Are You Truly Observing Your Dog?

Hello, and welcome.

If I were to ask you right now, which paw your dog leads with when they’re walking or moving down steps - would you know? Do you know if their tail hangs - or indeed wags - to the left or the right? 

Why are these things even important, you might ask? Well, firstly for our dogs’ well being, and secondly to improve our ability to be fully present in the moment. 

Our dogs are experts in hiding pain or physical discomfort. While we might think of them as extensions of our family, they are in many ways so different from us humans. They live with survival instinct at the forefront and giving away signs of pain makes you vulnerable. Our dogs also live so much in the moment - they are in fact our best teachers when it comes to Mindfulness - and if you’re going to truly enjoy a moment, you can’t let pain get in the way.

When we spend the time observing our dog’s individual movements. When we take stock of coat pattern changes or the way they shift their weight in different situations, we can pick up on any underlying pain or physical issues before they become problematic. And pain is one of the biggest underlying factors when it comes to challenging behaviours we experience with our dogs - from anxiety, to noise phobia, to reactivity.

Have you discovered Ace Free Work? A system developed by Sarah Fisher as part of Animal Centred Education (ACE). It’s effectively a simple, safe obstacle course for our dogs - which allows them to engage in calming and confidence-building activities while allowing us the opportunity to truly observe them. We can set it up very simply at home, by using a range of items such as snuffle mats, cardboard, pots, and anything our dogs can safely interact with. All of these items can be sprinkled or spread with different tastes and textures of food. Our dog can then explore the course at their own pace.

Free Work allows our dogs to absorb themselves in an activity that although is enabled by us, does not have to be guided by us. So we can step back. We can simply be observers. We can be truly present in the moment and to get to know our dogs better - to see what choices they make, how they move, and what they might avoid.  

Free Work is less about asking your dog to do something. More about observing them. Just as Linda shared with you last week, when Holmes asked Watson how many steps there were to his office - we may have looked at our dogs thousands of times to date, but have we really seen them? If you stop and allow your dog to move in front of you, you can take the time to pay them conscious attention. 

Until next time, happy observing!

Caroline