Ear Course Underway!

By popular request, my Ear Course is finally in development! Right now, Chelsea is working on putting together an e-book of my insights that will be available on my website this summer ☀️

Let's peep on a little example:

🔶 This is what I call "fat burning mode". It doesn't have much to do with their fat though 😁 You know when you work out and your body fights against you. Your other senses take over. You feel the sweat. Your muscles scream for you to stop. You feel out of breath...but your brain keeps you going. Then you hit your rhythm: fat burning mode. Well I think it's much the same for a dog in structured exercise. All senses engaged at the beginning: sniffing, listening, visually scanning. BUT WE BECOME THEIR BRAIN. There is resistance to the implementation of structure. But as time goes on, something changes...

🔶Your dog falls into the structure as you set the expectations. Just as the treadmill says "I'm moving at 8mph. Run," to the runner, the structure of the walk says "I'm requiring a heel. Work," to your dog. Their ears are their tell. Every time. A dog seemingly at heel may still be too outwardly engaged with the environment if you're watching the ears. Once a dog falls into the rhytym of the structured walk, just like we fall into fat burning when we keep going past the other senses, something clicks in the body for humans, but in the mind for dogs.

➡️Enter "fat burning mode" AKA "with the shitz" mode. Your dog's ears tilt back at a 45° angle. BOTH OF THEM. He no longer scans the environment. One ear (the inside ear) is on you, waiting for command, praise, possibly even correction. The other ear (the outside ear) just checked out. It no longer listens to what's around it ACTIVELY bc your dog is now dialed in to you. Building the bond by working together. The golden treasure.

➡️The more you practice your structure, the faster your dog will get into that mode. When a stimulus pops up out of nowhere, they will revert to that mode faster after the incident the more you practice. Your dog is telling you when it's not in the pocket all the time during walks. Watch. Adjust.