What is agency? I talk about advocating and agency a bit when working with clients and their dogs. Both are so important to your dog and your relationship with them. Agency is one's ability to have some control over the events and environment that affects them. It is about giving your dog the opportunity to make choices about what they do or whether they choose to involved in an activity or not. Dogs, in general, are restricted from agency in so many facets of their lives due to being dependent on humans for a lot of choices such as shelter, living quarters, food and healthcare. The training we provide our dogs can also limit their ability to have agency. In particular, this involves training methods that use force, fear, or intimidation. These techniques can limit the control that they have over their actions, environment, and experience. Often people talk about their dog making the right choice or allowing them to make the right choice but they only provide one choice. That isn't necessarily the right choice for the dog, it is the choice the human wants. This isn't agency or maybe a good or right choice. It is yielding to the desire of the human. Ways to provide agency are through physical, mental, social, environmental and nutritional needs. There are loads of avenues to provide nutritional agency and one of my favourite is a tasting plate. This allows your dog to choose what they eat, what they don't eat and in what order. Physical agency could include multiple areas to lie down and sleep/rest, in different locations, on different textures, and allowing them the opportunity to choose when they rest. Walking route could be chosen by your dog and you can allow them plenty of time to sniff or to follow a scent trail. Humans tend to struggle with social agency the most. We expect that our dogs should get on with every other dog, to be a social butterfly, and this is rarely the case. We shouldn't try to force our dog to interact with other dogs. Some of the many reasons I hate dog parks are because of the lack of understanding of dog behaviour, owners not paying attention to their dogs, dogs that don't understand dog language, and it doesn't provide agency for dogs that don't want to be around other dogs. Mental agency includes puzzles, games, and toys. Allowing dogs to choose what they play with and what they do in their spare time. I leave all my dogs' toys out in a basket at all times, I don't rotate their toys, and it is up to them what they play with. They will spend time looking for a particular toy. They know what they want and when. I play games with them, when they want to not just when I want to. If they bring me a ball we play fetch, if they bring me something to tug, we play tug. Environmental agency also includes places to rest but also the option to explore their environment when they want, or have access to either indoors or outdoors. If you have outdoor only dogs then providing different options for shelter, trees and plants to explore and sniff, and other environmental enrichment opportunities. Agency is about allowing our dogs to have control over the things they can control. It is about giving them choices and not forcing them into a choice that suits us. Training should be done without force so our dogs have the option to decide if they want to be involved. I will also tell clients if your dog doesn't want to train just give them 5 minutes and try again. If you have a good relationship with your dog and they aren't in a stressed, fearful, or anxious state of mind they will want to work with you. I want my dogs to choose to work with me for a better life instead of forcing them to obey
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