Does your dog trust you?
Do you trust your dog?
I work with a lot of people who struggle to trust their dogs in any number of situations. They are very surprised when I tell them their dog doesn’t trust them either. Trust is a two-way street you can’t give it, if you aren’t getting it. It’s very easy to lose and very hard to rebuild, but it can be. It just requires hard work and commitment.
I trust my dogs. I have gone enough places, done enough things, spent enough time with my dogs, I can trust how they are going to respond to any given situation and that trust is reciprocated. It didn’t just happen. It started by me teaching them how to handle as many different environments, situations and encounters as possible. Until they knew, I managed. I never set them up to fail. I never set them up to be in danger. If they aren’t successful, I ask myself what I failed to teach them. Then I work on teaching what they don’t know.
Trust isn’t blind. Trust is about knowing your dogs and your dogs knowing you. It is about being the person your dog needs and trusting your dog to be the dog you need them to be. Trust can’t come without awareness. Trust can’t come without being a realist. Most importantly, trust can’t come without deep and abiding love and respect – both ways.