Header Image: Dog in our class – student or teacher? (Photo used with permission)
Dogs: Man’s best friend!
A simple internet search confirms what we know: “dogs hold a strong emotional connection with us because they are highly attuned to human emotions, providing comfort and empathy when their owners are sad or anxious.”
Good friendship goes both ways. This course on recognising stress signals in dogs was going to help me understand and look after dogs, helping me be a better friend to them!
The Course
The course was given by Yvette van Veldhuijsen from HondVeiligNederland and organised through Dierenlot Academie. A full day’s workshop packed with information, videos and a ‘demonstration’ dog who was brought in so we could watch his behaviour (he’s pictured in the header image! š )
It started with (perhaps predictably…) telling us what stress is, and even if something isn’t – or doesn’t seem – stressful to us, it’s important to remember that it is stressful for the dog.
(This point was was driven home when one of the course members suddenly jumped up from her seat because she saw an insect on the inside of a window. Several people laughed, claiming “it’s only small” or “it won’t do anything” but Yvette brilliantly reminded them “the fear for this lady is real.” And to be extra clear – she wasn’t saying this lady was a dog! But the point was made – and also that dogs and humans share several emotions! š )
We also learned how things are wired inside a dog’s head, and what it means when a dog is “socialised”; a term until now I’d only heard in relation to cats.
Sadly my life isn’t filled with enough dogs so regrettably I’m unfamiliar with first-hand dog behaviour. Thankfully loads of videos showing specific stress signals or behaviour really helped me here! Some were surprising; they were labelled by the poster as “Cute dog behaviour”, “This dog is asking for a belly rub!”, (etc.) whereas the dogs were in fact exhibiting stress š®
This is really important to know because if a dog is telling us he’s stressed, imagine how sad he feels when we’re smiling and enjoying watching him suffer in a stressful situation š
I was really impressed with how Yvette handled questions and queries from the floor; not just with dry answers but with a flip chart to illustrate her points; tons of knowledge behind what she presented – and the means to bring over her message really nicely!
Take-Home Feelings
At the end of the course I love and appreciate dogs even more than I did previously! Perhaps this is bitter-sweet because my situation at home doesn’t allow for a pet dog. Yet! š In the meantime I’ve signed up for Yvette’s next course: Training for Success (I assume this is about dog training! š )
So many thanks again to Yvette at HondveiligNederland for the videos, explanation, flip charts and (dog) demonstrations in her workshop, Stichting Dierenlot Academie for organising and making the workshop available, and Dierenambulance Nederrijn for letting me volunteer there so Iām allowed on the course! š
