TRUST

Trust - reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person; confidence.  

Does your dog trust you?  Is there a trust that is unbreakable within your relationship?  Trust is huge, in fact it is everything.  

Trust takes work and it can take a long time to truly trust, depending on the dog and of course the human.  Are you trustworthy?  Does your dog easily trust?  Many dogs do not naturally trust, they are suspicious by nature and to win their trust can be a great deal of work.  But it is well worth it because once your dog trusts you, the two of you move onto a higher connection.

Luke was a worry wart type of guy so it definitely took work to get to a point where he trusted everything that I did.  He never questioned what had to be done, although he occasionally had to check in to make sure that we were still good.  If I accidentally pulled his hair or bump into him he worried that perhaps we weren't good.  He'd reach his face up with a need to touch mine; once we connected physically he would stare into my eyes, just to be sure.   

If he got hurt while playing or messing around somewhere he'd immediately come to me to show me what happened.  Once I gave him some "you'll be okay" reassurance, off he went on his merry way.  He was quite the guy.  Earning his trust was not easy so when I did, it was something that was never broken.  Even when I had to do things that he didn't enjoy, he trusted me.  

Trust is everything.  I tried to explain the trust factor to someone the other day.  They were explaining to me how they attempted to house train their dog.  They would yell and scream when they found pee or poop on the floor.  What does trust have to do with this?  Everything.  Dogs don't associate pee or poop in the house with something wrong.  So when you start to yell and get mad you are actually breaking trust which means ruining the bond that you have been trying to build.  A trust filled bond is amazing.  

When I had to give Luke his Vitamin needle, I knew it might hurt, but he trusted me.  I did my best not to hurt him and he never even winced.  He did trust me fully.  

Building trust means never lying to your dog.  It means always meaning what you say and never doing things out of anger.  This is one reason that positive reinforcement training is so very important.  The old yank and choke'm training is done through much anger, it is alpha ruler driven.  

Dogs deserve our best and trust is #1.

Pet sitters who get it.

Not just anyone gets to care for my babies.  

Looking for a Pet Sitter?  It is not an easy task, that is unless you are willing to settle.  Settling for mediocre is not something that I am willing to do with the care of Elsa when I need to be away.  

I am a Grandma again, yep.  Two Grandsons a week apart so needless to say I needed someone to watch over Elsa for several days and I have that.  I feel extremely lucky to have found a wonderful woman whom Elsa adores.  

When I knew that my daughters would be having babies close together; I worried about a sitter.  You can't book a time slot for a baby arrival; they come when they want to come and you hope that you can get someone.  Of course the better the sitter the more booked up they are so I hoped and crossed my fingers and anything else I could do that she'd be available, and she was.  

Having my sitter available for the births of my first and second Grandson was HUGE.  It allowed me to focus on the task at hand and leave the care and love of Elsa with my sitter.  Being able to take that worry out of the equation is priceless.  When my sitter arrives and Elsa comes unglued, I know that she is in good hands.  

When you are away, the last thing you need to be doing is worrying.  I don't know about you all, but I worry a great deal if I'm not happy with where my dogs are or who they are with.  If I'm worrying, I'm not focusing on what I should be focusing on; whether that is babies, a conference, business or just plain fun.  

I try to tell and show my sitter just how much we appreciate her.  It means the world to me to have someone that I trust to leave Elsa with.  If I did not have her I could not relax when I am away.  Stepping out of my daily roll as caregiver and allowing her to step in is a big statement in itself.  I'm sure you can all imagine.  

I have interviewed handfuls of sitters who have not made it past the interview process.  I have had to say "thank you but no," to many.  It does not take me long to decide through the interview process if I trust the person to put Elsa first.  I am always looking for new sitters.  Like I said when someone is good they are busy and not always available.  So having a couple of great sitters to call on is essential.

There are sitters and then there are sitters out there.  Finding the ones who mesh with you and your dog/dogs is not easy.  I am looking for the ones that are the elite caregivers; basically myself in a sitter.  Not an easy task but doable if you do your research and go through the process.  

If you have an amazing sitter, let them know just how much you appreciate them.  It truly is wonderful to have someone who cares as much as you do.    

Trust

We were driving to the gym Saturday morning when we saw a man running with a dog.  Or at least that's what I thought when I noticed there was no leash.  Thinking he was stupid for not having a leash on his dog; he then reached down mid-run, hitting his dog hard and grabbed it's scruff.  The dog screamed as he held the dog in the air, seriously angry.  The whole scene took on a different meaning.  Obviously the dog had run out and was not coming when the guy called it.  I toyed with the idea of getting out and laying into the idiot but you just know when doing that will make things worse. 

My husband and I talked about the incident until we got to the gym.  My heart was sick for the dog.  That poor little dog had no one to trust.  There was perhaps a good reason the dog was not coming; why on earth would you go to someone that you don't trust?  Some people just don't get this.  The incident that unfolded in front of us would be enough for a dog to never trust you again.  Maybe if you were very lucky you might be able to gain it back after working long and hard to do so.  Does your dog trust you?

Trust is a huge thing in the dog world.  You are either trusted or not.  A dog learns very fast who they can trust and who they cannot.  If you are an unreliable owner; if you go off on little things at the wrong time, you very quickly become untrustworthy. 

This is one huge reason why timing is so very important when delivering feedback.  Dogs live in the moment; we should, but don't most of the time.  If a dog does something wrong and even just a few minutes later you notice and react?  Too late, message not received and you become untrustworthy. 

Does your touch a welcome thing.  Does touch mean "I will never hurt you?"  Touch and physical manipulation can take time to become a trusted thing.  All dogs are different and what one will trust another may not.  Luke was a very nervous guy so if I tried to roll him onto his back to check out something on his stomach, he worried.  I taught him that "tummy" meant I was just looking.  It took a long time of building blocks to get to the point where he knew I was not alpha rolling him.  Not because I'd ever done it or anyone else; he was just a fretting kind of guy.  So baby steps were the blocks to trust. 

Trust is everything.  You should never give your dog anything to not trust you about.  Being clear, fair and concise with properly delivered feedback are the stepping stones to trust.  Sadly humans get it wrong much of the time.  Evolution takes time, more time for some. 

Training dogs and life lessons

                                    You cannot force a connection; it takes time, patience and trust.

Training dogs means something different to everyone.  Some people consider it a horrible way of bossing your dog around; they prefer a more free spirited "do what you want" lifestyle.  Others take it to the other end of the spectrum and compete in the sport of obedience.  When a dog does something that we do not approve of; many say that they are a bad dog.  No so, they are not being bad, but in fact they are being a dog.  It is our job as our dog's guardian to instill life lessons; an education on how best to live in our human world.  There are certain behaviors that I think make living in our world easier; such as sit, down, stay, come etc. etc.  They don't need a lot but they should have at least the basics.  But as far as flourishing in our world; they need much more than an understanding of  the basic behaviors.   

Life, they need to experience life and everything in it.  When a puppy joins a new family; they are as many say, a blank slate.  That slate is blank as far as living in our human world.  They may already have much knowledge; but depending on where they came from it may only be about being a dog.  Funny how we get a dog and expect them to act like a perfect human.  Think about that.  They live with their littermates and mother.  Perhaps they hang out with other dogs in the house or around and then plop; they are set into a human world.  They have much to learn and it is our job to teach it all to them.

What to bite and not to bite, what to ignore, how to deal with annoyance, where to go to the bathroom.  The list goes on and on as far as our world and being appropriate in it.  Slapping a leash on and heading out into the world with no regard to how and what your dog is feeling about it all is very human of us.  We need to connect with our dogs as one.  When you achieve that connection with a dog; everything else falls in place.  Training and life lessons are still required but it becomes easy with that connection. 

This means that you must learn all about your dog.  What makes them tick, motivates, scares and puzzles them.  I was driving down the street the other day and saw a large scary Halloween figure on someone's front yard.  I immediately thought "Elsa would not like that," because I know her.  An ominous figure standing frozen and staring?  No, she would not like that at all.  There is a learning curve involved when you get a new puppy or adult dog for that matter.  The more you watch and pay attention; the faster you will know your dog.  So many people walk their dogs and never actually give their dog a second thought. 

Every single dog is different, just like us.  We look at the world from many different points of view.  Dogs are the same way so knowing how to approach your dog's education requires that you know your dog.  Training becomes so easy when you get up close and personal.