How To Bond With Your Dog

Man’s best friend. A devoted sidekick. Your furry protector.

Your dog is likely one of the most loyal and dependable companions in your life. That’s why we love dogs so much. With the amount of happiness and positivity that our furry friends bring into our lives, we should like to bestow that level of joy and contentment back to them. Dogs are somewhat simple creatures. They do, however, thrive from healthy relationships including bonding with their owners. As much as we’d love pet ownership to be effortless, it’s a good idea to invest some time into the relationship you have with your dog and this means bonding.

Pet and Human Relationships

The human-animal bond has evolved for more than 15,000 years. In the beginning, the main purpose of dog ownership was for them to provide protection and service to their owners. This could have been through hunting, farming and whatever other tasks were necessary. Dogs even contributed service to people during wartime. Besides providing protection, they also offered stress relief and a sense of pride to their human counterparts. 

When we think about our relationship with pets today, it’d be obvious to say that they need us in order to meet the basic needs of food, water and shelter. As humans and pet owners, we attain a way deeper level of wellbeing from our animal friends. It’s actually been proven that our companion animals provide a variety of benefits to our life. This can include lower blood pressure and reduced stress not to mention lowering your chances of dying from heart disease. Furthermore, pets provide mental and emotional support to their owners, especially for the elderly, as well as for children during their emotional and behavioural development.

How to Connect with Your Dog on a Deeper Level

In theory, if you provide your dog with the basics for survival and throw in some extra love and cuddles, they should flourish, right? Well, in some cases this might work but if you really want to take the connection to your dog to the next level, there is a bit more to it. Every single pug, poodle, maltese, german shepherd and beagle will have different characteristics and needs. There is no one way to connect with your dog, you’ll have to experiment with what works for you and your special friend.

Number one? We suggest spending quality time with your dog everyday. This seems pretty obvious but if you spend most of your day outside of the home and lead a busy life, it can be easy to forget about the attention your dog deserves. Quality time can consist of long walks, playing fetch, practising tricks, trips to the beach or any other kind of quality playtime. All of these shared experiences strengthen the relationship with your dog and build connection.

Training! This is so important. If we want to connect with our dogs, we must be able to communicate with them and this includes the way we train. As much as we like to play as a way to spend quality time with our dogs, we also need to invest time into training at home. No matter what you are trying to achieve with your home training, just be sure to be clear and consistent with your chosen signals. If you establish that a certain visual signal is used to communicate a trick, then stick with it. If you add a vocal cue, your dog can become confused. It’s quite the same with human relationships, when communication is clear and consistent, it’s much easier to avoid confusion and miscommunications. The outcome should be a deeper connection and understanding between you and your dog and hopefully the achievement of a more obedient pooch.

Other ways to connect with your dog include:

• Be calm yet playful. Nobody likes being yelled at, especially your four legged friend.
• Try putting some love into their food, if you don’t have the time to cook meals for your pups, at least invest in some high quality kibble and treats. They will appreciate you for it.
• Something we don’t often think about is getting to know our dog’s preferences. If they show you they don’t like to be touched in a certain spot, try to avoid it in the future. The same goes for preferences in types of exercise. If your dog loves the beach but doesn’t like uphill walks, stick to activities that you know they enjoy.
• Regular physical contact. This should be a no brainer but most dogs love being touched and patted. 
• Grooming. It’s a good idea to regularly groom and wash your dog and to try out a variety of other bonding exercises.

Dog Bonding Exercises

There are a number of activities you and your dog can participate in to encourage bonding. Most of these can be done at home and will most likely provide both you and your dog hours of fun and satisfaction. 

1. Go outside together. Dogs love exercise and running around in the grass. If you have a beach, lake or river nearby, take your dog for a day of swimming or puddle-jumping. Or if there are dog-friendly hikes nearby, you two could have a bit of an adventure together. This could get quite messy but good news: another dog bonding activity is grooming and bath time!
2. Regular grooming and dog washing. All dogs are different but most require some form of regular grooming and washing. Not all dogs enjoy a wash but you can turn it into a fun and bonding experience at your local dog wash station. There are K9000 Do-It-Yourself dog wash stations conveniently located all over Australia at car washes, pet stores, laundromats, caravan parks and more. Getting your dog accustomed to regular washes will make them more comfortable with the process and the both of you will look forward to it.
3. Let your dog sniff. When your dog is sniffing literally everything on a walk, it can be pretty time consuming. The best thing you can do? Let them! Letting your dog sniff on a walk decreases their heart rate, stimulates them mentally and physically and can take the edge off their unfocussed energy. 
4. Reward desirable behaviours. If you reward your dog for good boy behaviour, they are more likely to repeat it. The same goes for ignoring unwanted behaviours. This helps you and your dog bond by celebrating their good behavior together.
5. Promoting stress free eating. Eating is a very special time for dogs and they value privacy and space at meal time. Dogs don’t usually like to share their bowls or their eating space and some may be more protective of their food and treats than others. If you create a private and stress free space during meal times, your dog will appreciate it as they’ll be at ease and not feel compelled to guard their food.
6. Besides providing a stress free eating space, a great way to bond with your dog is by hand feeding. There are a number of benefits to this.

Benefits of Hand Feeding Your Dog

Hand feeding is one of the most common ways to bond with your dog. It is a technique used for training but also teaches your dog that you are the main source of treats and rewards. If you have a nervous or aggressive dog that feels like their food is in danger of being stolen, hand feeding will discourage their instinct to guard the bowl. Besides this, hand feeding is a great way to reinforce good behaviours of all kinds. It can also be useful in teaching your dog patience and control. This is possible by showing them that they will only receive food once they are calm and sitting patiently. 

Furthermore, hand feeding is a valuable tool for dogs that have an inclination to bite. If you have a new or shy dog or a puppy, this is a great way to show them that they will only have access to food if they are gentle and not bitey. By hand feeding, they will learn to control their teeth around your fingers. You can do this by only opening your cupped hand enough that your dog can gently lick the kibble out. 

Trust Building Activities for Dogs

Trust is such an important aspect of the human-animal relationship, or any type of relationship for that matter! Building trust with a new dog or puppy doesn’t happen overnight but luckily there are plenty of trust building activities you can try with your dog.

1. Teaching tricks. No matter what type of trick you are teaching your dog, it’s all about setting them up to succeed and offering plenty of positive reinforcement. If your dog catches on quickly, be sure to be generous with treats as a reward.
2. Walk together. We all know that dogs love going on walks but instead of a quick do-your-business walk, go explore with your dog, take your time and let them enjoy sniffing and marking their territory as much as they want. Your dog will definitely appreciate the extra time together and your patience.
3. Work together. Check out the various dog sports or hobbies you could engage in with your dog. Teaching them frisbee tricks, for example, could be a great way to spend quality time together and building trust at the same time. 
4. Nap together. Napping or sleeping with your dog is great for building trust. It definitely strengthens the early bond between humans and dogs – and can even help with socialisation. Napping or sleeping together lets the dog know they are safe even when in a vulnerable state. Some professionals even claim that dogs are more easily trained when they sleep close to their owners.
5. Bath time. Regular grooming and taking your pup to the dog wash definitely helps to build trust. A K9000 DIY dog wash station is fun for everyone involved and quality time spent with your dog is always time well spent.

Bonding with Your Dog Through Grooming

Grooming and bath time for your dog is arguably one of the funnier ways for us to spend time with our beloved pups. Whether your dog is a natural water lover or not, time spent together at the dog wash will definitely be a bonding experience. 

Firstly, your dog loves attention and it’s safe to say that your full attention will be on them when they’re getting a wash. When a dog receives lots of attention from their owner, it certainly promotes a happy demeanor.

With regular visits to a DIY dog wash station, your dog will learn that it’s okay to allow their body and feet to be handled. It’s a sign that your dog trusts you if they are comfortable in this kind of vulnerable position, proving they feel safe and bonded to you.

A couple of grooming/dog wash tips: 

• While you groom or wash your dog, you should try talking to them in a kind way. Make it a fun and loving session for them aimed at bonding, not at all a chore.
• To make the experience more enjoyable for both, it is recommended that you start grooming your pet when they are still young. Regular bathing and grooming as a puppy is best as they become dog wash pros early on.

It’s safe to say that your furry friend and their state of mind is super important to you. Being a dog owner and lover means you have a very special relationship that sometimes needs some work. Understanding the pet to human relationship is a good start but ultimately we need to put in some time and effort in order to build trust and create a bond with our dogs. If you want to connect to your dog on a deeper level then you should try some bonding and trust building exercises. By spending quality time with our dogs and engaging in a range of activities, you’ll be promoting the bond between you two. Investing the time in teaching them tricks, hand feeding, playing outside and regular grooming will make our dogs feel loved and attended to. After all, our pooches promote wellbeing for us, why wouldn’t we want them to feel safe, happy and bonded to us.