Invest in your dogs mental state and it will pay off in dividends for the rest of your time together.

This is what I love and why I love doing it!  Seeing a dramatic change in a dog's mental state!

Jasper is a typical small dog who presents a nervous and frightened and jumpy state of mind...an overreactive syndrome let's say.  His inner thought monologue consists mostly of wildly worrisome thoughts...thoughts that somehow relate to his early demise or fears therein.  It is my view that a dog's psyche can be filled up with highly overreactive responses for any number of thought "triggers"...meaning a Rolodex of things that a dog usually overreacts to in the exact same way, when they are triggered by them.  The following links to videos of Jasper, are four examples of what I will be talking about:  https://youtu.be/4FTt8We4os8

Dogs Have Triggers Like: A stern voice, a provocative movement, a hand gesture, a sound, a certain tone in a person's voice, the speed at which the dog is approached, the size of the person moving towards the dog, the type of shoes or boots the person is wearing, someone just carrying a leash, someone jingling a leash, the dog being on it's back, seeing an open door, hearing a gardner working, hearing traffic, hearing another dog barking, their owner walking to the kitchen, opening a door, getting out of bed, walking down a hallway...you got the idea! It's maybe hundreds of these things they will "Naturally" just react poorly to.   https://youtu.be/ZX9Qy1SDHnw

There is really no comfort that resides mentally inside some dogs heads.  They could be small dogs or bigger dogs.  It's a cacophony of many jumbled visions of what could cause something terrible to happen to the dog.  It's overwhelming and debilitating!  You, as a human, may have experienced this kind of overwhelming sense of having too much going on at any particular time, and being on the verge of a snap at "Just one more thing".  When you reach that point...what do you do to relax?  Take a hot bath, drink a glass of wine, get a professional massage, take a vacation, go out and have a long dinner with friends...?  Dogs have no way to decompress like humans do, nor do they realize that they SHOULD decompress or relax, nor do they realize that they CAN even relax, and certainly may not even know HOW to relax.  Humans can decide to relax and then go do it, but dogs don't know that option even exists AND SO THEY ARE ALWAYS IN A PERPETUAL STATE OF NERVOUSNESS!

A very important part of my "Method", is to give dogs a well needed neck, and back massage.  I find dogs so wound up and tense that it makes it hard for them to walk or think clearly.  When I show them they actually can have a relaxed state of mind and body, they sort of melt into a new reality that gives them a breather from that Rolodex of fears flipping through their heads.  Once the dog learns to feel what it's like to actually BE RELAXED, then they now have a point of reference to return to. Notice Jasper's eyes change in all the pictures!  https://youtu.be/5rgoMXziUyg

What I attempt and mostly succeed in doing for a dog's mental state, is to give them something to concentrate on other than their "inner monologue of fears".  Once they begin to listen and respond, and by asking them to Stop-sit-and Wait, they must keep returning from their inner thoughts or worries, and refocus and concentrate on what I have asked them to do, (albeit may only last for maybe instants or moments), and by this process of coming back to listening to me and getting out of their heads, they can find at least a moment when they "KNOW" exactly what I want from them, and that becomes the seed of confidence that they can begin to rely on in "knowing" and not of "fearing" the unknown, and THAT is WHEN they BEGIN their journey of learning to listen and to correctly respond to what makes the trainer happy and ultimately...them being happy and confident FOR A JOB WELL DONE.   A shared moment of connection between man and dog becomes a string of those moments that all link together to form the true bond that I help create between dog and owner.  Does that make sense?  https://youtu.be/Q-SCN8a29Js

This is the concept behind what I believe is so important about leash training...it's what I always go back to and is the biggest reason why dogs who start out in families being agreeable with most anything, eventually become "independent" thinkers and develop "issues" due to a lack of boundaries and rules and some organized order for them to follow in the home.  The leash keeps them listening and connected and focused on their owner and of the commands.  That leash becomes the telephone line of your thoughts going straight into the dogs head.  Like I say...Dogs will make bad decisions that effect everyone around them, because...dogs want to do what they want to do, when they want to do it!  It's what dogs do!  So, it's the owners job to guide their dog along the path of doing what the owners want them to do and to not do what the owners don't want them to do.  This is easier than it sounds...obviously, or everyone who owns a dog would all have perfect dogs.  Again, that's where I come in!

My method, in a nutshell, is how I get dogs out of their heads and to learn HOW TO LISTEN before returning them back to their owners control (or lack thereof). This is where I differ from dog trainers who teach classes in heeling.  I work with the psyche.  I also find myself training the owners as much as the doggies!  My business tag line is                                                                                     BEHAVIOR TRAINING FOR DOGS AND THEIR PEOPLE!

Before a dog can listen, he needs to KNOW HOW TO LISTEN!   When a dog spends a day or two with me, (Dog Day Transformation), they first learn how to be calmer, and how it's ok to be calm and unafraid...even for long moments or an entire day, and then how to listen to instructions from a caring, patient and calm leader.  I say to my clients that dogs have "built up their own 3 lanes of a superhighway of overreactions".  This means that they have well warn paths of reacting poorly to many things, (like I mentioned earlier in that long list of "triggers").  What I teach is to think about creating an alternate route or detour around those well warn overreactions or triggers, and to build a detour of calm non reactions to the things that they used to react to.

Don't you think your dog or any dog deserves to be taught how to listen and to be calmer under the same  circumstances that had previously set them off into a bad place?

I say...Invest in your dogs mental state and it will pay off in dividends for the rest of your time together.

BE WHO YOUR DOG LOOKS UP TO!

WAY OF A DOG

 WWW.SHEASHOME.COM

Be a Benevolent Dictator for your dog!

One of my pet peeves with some Dog Owners and Dog Rescue people, is that they cannot let go of what i call...the "Bleeding Heart Syndrome", when it comes to helping dogs rehabilitate.  One of the first things I explain to my clients who have hired me to help them with their dog's biting or jumping or digging etc. issues, is to tell them that I want them to stop empathizing with their dogs current plight and to not worry about how the dog reacts when they are on the leash for the first time or when they are on the leash with an actual leader for the first time.  I ask them to just take the position that they "Approve of what's going on".  All dogs react very differently when they find themselves "captured" by a person holding the leash who isn't swayed by their pulling or jumping or snarling or biting or whining or crying or flopping around like a live fish in a hot frying pan.  Dogs may display a variety of degrees of this behavior when they try to get away from me and try to bite off their leash or wriggle out of their collar.

When most dog owners see this happening, they usually go straight to that ugly place where they feel the dog is hurting or is in pain or that I am somehow abusing them...and they need to react to it or to me.  I appreciate the reasoning they have, but I tell them that what they are feeling doesn't help the dog recover and relax, it only gives the dog hope that he will be saved by them soon.  I personally see that kind of reaction as a an acquired syndrome that has happened to dog rescue personnel or to well meaning volunteers and/or people who wish to help dogs find better homes, and do it just because! I think it comes out of knowing where the dog has come from, or maybe having been abused or neglected, or abandoned into the mean streets like my dog Shea was.  It's usually their first go to response and perhaps their only response that makes sense to them, to believe they are being an advocate for the dog, or maybe to make sure that the doggie will never experience any pain or suffering or restricted movements again for the rest of its life, because it's life to date has been so very crappy and unfair and therefore worthy of only love forever more.  This kind of attitude is initially "Admirable" but the energy that comes off the human who thinks this way, is picked up and interpreted by the dog as being more like the dogs "Enabler" than it is being what the dog owners think it is.  In reality, it is a loving and helpful technique used by the dog trainer to get their dog to relax and to stop flailing and to learn that life WITH the pack is a much better than the life OUTSIDE of the pack.  Dogs may picture themselves as "A Pack of One", and out of that attitude, I believe is where the dogs make bad decisions that effect everyone around them.

Granted...the dog owners hearts are in the right place, and I applaud them for their selfless missions to save all the animals they can, but their over loving mental state and their lack of knowing what a dog actually needs to get back on track, unintentionally (or intentionally as I have discovered) prevents the dog from achieving what a trainer like me needs to see out of a dog and the dog owner.  When the dog truly "feels" that their owner is "Hurting for them" and wishing it would just stop, then that energy and attitude actually fuels the dog to continue to overreact to being on a leash.  It's akin to riding and "Breaking a Wild Mustang", no matter how much the horse tries to buck off and bite at the rider, the horse kicks and bucks and jumps around in a blazing huff right up until it eventually gives in, (all horses have a variety of levels of determination just like dogs have) and they stop all their frantic attempts to maintain freedom, and in the dogs case, to maintain dominance...and regarding the horse, it lets go and becomes trainable and rideable and more valuable to it's owner.

What I see in the dog owners faces and in their wringing hands, and sometimes what I hear in their whining sounds and uncomfortable voices, and the squirming in their seats... tells me that they are sympathizing and worrying about the dogs well being, as it goes through it's reaction to being on the leash...instead of being the kind of dog owner that shows the dog that they are confident and convinced that what the trainer is doing with their dog, is geared for the dogs own good, and that ultimately in the end, the dog and owner will have the connection of trust and respect that has been non existent to date.

I like to use the metaphor of an alcoholic or drug addicted son or daughter who is causing havoc in a family, and the parents tell their son or daughter that they are going to send them to rehab for 30 days if they don't stop their drug and/or drinking ways, and then on that day the child is supposed to go and get help, the child puts up such a convincing plea to the parents, that this time they will change and that they will do better and to please not send them to rehab, and instead of falling upon deaf ears, the parents cave to the sympathetic and pathetic pleas of the child and so they don't send them to rehab.  This tactic has shown the child how to manipulate the parents on both ends...to deal with the child's crappy behavior and bad decisions they make that effect the family and all who interact with the unruly actions of the addict or drunk, and then to turn to an appeal to the maternal and paternal instincts of protective parents to keep them from actually following through with their threats.

These "Maternal Pleadings" reach into the heart strings of the Bleeding Heart "Parents", causing them to rethink and then relent to their demands...and not send the kid to rehab.  The kid scores a convincing win, and in most cases, immediately goes right back to doing what he or she was doing before that crises of their own making came to a head.  (This is exactly what dogs do in this situation!)   This pattern persists until the day comes once again, and the parents finally tell him or her that this time, they have had enough and "we really mean it" that they are sending that kid to get the help he needs.  It is at that exact point where they learn the value of being what I call... a Benevolent Dictator! (more later)

When the parents get to that final point where they have had enough of the family upheavals and police visits and family holiday maladies and jail visits and drunk driving tickets and missing AA meetings, and when they have had enough of the hollow promises to change etc., then and only then will the parents discover that they are truly calloused and unrelenting on their belief that the kid is going to get help because they need it...and when the van from the Rehab facility arrives at that front door to pick up that kid, (picture me as that van) who then turns to his parents and sets about pleading his case once again that he'll change and never drink again or that he will be a better person etc, the parents are NOW in a place where they can just fold their arms and nod in approval as the orderlies escort their child into the car and off to the healing center, where the parents now believe and know in their hearts that the odds for that kid coming out much better on the other side have just been greatly improved.  This is the place where I want the dog owners to be when I arrive!  Many or most of my clients are right there when I come to their homes, where they welcome the help and knowledge and the service that I provide them at a very reasonable rate of $30/hr.

By the time I have been called, the issue or issues have persisted until the owners have usually had enough, or when they are informed that there are people out there like me, who can help them with their dog issues, and who can make their dogs issues go away or become greatly reduced.  I like to feel like I am giving dog owners the keys to drive their animal by just being a benevolent dictator, one who is loving and accepting that the minor inconvenience of seeing their dog freak out and turn into a wild and feral appearing animal, pales in comparison to what lies beyond that...maybe Euthanasia for most "bad" dogs whose owners have had enough and return them to a shelter, or...the owners find a new and improved family dog who can now get out of his or her own head and learn the joys of being a "Submissive" family member who has acquired the new ability to "learn to Listen and follow commands" from their calm and assertive leader....or "Benevolent Dictator".              
Benevolent: serving a charitable rather than a profit-making purpose
Dictator: a ruler with total power over a country (home in this case)

Note: This term "Submissive" isn't in the terms we think of as negative human to human submission, I'm referring to a calm submissive dog being led by a calm and assertive leader kind of "Submissive".  Its like a soldier listening to directions and following orders by a superior.  Is that a case for abuse, is that cruel, is that wrong and punishable by federal crime standards...no it isn't.  My approach and "Method" is tried and proven to teach a dog how to listen and how to maintain some balance and order between dog and owner.  That is the approach I try to take and achieve when i'm explaining to my clients the details of the why and the what I am doing as I am doing it, and how it is always humane and in the dogs best interest.

Please feel free to Love your dogs.  Go out and save as many dogs as you can, but please don't hamstring the behavior trainers efforts by your "feelings of empathy for your dogs plight toward change".  Be a part of the change in your dogs rehabilitation.  When you embrace leash training and connect with your dog, you will bask in all the  rewards of your dog's new behavior and attitude in your home.                                                                                             

BE WHO YOUR DOG LOOKS UP TO!

WWW.SHEASHOME.COM   WAY OF A DOG

The following statement needs to be retweeted all across America:   From  Candace Engel               TO MY NON RESCUE FRIENDS!!!!!!!  

I care for all my friends deeply but we really need to talk! This is probably going to piss a few people off but please understand my intent here is not to offend anyone, my intent is to make you stop and think for just a moment. I am begging you to read this post in its entirety and absorb what I am saying! I personally believe that most people are simply not aware of the seriousness of the problem I am about to tell you about, if I reach ONE person…..this rant is well worth it! Those of you who are NOT involved in rescue in anyway are probably honestly unaware of the battles that go on every day on Facebook and in text messages, e-mails and phone calls. You are unaware of the tears we shed and the heartache we experience and the frustration we feel! It is a daily struggle to save lives. The constant begging for money, begging for temporary foster homes, begging someone to give a dog a ride to safety so they can have a better life, begging you to PLEASE JUST SHARE MY POST because you never know who you may reach or who may help. My phone is going to explode one day from all the people who reach out to me for help! I barley have time for my own dogs because of the time I spend trying to save others. And I am by no means alone……there are thousands and thousands of us who struggle every day with this issue……. 

I realize this is MY choice, I choose to expose myself to the horrors of what most people are oblivious to or that they simply CHOOSE TO IGNORE!!!!! I make an effort to shield my Facebook friends from most of what I see each day out of respect and because I realize that not everyone is interested in rescue, and because a lot of what I see is graphic and most if it is very sad! But I am done shielding people from the reality of what I see each day! Everyone needs to see the evil that resides alongside us.

HERE is the REALITY and it is EVERYDAY……..Shelters being shut down because the shelter employees are abusing the animals, 200 plus dogs, most of them abused and pregnant, being seized from puppy mills and hoarders. Lost dogs who simply cannot find their way home. Groomers abusing dogs! Sweet little dogs who lay in shelters in their own waste and in shock for days after being hit by a car without so much as pain medication. Pets being surrendered to shelters because the family is going on vacation. Lost dogs whose owners are located but say they “don’t want it anymore.” Pregnant dogs wandering around in the street……laying in the median because she is too weak to make it the rest of the way across the street while HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE DRIVE BY HER AND DO NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A sad mama dog sitting in a high kill shelter who may have been abandoned by her owner maybe because she was pregnant but when she was picked up by Animal Control they could not locate the puppies. OR just maybe she had her puppies and she was no longer of use to her owner so they dumped her on the street to fend for herself and sold her puppies for money! Dogs with bullet wounds left untreated! Breeders dumping dogs in remote areas. Dogs running loose in the neighborhoods killing goats, calves and pigs. Dogs left outside in the cold and literally frozen to death. DEAD dogs packed in boxes and thrown in the ditch on the side of the road like trash. Living dogs LOCKED in crates and dumped ALIVE on the side of the road to die! Once sweet dogs who have become aggressive because they have been left by their owners to fend for themselves and then ending up euthanized. Dogs abandoned in homes that their owners have vacated. Shelters run by Police Departments who have no interest in locating homes for strays….they would just assume euthanize them than deal with the paperwork it takes to adopt one into a home. People disguising their trucks as county vehicles and stealing dogs right out of peoples yards for who knows what reason. Rescue organizations unable to help dogs because they literally have no money or place to put them. Dogs surrendered to the shelters by the owners they love! DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS to a dog that is surrendered to a shelter by its owner? DO YOU???????? They can be euthanized IMMEDIATELY because a hold is not required to find the owner. Do you have any idea how many dogs are euthanized in a weeks’ time? EXAMPLE; In one town, NOT COUNTY, ONE TOWN (in Texas) FOURTY plus dogs are euthanized every week! Think about that for a minute……just let that soak in. 40 + dogs in one week in ONE TOWN because of the irresponsibility of human beings. 

YOUNG Dogs, probably a cute little puppy, all wrapped up in a red bow and given as a gift on Christmas Day, found by the grace of God tied to a tree in the middle of the woods because they were no longer wanted. Sometimes it’s just a skeleton and a collar. Litter after litter of puppies thrown into dumpsters and creeks and left to die. Puppies thrown out of moving cars. Puppies dumped on the side of the road because the owners “can’t deal with a litter” but yet they CHOSE NOT TO HAVE THEIR DOG SPAYED!!!!! I see dogs given away as “FREE TO GOOD HOME” on Craig’s list and Facebook that end up being used as bait for dog fighting. People collecting free puppies and dogs from ad’s on Craig’s list and the internet with the intention of torturing them. I have even seen people who have been arrested for collecting free dogs on Craig’s list so they could torture them and eat them! YES…..That’s right……you read that right! EAT THEM! 

I see litter after litter after litter from backyard breeders selling dogs to line their pockets with cash.……..and guess what…….these things I listed above are what happens to those dogs EVERY DAY, ALL DAY, IN EVERY STATE AND IN EVERY COUNTY IN THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT NEVER ENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I see dogs being soaked in lighter fluid and set on fire, burned, dragged, tortured, shot with bb guns, bullets and even arrows, they are beaten, abandoned, starved, and yet theses dog still want to have human contact. Personally…..I think dogs are far better than humans ever had time to be. What kind of person does these things to an animal? My parents taught me that if you want to know what kind of person someone is watch how they treat animals (and their waitress). THIS is probably the most honest piece of advice EVER! The way one treats an animal speaks volumes to their character. 

We work our ass off to find a dog a loving home and the horror still isn’t over……. the residual effects of abuse exhibited in behavioral problems! Some people may say it’s “just a dog” and some believe animals forget. BULL !!!!!!!! SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I adopted a rescue over 6 months ago and to this day she flips out when I pick up a broom, she is just now beginning to trust my husband. If there is smoke or steam of any kind in the kitchen she runs and hides. I cannot pick up a regular dog leash because she is so afraid of it she pees. When I bend down to pet her she STILL cowers with her tail between her legs. Sometimes she just sits and shakes uncontrollably from a fear that I cannot explain. She wasn’t born afraid……someone made her that way! 6 MONTHS in my home and she is still afraid! I look at her every day with tears in my eyes because I love her so much and I can’t bear the thought of her past. 

I am so frustrated! I am emotionally and mentally exhausted from seeing dogs abused, abandoned or sentenced to die in a shelter because people choose not to see the depth of this problem, because they would rather turn their head and look away from the ugliness. And believe me it is uglier and darker and more evil than I ever imagined. I have seen and heard things that I could have gone my whole life without knowing. I have seen and heard things I wish I didn’t know. I have seen and heard things that have changed me forever. I am exhausted by the attitude of…. “It’s not my problem” or “someone else will take care of it” STOP IT!!!!! Just FREAKING STOP IT! It IS YOUR PROBLEM…….It is ALL our problem. 

Those of us in rescue...... It's not OUR problem either but yet we do it! We spend TONS of money on dogs that aren’t even our own we spend countless hours cleaning up the mess of people who choose to turn the other cheek and ignore this. We spend so much time on these dogs we don’t even have time to hug our own dogs. We text, and e-mail and make phone calls while our own dogs stare at us from the sofa! We need to come together to fix this! I am begging my friends to consider ways you can help! It doesn’t take much. If you want to help and you don’t know how……message me and I will help you figure it out! 

Please……I am NOT saying that all breeders are bad or irresponsible. What I am saying is that there is no shortage of dogs, pure bred and mixed breeds alike in shelters and in rescues and there are people who struggle every day to save them. The message here is, people who do breed need to be cautious of who they are selling/giving puppies to. I would like to think that most of the people I associate with would be heartbroken if one of their puppies ended up as I have described here. If you do not care what happens to a puppy that you are responsible for than go ahead and unfriend me now because I don’t want to know you! NOT KIDDING! 

If you need help with spay/neuter or veterinary care, there are numerous programs in your county that can help you! THERE IS NO ACCEPTABLE EXCUSE FOR NOT CARING FOR YOUR PET PROPERLY!!!!!!! If you need food, the SPCA will give you food. HELL…..I WILL GIVE YOU FOOD! Reach out to a rescue for help if you need it. You might be amazed what people are willing to do to help you. BUT, If you are one that consciously chooses not to spay/neuter your pets and continually allows your dog to have littler after litter of dogs that you are giving away or selling……GUESS WHAT…….YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.
AND if you can look into the eyes of a dog and say “it’s just a dog” or “it’s a dog, they have no feelings” or if you believe that animals have no soul, I have news for you……IT’S YOU THAT HAS NO SOUL.

(PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS ORIGINAL POST BUT PLEASE DO NOT COPY AND PASTE OR EDIT.)

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