When to Show Affection to Your Dog

The other day, I forced myself to stop being a wimp and I watched one of those Humane Society commercials. You know, the ones that usually bring a tear to anyone’s eye. You change the channel too, don’t lie. You don't have to be learning how to be a social worker to have compassion for others. But it got me to thinking about how these dogs don’t get any love at all. That’s the saddest part, I think – especially when you have a great dog in your life already because you know how sad it would be if he or she ended up locked in a cage forever.

But the mistake most people make (myself included) is to shower a dog with affection at all times. Those commercials are so sad because affection is so crucial to a dog’s life. Once it’s taken away, we know they’re hurting. But we have to remember that affection is one of the only ways we can really let our dogs know they’re doing the right thing. Some of us crazies talk to our dogs, but even the craziest of us must know that the dogs don’t really understand. They understand some commands and they can sense your overall mood, but they don’t understand your language. That’s why affection is more powerful than words for a dog.

If your dog does something wrong, yelling at him and then giving him a big old hug is sending mixed signals. You see, if he didn’t do that wrong thing, he wouldn’t have gotten yelled at, but he wouldn’t have gotten the hug either. So, the next time he wants a hug, he knows a surefire way to get one.

It’s easy to shower your dog with your love and it’s hard to be cold when they’re sitting there looking so cute and needy, but if you want a well-behaved dog, you have to learn to withhold your affection for those times when the dog deserves it. And yes, just sitting there looking cute is deserving, as long as she didn’t just chew up your shoes. Make sense?