I had a reader write to me and tell me I should write about more serious dog issues like abuse, neglect and such.
She said, "Enough of the feel-good, I-love-my-dog stuff . . . there is so much animal abuse, neglect and abandonment, you should be writing about that all the time to bring awareness to it!" I wrote back a one-word reply . . . "No."
I choose not to write about the bad stuff because we get enough of it in our daily lives. The news is filled with negative information and images. It is an hour's worth (or more) of pessimism. The constant bombardment of deleterious images and information is changing the hardwiring of our brains in a harmful way and we, as human beings, are actively seeking out negative experiences. Sometimes it is a conscious act, but most often an unconscious one. I don't think that we are here on this earth to live a life of hostility and strife. But to put a positive spin on things, those negative images do serve a purpose. For me, it helps me draw a clear line in the sand of what I don't want in my life, which then opens the door for me to actively seek out information and experiences that illicit positive feelings - which is what I do want in my life. This includes sharing experiences and information about dogs.
Dogs are not hostile creatures. They may use aggression and a degree of hostility to make a point from time to time, but they don't live that way. They seek peace and joy. They actively seek it. Think about that for a moment. Dogs spend their days, no matter what the activity, actively seeking out experiences in everything that they do that make them feel good. And it is not a selfish act. Their seeking of joy is not at the expense of others.
So why on earth would I write about the negative things about dogs and dog ownership when negativity is such a small part of their existence? My dogs - in fact all dogs - can go an entire day, an entire week, heck, an entire month without expressing anything but joy.
In a recent study, scientists compared verbal praise to affectionate touching to see which action dogs responded to. Well, guess what those smarty-pants scientists figured out. After some intense research, they discovered that dogs prefer physical touch over verbal praise. To get the details on the research you can follow this link: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635714001879. In the experiment,
researchers compared the dogs' reaction to affectionate touch versus verbal praise. They found that the dogs showed more interest in people who were petting them than those verbally praising them. But what they found even more interesting is that the dogs were no more interested in verbal praise than in having no interaction from people at all. This means that they were as indifferent to verbal praise as they were to someone who showed no interaction with them at all.
They preferred the sensation of touch as it brought about more positive internal feelings than having someone stand in front of them saying, "good dog!" Study co-author Dr. Erica Feuerbacher, assistant professor of anthrozoology at Carroll College in Helena, Montana, said she "was surprised that when only one alternative was available, dogs still did not engage with the human for vocal praise."
Feuerbacher continued by stating that "the reason for this was discovered in previous studies which showed that a dog's heart rate and blood pressure were lowered by human petting."
This means it made them feel good on the inside to be pet on the outside, so they actively sought out people who pet them over people who only verbally praised them.
You see, even science has proven that dogs are all about feeling good and that's what I want people to feel when they read this column.
On the rare occasion, I do write about bad stuff, but when I do, I always place a positive spin on it so the reader feels relief in their hearts, not resistance.
I want to help people by writing about the joys of dog ownership. Even though there may be hard times here and there, I want an owner to look at their dog and feel emotions of happiness, not contempt.
Finally, there is a fun viral YouTube video going around titled "Be More Dog." Google it, watch it and, well, Be More Dog!
Joan has been working with dogs for more than 15 years in obedience, tracking and behavioural rehabilitation. Contact her via her website: k9kinship.com. Scan this page with the Layar app to watch O2's Be More Dog commercial.
