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Cute Dog Videos Can Mean Stress for your Dog.

From Training to Trust: Strengthening Your Bond with Your Dog

When it comes to living with dogs, the relationship you build with them is everything—and trust is the foundation of that relationship.

In search and rescue work, trust between handler and dog isn’t just important, it’s essential. Dogs detect odors and signals that humans cannot. If a handler doubts their dog’s ability or instincts, they may prematurely remove them from a search, missing critical clues.

I would like to share a story that illustrates this perfectly. I was working with my dog on a search for a missing 91-year-old woman who used a walker. The woman had taken her little dog for a walk in an area with very steep hills in the heat of summer. My supervisor questioned why we were searching the steep terrain, assuming that the woman wouldn’t be able to navigate the area. But my team and I trusted our dogs’ instincts, even as we struggled ourselves, and the dogs led them straight to the woman. She had climbed the hill and slid down the other side with her dog. Had we only relied on assumptions about human abilities, we never would have found her. Trust in the dogs made the difference.

What Trust Looks Like

When you trust your dog, you:

• Believe they will do the things you’ve taught them.

• Trust they will make good choices.

• Expect them to respond to your cues.

When your dog trusts you, they know: READ MORE!

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