Rocking Around the Christmas Tree

Check out these cool videos from a dog training group in Hungary. The group is nonprofessional, and is promoting a style of training they call Mirror Method, which is explained in the second video. The third video is dog day at the beach. Really fun group, well done videos and the dogs are having lots of fun you can tell. BTW, there are a few unneutered males and as one commenter wrote, that doesn’t mean they are breeding them….

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Video Describing the Group

Dogs Day at the Beach

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I don’t know… maybe it’s just their rocking choice of music!

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Practice Groups

Except for some Skype glitches on the evening session, the practice groups went really well! Everyone got a lot out of them and commented that they felt their skills and confidence would be much improved by joining the monthly groups. One common theme was  not feeling confident about the information from one’s own animals. I thought I would talk about that a bit in this blog, as it is surely the issue that stumps most of us, myself included.

I’ve found it’s pretty hard to work with your own animal when there is a crisis. It is far better to do what you can and also get assistance from others. For example, if your animal escapes and is lost, do what you can to connect, find out where she is, and give direction to her, but also get your practice buddies or a professional like me to check in. When it is serious and it’s about your own animal it is hard to be objective or calm and far better to get help.

But on an everyday basis you can talk casually with your animals and start collecting data back that will ultimately help you see that they really are talking and you aren’t just making it up or getting responses that you feel are self-serving.

Daily Practice with Your Animals

What I do is every morning first thing so I don’t forget I talk to my animals. Usually I am at my computer waiting for it to start. Since I have a herd of horses, pack of dogs, conglomerate of cats and flock of hens I address each group by asking if any one in the group has a message or question for me. So, for example,  I will ask the dogs if either has a question or message. Then I wait and look for impressions (words, feelings, ideas, thoughts, knowing, pictures etc, that come in intuitively). Whatever I get back I accept 100% as coming from my animal. Once you question the impressions you have corrupted the process and you will probably find your mind will start circling in doubt. Better to just accept the impression, respond to it if appropriate, and record it in your notebook. Recording is crucial because over time as you look at your entries it will become clear that this material is from your animals not you.

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Whenever you get a comment or question from your animal that you didn’t expect, or when they bring up something that you had completely forgotten about, that’s them talking not you; and that is your proof. You can also get proof when they tell you something that you can later verify. For example, if they say they have a sore foot, seem fine, but the next day develop a limp. If you see a major behavior shift after conversing with your animal, that is verification as well. When you get verification, circle it in your notebook so you have a readily observable record of your success. Try this with your animals every day and tell me what happens.