People may laugh when you say things like "you should build a relationship with your dog" or "it is important to build a strong bond with your dog." People can barely surmise or commit to doing this with human relationships, let alone with understanding another species and their needs. Yet, creating a bond with your dog is important because it minimizes behavior problems. Dogs are social creatures, they need to build strong ties with members of their family and a bond is what makes you worth listening to. Being worth listening to means you are respected. Respect to a dog equals having confidence in you as the leader, the provider, the hunter.
A bond cannot be forced. It is offered willingly and loyally. It is a natural by-product of positive training techniques. It is a real feeling of being a part of your life, family and community.
People say, "I thought love was enough" when it comes to bonding with their dog. The reality is love is not enough. It is part of the equation. Your dog can become too bonded to you, or avoid bonding with you. Too much of a bond may lead to separation anxiety or other behavioral problems. Too little can lead to escape behaviors, lack of respect, taking over the household or confusion, even reactivity and aggression.
The importance of bonding with your dog is building ties intertwined with trust, respect and reliable response. A true bond is strong, earned and trust is the end result. Positive interactions with your dog provides less stress for the dog so the strong bond between you means your dog will progress faster.
How do you create a bond?
Build Trust
From the beginning be a person your dog is able to trust. When you say you are going for a walk, go. Trust is built daily. If trust is violated, it is a lengthy process to get back. Be reliable in your actions and expectations of your dog. Trust is earned not forced. It means establishing respect in your household sticking to feeding and exercise times, being reliable in your behavior and how you handle not only your dog, but the things you expose your dog to, such as other people, other dogs, objects and real life situations.
Mental Stimulation
Training is one element of mental stimulation. Provide problem solving problems. Mental stimulation can be Frisbee play, ball play, obedience training, trick training, classes for agility or dance or creating a dive dog, or doing dog sports such as hunting, herding, conformation.. Mentally stimulating activity can also be find, retrieve, object identification or playing hide and seek. The bond you create by making your dog a working member of the household is invaluable for confidence building, trust and voice cues off lead.
Exercise
Exercise at least 30 minutes in full run off lead activity or 2 hours a day leash walking. Establish the exercise regimen that will keep your dog happy and healthy. Combining mental stimulation with exercise will keep your dog satisfied, happy and blissfully tired. Socially your bond will strengthen because you are reliably attending to all your dog's needs.
Socialize
Make sure your dog is properly socialized from puppy hood onward. All types of people and dogs, animals and objects in all different types of environments and situations will make for a very reliable companion. The key is to keeping all interactions successful. As your dog sees you keeping them safe, your bond will increase dramatically.
Experiences
Provide experiences throughout the life of your dog. Take them on trips, to relatives homes, to friend's homes, have people visit, have dogs come to play, go on walks in woods, on beaches and in the city. Teach your dog voice control off lead so their experiences can expand and their reliability can increase. Take your dog to places that are peaceful and places where there will be a lot of distractions, such as coffee shops, events. Never put your dog in harm's way and make sure they have positive experiences. This increases the dog to human bond.
Communication
Understanding your dog for the unique creature they are is important to bonding. Expecting them to learn your language without learning theirs is to not engage with your dog fully. Bond creation is reciprocal communication and more than doing what you say, when you say it. It is more than having good manners, or reaching your expectations. It is awareness of each other. it is full engagement in a variety of activities, It is creating a relationship of understanding and a common language understood by each species. It is learning to communicate with your dog in their language and about teaching your dog your language. Knowing how dog's learn and think is the essence of a strong bond and without it negative behavioral challenges could occur.
A strong bond relies on trust. Your dog's responsiveness to you will increase automatically. The more physical interaction you provide your dog, the better your bond will become.
Bonding with your dog creates an understanding you are an anchor in a scary environment, your dog can trust and count on you, you are fun and the bearer of all good things, and you provide mentally stimulating work and exercise. There is no comparison to how this feels when it is achieved.