Dogs behave “badly” all the time…Kathy definitely knows this first-hand.  

However, that “badness” doesn’t define our dogs. We live in a society where dogs are considered a set of behaviors rather than complex, sentient beings with emotions and social intelligence.  

In this episode of Enlightened by Dogs, Kathy explores the idea of “badness”. She explains how a brilliant partner mindset can help us reframe the way we consider our dog’s behaviors and create a life of compassion, connection and cooperation with our beloved companions. 

In this episode: 

  • Why all dogs are good dogs, regardless of their behavior 
  • Interrupting and reframing our thoughts around “bad” behavior 
  • Becoming a brilliant partner through compassion and curiosity 

“When we embrace behaviorism as a dog mom, we end up seeing our dogs as a simple collection of behaviors, needing to be shaped, manipulated to suit our desires. This is instead of us considering our dog as a socially intelligent, emotionally rich sentient being who is in need of full expression, experience and development.” 

“There is an under-the-surface assumption of badness when we are in that type of thinking. That our dog is willingly choosing to make life hard for us. Then, there’s a more partnership approach.” 

“Underneath their sometimes-bad behavior, they're just good dogs. We are good, perfectly brilliant dog moms underneath our sometimes-bad behavior. That idea is revolutionary. It leads us to have a completely different framework to create a life of compassion, connection, and cooperation with our dogs.” 

Want More of Kathy? 

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