Happy Dog Class

To get oneself out of a depression, one has to act. So act I did. I signed Shane up for a bunch of classes, one of which was a Happy Dog class that we attended Saturday. The description was very touchy-feely. Learn to communicate with your dog. Maybe I'd learn what the heck is wrong with Shane.

The class was amazing.The instructor, Suzy Godsey, had been on the Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan. She picked up on Shane's lack of self confidence immediately. He was sitting under my legs.

Suzy talked about insulting your dog and someone asked her what that looked like. She asked, Do people come up to your dog and pat it on the head? YES! ALL THE TIME! What a revelation. She said, Imagine if a stranger came up to you and patted you on the head. OMG. I asked her what to do and she told me it was my responsibility to teach people how to approach my dog. I'm around dog people all the time who think they know what they are doing. This will not be fun.

A thunderstorm interrupted the class for a bit. We went inside. A lot of dogs with issues crammed into a small space. Suzy asked for the energy to dissapate and you could feel everyone calming down. She is all about energy and mine is very bad. I am so nervous in agility competitions and Shane picks up on all that. She gave us a mantra to repeat. All of life comes to me with ease and joy and glory. 10 times in the morning and again in the evening. She also had other calming techniques and I'll pass those along when I get the tape of the lecture.

I asked her about my specific issue and she said that once Shane is going nuts, he will not listen, so I have to back him off to a place where he is calm and then take smaller steps. I tried it this morning and it helped. As soon as I felt he was going to blow because of a barking dog, we stopped and played the game that Janice taught me until he seemed calm, and then we started walking again. Repeated this until we were past the barking dog.

So basically, Shane's problems stem from me. I am nervous, scared, and lack self-confidence, so Shane is as well. Suzy offers help over the phone, but I want to thoroughly examine her web site before I call her. She has a blog radio show and all the past shows are archived. I plan to listen to each one. And she is coming back to town over the summer. I am there!