What are Your Beliefs About Dogs?
Dec 23, 2025
Today, let’s examine what people believe about dogs. Beliefs are funny things – they may or may not be true, yet they take on a life of their own when enough people espouse them. Here are three lists – good things people believe about dogs, bad things people believe about dogs, and irrational things people believe about dogs. If you want, you can score yourself and your beliefs as you read along!
Five Good Things People Believe About Dogs
(These are the heart-warming, mostly true ones)
- Dogs are loyal.
They form deep social bonds and tend to stick pretty close to their people — emotionally and physically, especially when their person heads for the bathroom. - Dogs help humans feel better.
Petting a dog can lower stress, anxiety, and blood pressure. (Science backs this up, not just dog people.) - Dogs read human emotions well.
They’re remarkably skilled at reading tone, facial expression, and body language. Heck, it’s their job and their best shot at fitting into a life with a different species. - Dogs make people more active.
Walks, playtime, training — dogs get humans off the couch more than almost anything else. - Dogs teach responsibility and empathy.
Especially for kids, learning to care for another living being can be great training wheels for developing healthy human relationships.
Five Bad Things People Believe About Dogs
(These beliefs cause real problems for dogs and humans)
- “A tired dog is a good dog.”
Physical exhaustion without mental engagement can create frustration, anxiety, and worse behavior — not better. Wearing a dog out with mental exercise is as important as physical exercise. - “If a dog growls, it’s being bad.”
Growling is communication, not misbehavior. Some dogs growl as a pleasure noise, kind of like a cat purrs. Understand why the growl happened and what it likely means by examining the behavior leading up to the growl and the dog’s body language during the growl. If the dog is relaxed, it could be a pleasure noise. If the dog is stiff, it’s probably a warning. If the dog is punished for growling as a warning, then the dog learns not to warn, thereby increasing bite risk. - “Dogs know when they’ve done something wrong.”
That “guilty look” is fear-based appeasement, not moral understanding. Go back up and read the #3 good thing – dogs are great at reading their people, and when the people are upset, the dog goes into appeasement mode. - “Some breeds are just bad dogs.”
This ignores the positive impact of appropriate training, socialization, genetics within breeds, and individual temperament. There are no bad breeds. There are breeds that take a more experienced and dedicated owner. - “Love is enough.”
Love without structure, training, and boundaries often leads to confused, anxious dogs. Dogs are like bright, furry toddlers – they do much better with clear rules and a consistent schedule that provides physical and mental enrichment.
Five Irrational Things People Believe About Dogs
(These are… creative. Let’s call them that.)
- “My dog is spiteful.”
Dogs don’t plan revenge. They react to stress, confusion, habit, or reinforcement. - “Dogs instinctively know all human rules.”
Shoes, couches, counters, personal space — none of these are self-evident to a dog. They have to be taught how to interact appropriately with the things and people in their environment, just like babies have to be taught. - “Dogs should never growl, bark, or snap.”
That’s like saying humans should never speak, sigh, or roll their eyes. Dogs communicate like dogs. We, the humans with the big, overdeveloped brains, need to learn what their communication means. - “If a dog loves you, it will always obey you.”
Love and impulse control are not the same skill set. If you need proof, please meet my very sweet, very well-trained, and very headstrong Siberian, Kacey. - “My dog knows exactly what I’m saying.”
They may know words, cues, and tone — but not your entire TED Talk. They study you. They want to please you, at least most of the time. It’s up to you to teach them what you need them to know.
So how did you do? And what would you add to this list? Let me know…I’m all ears and a wagalicious desire to hear from you!
