Creating an Emotionally Supportive Environment for Your Dog

I'm constantly looking for information on how to train and teach dogs to live in a human-oriented world with the least stress, trigger stacking, and fear possible. Unfortunately, numerous dogs don't really do all that well in human environs despite claims that they do. They're forced to live according to their human's schedules, desires, and decisions about what's okay and what's not okay—often trumping dog-appropriate behavior with human-appropriate behavior—and helicopter dog-parenting doesn't come close to balancing scolding with praising. Pilot data show we say "no" or "don't" or "stop" far more often than we say "yes" or "good dog."

Dog trainer Gwen Bailey's new book, The Natural Dog: A New Approach to Achieving a Happy, Healthy Hound nicely blends science, positivity, simplicity, fun, and love into dog-human interactions that work well for everyone involved.

Here are some of the many reasons why I highly recommend Ms. Bailey's book, an easy read that's divided into two main sections. The first is "The Physically Healthy Dog," and the second is "The Mentally Happy Dog."

Source: Hamlin, with permission of Gwen Bailey.

The chapters in Part 1 stress:

1. The importance of giving your dog adequate physical exercise and adequate rest—running them into the ground because you want to do something can be very harmful to a dog
2. Keeping them healthy by providing good nutrition—including a discussion of what dogs would eat naturally—and being sure they're adequately hydrated
3. The pros and cons of neutering—it's not a panacea
4. A discussion of mutually agreed upon sensitive handling—not forcing contact including touching, holding, and hugging—and most importantly, taking the dogs' point of view and being sure they agree with what you want to do to them or with what you want them to do

It's impossible to overplay the fact that dogs have to have a say in how they're treated and handled, and we need to pay close attention to the options they would prefer and try to honor their choices whenever possible. For example, in "Hugging a Dog Is Just Fine When Done With Great Care," I stress that it's perfectly okay to hug a dog if they also agree that it's okay. A simple rule of thumb before touching or hugging a dog is to pay very close attention to individual differences, your relationship with the dog, and the situation at hand. An over-arching claim—a harmful myth—that data show it's not okay to hug a dog is unscientific and robs many dogs of the contact they really want and deeply need.

The chapters in Part 2 include detailed discussions of:

1. Love and connection—dogs are highly emotional beings
2. Using gentle leadership and living in harmony rather than using fear-producing domination—dominant humans don't gain dogs' respect and trust
3. Giving dogs adequate rest and sleep and safe places to do so—when dogs have a bad day it can disrupt their sleep
4. The importance of play if a dog likes to play—not all dogs like to play but if they do, let them do so to their heart's content, zoom here and there, play tug-of-war, and let them work out how to play fairly among themselves
5. Providing safe places where dogs can live without fear
6. Exercising their minds and enriching their lives

Dogs also have to exercise their senses in addition to their bodies. And, whenever you're interacting with a dog, pay careful attention to the fact that there are individual differences among dogs—even among littermates and siblings of different ages—and what works for one dog might not work for another. Thus, it's essential when training dogs to blend in the latest science with their individual personalities. Simply put, there's no "universal dog" or canine mind and these differences make life with dogs very exciting and often challenging.

Bringing a dog into your life is a huge decision, and it's essential that you and others who might be involved realize and accept that you will most likely have to make significant changes to your pre-dog lifestyles. Adapting to the presence of a dog might be more daunting for first-time dog guardians, but many people I know who have lived with a succession of different dogs marvel at how different the dogs are and how they have had to adapt in new and often challenging ways.

Dogs aren't unconditional lovers and we need to earn their trust and love. Many could likely do well without us, despite our thinking and acting that they would perish in our absence. And we need to be sure to become dog literate so that we don't mislabel dog-appropriate behavior or give credence to harmful myths.

Ms. Bailey ends her book with some clear and important messages: Be positive rather than negative. Make lessons short and fun. Keep lessons simple and straightforward. And plan your training. She echoes what Jessica Pierce and I stress in Unleashing Your Dog—we are obliged to do all we can to give each and every dog the best fear-free life possible along with as many choices and as much freedom as we can while keeping them safe and out of harm's way. Dogs are depending on us to do so and it can be a lot of fun and enriching for everyone involved to give them all they need and more. When we do, it's a win-win for all.