Dog Blaming
I observe too much dog blaming on a daily basis. When this comes from non-professionals it makes some sense - because they are not educated to know how to train; but when it comes from “professional dog trainers” it’s more of a problem. It’s a sign that they are incompetent or don’t really understand animal behavior and training - but often their information and advice is taken as literal fact by many others because of the job title and influence it carries.
What are examples of blaming dogs?
1. Insulting dogs.
2. Making assumptions about what dogs are thinking.
3. Assigning morality to dogs (and then feeling it justifies using force/aversives/harsh punishments on dogs).
4. If they don’t get training results, they blame the dog (rather than themselves).
Insulting dogs:
Common phrases include labeling dogs as stupid, slow, stubborn, or even any of the things listed below.
Assumptions of what dogs are thinking:
They make statements like dogs are dominant, trying to be the alpha, and take over the household. The dogs want to be leaders. Dogs are disrespectful. This also includes any number of other imaginary ideas - such as the dog needs to learn his place, or the dog is trying to manipulate us. Dogs with literal anxiety are often blamed for being spiteful, malicious, or manipulative, etc.
Assigning morality to dogs:
People will make erroneous statements like “the dogs know the behavior; they know they shouldn’t do something; they know it’s wrong (morally).”
Dogs are animals. They don’t have morality in the same way that humans do - in other words, people actually do learn what is morally right and wrong. Dogs just learn by consequences to their actions - and whether something is safe or dangerous. This means even if you punish a dog (let’s say by yelling “no” at him, it might scare the dog into responding less for that particular behavior - and in that particular situation - but it didn’t teach the dog the concept of that behavior actually being immoral and wrong). It just teaches the dog it’s not safe to do that behavior in that context or someone will yell scary stuff at him. And if people scare dogs, it causes worse problems that become more challenging to resolve.
No training results leads to blaming dogs:
It seems to be much easier for most trainers to blame the dogs when they don’t get the training results they want. But this shouldn’t be the case. We know it’s the teacher’s job to help children learn. Likewise, it’s the trainer’s responsibility and job to help the dogs learn the appropriate behaviors. Good, competent trainers know how to make adjustments when the results aren’t being produced. They don’t blame dogs or the dogs’ guardians - they simply rewrite the training plans; adding in the appropriate steps from the knowledge they gained from working with the dog, and then continue to train until the behavior is up to par with where it needs to be - readjusting the plans as needed during the process.
Where do all of these false ideas come from?
I really like dogs. I don’t see any value in denigrating them and labeling them as stupid or manipulative, etc. It’s strange to me that it’s so common for people to latch onto all of these ideas that dogs are bad and working against us. In reality, dogs are simply doing their natural doggy behaviors that they were created to do. Yes, they often conflict with what people want in our human-centered world, but it’s not coming from a place of dogs trying to be problematic towards us. They don’t know better. They don’t know what we want them to do until we train them.
If you feel overwhelmed by your dog’s behavior, you likely could prosper by working with a qualified professional dog trainer, and/or continuing your education in dog behavior, training, and welfare. When you know how to train behaviors, it should make living with your dog easier and result in less dog blaming.