Blog — Holistic Healing

Of course it's normal to get irritated, frustrated, or even feel disappointment when we work with our dogs. Dogs do not speak our language, so it can be frustrating trying to communicate with them. In addition to this, I would say MOST dogs have some quirky behavioral issue that gets on their owner's nerves. Some dogs even have severe emotional traumas that cause them to be fearful, reactive, and even aggressive. The question I want you ask you, is: Can you love your dog exactly the way he is, RIGHT NOW? Can you love your dog with all his flaws,...

In my last blog post, Dominance Debunked, I explained how physical force and emotional intimidation can make a dog fearful and even aggressive. The thing is, with a lot of these methods, including alpha-style "pack leadership" and even e-collar training, you can produce a dog who appears obedient and calm. But the underlying state of many of these dogs is actually a freeze-response. These dogs are fear-compliant. They obey out of a sense of self-preservation because their nervous systems are overwhelmed with fight/flight/freeze signals. This is why a dog may "snap" out of nowhere, because they are moving from the...

If you came upon a wolf eating a fresh kill in the woods, do you think it would be a good idea to leave him alone while he eats? Maybe give him some extra space and make sure he doesn't feel your presence?  The same rules should apply to your dog and his bowl of kibble, but in mainstream training this doesn't seem to be the case. So why do people feel the need to take their dog's food away while he's eating? Have they been taught to "desensitize" the dog around food? Have they learned that showing dominance over...

When potential clients call me because they're having problems with their dog, they usually try to convince me that their dog is actually really smart. The thing is, I never doubt the intelligence of the dog, because almost all of them are extremely clever and eager to learn new things. Learning, however, isn't the dog's problem. Dogs with behavioral issues (as judged by the human) usually have a limited capacity to deal with stress. Therefore, I'm not concerned with the dog's ability to learn their obedience commands, what I want to know is: How can we increase their emotional capacity? Increasing emotional...

Follow these simple tips to see BIG changes in your dog's behavior The Energy Equation:  Don't add energy to a problem behavior which already represents an energy overload.  Examples of adding energy: "Positive punishment" (this means adding stimulus/punishment) of unwanted behavior, this never works! It may seem like it's working in the short term, but in the long term you are literally adding energy to the very problem you are trying to extinguish.  Another example of adding energy: puzzles and other games and toys that add "mental stimulation" to a dog who is already over-stimmed. If your dog is truly...