Social media and the internet in general are a great way to get information to people and a great resource for finding information when you want it. However, I’ve realised more and more that because of the sheer volume of information out there and the speed with which we can be bombarded with it, many of us (myself included) are falling into a very human trap – black and white thinking.
As humans, our brains lean toward this way of categorising information for speed and simplicity; imagine how mentally exhausting it would be to think through each and every piece of information you came across in a 24-hour period! Our brain naturally pigeon-holes the majority of it into good or bad, safe or dangerous etc. And that’s the problem with having all this information at our fingertips, before we know it, we are subconsciously categorising everything without giving it much thought.
How does this relate to dogs? Well, far too often we allow our dichotomous thinking to influence the way we care for, train and live with our dogs. Take any oft-shared Facebook post – I'll use one about throwing balls for your dog as an example. I see posts sharing the information regarding the negative impact ball throwing can have on your dog quite frequently and as we scroll past, our brain may automatically categorise ball throwing as bad, before we have even consciously evaluated the information.
This can lead people to immediately cease all ball throwing games with their dog as “throwing balls is bad”. However, had we taken the time to evaluate the information, we may have realised that, actually, ball throwing in moderation and with consideration for how it is affecting our individual dog, isn’t bad. It’s a grey area which our brain, in order to swiftly categorise one item in the steady flow of information, plonked into the tray marked “bad”. Some dogs enjoy a game of fetch and can moderate their own arousal levels easily whereas for others it can become obsessive, over arousing and damaging. The way it is played can also have an effect, allowing a dog to repeatedly chase, jump, twist and land can cause damage to the body whereas waiting for the ball to land before sending your dog to retirieve it can reduce the stress on their bodies. All shades of grey.
So many aspects of caring for a dog are seen in this way and subsequently taken to extremes. Enrichment is another good example. There are hundreds of ways to enrich a dog’s life and the easiest (for us) is often with food. Soon we are feeding everything via enrichment activities as enrichment has been thrown in the tray marked “good”. Enrichment should always be just that, enriching! Our eagerness to add enrichment with food toys can result in our dogs never having access to easy food in a bowl. This can, in turn, lead it to the dog becoming frustrated as our puzzles get more difficult in our quest to enrich their lives. Because our brains marked it as “good”.
For some dogs, even the simplest food toys are frustrating and they need careful introductions and graduated levels of difficulty, yet others thrive on solving puzzles.
Everything in the world has shades of grey but it’s often easier to just see the black and white. Those shades of grey can make all the difference in the world to your dog if you take the time to find them.
Comments