By Minou Tpain

The wrong idea freedom

What do you consider freedom to be for your dog? Do you give your dog some, a little or a lot?

Unfortunately, there are some dog owners out there that think a lot of freedom = love…that their dog should be able to do whatever it wants because in the wild there wouldn’t be anyone directing their every move.

One of the ways they choose this freedom for their dog is by allowing their dog to stay in their backyard for hours at a time. They feel it will have the freedom to run in the fresh air instead of staying cooped up in the house, plus they have a fence, so it’s safe, right?

However having this mindset of what freedom means can have negative effects on your dog’s overall behavior. Most owners that think this way have the best intentions and truly mean no harm but that’s why I’m here to explain why this is the wrong perception to have.

Leaving your dog outside alone for long periods of time is detrimental to their behavior and well being. When they are alone, without their leader (the human), they feel they must fend for themselves resulting in barking at passersby as well as engaging with the outside world because there’s no one else there to engage with. This may ultimately have negative results on your dog’s behavior. It may result in developing new reactivity to dogs, people or loud noises. Or perhaps the opposite, if they are engaging with the outside world, it may be difficult for them to engage with you next time you take your dog out. Furthermore, your dog may start to feel that it is his job to protect himself even when you are around.

There are always exceptions to everything, there may be times that it is necessary to leave the dog out alone, but those are exceptions, not the norm.

Freedom is important but what it is NOT is unsupervised time alone, freedom is about safe choices and opportunities but it must be regulated so our dogs always feel protected and know that you are there for them, always.
#dogtraining #dogtraining101#dogtrainingadvice #dogtrainingisfun#dogtrainingrevolution #dogtrainingthoughts#dogtraininglife #doberman#rhodesianridgeback

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