Around here we refer to the “art of doing nothing” as an extremely important life skill. Many dogs are not equipped with it, naturally. A lot of dogs need to learn how to be calm in different environments. Often times they don’t know what to do with themselves when they are so over-stimulated in a new environment. This energy often presents itself in reactivity or aggression.
Ideally, your dog should be calm at home. It is their safe space. The outside world is a whole ‘nother can of worms. As soon as your dog steps outside, they are inundated with people, dogs, scents, critters, and of course scary leaves blowing in the wind. Your dog is constantly analyzing what is safe and what is a threat.
This is exacerbated when interactions go wrong. For example, your young fluffy sweet golden retriever starts life off being happy go lucky. Your dog is constantly meeting people. And how does one greet a golden retriever puppy? Well, of course, the only way is to run up to them saying “OH LOOK AT THE CUTE PUPPY!!!” And this person proceeds to smoosh your dog's face. Meanwhile, the puppy doesn’t know who this person is, their space is invaded, and they're being touched by someone they don't trust yet. Your pup is likely giving subtle warning signs saying "No thank you", but this attack on their senses doesn't stop. This puppy has now learned people will just run up to them and touch them even if they have given warning signs saying "No thank you". Now this puppy is potentially on edge when seeing people. Now this puppy is wary of strangers, sometimes those strangers have a dog with them. Your pup is on edge & giving that other pup all the wrong signals - you see where this is going.
The puppy has now learned that the potential for bad things happening exists outside. It is less likely for that to happen inside. Inside is safe. Outside is unsafe. Now we are on guard whenever we go out. This is where the importance of “doing nothing” comes into play. The expectation should not be to interact with every single thing your dog sees out in the world. If you create the expectation of being neutral outside just as much as you expect it inside you can eliminate the possibility of hyped up interactions that create a never-ending cycle of over stimulation when outside.
In our structured daycare program we are constantly setting the expectation of calm neutrality with your dog in a setting with other dogs and stimuli. If you need to get a grasp on creating a calm dog in the outside world, sign up for our structured daycare program today and we'll help you teach your dog the "art of doing nothing", leading to a healthier, happier dog & owner!
