Canine Communication, Body Language and Calming Signals.

What a weekend that was! Will my life with my dog ever be the same again?  I hope not.  I feel that I now have some tools for a new start with my first ever dog who at 14 months, had lost his trust in me after a bad start due to lack of experience on my part and mis-information.

The first day started with each of us introducing ourselves and explaining what we wanted to get out of the weekend.  Being the last one to speak I felt like a complete novice.  We were only a small group but all the others had many years of sharing their lives with dogs as pets or as trainers of owners and their dogs.   I soon realised that my inexperience really didn’t matter, as what we had come to learn about was new to everyone. We all had a similar motivation for doing the course.  To do the best for our dogs by understanding their ‘communication’ with humans and other dogs.

We spent two days learning about the universal language of calming signals dogs use with each other and with humans to either calm themselves, other dogs or us.  How they use calming signals to cope in situations that are out of their control. How they can escalate, or how a dog will stop using them if they are consistently ignored putting the dog, other dogs and humans at risk.  Just by subtle changes in our body language and the speed at which we do things can make so much difference to how a dog will react.  We learned strategies to encourage our dogs to walk on a loose leash. 

All of this was done with the aid of video clips, ‘stills’, discussion, and practical work and with Sheila’s calm and eloquent presentation of the information.

I have been to presentations before where your attention starts to wander and where you can’t wait for the course to end.  I was completely focused on this course for the whole 2 days; there was so much to take in.

I went home at the end, exhausted, but satisfied, having met a great group of people all willing to learn together.

So, will my life ever be the same again?  Definitely not.  I now have a responsibility to use the knowledge I gained. 

Thank you Sheila and Co. for a great two days.

Jackie Stolliday