Konfident Kanines

Often we here about “chi energy” or simply “energy”. The importance of understanding the effect the energy we radiate has on dogs cannot be over emphasised. I will relate a true and quite recent personal experience I had with a clients Afghan Hound. I was contacted by an acquaintance of a friend of mine regarding her Afghan Hound.

Now over a year old this particular dog had suffered from incessant diarreha for the better part of his life. After being enrolled with a variety of trainers in an attempt to train this unpleasant condition out of the dog, the owner resorted to antibiotics and a prescription diet prescribed by her vet as a last resort. None of the aforementioned approaches had any lasting positive results.

In desperation, and following the recommendation of my friend, the dog owner reluctantly agreed to try one more trainer, that trainer was me.

I first met the dog during my initial consultation. After listening carefully to the dogs’ owner describe her many attempts to get help for this dog (and her) in an effort to get the dog off medication and cure the diarrhea I agreed to work with her. She had also outlined many of the “triggers” that this dog would react to out of nervousness and fear. At this point I had a pretty good idea what the root cause of the problem might be.

My approach was not magical in that I did anything special. What I did do was take the dog for about an hour walk, exposing the dog to as many of the previous described “triggers” as we could find. We walked him several blocks to a shopping mall. There I was able to have him sit and even let people approach him without him shying away. This was a first! We then took it a giant leap beyond what the owner though was possible – we took him inside the local pet supply store amid other animals and walked him up and down the aisles as people passed by and several even stopped to admire and talk to him. He did fantastic. The owner was amazed at how calm her dog had become in just over one hour. We then returned to her home where she asked if I would work with her and her dog which I agreed to do.

What did I do differently you might ask? Oh, I didn’t walk him any differently than most although I did make him heel properly and sit on command. Nothing magic in that! What I did do however is radiate calm, positive energy every step of the way. The dog immediately felt secure. He was no longer anxious. Why would he be? I was calm and reassuring in my movements and most importantly my “energy” was calm and very positive. That very day the dog was taken off antibiotics. That same day his diarrhea ceased and never reoccurred for the duration of the time I worked with that dog. Not only did his diarrhea come to an end but his incessant drooling while being transported in a vehicle stopped as well. All of this came about in my mind as a direct result of the right kind of “energy” being radiated from me. Never underestimate the role that energy plays when working with a dog, I believe that at least 90% of a trainers success or failure depends on the energy they are able to radiate consistently, regardless of the dogs behaviour. Positive energy will produce positive results. Of course it is equally true that negative energy will only result in negative results.