There are no bad dogs according to Asia Moore. She is the author of the following article and her website is K9SuperHeroes
As a full time author and dog whisperer, many of our clients finally come to us after they have exhausted all of the more “traditional” resources and have discovered that learning how to reverse an unwanted canine behavior actually takes a great deal of in depth knowledge plus the ability to correctly diagnose the situation and provide a solution that will actually work for the human side of the equation.
There is no sense is giving great advice to a human who needs help with their dog if the human is not able or willing to put in the time necessary to reap the rewards they desire.
The Story of Rolly
For instance…let me tell you a story about a very large, extremely out of control dog, that we will call Rolly.
Rolly’s humans came to us as for a dog whispering session because they were soon to be moving from their rural environment to a large city with their dog.
It was very obvious when we first met Rolly that he had not been socialized as a smaller puppy. Having lived most of his life in a rural setting, he had become a highly aggressive and dangerous dog.
We always attend our dog whispering sessions as a team (myself, my husband and Boris, our 14-lb Shih Tzu). Our dog helps us greatly during all sessions and during this session, the message he sent to us right away was that this dog had a dangerously high prey drive for smaller animals.
We worked with Rolly and his humans at their home for several hours giving them many suggestions for how to get better control over their very large dog. Then made an appointment to meet them at a local park so that we could work with Rolly outside of his home territory.
When we arrived at the park, it was very obvious that Rolly could not be trusted with smaller dogs (such as Boris) and we were very careful not to allow Rolly to get too close to Boris. While we were working with Rolly on leash in a very large field, I was walking Boris around the edge while my husband was walking Rolly on leash near the center of the field.
As soon as Boris and I came within 100 yards of Rolly, he became highly agitated and aggressive, wanting to chase down Boris and all my husband could do was keep a firm grip on Rolly’s leash. At one point, Rolly became so upset and frustrated with not being able to get to Boris that he managed to plant a good bite on my husband’s leg that later turned up as a bruise the size of a large grapefruit.
We eventually got Rolly to lie down on his side so that I could walk Boris closer to him and after several attempts, he was starting to become less agitated. Progress was in hand, however, it was obvious that this was going to be a long, slow process.
Next, we made an appointment with Rolly’s humans to meet us at a highly used public dog park so that we could work more on just having Rolly sit inside his owner’s vehicle and observe other dogs.
They did not show up for this appointment and they also did not contact us again. They were very soon to move to a large city where Rolly would be expected to transition from a quiet country life to a bustling city life.
We were very disappointed that the couple did not continue with us as the chances of Rolly integrating seamlessly into a busy city environment where there would be plenty of folks walking smaller dogs was honestly quite unrealistic. It is likely that Rolly (if he is still alive) now has to wear a muzzle whenever he is outside.
Rolly’s story is perhaps an extreme example of how sometimes humans are just not equipped to deal with the reality of the situation that they have inadvertently created for their canine companion.
The bottom line for me and my husband and our little dog, Boris, is that we strongly believe that there are no bad dogs, only humans that do not understand what they need to do in order to ensure that their canine companions are happy and well-behaved family members.
We also know for a fact that nobody has to live with an out of control canine that is stressing out the family and the neighborhood, so long as the humans are willing to change their ways and learn a little dog psychology so that they can help their dog become the happy follower they were always meant to be.
Of course, many humans tend to choose the wrong dog for their situation in the first place, which then causes all sorts of problems, not to mention overcrowded rescue facilities. Less canine behavioral problems would be created if more humans did their research and honestly chose the right dog for them and their family.
To this end, I’ve written endless books about specific dog breeds, including designer hybrids and many purebreds, that will help humans choose the right dog and I am hopeful that with just a little more education, many more dogs will live the happy lives they deserve with their human companions.
I highly recommend A Dog named Beautiful
Photo by James Barker on Unsplash
I am a dog lover and creator of this site. I am also the author of ‘Keep Sleeping Keep Missing- if only you knew’ (available on Amazon, Flipkart, Kobo, Google Store, etc.).
