Learn The Best Ways To Bond With Your Dog

Dogs are our best friends. But, maybe he doesn’t feel as close to you as you think. Perhaps you are constantly frustrated because your dog ignores your commands, or because he is always getting in your way when you are doing housework, or worse, he does not receive you as you wish him to.

Bonding is not something that happens automatically as soon as you bring a pet home. It is also not static. It is something that has to be worked on, it is built and can grow over time.

If you want to strengthen the bond with your dog, below we share some tips so that you can achieve it.

Know your dog’s likes and dislikes and respect them

Like humans, dogs have their personal tastes. Some enjoy pampering while others prefer to have space. Some love a game of fetch, while others prefer to walk.

Some dogs enjoy affection of all kinds, including cuddling, but many barely tolerate it.

Knowing what your pet’s likes and dislikes are and, obviously, respecting them, you will connect with your dog. If you’re paying attention, your dog may not like the hugs you give him.

See how it behaves when you do it.

Train your dog every day

One of the best ways you can improve your relationship with your canine companion is to work on their training, every day, using positive reinforcement. Learning something new and awarding rewards for success is a great way to build trust and joyful experiences between you and your dog.

Each walk, each interaction with other dogs or people, is essentially a form of training and serves for the animal to improve its behavior. So it’s important that you make a conscious effort to get the most out of those moments.

To reinforce the bond you can work a new trick or even practice old behaviors and refresh them. When you go for a walk together, try to make the walk interactive.

For example, ask your dog to sit on each corner, change the pace of your steps or the direction you are going.

Study the dog’s body language

A true friendship requires talking and listening on both sides, a communication that allows each one to know what the other is thinking and feeling. As two highly social species, dogs and humans have complex ways of communicating with each other.

Humans tend to dominate the conversation with our dogs. We have great expectations for them and we assume that he has to understand everything we are asking for.

However, we do not always pay the same attention to comply with what they are asking of us.

Dogs tell us great things and provide us with quite a lot of information through body language.

From the most obvious cues, such as how high or low a tail is held, how fast it wags, and in what direction, or how it is holding its ears, are some of the words that we can read.

If you want to build a better bond with your dog, you should first start studying how dogs communicate with their bodies.

Set it up for success

Setting up for success goes far beyond training and everyday life. Think about how your dog may see or react to a situation and whether it is going to be positive or negative. Take steps to reduce the possibility of negative consequences.

Know your pet’s preferences and limits well enough to determine what situations it can and cannot handle. Make the effort to help your dog have successful interactions with you. That way, your confidence will increase.

If you want your dog to listen to you, you must be the sole provider of wonderful things including food and toys.  When you assume that role, your pet will be much more attentive to your commands and this will help to get and keep his attention when you need it.

Finally, speaking of special play sessions, make sure that when it happens you are focused on that task. This does not include walks when you are distracted on the phone.

30 minutes a day and 100% attention can do real magic to bond with your little friend.