A common misconception among many dog parents is that we need our dogs to respect us.
This idea is often related to the outdated dominance theory – that dogs will naturally form hierarchies and need an ‘alpha’ leader. But it has no grounding in reality; the thing is, dogs don’t understand respect as a concept as humans do, so while we want our dogs to behave well, we don’t actually need them to respect us.
The experts at Happy Dog Training, led by founder and owner Piper M Novick, have explained with more information in a recent Instagram post, to help us better understand our four-legged friends. So, let’s take a look.
“Respect has nothing to do with your dog’s behavior or training goals,” the experts explain. “Your relationship with your dog is about reinforcement history, trust, and security.”
Dogs do whatever is reinforcing. If they’re displaying undesirable behavior, it’s up to us to make the adjustments – they aren’t being disobedient deliberately. We know that positive reinforcement in dogs is best.
“Dog guardians often come to us wanting their dog’s respect, or feeling like they don’t have enough of their dog’s respect,” they say. “Unfortunately, this is a major point of misinformation. Respect is a human concept and has nothing to do with your dog’s behavior.”
It’s not that we can’t feel frustrated when our dogs aren’t doing what we’d like. If a dog isn’t listening, it can be annoying! However, dogs simply don’t have a grasp on respect and what it is – they don’t have the cognitive ability, as smart as they are.
Dogs often choose to be in close proximity to us, and plenty of research has suggested that dogs can feel love, experiencing similar chemical reactions in their brains as we do. After all, we care for them, provide them with everything they need, and give them plenty of safety and affection.
But while they might love us, and enjoy spending time alongside us, respect just isn’t something they feel. So, if you’re struggling with your dog’s behavior in some way, keep in mind that it’s down to us to adjust what we’re doing – we don’t need to make our dogs respect us as their ‘pack leaders’ or anything like that.
Why not take a look at these common dog behavior problems and solutions to see if they might be able to help you? And, here’s how to train a dog with treats (using the power of positive reinforcement.
