Dogs live in the present moment. They interpret their reality according to the information given them, and their reactions are based on their understanding of what will keep them alive and safe. They do not plan for the future, and although their bodies can store memories of past experiences, particularly bad ones, that memory bank can often be overridden through good experiences.
Normal approaches used to establish trust and communication in a relationship with a dog are eye contact, verbal priase, caresses, and food for rewards.
Your attitudes and beliefs are energies that you project into everything you create in your life and into those things you attract to you. When you project feat or doubt, you attract similar energy. When you project an attitude of calm and energy that is positive, you attract more of that energy. Worry, fear, and doubts create tension, stress, and the feeling of being "down". The energy of those emotions can affect the people around you, and it can affect your dog. Because dogs are so sensitive, they can eaily perceive and respond to these contrasting states, and they will u sually reflect them right back to you. Energy flows both ways.
Humans have the ability to create iwth their energy. We act on our thoughts and feelings by using the power of our will, which is what it means to be purposeful, or to have intention. We also make choices amoung those things tht we want to manifest. Some we accomplish with our hands, like the creation of a garden; some we create with our minds, like the solution to a math problem; and some we create with our emotions, like nurturing a child to develop confidence by giving her lots of love. Some things are never actualized in the physical, but fade away because there is not sufficient energy to bring them forth. On the other hand, simply maintaining a high level of purpose and a clear image in your mind of the objecf of your desire can bring that object into manifestation.
"Behind the word is the thought; behind the thought in intent; and within the intent lies power"
Your intention is your creative power. The relationship between your thought and your feelings is the essential dynamic in each creative act. By being objective, you are attempting to free your thoughts from the emotional energy of your feelings. If, on the other hand, you are subjective, you are allowing your feelings to be the guilding principle. Emotional energy is the most influential energy of all, which is why, if it is not controlled with purpose, it ends up controlling you.
When you work with a dog, purposefully create a consistent and powerful positive energy in order to attract a positive response from him. Project your intent, create the space and possibility for change to occur. Working with energy is not about controlling others, it is about maintaining an energy to attract additional energy of a similar vibration, in order to create something new.
Pay attention to what you are expecting, because your expectations are what you are attracting. Thought sets energy into motion. All words that we speak are a manifestation of our thoughts, which in turn, set energy flowing in a certain direction. The vocabulary you use with your dog represent your beliefs, and if you look objectively at those beliefs, you will see the kind of energy that you are attracting.
Although you can consciously choose how you will let things affect you, it is important to realize that dogs cannot. The same openness that dogs bring to being unconditionally loving and forgiving also means that they absorb whatever we send in their direction. This is why it is critical that you make every possible effort to be aware of how your energy affects those who are naturally vulnerable.
If family members say "NO! Bad dog! Look what you've done again! Don't jump! Don't chew! Don't steal food off the table!", and so forth, evertually everything that is said about the dog becomes an affirmation. You convince yourself that you have a horrible dog and that you need to get rid of it and get a new one.
Create a clear thought of your intention. I fyou want to train your dog to sit, you will want to clrify all of the things you and your dog are going to do to bring this behvior about. You will do this through visualization. See your dog in front of you, listening to you and responding correctly to your desire that she sit. Avoid blocking your intention by creating doubts or lack of understanding of the steps involved. Increase the level of positive emotional energy around your visualized intent, which will provide impetus and uspport for both you and your dog.
Visualization help you claify what you are going to ask of your dog. If you can imagine what you need yourself to look and sound like in order to communicate effectively, and if you can imagine how you want your dog to respond, you will create the kind of energy that will support your training. When you consciously visualze your expectations to your dog, he can read your energy and your body language even better then when you give only a verbal direction or pull on his body for a response.
Dogs are attuned to energy all the time, and I often observe some very sophisticated readings when the dogs are outside playing in the three fenced acres behind my house.
