One Small Thing Tuesday

Before asking your dog to do something today, spend five seconds watching them first.

Where is their attention?

What is their body doing?

Are they able to engage with you right now?

Are they sniffing, watching, listening, resting, processing — or perhaps already communicating that they need a moment?

We can become so used to giving cues that sometimes we forget to check whether our dogs are actually in a place where responding is easy.

So today’s one small thing is simply:

Observe before you ask.

Those few seconds can tell us whether to cue, wait, change the environment, offer support… or decide that what we were about to ask really isn’t necessary after all.

Sometimes better communication begins with saying nothing.