[nagdu] cooperation vs. force
Meghan Whalen
mewhalen at gmail.com
Thu Mar 1 15:11:37 UTC 2012
Julie:
Thank you for this message! I agree 100%, and it is something I need to
keep telling myself, too. I had to let Dayton make mistakes while he
was learning to guide so I could show him and he could show me that we
were good to go.
On 2/29/2012 10:58 AM, Julie J. wrote:
> All the recent messages on this list and others concerning
> corrections, tie downs, muzzles etc. have me thinking. Although I'm
> not absolutely opposed to corrections, confinement, muzzles or any
> other sort of punitive measure that comes to mind, it does make me
> wonder how the use of these affect the relationship with the dog. To
> me the relationship I have with my dog is the most important thing.
> If that is built from trust, cooperation and mutual respect then
> everything else will be fine. I want a dog to want to be with me and
> work with me not out of fear of a punishment, but because he genuinely
> enjoys my company. I want him to feel empowered to think for himself
> and to try new things. I feel that too much use of punishment based
> interaction will hamper the ability for him to do these things. I
> want him to learn self control so he can manage his own impulses out
> of a place of confidence in his own choices rather than me
> micromanaging his life.
>
> I'm not explaining well. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I
> think freedom of choice on the part of the dog is an important thing.
> Too often I have fallen into the trap of micromanaging too much of my
> dog's lives, not allowing them any amount of freedom. I regret that.
> It is something that I have learned with Monty. To truly trust a dog
> you have to give them opportunities to mess up so they can show you
> that they won't.
>
> Julie
>
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