Our Dogs...Our Love...Our Passion.
Chaizel
“Bo” says - Some dogs are so “high strung” - But It Isn’t the breeding, - Its the People:
Over the years, we as breeders have heard the overworked use of the term "high strung".
This word "high strung" has been used to describe so many behaviors that dogs exhibit every day, that is is difficult to
know what people mean when they use the words. Don't get a sporting dog - they are too high strung, poodles are very
intelligent - but they are high strung, dogs that shake are described as high strung, dogs that run in circles are high
strung and on and on.
So are these behaviors high strung behaviors or not? Lets begin with the most obvious of issues. The shivering. When
a dog shivers is it cold, but perhaps we need to look farther, because this can not be true on a 75 degree day now can it.
If the dog is not cold, then we often hear people state that the dog does not like what is going on around them. We would
suggest that you think about the following: This behavior is fully in keeping with the behavior patterns of its species.
How so? Because, a dog confronted with a choice will either move toward, or move away. When they sit and shake it is
due to them knowing that alpha leader does will not allow them to leave and yet they want to. In other words they are in
conflict. Conflict = shaking/shivering.
As a nurturing empathetic human displaying appropriate human responses, we move to comfort the dog. What do we do
when we comfort and empathise, we touch, speak softly with encouragement and try to vocally move the individual
through the event be it "fear, anxiety, nervousness" or such.
What we fail as human beings to REMEMBER, is that these are not people, they are dogs. They thrive and learn on a
reward system. What is reward to a dog? Talk, touch, embrace, feeding etc. So when we cuddle our dog to give it security
(from our point of view) we are clearly telling the dog that the behavior that they just elicited is what they should continue
to do in such situations. And they will give it (shivering) to you over and over and over again. You will get exactly what you
have instructed them to do as reward moves a dog forward!
I would ask you to consider: How many "high strung" dogs out there are not really "high strung"? How many misnomers
are repeated time and again, not based in fact, merely by repetition of age old "human behavior" Worthy of some
consideration is it not?
Reproduced with permission from a collection of articles by KT copyright 2005.
“Bo” says - Some dogs are so “high strung” - But It Isn’t the breeding, - Its the People:
Over the years, we as breeders have heard the overworked use of the term "high strung".
This word "high strung" has been used to describe so many behaviors that dogs exhibit every day, that is is difficult to
know what people mean when they use the words. Don't get a sporting dog - they are too high strung, poodles are very
intelligent - but they are high strung, dogs that shake are described as high strung, dogs that run in circles are high
strung and on and on.
So are these behaviors high strung behaviors or not? Lets begin with the most obvious of issues. The shivering. When
a dog shivers is it cold, but perhaps we need to look farther, because this can not be true on a 75 degree day now can it.
If the dog is not cold, then we often hear people state that the dog does not like what is going on around them. We would
suggest that you think about the following: This behavior is fully in keeping with the behavior patterns of its species.
How so? Because, a dog confronted with a choice will either move toward, or move away. When they sit and shake it is
due to them knowing that alpha leader does will not allow them to leave and yet they want to. In other words they are in
conflict. Conflict = shaking/shivering.
As a nurturing empathetic human displaying appropriate human responses, we move to comfort the dog. What do we do
when we comfort and empathise, we touch, speak softly with encouragement and try to vocally move the individual
through the event be it "fear, anxiety, nervousness" or such.
What we fail as human beings to REMEMBER, is that these are not people, they are dogs. They thrive and learn on a
reward system. What is reward to a dog? Talk, touch, embrace, feeding etc. So when we cuddle our dog to give it security
(from our point of view) we are clearly telling the dog that the behavior that they just elicited is what they should continue
to do in such situations. And they will give it (shivering) to you over and over and over again. You will get exactly what you
have instructed them to do as reward moves a dog forward!
I would ask you to consider: How many "high strung" dogs out there are not really "high strung"? How many misnomers
are repeated time and again, not based in fact, merely by repetition of age old "human behavior" Worthy of some
consideration is it not?
Reproduced with permission from a collection of articles by KT copyright 2005.