On Dexter and Diet

This is the second installment on the psychological behavior of Dexter the Dog and why hypnotherapy matters (to humans.)

It is important to understand and communicate with them effectively.

"Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.” - Orhan Pamuk

Recently, Dexter's behavior has changed, and we don't particularly understand why. Ever since we brought him home from the shelter, when he was about 18 months old, we noticed that he was particularly sensitive in his dining habits. He doesn't like to eat if there is another living being in the room, even if that is a cat he outweighs by 70 pounds. He wolfs down dinner, is OK with lunch, and is almost moody about eating breakfast. That's been the pattern anyway. It's our suspicion that, at some point in his young life, he had to defer to older dogs for food, or he was in competition with them. We know he was found in the wild, but he is otherwise so perfectly trained that he surely lived in a good home as a puppy.

It has also been the pattern that my husband puts the food in the bowl and Dexter likes to lick the spoon. But recently, if I'm working at home, he sits with me in my office, and when breakfast or lunch is served, Dexter looks to me for my opinion. He looks me dead in the eyes. I say, "It's OK, sweetie, it's time to eat your food." Then he trots off to eat it.

Why he suddenly looks for my opinion, we have no idea. Is it because I fuss over him more now that he's been diagnosed with a form of lupus? Is it because I put zinc on my own face before I put some on his snout to protect his lupus affected nose? Is it because I talk to him while we walk as if he could understand me? Or did something negative happen to him – which we doubt because he is with one of us literally every minute of the day. In any case, he’ll never be able to tell us, at least not in words.

Do both animals and people have subconscious programming?

With respect to hypnotherapy, and the study of human behavior, we can make some comparisons. Dexter has preferences