Don’t Be Your Dog’s Worst Boss
We’ve all had them; that nightmare of a boss that makes your job miserable. Bad behavior can happen on either side of the leash so give some thought to the worst boss you’ve ever had and make sure you don’t pass that on to your dog.
The Micro-Manager: This boss will stand and watch you type, instead of letting you do the job you were hired to do. Do you micro-manage your dog instead of letting him do his job, once you know he knows and understands the task at hand? This can include luring a dog to sit when he knows how to sit or holding a dog’s leash tight when someone walking another dog passes by, even though your dog knows how to walk nicely and offer you eye contact when passing another dog.
The Unsupportive Boss: This is the boss who will expect you to do a job you haven’t been trained to do and will offer you little resources. This boss might even tell you to figure it out by yourself and then stand by watching while you fail. Do you make sure your dog knows the job before asking for it? This dog might whine when she sees another dog approach and then look to you because she doesn’t completely understand the job. This is where you step in and help—reward your dog’s focus and eye contact as you pass the other dog, until your dog is better able to cope on her own.
The Critic: This is the boss who is quick to criticize what when you’re wrong and slow to recognize what went right. The glass is always half empty. Do you recognize your dog’s small achievements as well as the big ones? Try to look at each piece of a behavior you’re looking to change or keep. Reinforce every effort, either with praise, attention or a treat until your dog knows what is expected. This tells your dog what you want and helps him build on that. If you only focus on what your dog does wrong, your dog doesn’t know what to do.
The Narcissist: This boss only cares about what makes them look good. They don’t care about what you want, what you’d like to do, and they don’t care about helping you progress. Make a public mistake, take credit for what you actually did, and this boss hits the roof. This dog owner blames the dog for shortcomings, assigning him motives that he can’t possess, such as spite, instead of taking an honest look at what went wrong and developing a plan to fix it. Take our loose leash walking example. If the dog can’t stay owner-focused and barks and/or lunges at the approaching dog, either the dog hasn’t been taught what to do when passing another dog or hasn’t mastered the skill to the point where he can cope this close to a dog, or passing this type of dog, etc. If the owner doesn’t worry about how they look—if they don’t give in to feeling embarrassed by the behavior—they can step back, recognize what the dog did correctly and put together a plan to move his skill set forward.
Now think about your best boss—how she was genuinely interested in what you wanted to learn and do and supported that. How she let you shine with your own accomplishments. And how she was interested in your professional well-being. Doesn’t your dog deserve the best boss you can be?