One of the greatest understandings I’ve gained in serving in the dog training and behavior industry is about the human-dog connection.
The emotional lives of ourselves and our dogs intersect at the relationship you enter into with your dog.
Dogs feel and they communicate those sensations and emotions through their body language and vocal expressions.
They don’t possess the words to describe those feelings.
They act on them.
The consequences of those actions then shape what they do again.
When you enter into a relationship with your dog, you may not be aware of how you feel or aware of how your feelings impact the choices you make in your life with work, family, friends and not just with your dog.
You are snapped into the here and now when your dog has an emotional eruption of barking, lunging and even growling and biting.
What you’ve been telling yourself is no longer working and you feel exposed.
Your fear of what others may think, what this says about you and what you tell yourself come flooding in.
Your body and mind are overcome with swirling thoughts and intense sensations running throughout your entire being.
You feel frozen in place.
You feel like running away.
You feel like mirroring your dog and exploding too.
Or you may feel timid, foolish or even dismissive of how serious the situation is with your dog leading you into blaming others, yourself or even your dog.
The beliefs you have about yourself keep you stuck.
Not only do these beliefs keep you swirling, you then these beliefs become the thoughts you tell yourself which bleed over into what words you describe yourself and your dog.
You tell yourself “you’re not good enough.” “You’re not smart enough.”
“You’re not enough.”
You then label your dog’s emotions as bad and irrational.
Which isn’t it just a reflection of what you’re already telling yourself?
Your thoughts lead to your actions.
Actions which are emotionally and even physically harmful to yourself and your dog.
When you deepen your awareness of how and what you feel and recognize you are not your feelings and you have a choice, the freedom that comes from flipping this switch can start shifting things in your life and in life with your dog.
Once you start opening your heart up to new possibilities with how you show up for yourself and see how it can be transformational in your relationship with your dog, you want everyone to experience the same!
For one of the women I serve, she shared how is now able to recognize when anger and frustration bubble up for her, she has the space to make a choice.
She chooses not to act on those feelings, but ask herself what’s really going on!
She recognizes the power she has to make different choices in her life which impacts herself, her dog Luna, but also sees how this can change other relationships in her life.
She wants everyone to experience this because sourced from her words, “life would be so much easier when we don’t blame others, but take ownership of ourselves.”
Maybe it’s time to see what’s really showing up for you and what you’re telling yourself about who you are.
If you desire to deepen your awareness of how your thoughts become your action and how this can impact your relationships with those around you, sign up for the Creating Resilient Relationship Workshop.
Register here:
Four Paws & You Dog Training 