Let Talk About Genetic Impulses

Let’s Talk About Genetic Impulses ? ? 

Every dog will have a bunch of genetic predispositions hard wired into them from birth. These are down to them:

– Being an animal ? 

– Being a dog ? 

– Being a particular breed ? 

– Being of a certain blood line ? 

– Being their own individual self ? 

Let’s use London ?? ? as an example. Because he’s an animal/dog/Weimaraner he has an INCREDIBLY high prey drive. Meaning he is genetically predisposed to wanting to chase things that move. Especially small, fluffy, fast moving things that squeak a lot. Just like little Flynn ? who we’re fostering at the moment.

So while all dogs will have certain impulses, they can be managed. They will never go away, but we as owners and trainers of our dog can definitely work to suppress and manage them. 

Just because you have a Border Collie, it’s not ok for them to chase your kids and bite their ankles ??‍♂️

Just because you have a German Shepherd, it’s not ok for them to bark at every single visitor ??‍♂️

Just because I have a Weimaraner, it’s not ok for him to hurt our kittens ??‍♂️

People who have failed at this will tell you it can’t be done. They’re protecting their ego as they don’t want to see anyone succeed where they have failed. In the Weimaraner Australia Facebook Group for example, plenty of people will straight up tell you that this breed can never be trusted with cats under any circumstances. Yet at the time of writing this post London is home alone with our two kittens, and I have a photo library full of photos like the one below.

The key ? message here this:

Your dogs genetics will definitely skew their behaviours, interests, tendencies, preferences, impulses etc. in certain directions, but don’t let them run your dogs life or use them as an excuse for bad behaviour.

??‍♂️?