The Power of Choice
Choice! Choices are important, don’t you think? But have you ever consciously given your dog a choice? I incorporate choice into dog training because choice is a building block of trust. Incorporating choice into your fur-ever friend’s life is fun and easy to do!
How well do you know your dog’s preference? For example, which game really gets your dog more excited — tug or fetch? When it comes to enrichment does your pupper prefer to use their nose to snuffle or tongue on the lickimat? Which treat is gets your dog drooling the most? Where does your dog stand on beef versus fish? You might be surprised to find out. I know I was!
Fascinatingly, the power of choice goes beyond the examples above. Choice comes into play when a delicious piece of chocolate falls to the floor and you ask your dog to leave it; after all dogs are scavengers by nature.
Revered Behaviorist and dog trainer Chirag Patel invented The Bucket Game to use with husbandry exercises, like nail trims, teeth brushing, blood withdrawal, etc. The Bucket Game teaches dogs how communicate with us when the dog would like to take a break from a procedure and when its ok to proceed. This is must see YouTube resource if you and/or you pup gets stressed out about vet and/or grooming appointments.
We all want a closer bond with our dogs and so, I encourage you run your own experiments. Undoubtedly, you dog will thank you with kisses!
✌🏽❤️🐶
