Relaxed hand

with gentle crooning

I take my time with the laying-on of hands

Taking plenty of time, being relaxed, being on the same level as the dog, all help in getting a dog accustomed to physical handling.

We humans have to learn how to handle a dog gently, without being threatening.

You must be relaxed!

You must first, yourself, relax! If you allow yourself to feel any urgency, your dog will feel that with you. Dogs know more about our current feelings than, often, we are aware of, ourselves!

Remember to breathe!

We humans tend to hold our breaths when performing some kind of demanding task. We cannot allow the handling of our dogs to be a demanding task! Take it easy; take it slow, and find out what your dog accepts with ease. Then do that much, and do not go any further with it for the moment.

If your dog begins to tense up, remove your hand gently. Sing, croon, giggle, and pop that dog a tiny treat!

Dogs Learn By Association

Dogs have emotions much as we humans do. Whatever we do with or to our dogs, they feel first an emotional response. So, while teaching our dogs, we need first to elicit their appropriate emotions. They need to discover that a touch can feel good. Until they learn that, they will have a hard time relaxing with us.

I think one of the great failings of the old mythologies of dog-training is that the humans who have told the stories forgot that dogs respond to us first with their emotions. Until humans can remember that, we won't easily engage the dogs, with their own volitions, to cooperate with us.

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The Great Outside