The Little Bear Dog Blog

Working with a ‘problem dog’ can be exhausting. You love them but there are days when it’s really hard to like their behaviour.

As humans I think we often get confused with where the person stops and the behaviour begins.  So in the office, your boss makes a decision that really annoys you and your reaction might be to think or even say ‘That man is an idiot!’

You may think the decision was idiotic, but is that enough to judge the whole person on? Even if it’s the latest in a long line of less than perfect choices, do you have enough to go on? Probably not.  I think this is because what we’re really commenting on the behaviour, not the whole person. As we know, people are a lot more complex than that! So if we make these leaps to judgement with our own species, it’s easy to see how we can make the same mistakes with our dogs who like us, are so much more than the behaviour they express.

Some time ago, a friend of mine, listening patiently to my anxious ramblings about Little Bear’s nervous aggression, calmly smiled and said ‘Don’t worry, it’s just behaviour.’  I must have looked at her like she was a lunatic because she said ‘Just think about it.’

I did. And now I get it. 🙂