"I don't want my dog to eat stuff from the ground."
"I don't want my horse to eat when I'm riding."
When we are afraid or anxious about something, it makes us feel better if we can control it.
Maybe you have had a dog who needs abdominal surgery for eating rocks, or ended up at emerg when your dog found and ate drugs on a trail. I bet you've at least heard about dogs who have ended up in those situations.
Maybe you've had a horse pull you across the trail to eat grass, or even worse, pulled you over and you were injured. Or if you haven't you've seen it with other people or had a coach warn you about it.
When we are worried, we want to do our best to protect our pets and ourselves (and out pocketbooks), by controlling our animals and simply not allowing them to eat stuff when we are out with them.
Species-Appropriate Behaviors
Eating is an important part of being alive. Eating in a species-appropriate way is an important part of your pet's emotional, social, and physical wellbeing.
This is why we invest so much in food dispensing gadgets. Our dogs have all sorts of food puzzles, snuffle mats, and fancy chews. Horses get slow feeder hay nets, hanging licki-treats, and treat dispensing balls.
Our job as responsible and caring pet owners is to help them stay safe while balancing that with meeting their needs. It isn't humane to try to bubble wrap them and protect them from any possible risk of injury.
Sniffing and peeing on stuff, grazing on grass, and exploring the world with their mouths are integral parts of what it means to be a dog.
Sniffing the ground and grazing on leaves and grass are integral parts of what it means to be a horse.
We can teach solid recalls and "all done" cues to our animals. We can also teach them that sometimes stopping to sniff or eat aren't options. But it is 100% ok for our animals to do normal animal things.
Control and Stress
When we try to control our pets and stop them from doing normal species-appropriate things, we damage our relationship with them and create anxiety and stress. We also reduce their ability to communicate with us and with other animals.
How many horses are anxious, spooky, and tense when being ridden on a road or trail? Did you know that we can help them relax when they are worried by allowing them to graze? Consider approaching an area with a scary bridge or where there is likely to be more traffic. Before we get there, give your horse an opportunity to graze for 30 seconds. This will help them be in a calm and optimistic mindset when you approach the scary area. If you offer this chance to graze and they decline, you know they are likely stressed and you should do some relaxation exercises before you approach the challenging section.
Dogs very often will ask for space or try to de-escalate a scenario by stopping to sniff. If a dog doesn't naturally have this skill, we can teach them using food scatters. For dogs who haven't been allowed to eat from the ground or stop to sniff, they might feel that their only other option to get space is to bark and maybe even lunge.
Prohibition Doesn't Work
Trying to control our pets because we are afraid isn't the right way to go about things. When we recognize adn think about our anxiety, we can move forward and strategically meet our animals in the middle, allowing them to partake in normal animal behaviours while still setting limits so we mitigate risks.
|
FREE WEBINAR!
In case you missed the announcement and are wondering what this is all about, I am so excited to offer this FREE Webinar on Leash Reactivity. So many of you struggle to walk your dogs and I find myself sharing the same information over and over again with each new student. We will address the commonly missed key parts of fixing leash reactivity and getting you back enjoying walks.
It makes us so much more confident when we know how to help our dogs and how to give them the skills so they can enjoy their walks too!
P.S. Right after the webinar, I'll be opening the doors to LEASH REACTIVITY DEEP-DIVE, my group mentorship program in which I spend 8 weeks with a small group of people struggling with leash reactivity.
Because this is a custom experience and I get to know each of you and your dogs intimately, space is limited! We will sell out. Be sure to read all the details ahead of time so you're ready with any questions you might have!
I hope to see you soon!
Christina
|
