Good Pet Behaviour: How to create and maintain this with kindness, relaxing therapeutic touch, and healthy boundaries!

Good pet behaviour! We all want pets who listen, who make good choices, who listen to us, who learn quickly and easily, and who are a joy to live with. And at the same time we want them to be independent, have a mind of their own, and be willing to say ‘NO’ to us. Especially our dogs (cats tend to be naturally better-behaved and easier to live with than dogs, I reckon!). Dogs are the problem children I see most often as a holistic vet when it comes to behaviour issues.

Before we dig into good pet behaviour, and how to create and maintain it using kindness, relaxing therapeutic touch, kind training and healthy boundaries, I want you to think about what ‘good’ behaviour is. In fact, I prefer to think of it as ‘healthy’ behaviour.

Good pet behaviour may be only defined by humans, and this can become a major problem for our pets. There are so many animal behaviors (barking, chasing, etc) that are natural for the animals, but a problem for the humans. So I think it’s really important to make sure that we are honouring the needs and nature of our pets when we are thinking about how we would like them to behave.

In other words, ‘good behaviour’ has to be as good for our pets as it is for us. And there will often need to be some give and take. I work with many anxious animals in my holistic veterinary practice. And with many animals with problematic behaviours.

So then – what causes the OPPOSITE of good pet behaviour?

In my experience, most problem behaviours I see in pets come from some combination of:

Anxiety,
Poor or non-existent ability to relax/self-regulate,
Poor boundaries and communication between the humans and their pets,
Lack of training skills,
Poor socialisation,
Poor genetic temperament,
Trauma,
Inappropriate breed/personality for the context/family,
Inappropriate numbers/types/ages of animals in the family unit,
Or lack of presence, ability to self-regulate in the humans (anxiety, trauma etc can be a factor)

Reactivity, inability to learn, jumping on people, aggression, destructive behaviours, ‘out of control’, noisy, – the list could go on for days.

Here’s how I help people create and maintain good pet behaviour…

Creating and maintaining good pet behaviour takes time, care, kindness, and above all, a willingness to show up consistently and be more determined than your animals in a kind, understanding, intelligent way. It also takes an understanding of how your animals think and communicate, so you can ‘speak their language’.

The first thing I teach people with pets who have problematic behaviours is Whole Energy Body Balance™ relaxing touch. Nearly all animals who have trouble behaving in a calm, sensible way have a deficit (or total lack) in their ability to relax and self-regulate.

Our dogs (and other animals) need to be taught how to regulate/relax. And the more ‘working breed’ your dog has in them, the more they need to be taught this life skill. I use specialised kinds of relaxing touch that causes a strong, body level relaxation response.

Every time you practice this deeply relaxing touch with your pets, their whole body/mind system is learning how to regulate and relax. And then, over time, their minds catch up, and pets can learn that the trigger (perceived scary thing) is actually nothing to be worried about.

The second thing I teach is another area that most humans are incredibly weak in. Healthy boundaries with their dogs! I have to coach people in how to be a strong, benevolent leader with their dogs. I am continually surprised at how many people don;t even realsie that their boundaries with their dogs are unhealthy.

It’s critically important that you be able to manage how and when your dogs (pets) come in and out of your close personal space. You MUST be able to say ‘out’ to your dogs, and they happily respect that. Many poorly behaved pets use their humans as an emotional regulation drug. They rush in, un-invited, like a big hairy rash.

I teach you how to gently, calmly, and kindly ‘out’ your dogs, so that they have time in their own space where they have to find a way to self-regulate. I worked with a dog the other day with whom it took an hour of intense (yet gentle) presence before she could stay out of my space, and find a way to relax. You’ll see a series of photos of her going from anxious/wired to deep relaxation below.

Good pet behaviour is very achievable. It takes work. You might need to learn new skills. But I’ve helped thousands of people teach their pets to relax, regulate, learn, and become a joy to live with. If you want my help, pop into www.thehealingvet.com and book a free evaluation call with me. I’d love to help you help your pets learn good pet behaviour!

Here’s a short video where I talk about this live on screen.

Here’s my good dog, helping me out while I work at the computer!