Something we all need to do regularly is to clean out our mental baggage!
I know I need to do this - more frequently than I’d like to admit.
Why? Because these things can creep up on us. We think we know what we think. But when we look closely we find that there’s some beastly deeply-entrenched belief that trumps what our rational mind is trying to think!
We have been influenced by everything in our lives - and often we don’t have any idea of that influence. It could be from parents, teachers, work, tv, overheard remarks . . . we take it as gospel.
And it’s lurking deep within us, countering what we want to think.
“Oh yeah? How does that thought square with what you know deep down that you believe?” says that inner voice.
And nowhere is this more evident than in people’s ideas about how they should be with their dog.
I love it when people say, “It’s so obvious when you put it like that!” and “I can’t believe I didn’t realise this before.”
“You’re talking rot!”
But I see this a lot, in reactions to videos and posts of mine.
It’s a knee-jerk reaction.
Instead of reading or watching, then agreeing or disagreeing and moving on, some folk are moved to lash out.
I have dared to question a deeply-held belief of theirs, so what’s their response? Kick, scream, shout, finger-point, abuse … you get the picture.
“I don’t understand this idea so I’ll attack it,” is their response.
This is them with a closed mind, fighting against imagined foes.
Sadly, they don’t allow the introspection necessary to see whether there is any sense in what I say. They just lash out. It’s that “cancel culture” which is unfortunately encouraged by the immediacy of social media.
They are absolutely entitled to disagree with me! Of course!
But a sensible response, a curious comment, would be far better than reactions like this recent one:
“Wows this Brilliant Family Dog is absolutely a nut case”
Still with me?
If you’re still reading, it’s possible you like what I tend to say, and you’re open to new ideas. I hope that’s the case - in matters of dog training and everything else. Because so am I! I don’t “know it all”, and I’m always learning.
I learn about dog training by seeing what people I admire are saying - but mostly I learn from my readers’ struggles, and from living with my own dogs, each of them so individual.
There’s a danger that we form an opinion some time early in life, and never consider revising it. If everyone did that, we’d still be living in caves!
It’s good to question our beliefs. We can become complacent, close our minds, refuse to move forward.
We used to send children up chimneys
We used to steal people, put them in slave ships, and sell them.
We used to believe that deviations from social norms were evil.
We used to believe we had to beat dogs into submission.
Fortunately all those things have changed!
And things have moved on so fast in understanding dogs over the last 70-odd years, that there’s always something new we can learn as the latest research filters through to the world at large.
People who have had dogs - managed them successfully - for years, come to me with a question about their new dog, who’s throwing up new challenges for them.
There’s no reason why they should know all the developments in dog behaviour study - and it’s great that they come to me and ask!
This shows that they have an open mind, and they’re ready to learn.
What new thing have you learnt about life with your dog recently? What crazy old belief have you unearthed and removed?
Tell us in the comments below!
And if you’d like to engage in more conversations like this, come and join us in Creativity Central (it’s not about dogs but . . . they do creep in here and there!).