Part 2
And we are back…
Hi there, it’s been a while.
Like many, I experienced a few bumps during the past few months. I truly believe that getting back to a rhythm “post pandemic” has been a struggle for a lot of us. My journey “back to normal” has been bumpy. There was a surgery, a recovery, a letting go (both physical and mental) of things from the recent past and I parted ways with the prison program causing a reshape of balance in the work. I feel as if I learned a decade of wisdom is a span of a few months. That is never easy. It drains all of you. It is a feeling of working against the tide. Nevertheless, I also believe that things that are hard make you better. Gliding through and being at ease with whatever is thrown your way is a great thing… but true growth comes, in my opinion, from facing things that are hard and making them your own. Taking from the experience what it can teach you, instead of acquiesce in it breaking you.
Working with dogs in dog psychology has taught me that my response to what happens around me is something that is ingrained in my DNA. It is my instinct, if you will. I will fight, flight, avoid or surrender to whatever is happening around me. Since dogs have the same exact responses as we do, I have learned, through them, how to recognize the state of mind I am in and rework my instinct (which is usually to choose fight as the first response) to surrender to whatever is happening. By watching dogs be able to switch from one response to another, after just a few weeks of practice, makes me work harder to achieve that same outcome. Of course it’s a daily practice. Some days I can nail it right away, some days it is a struggle. But with repetition, it becomes easier to access it. That calm and confident feeling, that things will work out. Everything will be as it should. That this is another pass around the cycle.
Dog psychology has opened my eyes to so much more than simply how dogs experience the world. It has taught me how to be a better communicator, it has made me more compassionate and, amazingly, it has shown me how to handle discomfort. When things go haywire, your plans are caput, the answers keep being no… those are the times that you find out what you are really made off. Those are the moments that make you adapt and grow. When you are able to see things within yourself that you didn’t know you had. Those are the moments that the pack is there to surround you and protect you. That is dog psychology. Understanding that every one individual has a role to play, as important as the next. The pack makes you better, because then the pack IS better.
My experience coming out of pandemic has been hard but eye opening. I hadn’t realized how bad the “unwanted pet situation had become”. A friend told me that shelters are killing around 600 animals a day in shelters all over LA County. That shelter workers have committed suicide and they are unable to stop any of this from happening. Day, after day, after day. Friends in the rescue world, amazing people, with incredible hearts that are broken. They have become so jaded that it hurts.
We can do better than this. We must do better than this. I truly do not believe we have an “unwanted pet situation” as much as a lack of education about what it means to be a pet owner. Animals are living beings that will need to be trained, educated, coached (choose your column please). We can start to turn the conversation about how we train, to whom we teach and how we do it, to one of clarity of expectations.
*Stating:
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- you are starting a relationship with this being. this being does not speak your language or you hers. do your research
- there are things that are innate to this animal that will be almost impossible for you change. do your research
- they need protection and direction and much as food and water. do your research
- this is not a throw away being. this is life time commitment. the good, the bad and the ugly.
- the relationship can be costly. do your research.
- not all trainers are created equal. do your research
At the end of these many months, that is what came out. It took me going down the rabbit whole to figure out the next step. “Be the change you want to see in the world”, right? Then let’s make teaching, learning and practicing part of what owning a pet is about. That message is not out there loud enough yet, shelters and rescues will tell you that. We can make it clearer… the question is how? I believe the first step is changing our own mind set. By improving our perspective from “my dog needs” training to, “I’m going to learn how to better communicate with my dog”. Reshaping the current message that only “bad dogs” need training. Opening an entire new world of how we can better understand and communicate with these amazing beings that share our lives. I am feeling reinvigorated after all these months. I know it will not be easy, but trying to find the way is what makes us (and our pets) better. Let’s get it done!
*Feel free to add and subtract from the list above in the comments below. We can and will find a way to get education into the forefront of what it means getting a pet. Any and all pets.
