Blog — Holistic Dog Training
When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears
When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears Does your dog push your buttons? Do you ever feel an exaggerated reaction to your dog's behavior? Downright triggered? Your most uncomfortable emotions can be activated and mirrored by your dog. Your shadow self might be unconsciously projected into your dog. Your unhealed inner child. Your refusal to accept the truth or the reality of your current situation. One of the simplest practices (not necessarily easy, but straightforward) is to write your dog a letter of gratitude. This can help you process the emotions coming up around your dog's behavior. This...
Touch Without Talk
If you have an anxious or overstimulated dog: Remember... Talk Without Touch is overstimulating, confusing, and activates the sympathetic nervous system. However... Touch Without Talk can soothe an overactive mind. Petting is just petting, and often done in a mindless way, or worse, in a way that satisfies the owner's need to be validated and soothed. If you want to truly start to heal your dog and the connection you have with yourself and your own nervous system, first: Get quiet. Set an intention. Know that this will be healing for both you and your dog if you go...
Personal Play and Play Fighting: Co-Regulating with Your Dog
The polyvagal theory implies that more attention needs to be paid to the development of interventions that either promote activation of the social vagus or dampen sympathetic tone. One major implication is the need to pay closer attention the therapeutic use of play, rough and tumble behaviors that serve as preliminary exercises to develop adaptive defensive and aggressive behaviors, as a means of shifting people [and dogs] out of fight-or-flight reactions into loving and mutually engaged mobilization. --Bessel A. van der Kolk, in the foreword to: The Polyvagal Theory by Dr. Stephen W. Porges Mirroring your dog during play...
As Your Dog's World Shrinks, So Does His Brain
Enrichment has been trending in the dog training for quite some time now, but do you know WHY it's actually so important? It's not just about providing your dog with puzzles and distractions to drain their energy. Environmental enrichment that provides breed-specific biological fulfillment actually changes your dog's brain! It makes your dog's brain more flexible and open to learning. This is ESPECIALLY important for behavior modification because we need your dog's brain to grow new neural pathways so they can learn and actively choose new behaviors. So while it may make sense for a short time to...
What We Teach
Canine Core Method A positive approach to Drive-Training: We channel your dog’s natural drives into constructive behaviors without suppressing energy We use the primal instincts built into the canine mind to engage, play, and build relationships based on trust Emotional and physical wellness through attention to the WHOLE dog: His nervous system, physical health, mental health, etc. (see Polyvagal Theory by Stephen Porges) Movement-Based Training: Behavior is movement and a dog’s movement is dictated by his drive, therefore, if we engage their drive, we can modify their behavior Relationship-Based Training: The owner is the answer to any stress the...