I have a [breed] with [behavior]. What should I do?

I hope the person who inspired this post is not offended. Simply drew out what I recognize to be more of my personal weirdness, which I thank them for. I hope this inspires some discussion. Experts are people who realize how little they know! The more I learn, the more I realize I have so much to learn!

I do not like the idea that "protocols" are selected based on a few factors:

• age
• breed
• "diagnosis" labels such as aggression, separation anxiety, dominance, etc.

I do not like the idea that if your dog "cake" is "aggressive", you just dump in a Gentle Leader or prong collar or drugs. If your dog "cake" is "afraid", you just get started clicking and sheltering or forcing and flooding. If your dog "cake" barks, add a Spray Commander or bark collar. Your dog "cake" is not, and will never be, entirely a product of you or your techniques.

Dogs are more than their age or breed or behavior. Dogs are unique personalities, with a unique set of beliefs & reactions shaped by their genetics and their experience with the world. Not unlike us, in this way. Currently, some researchers have been evaluating the possible evolutionary functions of uniqueness. I'll be keeping an eye on where that goes. Because behaviorism is so popular for dogs, I find "diagnosis" generally focuses on describing behaviors. I am not a behaviorist. At the moment, I believe "cognitive ethology" comes closest to describing my viewpoint. I am, of course, open to changing my viewpoint whenever better knowledge comes along! More on cognitive ethology in another post?

For me, behavior is language. Language that expresses content. Content relative to their physical, social, emotional, and intellectual needs. Content that tells me WHY the dog is doing what it does, and WHAT is motivating it. Stopping one behavior and choosing a replacement, again, is not like substitution in a cake. To effectively address complicated behaviors like aggression, we need to address all the causes of the behavior, and teach through all the eliciters of the behavior.

My "diagnosis" of a situation is as much about the owner as it is about that of the dog.

Some "issues" are not quite so grand as the owner would like to make them out to be. Sometimes, owners do this because the owner doesn't want to own responsibility to address the behavior problems. They don't want to admit that a dog is too much for them. So, it's the dog's fault. Other times, owners minimize the behavior because they love the dog, and they don't want to fit bad behavior into their image of their darling Fifi. Again, the psychology of owner should probably be another post.

Owner-related motivations aside, owner personality is important. Is this someone who believes clicking or food or training collars are heresy? Don't choose a tool or approach the owner is pre-convinced won't work.

Is this someone who can humanely use the "effective" approach? I find that people who cringe when they see the prong collar initially fail to give an effective tap, and then later allow the poor dog to lean on the prongs and call it a success when the dog is reluctant to pull as hard as he initially did. Yikes.

Is this someone who can effectively use the "humane" approach? I find that some people fail to pre-emptively reward good behaviors, and reactively attempt to address behaviors already in progress by asking for a sit or down or leave it, which they teach thru using click & treat (C&T). This is not teaching how to initiate the proper response.

• Does this person have the ability to observe and attend to the dog? Or do we need to use the simplest possible method with the greatest number of failsafes?
• Will the owner be safe & comfy? Not just from dog bites, but what is their general health & fitness? Can they tolerate being jumped on? Or is that a significant injury risk?
• What does the owner like to do with the dog? Do they throw frisbees, take off-leash hikes, or cuddle by the fire?
• Does "having control" make them feel more relaxed and at ease?
  
• Are they able to meet this dog's needs for exercise, confinement, supervision?
• What are the neighbors like? Will they freak out if you are using a prong collar or a Gentle Leader?
• What kind of risk is posed to the safety of cats, prey animals, other dogs, children, neighbors, strangers?
  

When I assess a situation, I try to maximize humane treatment of everyone involved. Large dogs jumping on old ladies is not humane to old ladies, even though it's fine, and even desirable for college-age boys. Children carrying around small elderly dogs is generally not humane to the dogs. Terrifying people is not avoidable, but we do want to minimize it!

If I had my choice, all owners would be intelligent, sensitive, strapping, confident, forgiving, immune to opinions of others, and able to afford any services they cannot provide. This is not going to happen. Please contact me if you are male and fit this description -- I am single. If you are female and fit this description -- do you need a BFF?

One size does not fit all. Dog behavior management is difficult and varies in effectiveness because it is NOT simple.