Are you meeting ALL of your dog’s needs?

Similar to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for humans, dogs have more needs than just food, water, and shelter. The graphic created by Linda Daniels, MA helps illustrate those needs. Logically, if some of these needs are not being met, we cannot expect our dogs to be on their best behavior. Therefore, this is a GREAT place to start troubleshooting behavior concerns with our dogs.

Just like Maslow suggests, the most basic needs must be met before considering other needs up the hierarchy. When all the needs on one level are deemed to be met BY the DOG, then you can look for needs on the next level that may need attention.

The biggest one I see regularly missed is on the second level TRUST. Being sure our dogs trust us to keep them safe and keep their environment managed is HUGE in managing their behavior. We often think they know we “have things handled” but in the dog’s mind there can be scary, threatening, or dangerous things happening that we humans don’t seem to be addressing to their satisfaction.

A common example of this is the dog barking at the window when something or someone passes.

In a dog’s mind, they are first alerting the humans to potential danger or threat, then when we don’t respond right away, or we yell at them to stop, they believe they need to continue to manage the threat themselves. They think our yelling at them is joining in their efforts to manage the threat.

Next, since the threat continues to move away while they are barking, they now believe that they are sending the scary thing away. Since it is going away (typically NOT because of their barking but was going away anyway, i.e. the mail carrier), the dog’s barking is now being reinforced as they believe that they are successful in their attempt to send the scary thing away.

Unless we intervene in ways other than yelling at them, (i.e. redirecting their attention until the threat has passed, blocking their view, etc.), this cycle will continue and get stronger the longer the barking is reinforced.

To us, this may not really seem like a security or trust need, but to our dogs, it is a BIG one.

In reality, if our dogs are convinced that they can TRUST us no matter the situation, environment, or perceived threat, they will look to us to SEE how to behave before reacting.

Kind of like a toddler that falls and first looks to see if anyone noticed. If the reactions on the faces of those watching are calm, and the reactions are encouraging, the “crisis” is often averted. Dogs are VERY similar in that if their humans project calm, and confidence, it gives them confidence and the ability to be calm in the face of “danger”.

Does your dog TRUST you?