it only makes the situation worse. The dog’s frenetic energy in combination with your own frenetic energy in that moment just amplifies the effects. You are both purely just reacting to the flow of energy, bouncing it back and forth, and then it’s just chaos (nothing good is going to come from that). Instead, meeting a dog’s frenetic energy with our own calm, neutral energy can usually bring a dog back down into a calmer emotional state, where thinking can happen (and therefore learning can happen too).
This is a perfect example as to why if a dog is acting “out of control” (with a bunch of frenetic energy) and we meet that by getting frustrated or yelling at the dog, it only makes the situation worse. The dog’s frenetic energy in combination with your own frenetic energy in that moment just amplifies the effects. You are both purely just reacting to the flow of energy, bouncing it back and forth, and then it’s just chaos (nothing good is going to come from that). Instead, meeting a dog’s frenetic energy with our own calm, neutral energy can usually bring a dog back down into a calmer emotional state, where thinking can happen (and therefore learning can happen too).
Understanding how these things are all connected is, in my opinion, an essential need when teaching your dog how to blend harmoniously into our human world. Yes, dogs are adaptable beings (hey, they’ve learned to live with our changing society over thousands of years of evolution!), but in today’s fast-paced style of living, they do often need our help. A holistic approach is the most effective way to get there, and will certainly save you time and effort in the long run. If you ask me, that makes it all worth it!
If you'd like to learn more about how a holistic approach can help you meet your goals with your own dog, contact Maria Huntoon at (845) 549-0896 or [email protected]. You won't only learn how to help your dog; you'll learn skills that can be applied to various areas of your life!
Written by Maria Huntoon, Maria G. Huntoon Canine Consulting Services
