Did you know there is a name for putting human characteristics onto your dog?

It’s called Anthropomorphism and the dictionary defines it as a noun:

The attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object.

For most dog trainers this word brings up images of people” baby talking” “coddling” “putting their dog in strollers” “ dressing them up” “referring to their dog as a fur baby” and a general unwillingness to treat their dog like a dog! They will warn you against the dangers of assigning human emotions to your dog and tell you that by doing that you will ruin your relationship forever!

And some of that is true, loving dogs the same way we love humans is killing a lot of dogs! It’s making them unbalanced because they experience love in a different way. Just watch a pack of dogs interact, you won’t see a lot of excusing behavior or hesitating to enforce the rules.

I think dog trainers are doing their students a big disservice by not letting them embrace the possibilities of this word!

Look, the truth is, humans as a species have been doing this since the beginning of time! It allows us to understand things that are out of our normal scope of understanding.

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It’s taught to us at an early age too! Cartoons with bunnies, dogs, and cats all with exaggerated eyes that like to look at us and some even talk to us in our language! This is reinforced by the way we are marketed to every day, do you think Hotel for Dogs would have been a hit if the dogs did not talk? As humans, we love that, because it allows our brain to feel a connection with something other than ourselves.

In reality, most animals will view our attempts to connect with them as a direct threat! Direct eye contact could be a challenge and treated as such, and attempts at verbal communication WILL get lost in translation.

Since humans literally cannot help but do this, we need to embrace the reality of what our brain is experiencing and start using it to our advantage!

I need you to be able to recognize when your dog is overwhelmed, happy, fearful, sad, angry, unsure, uncomfortable, and confused. That way you can provide the guidance and support your dog needs at that moment. It just looks different than the way we would react to a human experiencing these emotions.

By giving you the language you need and the frame of reference your brain needs, you will be more equipped to look at what the dog is telling you thru its entire body. This will also let you detach from your emotional experience when you understand a dog a may feel the same feelings but not in the same way! It’s up to us to learn how they communicate in their language and translate that accurately.

Dogs are dynamic creatures that Think, Feel, and express Emotion. There is no doubt about that! Understanding the behavior from the dogs point of view makes it so much easier to take care of their mental and physical health.