A correction is delivered by other dogs in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. From a cold glance by the pack leader to a noisy, gut wrenching split second brawl, dogs are constantly controlling and correcting each other. Even when we see them play and wrestle, they are constantly testing and finding their boundaries. They are dominating others through playing almost all the time. Even young little puppies test their position with each other.

Dogs that are fluent in doglish do not tolerate obnoxious behavior and will correct at the first signs of instability. Your dog is at a higher risk of being bitten if they are extremely excitable or introduce themselves rudely to other dogs. You may allow them to shove their nose where the sun don't shine with people, but most dogs will not tolerate this rude behavior, and they may act "aggressively" but really they are doing your job for you.

Action & Consequence

Just like all the other beings on the earth, we must live with the choices we make. We learn by making mistakes and changing our behavior to avoid it happening again. Our dogs also learn this way and when they make mistakes, it's an opportunity to learn. However we must know how to correct properly and teach them an alternative behavior to change the behavior. The correction must be fair, not given out of anger or frustration and have accurate timing, your interrupting the bad behaviour and not allowing it to continue. Dogs that are corrected properly will not fear the corrector but respect them as leader and follow them.

Intelligent dogs rarely want to please
people whom they do not respect ~ William R. Koehler

Just as a reward encourages a particular behavior, a correction interrupts a behavior. If we like what happens when we do something, we will repeat it, but if something negative occurs we will avoid it. The same is true with dogs, every action gets a reaction, and it's up to us if it is a positive or negative reaction to our dogs behavior. We must also notice that our dogs interpret our behavior differently than we do. Sometimes we have the opposite effect on our dogs that we are trying for and most people are unaware of the damage they are doing to the bond.

To find out more about when and how to correct your dog and replace unwanted behavior with positive ones, contact me.