Understanding Relationships And Dogs

[@helenmcpherson6581]

You know what Mark? I had great dogs most of my adult life, some rescues. Now in my late 50's, new 2-3 y.o. rescue. I was struggling. Very reactive, unpredictable on walks. Great at home. I tried so hard with this and that, mostly trying to control him. I was miserable. Listening to you and watching you, it finally sunk in. Just relax, stop trying to control him, stop using the leash like a weapon! So I train myself now. The leash is relaxed. My dog is listening to me, not reacting to much at all, I am happy, he is happy. He stays close, watches me, listens to me. Soooo happy. The difference is unbelievable. 3 days, and getting better. Thank you ❤

[@Sharon-pf2te]

You’re so right Mark, I truly believe you know dogs. I wish all these KZbin so called trainers would enlighten themselves by watching a few of your videos. But they won’t, they don’t want dogs just to be dogs, it’s really all about them and control. You’ve got the right attitude, and I hope more people will see that.

[@recoveryafterrape]

You do have a deep understanding.❤

[@preskooldropout2]

This!!! Thank you so much for reassuring this perspective. Common sense isn’t common. And this perspective, our perspective, isn’t common.

[@LoneLupine]

That Texas trail looks surprisingly similar to Alaska where I'm at. Becoming a giver instead of a taker is excellent life advjce, for dog and non-dog related situations

[@Rabea-yc6jq]

I’m so glad I have found your channel! And I’m so grateful for my dog teaching me things in my early twenties that many people don't learn for a long time. Of course my dog is not perfect but it is these imperfections that make us learn and grow. Thank you Mark, keep filming these videos, I love to listen to what you have to say!

[@dejavu333]

👍 How did you teach him to stay on the trail so nicely?

[@dejavu333]

Thank you! 👍👍👍👍 That "Then you are not doing it right" is so true, you can see it everywhere not only in dog training it makes people feel bad and I am sure that is on purpose, people who feel bad do consume more and do not have energy to "control" the government.

[@terryrangergrumman1453]

Excellent Thanks

[@helenmcpherson6581]

Excellent video, Mark. You make some really good points. I think of how I feel when people demand certain things of me that seem unreasonable, or you have that expectation of punishment if you mess up, I feel resentful and fearful, nothing good at all. I can see how a dog would also feel like that! Thanks for your insights. You keep it real 👍

[@MaxandMe]

Still working on recall with my almost 2 year old Husky/GSD. He’s really pretty good but he loves to play with other dogs so much he ran half way between the two other dogs and me yesterday and stood there looking at me, looking at the dogs, looking at me, looking at the dogs. Must have been a whole minute. I felt so happy that he chose me and ran his bouncy happy playful run to me. I try so hard to fill his needs but I’m definitely not as fun as another dog! I do have friends with dogs that he plays with so he’s not totally deprived! Still makes me wonder if I should have a second dog for him to play with anytime he wants. Do you think you could do a video of the pros and cons of having more than one dog vs a single dog? I’ve only ever had one dog at a time. ❤🐾 Thank you again for the walk and talk! Love your videos.

[@mandurphy23]

Maybe someone else will correct me on this but I'd think of it less like your dog having a new "brother" and more like a roommate. They may hit it off and they may not. You'd want to look for compatibility between the two of them. Ideally, they're both low-aggression and similar play styles. But you can't always know what will trigger a dog especially if you're rescuing. It could work out really well or they could fight a lot. You may have to teach them how to interact with each other and that can be a lot to sign up for for a while before they get the hang of it. And you'll have to develop a relationship with the new dog while balancing your current dog's needs. Not to say not to, but just to add some considerations...

[@MaxandMe]

@@mandurphy23 thank you, great points. Maybe it’ll be a better idea to foster rescue dogs and if there’s any ideal connection, then think about adopting them. ❤️

[@mandurphy23]

@@MaxandMe That's exactly what my brother did. Has a Jindo mix since puppyhood and fostered until they found a Husky that got along well with the Jindo. Forever brothers, now! Husky has a lot of fear/anxiety issues and has run away before, but the Jindo always leads him back home

[@MaxandMe]

@@mandurphy23 thank you for this! Something to consider ❤️🐾

[@DMc-xs9gn]

100% the truth

[@ECole-le7we]

Do you think you could train the Governor of South Dakota?

[@joannjulian3417]

Love Melania and donald

[@mandurphy23]

Does this perspective extend to puppies? I feel like the younger the dog is, the more you have to guide/direct/force the dog to do the things that will keep them safe, while still giving them enough autonomy to appreciate you

[@mandurphy23]

Like, a dog wants to roll in shit because it's genetically programmed to want to and no matter how much the dog loves or respects me, she's still going to roll in shit if she gets the urge. That's incompatible with my lifestyle so I need the dog to never do that. Dog is gonna be upset with me because I never let her roll in shit, but I keep her safe and provide a good life for her. Idk, should I let her roll in shit and spend 15min cleaning her after coming inside 3x per day? Or do I stop her? Sometimes what the dog wants runs contrary to what I want. Dog wants to eat my couch, do I let her? Dog wants to hump me, do I let her? How do you handle disagreements with your dog?

[@roberthynesdogtraining]

Ever stop to think why you have to guide/direct/force a puppy? The main thing that puppies need is fresh air, good exercise and other dogs in order for them to finish learning how to be a dog and act like a dog. If I had a new puppy today? A dog park is the first place that the puppy is going.

[@markdubose1986]

Why do dogs roll in poo. That’s your first question to ask. Why does the dog want to bite the couch? A dog has the desire to chew give them an outlet to chew. A dog has a need to cover there scent to hunt or move animals, give the dog an outlet to do it without feeling the need to hide and be able to be in the open about it. My border collie rolls in poo. He rarely does it anymore because when he was young we got close to the animals together and he realized he didn’t need to mask anymore. You’re trying to take an outside working animal into your home. Dogs do nasty stuff to what humans think and you want a dog to adapt to you and take away everything the dog has inside to do because it doesn’t fit with you. You’re even wondering why the dog is doing what it’s doing. Just saying I don’t want it. Once you look at why then you’ll be able to work to give the dog what it needs without a fight or saying no all day long.

[@MaxandMe]

I think just like any baby, keep the environment as safe as possible while teaching them. Make sure you keep choking hazards, drowning hazards, falling hazards away from your kids and your puppies. When my puppy was about five months old, he ran up a mountain side but couldn’t get down, I had to climb up half way and call him. Luckily we had already practiced him jumping into my arms from the kids trampoline. So he jumped to me, I caught him and climbed down with him. Now he’s 70 pounds so hopefully I won’t have to do it again 😂 Oh the joys of puppy parenting! Good luck 😉

[@mandurphy23]

@@markdubose1986 I agree with giving the dog an outlet by diagnosing the "why" and then find something that's agreeable between the both of you. I think most KZbin dog training people call it "redirection". I agree with not just simply taking things away or squashing drive, but giving something safe or acceptable to satisfy the desire. It's not always easy to diagnose the "why" though if you don't know much about dogs in the first place. I guess with the Internet we have the blessing of instant access to information, but the curse of mindless influence, so we can always learn more about dogs and get answers to our questions, but we exercise less critical thinking and blindly accept things as fact. "My dog isn't listening to me, what do I do?" Internet will say give higher value rewards to compete with their desire, but it's just a distraction, no different than sticking an iPad in a kids face.

[@roberthynesdogtraining]

Human beings aren't that smart Mark, dogs can figure out the manipulation. I look at society, all reward based, all manipulation. Just in a job alone, you get raises based on performance - reward. You get promotions - rewards. All artificial rewards that Skinner himself would call exploitation. And if you don't do things right - you're punished. Society itself is being controlled through the "Quadrants" - and we can't see it. We do it to our dogs - we don't see it. Google itself defines Operant Conditioning as a method of behaviour modification using rewards and punishments. But once a behaviour is understood - that definition makes zero sense.

[@mandurphy23]

I think intention matters. You're always doing operant conditioning, even Mark is advocating for it here, but the root of his argument is to not lie to your dog about your intentions; be mindful of what energy you're bringing into the relationship between you and your dog. Mark uses the term "dictator" to describe the dog owners that demand perfection and if you go watch a Leerburg video, that's exactly the term they proudly use to describe the owner. Mark is saying "respect that your dog needs autonomy and he'll follow your commands because he'll give you respect in return". I'm not entirely sure though, Mark says "dogs always give back" but how do you know that? Is it really impossible for a dog to take and take and take? Or is it totally against their programming to be selfish? Genuinely asking...

[@helenmcpherson6581]

I guess you don't know that. I guess it depends on the dog. What do you have to lose by trying? I have a better relationship with my dogs, we have better communication between us. Nothing is guaranteed. You can only try.

[@roberthynesdogtraining]

@@mandurphy23 Operant Conditioning is not something you get to apply - that is the very problem. People are trying to change their dogs operant conditioning using reward and punishment - and it doesn't work. Why? Because a behaviour is not a condition in the first place - let alone fixable. It's not a punishable thing in the first place - punishment WILL NOT WORK - PERIOD. There is no such thing as an "aggressive" dog - it's not a diagnosis. A 5 year old child can watch a dog and declare it aggressive - that doesn't say much about trainers ability to diagnose a dog.

[@markdubose1986]

This comment here is starting to bring more of a better conversation. It’s cool to see the questions being asked and it makes for people to learn what really matters and not just how to get a dog to sit.

[@mandurphy23]

@@roberthynesdogtraining it depends on what you mean by "work"... And what you mean by "punishment". Is it punishment when Mark's dog walks too far ahead and Mark says "hey, come back here" or "slow down"? Sounds like a "don't do that, do this" to me, but it depends how it matters to the dog, I suppose. "No" can vary in severity from dog to dog. Mine is a Newfoundland and she's very sensitive to tone. A loud, deep "no" is something she'll totally ignore because we don't do hard punishments with her, but a soft/upturned "no" will immediately evoke a different behavior from her. I think we're always doing behavior modification with our dogs, we don't always let them do whatever they want... We have guardrails for our dogs after all

[@terryrangergrumman1453]

Logics would say that if your average big name KZbin dog trainer saw this video their whole world would be shattered but it doesn’t so what does that say?

[@roberthynesdogtraining]

There is no money in doing things the way we do. Dog owners can do it themselves.

[@terryrangergrumman1453]

@@roberthynesdogtraining And doing it yourself is fun. Doing things like in this video are why I have dogs, it’s the greatest entertainment & education just watching them do what dogs do

[@terryrangergrumman1453]

@@roberthynesdogtraining Of course we need dog trainers, to educate people on the right way to have relationships with our dogs & cut through all the KZbin training crap misleading people. I grew up without internet & lived with dogs pretty much like in this video then thought mabey I should check out on internet the proper way to train & then thought wow I’m doing everything wrong, need treats, collars, discipline etc. It kind of brought me down then came across your KZbin channel & Marc’s through yours. Saved me, we really need that & hope people go after these phoney trainers for the evil they are doing animal abuse

[@helenmcpherson6581]

​@@terryrangergrumman1453you said it perfectly! Before KZbin dogs were easy, natural. Then you get sucked down the "dog training " rabbit hole. The damage these people are doing to dogs and people is disgraceful, Thank God for Robert and Mark.