Blog

  For Christmas this year, all I want is for everyone (including myself!) to stop romanticizing dogs. Yes, that's right, dogs are not Disney characters. I think we've been weirdly conditioned by movies like "Lady and the Tramp" and "101 Dalmations" to feel that dogs are just like us: They want to live indoors and eat spaghetti, raise their babies among humans, walk through city parks, and enjoy watching TV by the fire as much as we do. Dogs are actually still so closely related to wolves that they can interbreed with them. This, by some opinions, makes them the...

In Peter Levine's "Trauma and Memory" he explains that successful renegotiation of traumatic memories is accomplished by navigating the stressful experiences that trigger those memories. This leads to a feeling of triumph and mastery, and thus resolution of the past. In this way, we can move forward in life with vibrant energy, no longer stuck in the old patterns that our autonomic nervous system keeps replaying (fight/flight/freeze & appease).So with a dog who is reactive, we have to create the same possibility of successful renegotiation. This is different from counter-conditioning. This takes the original triggering experience, allows the dog to...

  Sniffing, licking, and chewing are all soothing to a dog. Scatter feeding, snuffle mats, and chews are all essential in our repertoire of enrichment activities. But you know what else is extremely satisfying and regulating to dogs? Biting, tugging, kill-shaking, and dissecting. If we want to look at the predatory sequence, we must honor the dog as an actual predator. Predators spend a lot of energy hunting, seeking, searching, and eye-stalking their prey. They then chase, catch, and kill. THEN they dissect and ingest. If you are missing any of these activities, then it's possible that your dog is...

"Obedience" should be about communication. A lot of people make it about the dog obeying commands because they "respect" you. I always say the dog doesn't need to respect you, that is simply a projection of human psychology, as well as a reductive perspective on our relationship with dogs. What you need is for your dog to RESPOND to you. This is what communication is all about, I project a want, need, or inquiry, and I get a response. When we are communicating with our dogs, instead of just commanding them to obey, there are a few things we need...

Grief Support Group Losing a pet is a very difficult part of life for which we have no established rituals. This support group will be a place to share our experiences around pet loss and grieving.When: August 31st at 3pm Where: Chattanooga Library Downtown Meeting Room This will be a space for us to talk about all types of grief. This can be the loss of a pet through death, behavioral euthanasia, divorce, or re-homing. This can be grief about losing cats, dogs, birds, or exotics. This can even be grief about lack of relationship with your current pets, if...