A lesson on - Emotions in Your Relationship with Your Assistance Dog Dogs don’t think about thinking. They simply react. You and your Assistance Dog are both emotional beings. The difference between the two of you is your cognitive abilities. Your Assistance- dog lacks the cognitive ability to think and process his emotions before he reacts. The job of managing your Assistance Dogs emotions falls on your shoulders. Sometimes these emotional behaviors will be acceptable behaviors to be encouraged, and at other times they will be negative behaviors to be prevented. Knowing this is your job ahead of time will help you not get caught in power struggles that you were not expecting later down the road. Your new Assistance Dog will react to emotion immediately and without thought. Dogs do not take time to think about the situation. For example, suppose you are walking along and hear a loud unexpected noise that startles you. At first you might jump a bit, and pause, turn to look and see what caused the noise, and if further action is required. Do you need to flee, or is all safe? Not so with a dog. A very loud unexpected noise that startles him will cause an emotional burst of fear and the fight or flight reaction sets in within a mile-second. The dog has two choices and if there is an open path he will take the easiest, quickest one. He will be GONE! Never looking back to find that it was only a large wooden box falling off of a truck, and not a huge dog-eating box chasing him. Your emotions will also affect your Assistance Dogs behaviors both positively and negatively. On the positive side, praise will elicit repeated behaviors that you want your Assistance Dog to perform. Enthusiasm will encourage your Assistance Dog by letting him know that you are pleased and want to be with him. A stern No, will let him know you are not pleased with a specific behavior. Your emotional input behind what you say will come through and influence his behaviors. Your Assistance Dog will sense your emotions when you are feeling happy, sad, or angry. He will respond to these emotions differently. Trying to join in on your happiness, comfort your sorrow, and shying away from your anger. While your Assistance Dog will try to take care of you, and your emotions, he also has emotional needs. Keep in mind that there will be times when he will not only want your attention, but will need it. Assistance Dogs are highly trained dogs. Being such they tend to get bored very easily if left unattended and ignored for long periods of time. Your PUP may begin to pace or, nudge you repeatedly trying to get your attention. If this fails he may actually exhibit behaviors that are not allowed, with the theory that any attention is better than no attention. Keep in mind your PUP will crave emotional contact and play time with you. However, when your PUP gives you these cues, give him a command to divert his attention from what he was asking for (otherwise, he is being the alpha and telling you when it is time to play). Wait about a minute, and then you initiate the play. He will simply think, Hey, great idea, lets go! Dogs seek out our approval. For them this is a matter of survival. We provide them with shelter, food, water, and comfort. For the bond between you and your Assistance Dog to be solid he must be able to trust you for his needs. The rule of the pack goes like this; you MUST take care of your Assistance Dog’s needs FIRST, then he will be physically and emotionally able to take care of you. When you provide for his needs adequately he will not have a need to seek out ways to fulfill his emotional drives in inappropriate ways. Keeping this in mind, it is very important to monitor your emotions when working with your Assistance Dog. We have all experienced the wrath of someone’s bad day. Taking out frustration or anger on your Assistance Dog will damage his trust in you--making his performance falter, and his bond weaken. DO NOT mistake anger for correction, raising your voice or jerking your Assistance Dog will not cause him to get in line. Using a firm consistent voice and appropriate praise is what he understands. Anger will only confuse him, and can eventually lead to cowering, submissive urination, and refusal to work. Summary Emotional wellbeing is vital for both you and your Assistance Dog. Although you and your Assistance Dog are both emotional beings, you react to emotions in totally different ways. Your Assistance Dog doesn’t have the cognitive ability to think about why he is feeling a particular way. He thinks and reacts within the blink of an eye. Knowing this, as his handler it is important to be aware of those things in your Assistance Dogs environment that might create emotional stimuli for your Assistance -Dog. As his handler you must be able to react before he does in settings that might be stressful for him. Taking care of his needs first will enable him to better take care of you. Never take out frustration and anger on your Assistance Dog. This will only serve to create a dog that refuses to perform, that cowers from you, and it will weaken the bond of trust between you and your Assistance-Dog.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 07:22:40 +0000