How often have you heard the terms ‘dog’ and ‘psychology’ in the same sentence or used together to form an expression?
With the rise of Dog Whispering introduced into main stream dog training methodology we are beginning to hear about Dog Psychology more and more.
Dog psychology is the study of the dog's mind and associated behavior. A trained person in the field of dog psychology understands that the dog is not human which is why they need to be understood in a more ‘canine’ way through observation of behavior a The study of canine psychology helps trainers and owners understand how to better respond to certain behaviors and train our fury friends. This will result in a more rewarding relationship with them
In order to achieve best results we need to first understand that the human world and value (response) system is not the same as dogs. Most owners consider their dog to be smart, but very few take into account that this concept corresponds with the way dogs think and react to stimuli in the environment. The dog's intelligence is measured by the ability to respond and react to certain stimulus brought about by what surrounds them. Dog owners tend to judge the intelligence of their dog by its response to the owner's commands. The faster the response, the smarter they are considered; the quicker they learn, the more valued is its intelligence.
Dog memory works more like a photographic flash image that they associate with a particular scent or to an enjoyable or disagreeable feeling. Dogs can't commit images to memory or store categorized data or large amounts of information in a memory bank to retrieve when needed like humans
Dog memory is induced by the process of repeated associations between behavior and results or smell and taste or an object and an event. For example, when your dog’s favorite toy is introduced as a reward for appropriate play time or when they are rewarded with their favorite treat after observing a desired behavior. Psychology of the dog is such that dogs that become conditioned to stimulants reminding it right then of appropriate responses and behavior.
