Cindy Bruckart

There are many well trained, dog-friendly, people-friendly dogs out there in the world. You meet them at dog parks, on the beach, at your vet’s office and in your neighborhood. They sit when asked, walk nicely on-leash and come when their owners call them. They love children and are not frightened by bicycles or wheelchairs. In fact, they are darned near perfect. So, how could such a great dog ever be considered a nuisance?

Every year, unknowing dog owners find out the hard way that tinsel and glass ornaments can be dangerous. They learn that dogs shouldn’t eat things like chocolate or poinsettias. For this reason, it’s important that you ask your vet for a list of foods, plants and holiday trimmings that can be hazardous to dogs.

As a trainer, my end of the information spectrum is to talk to owners about preparing their dog (behaviorally) for the strangeness of the holidays and preparing themselves for the extra responsibility of managing a dog during the festivities.

This blog just might offend some people. As a trainer, I am often not called until whatever issue an owner is having with their dog(s) reaches the point of crisis. I realize that this is often also the case with human therapists, doctors, mechanics and other helping/service professionals. People try to help themselves, live in denial or simply can’t see the problem clearly until they are shown some glaring, undeniable and often terrible evidence that something is wrong. 

I have two simultaneous and conflicting reactions to this. One is that I want to help if I can. I am empathetic, often hopeful and in many situations I can see that the issue is not what the owner thinks it is and is often quite normal. On the other hand, I am sometimes angry and frustrated that something wasn’t done to prevent the problem or that the issue wasn’t addressed earlier when it would have been much easier to resolve.

Why is it that if a dog barks for a treat, we say he’s demanding; but, if the dog sits for a treat, we say he’s asking? The differences in value judgments here are purely human. Both behaviors are equally appropriate and doable from the dog’s perspective.

Behaviorally speaking, right and wrong are simply divided by that which gets you the result you want and that which doesn’t. It has nothing to do with that which embarrasses your owner in front of his boss, or that which impresses the neighbors. Those are concepts beyond the scope of canine understanding. A dog who barks for a treat and gets it is just as well trained as the dog who sits for a treat and gets it. They’ve just been trained to do very different things.