Читать книгу The Practical Dog Listener: The 30-Day Path to a Lifelong Understanding of Your Dog - Jan Fennell - Страница 10

It is little wonder that so many people encounter problems in their relationship with their dogs. The vast majority of dog owners enter that relationship having made a series of utterly false assumptions. They have assumed, for instance, that the dog is in effect a child: an incapable, illogical – if deeply lovable – dependant. As a result of this, they have also assumed that it is going to respond to a series of childlike instructions issued in their language. They are viewing the dog and its world through the prism of the human experience: they are wrong.

The dog does not understand or relate to the human experience in any way. The fact that it responds to the word ‘sit’ or ‘come’ after hearing it a thousand times does not mean that it understands the spoken human language. It has simply come to associate these sounds with certain forms of behaviour, and has learned to act accordingly.

To lead a happy and fulfilling life with dogs, all owners need to make a fundamental change in their approach. They need to look at the world from the dog’s perspective, and understand the society and the rules under which the dog believes it is living. A leap of the imagination is required. They need to understand that the dog is not an immature child operating within the human world: it is an intelligent adult operating within the structures and strictures of its own highly regulated society: the pack. And, most importantly of all, the dog believes it has been given the job of leading that pack. Viewed from this perspective, all its behaviour will make sense. And, viewed from this perspective, all owners have the opportunity to forge a new and hugely fulfilling relationship with their dog.