Dog playing with bol

as humans, it's hard for us to understand sometimes. But for doggies, the idea you are trying to hurt them is hurting them, even if you never lay a hand on them. They will still think you hurt them, even if you only pretend. I used to do that to my doggy when she was naughty, but then she started exhibiting the signs of severe abuse, even though it never happened. When I realized this, I started noticing the link, i stopped pretending to hurt her, and she got a lot happier and less stressed. It's not surprising, remember when you were little and someone did something that felt severe, even if they never laid a hand on you. If you remember correctly, you might have felt they were abusing you in some manner and found the stress of it too much for you. As we age, we forget how oppressive it is for a creature much larger than ourselves to even show violence in our presence, let alone actually hit us. We sometimes make a mistake, and think we are not hurting them physically and they fine, but that may not be the case. Stress alone is a contributing factor to many health conditions common among pets and animals. I am glad I learned my lesson before I caused lasting damage to my beloved doggy companion, even though I never intended to do that. I kick myself for doing it now, and I cringe when I see others doing it and not realizing the damage they do, thinking it doesnt actually hurt their pets