We're humans and we communicate with our dogs from our human perspective. Our dogs are not humans. Thinking of them as such is often not in their best interests. A little bit can be very useful. Too much probably won't be.
We will never know exactly what they are thinking or feeling. We can only ever make a best guess. How informed that best guess is, is our responsibility. Two different people can look at the same animal and see entirely different things. (Heck, we get communication wrong with people all the time, and we're the same species!)
As a school teacher, I learned that the most important thing to consider before teaching was what the learner ALREADY KNOWS (prior knowledge.) Prior knowledge includes the invisible as well as the visible - beliefs, thought patterns, emotional defaults. If a learner thinks they're 'dumb', that factors into prior knowledge. We have to find a way to help them change that, so they become more confident learners. For the same reason, if they frustrate easily, we have to find a way to help them change that.
You, as a dog owner, have a truckload of prior knowledge about dogs, your dog in particular, the place of dogs in society, training dogs, relationships with dogs etc. You have your own personality traits and learned experience too. All that impacts on what you see, say, and do with your dog. It colours the lens that you observe the dog with.
There are many different dog training methods and belief systems and some are the complete opposite of others. They exist because different people BELIEVE different things.
Just because we believe something doesn't make it true.
We should always keep questioning, not just what others know and believe, but what WE know and BELIEVE too.
That's the real science of dog training.
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