Finding Yourself When Caring for Another

You are exhausted, both emotionally and physically.

You are feeling totally consumed by your dog’s behavioral concerns.

Everyday it seems as though its another thing.

Another day where your dog chewed on something he shouldn’t have and of course it was your favorite pair of boots.

Another day of your dog having an “accident” and you swear your dog is only doing it out of spite.

Another day of feeling frustrated because your dog woke up in the middle of the night just to go sit outside. You have such a big day ahead, you don’t know how you’re going to function!

Another day of hearing the barking from your dog. ALL. THE. TIME!

Addressing your dog’s underlying emotional distress so you can have effective behavior change can be exhausting.

One thing after another piles up on your shoulders.

The light at the end of the tunnel seems like a flicker at this point.

You may feel guilty for not doing “enough”.

You’re not alone.

Caring for another being does take a toll and can become emotionally overwhelming. Especially when you are coping with and addressing multiple issues, severe behavior concerns, a multi-dog household or have immediate family members who are not onboard or are not sharing in the care taking duties.

Primary caregivers are carrying the weight of these responsibilities can make you feel you’re in a valley. Really feeling the low.

Getting to the heart of behavior change with your dog may dip into some self reflection and finding out what you need in order to keep going.

Give yourself some grace and make sure to put a plan in place for yourself.

💗 Schedule time where you can go for a walk by yourself.

💗 Listen to music or read a book in another room away from your dog.

💗 Take a yoga class!

💗 Keep a gratitude journal where you write down all the things you’re grateful for each day!

💗 Put up a Good Dog chart on your fridge with the behaviors listed out you want to see from your dog. Put a gold star each time you observe your dog doing this exact thing!

💗 Find a FF pet sitter and take extended time away to recharge.

Recognizing the good things going on will shift your thinking.

Seeing how your dog is making a good choice, no matter how big or small, will help you refocus and start anew.

Show up and meet your dog where he is at without expectation of what your dog will do or how he’ll act, will save you a bit of frustration.

Let your dog be your guide and live in the moment as they do.

http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/coping-with-compassion-fatigue-dont-overlook-the-comfort-of-a-cuddle

Have you come to the end of your rope, but you still have hope?

Do you want to help your dog, but don’t know how?

Do you also need a bit of support too?

Schedule your Discovery Call: https://fourpawsandyoudogtraining.as.me/

To Greet or Not to Greet!

Do‘s and Don’ts in Greeting Unfamiliar Dogs

🟢 Do ask permission! Asking the pet parent if its ok to meet their dog is first. Also, ask the pet parent what to do. This will allow the pet parent to make sure the greeting is smooth and comfortable for the dog as well as an opportunity to refuse. The pet parent knows their dog the best, respecting their decision and guidance is first and foremost.

🔴 Don’t straight up approach with arms stretched out and squealing or using a high pitched voice. This can cause a dog to feel distressed and overwhelmed with the situation. A dog that is uncomfortable doesn’t make good choices.

🟢 Do remain calm and keep your hands by your side. This will give the dog an opportunity to come say hello if he/she feels inclined to do so. By allowing the dog to make the choice to greet will help the dog stay safe and relaxed.

🔴 Don’t bend over, hover over or bend down and stick your face or hands into the dog’s face and ask for kisses. I witnessed a grown adult do this to an unfamiliar dog and I was shocked. Luckily for the lady, the dog is pretty easy going, but the dog didn’t approach and was not interested in saying “hi”

🟢 Do keep the greetings short. I would say 3 seconds, if and when the dog approaches and seeks out attention from you. By limiting the time the dog is being touched and petted by you, will allow you to do consent tests to see if the dog wants more from you. If the dog doesn’t continue to move into you, but rather is stationary or even moves away from you, the dog had enough and this is ok.

🔴 Don’t wrap your arm around the dog’s neck as though you are hugging the dog. This can cause the dog to panic and feel trapped. Also, don’t pat the dog’s head or come up over the top of the dog. This can make the dog uncomfortable.

🟢 Do follow the guidance of the pet parent on where the safe places to pet their dog. Commonly, dogs are most comfortable with petting on the chest or under the chin.

💥 Be safe and consider the dog’s point of view.

Not every dog wants to say hello, just like each of you wouldn’t enjoy a random stranger running up to you and giving you a hug and a kiss.

https://fourpawsandyoudogtraining.as.me/

Yes, Please!

My clients always ask me why rewards are so important in training.

They, like you, want their dogs to pay attention to them, “listen” to them and more importantly have fun with them.

Here are the most common questions I receive from clients.

What are rewards?

A: anything your dog finds enjoyable. What your dog would do backflips for, figuratively speaking of course 😂

Why are rewards important in dog training?

A: They are the bridge to you! Dogs, just like us need motivation and encouragement.

Food, most often is a huge reward (not all rewards are created the same) since is a life source for a dog. Using a reward encourages your dog to seek you out since you have the good stuff and encourages your dog to stay engaged with you.

Using a reward will encourage your dog to look at you which increases bonding with you. This then becomes self reinforcing due to the feel good hormone, oxytocin being released. These type of feel good hormones are found to maintain social bonds across species. These are the same hormones released between a mom and her baby!

When a dog is feeling good, fear, frustration, panic and rage are all inhibited.

The stress hormone, cortisol is reduced. Therefore, heart rate, breathing and blood pressure all lower.

Your dog then is relaxed which then is self reinforcing too!

Your dog will learn to enjoy feeling calmer, don’t you want that for your dog too?

Will I need to use rewards all the time?

A: Once you can observe your dog offering the behaviors you’re encouraging and teaching in all places, situations, changes in the environment, basically, when the behavior is automatic and a habit, then you can switch to giving a reward every so often to continue keeping motivation.

My question, why be stingy!

Dogs deserve to be paid for a job well done!

Meet Tex! She was nervous during our first meeting. Pairing me with food, first with some Treat/Retreat which raised her confidence. A little while later, she closed the distance and came up to me all on her own 🙂

Stop by my FB profile to check out my LIVE on Why Rewards are So Important: https://www.facebook.com/katherine.porter.902/videos/529775281694332/