Living in a city, town or village, most people become accustomed to social norms, rules and regulations in order to navigate the world safely and happily, while hopefully managing conflict with others in a peaceful manner.
However, throw a few thousand dogs into the mix and our world becomes a little more complex. A 2020 pet population survey by the Canadian Animal Health Institute (CAHI) shows the dog population is around 7.7 million nationwide.
qathet-based BC SPCA AnimalKind-accredited dog trainer and behaviour specialist Sandy Middleton has been working with people and their pooches since 2019 but has spent a decade working toward dog training accreditations. Currently her focus is on helping people with dog behaviour and scent training through her business: Best Friends Dog Training.
“Dogs are living, complex beings and they are a product of a lot of different things,” said Middleton. “Their genetics play a huge part but we [dog owners] don't take that into account all the time.”
Middleton shares the example of her little dog who barks at anyone who comes by her house.
“Most of the little breeds were bred to bark and protect their owner and home,” said Middleton. “Genetics play a huge part and individual dogs are different, depending on their gender, age and background, just like people.”
Middleton thinks that if people understand where the behaviour comes from they might be better off. She isn’t saying owners should just let their dogs run wild and do whatever they want. That wouldn’t work for the dog owner, the dog or society, she added.
“Dogs need to express natural behaviours,” said Middleton. “A dog that lives its whole life not being able to be a dog is not a happy life for them. We think of these natural behaviours as problems: digging, barking, chewing. I’m not saying they should wreck our house or garden, but we can find a way they can safely express those behaviours and find out what they like to do.”
Finding skills
Scent training is something Middleton loves to do with dogs, either with essential oils or “man finding,” when dogs learn skills to find people.
“Their noses are so incredible and [scent training] is so much fun for the dog,” said Middleton. “I would love to try scent training with little dogs, too, as they don’t usually get the opportunity that often.”
Middleton does scent training as a one-on-one activity with the dogs, to mitigate possible conflict with other canines. Once a dog gets the idea of searching out scents the activity can be done outdoors and is great way to get a dog's brain active.
“It's not just about exercising the body, it's about the brain, too,” said Middleton. “Nose work does that and it's so much fun, and it's outdoors.”
Recently Middleton attained her BC SPCA AnimalKind accreditation, an animal welfare and referral program. Many people look for trainers who use humane and positive reinforcement and BC SPCA audits those with the accreditation to make sure they “follow a strict set of standards, and use the kindest, most humane methods,” according to SPCA.bc.ca.
There is only one other trainer with that accreditation in the region.
“I love behaviour work and working with fear, reactivity to other dogs or people,” said Middleton. “Dogs are good at cues and people often give the dog wrong cues or the opposite of what the human wants them to do and we are inadvertently reinforcing the behaviour.”
A city can balance the needs of people and dogs at the same time without needlessly restricting dogs from public space, believes Middleton.
“Dogs do need off-leash time,” said Middleton. “There are many places outside the city to let your dog walk on the trails.”
However, there is one thing people can do in order to avoid human and dog conflict, added Middleton.
“If you have a dog off leash do not allow that dog to approach an on-leash dog,” she said. “It's not fair to the leashed dog.”
Middleton stressed that the leashed dog could be nervous, shy or elderly but it doesn’t matter what the reason is. Being on the leash puts the dog at a disadvantage (in the dog's world), and they feel they are not in control of their own safety.
“We should all try and get along,” said Middleton. “If we can do just that one thing, to not allow your dog to approach, unless you are given permission and know you can, that would go a long way to resolve these issues.”
Another common issue Middleton sees is that a dog approaches another dog and the person says, “it’s okay, he’s friendly.”
“This is code to me, the dog doesn’t have a good recall,” chuckled Middleton.
Good recall, according to Middleton, is key to having a dog off leash for the safety of the dog and the people around it.
Social situations
Middleton stays away from social media threads discussing dog conflicts as she thinks they are not useful or helpful, but believes dogs need to be obedient and well trained in order to function in the community.
“The onus is on everyone,” said Middleton. “We need dogs who are well trained and we do need some obedience.”
However, in today's world of positive reinforcement, the word obedience can seem negative to some, but for Middleton obedience means to be safe.
“All it means is that the dog is safe and able to be in our human world,” said Middleton. “You can’t have a dog that runs up to everyone and jumps up, chases cars or people; it's not safe. It makes life miserable for them and for us, so yes, dogs need to be well trained and obedient, so they are safe.”
She said another good tip with a newly acquired canine companion is to keep it on a leash if the owner is unsure how it will react to other dogs.
“If you are not sure of your dog's reaction to another dog, you probably shouldn’t have it off leash even in an off-leash area,” said Middleton. “Sometimes things happen, but if you have a dog that is unpredictable, unfortunately that can start a vicious circle.”
Middleton emphasized that problems can begin to surface if a dog's life gets more restrictive, because they are unpredictable or not trained, and then problems can become worse because the dog is not able to express its natural behaviour in a healthy way.
“A well-trained dog makes for a happy dog,” said Middleton.
She also stressed that the environment is important, meaning a home that is suitable for the type of canine a person may have.
“The environment they are in is a huge factor,” said Middleton. “The dog needs the right environment.”
Scientist, author and dog lover Stephen Budiansky wrote in his book, The Truth About Dogs, that “dogs are a brilliant, evolutionary success almost unparalleled in the animal world and they owe that success to the uncanny ability to worm themselves into our homes.”
For more information, go to bestfriendsdogtraining.ca
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