Oct 14-16, 2005
Natural Dog Training enables the owner to work with a dog’s nature to channel its emotional energy in cooperative ways. The two conventional approaches are dominance hierarchy and operant conditioning, which do not address the subject of emotional development. What do dogs feel? Kevin Behan offers a more comprehensive and satisfying explanation for everything canine, from the evolution of wolves and the domestication of the dog to the nature of the strong bond that’s emerged between dogs and owners in the modern world.
Dogs are living, breathing, emotional sonograms. They send out a ping and long for a pong. On this retreat, we’ll learn how dogs feel what to do and how this feeling approach relates to training, social behavior, and a dog’s innate faculty for cooperation. We will learn how to project emotion as a pure form of energy to a dog and receive it in turn. Body language and vocal tone can heighten a dog’s emotional continuum.
Dogs are unconditionally loving by nature, but we have to earn a dog’s trust. Empathetic communication involves listening to what dogs are trying to tell us. When the dog functions in harmony with its nature, obedience is not a problem. This workshop is limited to 10 dogs, so each dog will get individual attention, though two people can come with one dog. When you sign up, we’ll send some additional information.
Kevin Behan grew up in the dog business the way some kids grow up in the circus. His father was world famous for training dogs for the Canine Corps in WWII. Since training his first dog at ten, Kevin has worked the full spectrum, with every kind of dog in every situation, always seeking the “truth of dogs.” In 1981 he started his own kennel. After countless hours watching and listening, he realized it is the dog’s wild nature, not his submission, that lets him bond with us. Forcing a dog to repress his natural energy leaves him blocked and unable to cooperate consistently. Releasing and channeling his energy leaves him open to us on all levels and in all situations. His book, Natural Dog Training, was published in 1992.