3 Things That Will Cause Bad Blood.

Money, Religion and Politics. Then there are other ideologies that are causing wars.

I’ve created 5 or 6 groups on facebook over the years trying to figure out something that works. I ended up abandoning all of them and swearing to never try again. But one more try and the current facebook group is the result – of keeping all the ideologies out of the group. It really hit me when I realized how much fighting was going on in these different groups – and why it was happening.

It hit me harder when I realized that the people that left the group because of all the ideological bullshit that was going on? Those were dogs that I was losing, failing to help. My mission is and always has been to focus on the dog – not the war in Palestine. Tragic yes, don’t drag it into the dog world – it doesn’t belong.

I don’t honestly care if you believe in a God, I don’t care if you’re left wing or right wing politically. I don’t care if you’re a feminist or trans or whatever – it doesn’t belong anywhere near the dog. Nobody wants to hear it – don’t shove it down their throat in a dog group. A number of times, women have commented that they don’t want to be mainsplained to, they only want to talk to a woman. Start a fight or bite the tongue.

And I’ve learned one hard lesson over the years – keep everything out of the group – make it about the dog and their owner. Why should anyone care about what I believe? Why should anyone care about what you believe? They want to help their dog. And I’m watching dog trainers views crash and burn – and I suspect that’s a big reason why. And don’t try to bring dog training into that group – it’s another ideology that doesn’t belong.

All I ever wanted to do is help the dog. Dogs are the best – they incapable of lying, they can’t hide their emotions and they sure as hell can’t hide any intent. That to me is 100% deserving of our trust and respect. So why is it that the number one thing I hear from dog owners? “I don’t trust my dog”. Why?

Because we don’t understand our own animal behaviours. If you can’t understand the causes of your own animal behaviours – how the hell can you understand the dogs behaviours? It’s not possible. The dog is not the problem in this relationship – one garners understanding of us but we don’t understand them. And that’s what I’m pushing – understanding the dog. Some biology of the dog, some physiology, some psychology and other sciences. It’s very basic sciences.

All I ever wanted was a small safe space to educate owners and trainers alike on the actual science of behaviour. A place that people can come to talk about their dog, to talk about successes and failures and recognize that they are not alone. Many people entered the group on the cusp of euthanizing their dog for behaviours – those were the dogs that I was losing cause owners were leaving the group. I was blind to the reality that “free speech” should exist – and unfortunately, in order to succeed – free speech had to go.

For someone like me that is devoted to the dog – that’s a hard pill to swallow. And yes, I fully understand that not every dog owner can be helped – sometimes, they are simply too far gone. And either at the end of their rope or isolated at home cause they don’t want to kill their dog.

Through all this dog training nonsense – I have one question to ask.

What about the dog?

Can we please make it about the dog – and not about our own beliefs, needs and ideologies? There are alot of dogs dying out there cause of beliefs and ideologies.