DOG TRAINING AND ANXIETY

Meet Duke! He came to us very fearful and full of anxiety. This is four weeks into his stay here with us and he is much calmer and more confident around new people, other dogs, and even cats!

An old friend recently messaged us and told us that a trainer in her area said she must get her dog's anxiety under control before the training process can begin. She was asking about CBD and other calming supplements.

We found this quite dismal to hear as this is the very reason people need dog trainers to begin with. While teaching your dog a trick or obedience does not solve anxiety issues, the process certainly does resolve many anxiety cases and here are a few reasons why!

The process of dog training creates a relationship with your dogs. Many people and their dogs are lacking relationship. The key to relationships, is clear, consistent, communication! It is not easy to communicate with other humans that speak our language, so communicating effectively with a dog can be quite difficult. A great trainer helps with this!

Getting your dog back to a "natural" state happens in the training process. All too often we see "spoiled" dogs. These are dogs that are over fed, provided affection during in appropriate times, unsupervised, etc. We often think we are doing nothing but loving our pets, but this is not natural for your dogs! Dogs crave structure. Dogs love to work for their food. Dogs love to be there for you! You just have to show them how! Getting back to homeostasis is key when trying to solve anxiety problems with your dog!

This is not to say we don’t like products like CBD for dogs. They just are not a solution to the problem! They are a wonderful supplemental aid to good management and training habits.

Dogs in training are happy dogs! Do you ever want to stop learning? Neither does your dog! Training is FOR LIFE!