The Art Of Not Getting Angry With The Dog

And if. He did it again. He lifted his paw and pissed on the ditto from your favorite table. Or he crossed the street without your order. Or he broke your new pair of socks that you were just going to wear. Your beloved puppy is wearing your patience. And if you’ve had a bad day at work, missed the train, or got into a fight with the supermarket cashier, this icing on the cake that your pet adds puts you on the brink of a stress attack.

All the fun and rewarding moments you spent together are erased at a stroke, and you make superhuman efforts not to shake him up and yell at him: Why did you have to do this to me one more time?

The truth is that trying not to get out of hand in situations like these is almost an art. Furthermore, courses should be given that illustrate the art of not getting angry with the dog. How to do it? There is a rule that we would have to apply in different circumstances: Learn to put yourself in the place of the other. Humans sometimes have a hard time understanding that others measure things with a different yardstick than ours. And if the other on top is a dog … It may be difficult the process you have to go through to understand that your dog is just that, a dog, and that he is going to act like one. And that, no matter how much you treat him as human, he will continue to respond to you for what he is.

Some ideas not to get angry with the dog

If you have already taken a breath and are calmer, it is time for you to start wondering the degree of guilt and responsibility that you have in the behaviors of your pet that irritate you so much. You should ask yourself, in principle, if you are educating him correctly. For example: Do you always keep in mind that whoever you want to teach some basic rules of conduct has four legs, a tail and is furry? Then:

• Try to change the perspective and keep in mind that you cannot approach their training with logic and human resources.
• You must try to understand the learning mechanisms of your dog, its behavior patterns and, once you achieve it, approach its education with these new parameters.

• Nor does it help if you start acting like a dog. You are still human.
• Remember that you must be persistent in your training. Go step by step. And always with a word of affection and a caress before each advance that I achieve.
• Keep in mind that it will be much better if the instruction process is carried out in an enjoyable way. Avoid making it a traumatic experience for both of you. Leave out the yelling and anger. You will only manage to block your pet and make everything more difficult to achieve.
• Unless you find him red-handed  doing something wrong, don’t scold him. Your pet cannot relate a current challenge to a past action.
• If – despite all your efforts – things still don’t work out, never try the violent way. Do not hit your pet. You will only make him feel intimidated and afraid of you.
• Try to relativize the situations. What at the moment seems terrible then is not so terrible. Instead of getting angry, keep looking for him to turn around.

Better a smile

A recent study carried out by the Messerli Research Institute, under the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna (Austria), concluded that dogs can distinguish between happy and angry human faces. This is the first solid evidence that an animal can discriminate the facial emotions of another species. And not only that: they  can associate a smiling face with a positive meaning and an angry face with a negative one.

Now that scientists confirm this that you may already have guessed, isn’t a smile better to try to get your dog to correct some of its behaviors?

So: patience and understanding, above all. Remember that not getting angry – in all respects – should be a rule that we should learn to follow in order to make our lives and the lives of the people around us more bearable and happy, including pets.