Your dog is capable of more than you think
One of the common challenges for clients as of late has been trusting that their dogs are capable, whether it’s being left home alone relaxing in their crate for any length of time, challenging them with bigger walks, or enforcing known cues by following through and making it happen. Pet owners love their dogs so much, and in the wake of a tidal wave of internet information they’re terrified of getting it wrong and breaking the dog. And that’s okay - that’s why trainers like myself are here to guide you through and make sure you’re on the right track.
That said, I think the gap between the pet dog world and our dogs original purposes holds a lot of the fault for this anxiety.
One of the reasons I fell in love with dogs was growing up farming, working our own dogs and my rescues on bulls. The dogs worked hard, sometimes right to their physical limits, loved every minute of it and consistently blew me away. Not just from understanding what makes them tick, but also appreciating just how capable and resilient they can be.
A pet dog owner on the internet told me the other day that Huntaways are so soft, you’d never want to tell them no for fear of breaking them, and you probably shouldn’t walk too far with them because they’re large dogs. Boss the Huntaway here used to run 50km days during TB testing (what the quad said anyway - he would’ve done triple that, and on steep hills barking the whole way). He came up lame at one stage and upon X-rays was diagnosed with cancer - they rechecked him a few weeks later and realised what they thought was cancer was actually a badly broken pelvis, and had he not been forced to actually stay home and rest he would’ve just kept going. He was a very cool boy, but not an anomaly in the working dog world by any stretch - hardly weak and easily broken, and they would probably be quite offended by the implication.
The same applies in other breeds, whether it be the border collie being too soft (ever watched them work a tough sheep?), Jack Russell terrier needing to be a lap dog (ever seen a video of one hunting rodents?), spaniels being untrainable (wouldn’t be much help on a hunt if that was the case!) or even your pig dog mix from the pound (you know what they’re bred to do eh).
Yes there’s variation in lines between working and pets, and individuals within those lines - not every German Shepherd is going to be suitable for herding or bite sports and not every terrier is going to be that mad little killing machine. Resilience is is also developed with exposure over time.
But when we go back to their roots, we can think not just in terms of genuinely meeting needs but also show us what dogs can actually do if given the space and permission to be their badass canine selves whether in their original purpose or proxy activities. With that awareness comes confidence for human and dog, improved relationships and bigger, more enriched lives for everyone whether they’re pets or not.
If you do nothing else today, look up your breed, find a few videos of them doing their traditional work and/or modern sport, go watch a show or trial and let that inspire you to have a bit more faith in your dog. Our dogs are capable of so much when we let them.
