The more we learn, the more knowledge we accumulate, the deeper we dive in, the more complex we realise behaviour is, as we find missing pieces to the puzzles.

We begin to understand that assumptions we made about why dogs do things were not correct; where we thought the answer to “why does my dog”, was “abc”, it can be “def”, right through to “xyz”.

A deeper understanding provides us with a richness that allows us to appreciate our dogs on a different level and enables us to ensure we advocate for them by truly helping them rather than masking what’s going on.

As humans we look for simple explanations, we seek familiarity, we follow those who reinforce what we think we already know.  But growth doesn’t happen when things stay the same, it only happens when we question what we’ve always done, look for better ways, challenge what we believe.  Because as it turns out, what we believed to be true, may well not be after all.

Behaviour can’t be reduced to a simple “this or that”, even if that’s what our human brains want.  A “one size fits all” approach may seem appealing and is a good marketing tool, but it rarely benefits the dog.

A dominance-based approach may tell you dogs do things because they want to be pack leader and control you.  It’s a neat and simple package.  It’s a belief that is still very prevalent despite the fact we know it’s incorrect, but if you hear it often enough, if you read about it often enough, many believe it to be true.

A reward-based approach may tell you that if you teach your dog to do a particular behaviour in place of the unwanted one, that will solve the problem; I’ve seen it claimed that simply teaching a “sit” and asking the dog to sit in all manner of situations can cure complex problems.

But oversimplifying complex issues means we’re missing what’s really going on.

Behaviour is communication, it’s information.  And if we reduce that communication to fit into a convenient little box to suit us, the dog may well suffer; suffer in silence, because if they keep trying to tell us stuff, and we either ignore or misinterpret it, they will stop trying.  This is what is meant by SILENCE ISN’T PEACE.

Silence often means the dog has given up, shut down.

In the last couple of decades, we’ve evolved so much, we have a better understanding to allow us to adapt solutions to suit individual dogs, rather than a one size fits all approach.

Choose to follow and take advice from trainers who answer questions about your dog’s behaviour with more questions, or whose answer is “it depends”.  I know people often want quick, easy, simple and convenient, and that doesn’t mean that is never possible.  But when it comes to most behaviours, dogs deserve a thorough and thoughtful response, not a so-called quick fix.