Humans demonstrate the important place that dogs occupy in our lives with expressions of affection, details that make them feel special … But making the mistake of turning them into our “perrijo” (dog + child) can even cause health problems .
Humanization brings about overlooking the basic needs of your species and allowing (almost) anything within the home.
The consequences of this behavior are both physical and mental. There are noticeable symptoms that your dog is humanized, for example:
- Socialization problems . The tendency to think that they can harm the dog leads to an isolation of the dog from others of its kind. This results in a bad relationship with other dogs.
- Ongoing stress of the dog. By not seeing his instinctual needs met, the dog will show symptoms of stress or nervousness.
- Anxiety when separating from its owner. Spending 24 hours a day with the owner and suddenly leaving him at home alone leads to separation anxiety that can show itself in tics, diarrhea, or palpitations.
- Humanized dogs tend to be overweight . A mixture of human food, a home sedentary lifestyle and a low caloric expenditure result in the dog having a few extra pounds …
- Suffering irrational fears or nervousness in the face of unknown stimuli, to which the owner reacts by “reassuring him” with words that we would say to a baby.
The ideal is to find the balance between care and pampering along with your instinctual needs.
Do you know what are the most common humanization actions?
The sofa and the bed, human zone
If we have allowed the dog to continuously climb onto the sofa (one of the most common humanization gestures), the day we want to avoid it, the dog will not understand what is happening and will even try to intimidate the human by showing its teeth or growling.
Guilt, revenge …?
It is common to attribute to the dog feelings that are properly human . Of course, dogs have feelings and they experience emotions (joy when we get home, boredom if you go a long time without playing …) but there are specific human feelings that they do not share.
Our dog will not have a feeling of “revenge” for not having given him food from our plate, nor will he feel “guilt” for a mischief made that afternoon …
Human food, for humans
The most important thing is that human food does not provide the dog with the same nutritional value as feed, created specifically for its species, so the dog will be devoid of vitamins and minerals necessary for its development and with an excess of “bad” fats. ”.
But it is true that, sometimes, we like to give our furry friend a treat. He puts eyes on us and we can’t resist. In this case, teach him to earn it with positive reinforcement : a piece of turkey after three or four orders has been done correctly is a good way to instruct the dog to “earn” the food.
On the other hand, sitting him at the table with the rest of his human family is a mistake … We can include him in the meal schedule, in his feeder and drinking area, respecting the kitchen area for us.
What will happen when it demands more of us?
If you have a dog as a pet, you will know that they are clever animals, very clever. And they understand that if their actions have no consequences, they can continue to exercise them.
A clear example of humanization is the over- attachment of the person with the animal. If the dog notices the absence of his owner (who treats him like a baby) when he is alone at home, he will behave “badly”, biting or destroying what is within reach.
This way of acting is due to anxiety and stress that we have already discussed. The human, when returning home, will believe that it is a bad behavior motivated by the revenge of leaving him at home alone and will scold him assuming that he understands the verbal communication of humans … The reprimand must be applied at the time and with appropriate techniques for the dog.
Finally, dressing your dog in a costume , putting him in a cart, or keeping him whole Sunday with you watching movies is of no benefit to him. In fact, the dog is supposed to feel incomplete, frustrated, insecure and, on many occasions, it creates a loss of identity …
Let us remember that they have basic needs that we must respect: daily physical activity, I think appropriate to their characteristics, vaccination … And if we follow certain guidelines, together with these needs, we will have the peace of mind that we are giving our dog a full canine life.
