The Day the Dog Trained Me

In May 2015 I had been a full-time dog trainer for only a few months. It was a dream come true for me. I was enamored with why dogs do what they do, and how humans can influence them. Even then with a schedule full of teaching, and many happy clients, I knew there had to be an evolution to my craft. I wasn't really interested in competitive dog sports, and couldn't find a worthwhile academic pursuit. All I really cared about was helping people communicate more effectively with their dogs. 

I noticed a lot of people’s behavioral challenges with their dog was the result of overstimulation. It could be based in fear, frustration, rambunctiousness, anxiety, etc,. When stimulation gets turned too high the problem (as it’s recognized by the client) is evident. One thing I tried to establish early on with most dogs I worked with was getting them to lay down and stay. I did this because a dog laying down is more evidently on their way to being calm than any other posture. Once a dog relaxes in a down position, they can be rewarded. This concept encourages a state of mind that turns into the catalyst for most rewards with your pet dog in your home (“relax while I prepare food, prior to being invited on furniture, in order to meet guests”, etc.), but also as a consequence (“You’re too excited, go here to calm down”.). So I used it as a baseline, or reset button of sorts. We can always go back to laying down, calming down, and starting over.

On this day I was working with a particular German Shepherd who didn’t have any major problem other than being a little too much dog for his owner. With he and I in his living room I began working on my typical way to teach a dog to lay down; put a treat to the dog’s nose, lure to the ground. Gradually turn the lure into a hand signal so I can remain upright while the dog lays themself down. He responded as usual to the lure, and would quickly lay down for the treat time after time, but each time I took a few steps back and asked him to lay down while I stayed upright, he refused. No big deal, every dog is different, so I start to make little modifications to find what would work best for him. A few steps in, a few steps out, partial luring often so this dog could connect the dots and offer this behavior I was showing him was very valuable. But nothing was working. We were coming close to the end of the session and I started to feel some frustration that my techniques weren’t working as quickly as I planned, and that I might have to admit to the owner that I couldn’t get this dog to lay down. I was perplexed, and the clock was ticking.

With my frustration mounting I figured needed to take a break from trying to train this dog, collect myself, and figure out a new strategy. I took a few steps back from the dog, inhaled deeply through my nose, and exhaled fully through my mouth. The moment I exhaled the dog laid down. I was STUNNED! My first thought was actually that this isn’t a real dog, and somehow I was being filmed as a prank. After ruling that out I tried to replicate this phenomenon. Sure enough the dog laid down again and again upon my exhale.  When our session ended I thanked this dog for his time and I left feeling like I was the one who got trained.

I didn’t tell anyone what happened. I don’t think I told the story to anyone for years. I didn’t even know what to say. In all I had learned, and thought I knew, I had never considered that a dog could respond to my breath rather than verbal cues, hand signals, or rewards. I am a pragmatic thinker, looking for ways to communicate with dogs. This seemed so mystical to me that I didn’t know what to do with it. Still, there was no denying what I saw, and no forgetting the implication. There was something older and wiser than me in the room that day. 

Breath work wasn't totally new to me at the time. I had recognized personally that observing my breath gave insight on my mood, and that different kinds of breathing affected how I felt. But I had never expected that an animal could respond primarily to something so seemingly irrelevant compared to how we learn to communicate in typical "dog training". Dogs having keen sensory perception is nothing new though. Dogs are theorized and proven to sense all sorts of things in humans and their environment . My hypothesis is that this “mood detection” mechanism in dogs behooves them given that their origin as a species started when certain wolves decided it was worth the risk of mingling with humans (for a reward, I would add). Simply put, dogs attached themselves to our wagon, for better or for worse. To the extent they ever had a choice, sniffing out the “right” human to interact with has literally been a life or death skill for a dog. So what traits define the “right” human for a dog to play sidekick to? That’s an awesome question. 

Doing right by dogs in this way has been my personal and professional endeavor since, and is central to my philosophy at Harmony Canine. Listen, earn respect, guide in accordance with natural laws as best I can. You can do this too. “Be a human your dog chooses to follow” isn’t just a mantra. It’s a reminder of your dog’s intuition, and of what your priorities should be before pointing the finger. Here, I want to share my work with you, so you and your dog can stride where I have stumbled.

  - Mike