How To Advocate For Your Dog

I talk about advocacy A LOT. The reason for that is because it is such an incredibly important aspect in the relationship between you and your dog.

Say you have a dog that’s nervous around new people - the dog is giving you signals that he is uncomfortable (growling, cowering etc.) and you allow the person in your dogs space or worse, let the person pet your dog - you are ruining your relationship with your dog because they are telling you they’re uncomfortable, looking to you to acknowledge that and protect them, and you are showing them you won’t do anything to help them - multiple instances like this lead your dog to take action to protect themselves because they know you won’t do it for them - this can lead to reactivity or aggression towards people. 

Same thing with other dogs - if the dog doesn’t want another dog in their space and you do nothing to keep the strange dog out of your dogs bubble, they will take charge of the situation themselves. That’s where things can get messy.

Bottom line - keep you and your dog in your own personal space bubble - monitor and manage your dogs state of mind.

NO is a full sentence - someone wants to pet your dog? No. They say “It’s okay I’m a dog person, they love me!” No means no. I promise you, your dog will respect and trust you a lot more this way. Don’t put strangers feelings ahead of your dogs. That person might get offended but who cares? You are responsible for protecting and advocating for your dog and sometimes people won’t respect or understand that but just know you’re doing the right thing 👍🏼