A revolutionary and gentle way of influencing
behavior and well-being in companion animals.
Deirdre Chitwood - Certified Tellington TTouch Practioner
Guild Member of TTouch and a Member of Truly Dog Friendly Training
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Our Changing Attitudes about Animals (cont.)
It is so easy to put our own human psychologies onto our pets as a way to understand them with ideas such as ‘he wants to take over’ ‘he only does that to annoy me’ or ‘she is spoilt’ when in reality animals really don’t have the intelligence that thinks this way. They are just not that complicated. What they do have is a huge amount of love, loyalty, willingness to try, and a fairness of spirit that often goes far beyond what we have to offer.
Whenever we catch ourselves coming up with labels for animal behavior such as ‘aggressive’ ‘submissive’ ‘dominant’ ‘separation anxiety’ we need to stop and think. The minute we put a label on something we feel safe and then we stop trying to work out for ourselves what we think is actually taking place. There are so many views and opinions in the world where pet care is concerned it is often difficult to know where to begin. One good place is to ‘treat your best friend as you would want to be treated’ which is a
Tellington TTouch canine golden rule. Another is the mindset that ‘we have the opinions and they have the facts.’
Another is to realize is that the way we are is the single most direct and powerful external influence on our animals. If we change our behavior, it will change our pet’s behavior which is a wonderful tool if we have the desire and the ability to do it. Perhaps it is our levels of stress that are stressing out our cat and causing it to urinate for apparently no reason outside of its litter box. Perhaps it is our lack of attention to our dog that is causing it tear up the furniture when we are not there. Or it may be that your ‘Yorkie’ constantly asks to be put in your lap - which has now become a nuisance to you - because you were forever picking him up and putting him there as a puppy. The examples are endless.
Often it takes someone outside of the circumstance to see the objective truth of a situation and to take a
hand in helping both the carer and the pet. A remedy and way forward will not come from hanging on to old ideas of pet training that force an animal to change its behavior from fear of pain or reprimand. Neither will it come from trying to do the same things over and over again and wondering why you are not getting a different result.
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