Learn What Your Dog Loves; Love What Your Dog Learns
Humane Behaviour Solutions is More Than Training
Kindred Creatures’ training puts the dog’s experience at the centre of behaviour solutions.
Accepting behaviour as communication, Kindred Creatures investigates, in collaboration with guardians, what a behaviour is saying about the dog. Instead of immediately suppressing an undesirable behaviour we explore its function, and then address root causes.
Body language is how a dog contributes to the conversation.
Respecting every dog as a unique individual and understanding that every behaviour has a purpose ensures that training is focused on solutions that are good for the dog, and further welfare.
Welfare, Agency, Attunement
Welfare. Agency. Attunement. These are elements in quality of life for pet dogs.
Welfare refers to the measure of well-being and fulfillment from the perspective of the dog. It’s an assessment of the dog’s lived experience and happiness which co-relates to freedoms relevant to genetic makeup.
Agency is the freedom to be oneself and to make choices based on natural needs and desires.
Attunement is in the behaviour of guardians, the act of tuning in, seeing and accepting the dog and its natural needs.
HAPPINESS MATTERS, BUT WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
Good welfare is happiness. It offers agency, opportunities for the expression of diverse natural behaviours (biologically driven and breed specific tendencies) and emotional/psychological well-being in addition to good nutrition, comfortable shelter, and physical health.
Natural behaviours for domestic dogs include actions such as:
- foraging for food
- rolling in the grass,
- digging holes,
- chasing squirrels,
- deep hard gnawing on a bone,
- long sniffs in field and forest or in the neighbours’ yards,
- swimming,
- wading in puddles,
- running on a sand beach,
- climbing high up on a perch or a mound of dirt
- stalking and pouncing on prey,
- dissecting dead things,
- exploring along side dog ‘friends’, and on and on.
Also, on the list are:
- Resting a chin on a human’s lap,
- lying belly-up spread eagle with all four legs in the air,
- stretching out long,
- burrowing in a nest of blankets,
- butt scratches
Having access to, and some freedom to roam, in a variety of environments is important to welfare since different environments offer different opportunities, and diversity of natural behaviours is central to welfare.
A focus on Welfare, Agency, and Attunement is not about indulgence or letting our pets do whatever comes naturally in the environments we control. Rather its about ‘learning’ what and who are dogs are, and what features in different environments appeal to their unique blend of genetics and individuality.
Kindred Creatures supports guardians in their journey to learn what their dogs naturally love and how to provide it
We assist guardians to identify acceptable substitute outlets for natural behaviours that are problematic for humans, not desirable or safe.
Encouraging guardians to notice the small things, and see more potential in their dogs.
Tuning in is an amazing way to learn more about your dog’s more subtle moment-to-moment experiences and choices, about what they like and don’t like. Accepting a dog’s behaviours and emotions as real and reflective of its mysterious inner world is a beautiful thing, and useful.
We can help our dogs to better welfare in many ways: when we modify conditions to optimize our dogs’ experience per the preferences determined by their genetic packages and unique learning histories we are servicng their welfare.
Loving and Learning
Here are some things guardians can do to enhance their dog’s welfare:
- Plan outings to natural environments where the dog can engage in some of those harder-to-accept natural behaviours.
- Offer supervised access to a big stuffed animal as a stand-in for play or prey, snuggles or dissection, or other natural behaviours…see what emerges.
- Walk your dog on a long line (not a retractable or flexible leash). Follow behind, letting the dog decide which way to go, and how long to hover in one spot. (Switching to a long line requires some skill if your dog is excitable and has a history of pulling; book a training session to learn how to keep you both safe and maximize the benefits.) This offers your dog a period of some agency (freedom within limits). It’s also a great opportunity to tune in, to give over to watching and supporting your dog’s choices.
- Find safe city places (around buildings and vacant lots) to let your dog off leash to explore without interfering.
- Make small modifications in your behaviour to give your dog agency for a few minutes: stand still when you come through the door so your dog can sniff and processes the smells in the bags you just carried in, or your outdoor clothes and shoes; facilitate exploration—sniffing and moving around—of objects or boxes brought in from the garage or from the attic.
The strongest bonds are formed when we see the dog, from respecting the animal in our dogs; the best chance we have for being our dog’s best friend comes from tuning in and supporting their choices.
LEARN WHAT YOUR DOG LOVES; LOVE WHAT YOUR DOG LEARNS.