THE DOG-OWNER CONNECTION is a fancy name for what people who spend a lot of time with dogs would call common sense. But indeed it is dog sense.
What we have found out very early on in our assessment of owners and dogs is that very few owners rarely understand where dogs come from (their inherited wolf behaviours) or what domestic dogs need to be satisfied each day.
You might be surprised that we believe in a natural model of behaviour of dogs where 99% of common dog issues can be resolved by daily off lead walks (once your dog gets to a decent recall and socialisation level).
There are a lot of sites out their proclaiming to know dogs and help you make the adjust to the human’s world, but the reality is that is basically a cruel over simplification of their needs. The philosophy of this site is that the true THE DOG-OWNER CONNECTION should be about an owner making the majority of the adjustments, based on the primal needs of the dog.
Apart from off lead daily pack walks, preferably two per day. Your dog needs proper nutrition (a meat based diet) and positive reinforcement training (discipline) THEN all the affection you can give them. Dogs are not people, and are only with us because 10-15 thousand years ago we domesticated wolves for our own selfish needs. That is, we put the new dogs to work for us, and paid them in food.
However back on those days, dogs often got to do a full day of work, they knew what was expected of them, and they usually got to work in some outdoors natural environment and feel they were earning their food. The food was usually meat based too, as this was before the corporate joke of grain based diets became popular (financially beneficial to corporations).
Common dog issues are easy to diagnose. Your dog is bored, sad, angry, ‘too much energy’, digging to try and escape, anti social at the front fence etc. THESE are all signs of a bored dog that has not been walked and socialised properly. There is no magic bullet. You can tie the dog up and drug them as many vets suggest, or you can spend time with your friend and walk them and give them a proper life.
This site is about looking at the many amazing facets of the dog human relationship and how to improve it NATURALLY. I trust you will enjoy the ride.
Linda Davis, NYC