Just as the words “there,” “they’re” and “their” sound the same but mean different things, so do many dog behaviors. When dogs growl, they may do so to ask something scary to back off, or they may do so while they’re having fun. Dogs pull on-leash to get to a happy place as quickly as possible, or they pull to get away from a threat. They chew shoes, pillows and toys because … well … they’re dogs, or they chew a doorframe because they’ve been left home alone and are panicking.
In order to teach our dogs to do things such as walk politely rather than pull or chew an approved toy rather than a doorframe, we need to understand which version of the behavior we’re looking at. A front-clip harness is a great tool for teaching enthusiastic leash-pullers to slow down, but it’s not going to help the dog who’s pulling to get away from a scary sewer grate or a toddler running straight at him.
via Whisker Therapy