Are You Building a Good Relationship With Your Dog?

Most of us do not realize that every moment we spend with our dogs, we are not only building a relationship, we are also training them.

Whatever behavior you choose to reinforce, consciously or unconsciously is really a method of training. The many things your dog does, that you like and reinforce with kind words or treats are things your dog will do over and over again.

Dogs are like people, we all enjoy the moments that someone praises us or gives us good feedback about something we have done. We lap it up and feel good about ourselves, well, dogs do too and it is important that we let our dogs know when we are happy with their behavior.

The Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine defines the bond that connects us to our beloved canines as..."the dynamic relationship between people and animals in that each influences the psychological and physiological state of the other." They also state that "People in the presence of animals are often perceived to be more happy and healthy."

But, what about the happiness and health of our pets? We need to do our job as caregivers to ensure that our side of the dog-human bond brings happiness and health to our pets as well.

So what are some of the things we can do to help make our pets happy and build a good relationship.

· One way is to touch our pets every chance we get. Give quick little massages behind the ears as you pass by. Scratch your dog under the chin as you put on its leash. If you cuddle and watch TV together, take time during the commercials to give a belly rub or whatever else your dog enjoys. Let your dog know you care and tell him/her so.

· Make it a point to carry treats with you, especially when going for a walk, use them to reinforce good behaviors and use them as distractions should a something out of the ordinary happen. Sometimes a scary thing can be made more pleasant by the use of a treat.

· Dogs love to learn and by teaching your dog to "say please" (which is sitting to have a leash put on or sitting to go out the open door,) you are teaching a good behavior and making it a pleasant experience by giving treats.

· Play with your dog. Dogs love to have their masters play with them, it is a time for fun and you can even slip in a behavior lesson or two while doing it.

· Say your dog's name before feeding him/her or before giving a treat. Dogs enjoy hearing their names, this reinforces a positive reaction to come when called as the experience is a pleasant one.

· Talk to your dog say "good morning" when you wake up and "good night" when you go to bed. Dogs love to be talked to, I have had some of my best conversations with my dogs and the nice thing is they do not repeat anything.

· Give your dog a special treat when you are leaving the house, a nice long lasting chew, a Kong ball or hide a few treats and tell your pet to go find them.

· Take as many opportunities as you can to build a relationship with your pet, respond to its bid for attention. If you catch your dog looking at you, give it a rub or just say its name and tell it what a good dog it is. Use the tone of your voice to convey a happy feeling, your dog will respond to it.

· Try to notice your dog when it is behaving nicely, like lying in its bed or playing quietly with a toy, acknowledge the behavior with a word, treat or a rub.

· If your dog comes into a room that you are in acknowledge him/her and give them a few moments of your time.

· Ignore the bad behaviors and give all the praise and treats you can to the opportunities that your dog gives you, when it behaves properly. There is an old saying that you catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar and that is true with dogs, too. Reacting to the good behaviors will reinforce them and by ignoring the bad ones, they for the most part will be forgotten, as they did not get any attention.

Building a solid relationship with your dog is easy and it is worthwhile. Dogs are great companions and offer us, the humans, such unconditional love; all they want in return is a little human kindness. The amount of time it takes to build a good relationship is so small, it takes so little effort and the returns you will get are so great, you will wonder why you did not think of these things sooner.

A dog and its human were meant to be together, you cannot find a better relationship, more loyalty or more comfort than when you lay your head next to that furry thing, hear it sigh and feel it cuddle closer. Heaven cannot be any better.

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