Holistic refers to the treatment of the whole being, taking into account mental and social factors, not just the symptoms. In dog training, taking a holistic approach means that we assess any and all aspects which may be contributing towards a dog’s behaviour. Influential factors can include things like their genetics, history, environment, diet and physical health. Addressing behavioural problems through this approach enables us to tackle the whole issue from the inside out, rather than simply applying a plaster to the external symptoms.
A good human metaphor for holistic care would be to imagine experiencing severe back pain. The pain is there when you sit down, when you stand up and has been keeping you awake at night. The constant pain and lack of sleep are effecting your mood, you become depressed, irritable and find it hard to concentrate on tasks. You know this problem won’t go away on its own so you go to the doctor. The doctor can see that you are depressed, irritable and having difficulty concentrating so prescribes you anti-depressants to improve your mood and suggests you speak with a mental health professional. Clearly this is a ridiculous solution. Should you go along with it, it is of course probable that the pills and a behaviour modification plan will change your external symptoms but the fundamental underlying issue – your bad back – is not being addressed. Luckily this would never happen in the human world because we can effectively communicate all of our symptoms to the professional entrusted with our healthcare.
Unfortunately for our dogs, there is a tendency to focus on the symptoms we physically see and more often than not, we fail to connect a behavioural concern with its underlying cause.
Holistic care works to improve the external symptoms by treating the root cause. The connection between these elements may not always be obvious and sometimes it could even be a combination of factors including;
- Genetic influences
- Conditioned (learned) responses
- Environmental stressors
- Health and nutrition
Over this series of short articles we will look at each of these factors in detail and consider the complexities of canine behaviour from a holistic standpoint. Look out for the next article, coming soon...
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