Is My Dog Depressed?

I had someone tell me once that she believed her dog was “depressed.” When I asked why she thought that I was told because the dog sleeps all the time. My answer was simple. Dogs sleep 18 hours a day! Yes, they actually do. I did work with the dog and honestly, the dog was a very well mannered & happy dog, not depressed at all! People use human psychology to care for dogs, and it really does not work that way. You cannot use human psychology on pigs, goats, horses or any other animal, so why use psychology that doesn’t work for dogs? You can’t use horse psychology on humans, right? It simply does not work. As a dog psychologist I understand the reasons behind dog behaviors. With that, I use DOG psychology, not human psychology. If you are using human psychology on a dog, then you ARE having problems with your dog including door dashing, jumping, biting, nipping, separation anxiety, aggression, barking and so much more! This means your dog has taken control and is calling all the shots. Until you put into motion dog psychology for working with your dog, you will never have control over your dog. Look at it this way: with dog psychology it is understandable and okay for a dog to sleep 18 hours in a day; however, with human psychology it is not. Now, on the flip side of that, if a person is sleeping 18 hours a day, then YES, we can say they are most definitely depressed because human psychology tells us that sleeping a lot is a sign of depression. I hope this makes sense that we cannot use human psychology on dogs or any other animal: it simply won’t work.