From an early age, we are taught through cartoons that animals are the same as us, and in this way we humanize them through their behaviors. This is positive because it helps us empathize and care for pets as appropriate, offering them what they need and providing affection.

Therefore, this vision favors fundamental aspects that fortunately have improved the lives of our dogs. Every day we worry more about our pets and give them all the necessary care at different levels.

This, in our opinion, is great news, as long as we do not fall into humanizing the dog in all aspects. Without a doubt, humanization favors our understanding that they also have feelings, and that we share aspects as living beings and that they need our love, attention, and dedication.

But we cannot humanize them in 100% of the areas (nutrition, digestive system, respiratory system, needs to feel complete, education, etc.). We tend to think that our tastes should be theirs, but we must not forget that they are governed by different rules and that this may “clash” in some aspect.

Giving some examples within the many that we could name would be their digestive system and the need to separate meals, the different way humans transform proteins into energy, the foods that we can digest and they cannot, the way they relate and greet each other, natural instincts that we have already atrophied but they have not, our need for large spaces in our home and the stress that large spaces cause them when we leave them alone, etc… We will dedicate different articles to learn about the differences and understand them.

But fundamentally, and on what we base this article, would be the way to enjoy. We humans can enjoy being at home quietly, on the sofa, watching television and chatting with our family, and we can fill them with all kinds of comforts (bed, toys, etc.), thinking that we have already “fulfilled” our duty.

But we must never forget that they need something more. They need to interact with us and with others of their species. They need to feel like dogs. They need to use their senses to achieve goals. They need to be useful. As experts in the world of canine training and instruction for many years, and in our studies, we have found that dogs that are given everything, dogs without rules and without objectives, stop being dogs and this leads to stress, which in turn they release in different ways depending on their characteristics (barking, biting at home, stereotypies, phobias, aggressiveness, cancellation of social skills, etc.).

With this we do not mean, much less, that we do not give them all the whims at home, comfort, toys, beds, etc. But we would still be missing something more.

With something as simple as seeing the characteristics of our dog (agility, concentration, sense of smell, passion for playing with chew toys, jumps, etc.), and to complete their happiness, interaction with them would be essential, that they use their senses to achieve goals, whether it be our congratulations, their food or any motivation they have.

Yes, I know, nowadays we don’t have much time… But we are not talking about professional jobs, or the obligation to sign up for work groups (oci, agility, etc.) or even add time dedicated to them, it is simply taking advantage of part of their walks so that the protagonists are the dog-owner binomial.

Dogs generally differentiate their behavior at home from their behavior outside of it. And outside of it, in most cases, the owners become that “nuisance” that doesn’t let me cross the sidewalk to smell that beautiful female dog, that “boring” person who doesn’t let me bite the ball of that child, that “dull” person who calls me and chases me to put on the leash and go back home, etc…

We are “friends” at home, and “enemies” outside of it.

If we followed a brief routine, in which outside the home we guided our dog to obtain success in exercises and this entailed a reward that that particular dog desired, we would go from being a nuisance, boring and dull, to being that guide that they admired, and valued because they have the security and ability to guide me to the resources I want. And with that vision comes the acceptance of rules. And those exercises make us the most important part of their attention, and therefore reduce that attention to other external stimuli that can be a cause of conflict.

And most importantly, with all this, dogs use their senses and instincts to achieve goals and with it their vision towards us and with it the reduction or elimination of stress that would lead to more complex problems.

We tend to associate the word “training” with the need to solve a clear problem that already exists. And that is a big mistake.

The exercise or exercises don’t matter. They could range from hiding something for our Beagle, to simple obedience exercises rewarded with a chew toy or toy for our Belgian Shepherd or German Shepherd or American, surrounding trees at a distance for our herding breed, jumps for our dog if it doesn’t have much weight, tricks for our small breed dog that involve concentration, etc etc…

You can follow our facebook to see numerous examples of different exercises with different dogs, and soon you can follow our youtube channel to learn how to do them or you can invent many more…but our advice is that that 4-legged “human” to whom we give all kinds of whims, we give them the same whims but letting them be a dog and with it be happier and improve our dog-guide relationship.

And on the other hand, applying rules means establishing a correct relationship, and not improvising on each walk, depending on whether we are in a hurry, our mood, those around us at that moment, etc… Know that dogs adapt excellently to always and never, but what they do not understand is “sometimes”. But we will delve into this in another article.

In short, not understanding that at different levels (education, health, nutrition) the dog is a dog, can harm its education, its health, and correct nutrition to varying degrees. And of course, this is not at odds with knowing that we share feelings, and that we must offer them the love and care that corresponds.

Therefore, the more we know about the dog, the better life we can offer it, and for this we must adapt to its needs as a species (in different fields), and not try to achieve the opposite, because the latter would be related to our happiness but not to theirs.