This post originally appeared on the website of our Master Trainer, Nick Miller. For more of Nick’s daily training insights, visit nicktmiller.com

“All of this obedience is great, but how do I let my dog, y’know, be a dog?”

It’s not uncommon that I find myself fielding this question at the end of (what seemed to me to be) a very successful training session with a dog and their human.

I usually chuckle, and reply with something along the lines of, “Well, she seemed like a dog for most of that lesson, did you notice her shape-shift into another animal while I wasn’t looking?” Or some other, equally awkward, dad type joke.

But I do get what they’re saying. They have an idea that a dog is something that is more in touch with the wild, and has a sense of freedom and carelessness that we may only yearn for. And it seems like, through the process of teaching our dogs obedience, we are extinguishing a bit of that wildness.

But let us not confuse teaching obedience with a movement away from that freedom for our dogs.

And rowdiness, poor manners and hyperactive energy shouldn’t be mistaken for a closer state of natural freedom.

It’s true, we must find times to let the dog be a dog. To touch a bit of that wildness that may have been left behind. I know I go to nature quite regularly because I need to let this human be a human. But I also know that the life I lead within my various communities and laws are just as much of what makes me human.

The same goes for my dog.