Frieda and I are having a good time training together, as you can see on this video. Dogs don’t naturally know how to do nothing, and I believe we are constantly cranking our dogs up and making them crazy by over-stimulating, playing too much, taking them to too many places they don’t need to go, treating them like piteous or rebellious children, over-monitoring and squeaking and shouting at them. I never thought Frieda could live in the farmhouse, let along hang around with me while I write and take photos. Calming training is the primary reason she has settled down, and is paying attention to me, and is learning how to live with us.

I don’t want Frieda to be obedient, I want her to accompany me through life, as my other dogs do. I want her to understand what working with me means, and I want her to be calm and centered. That’s the spiritual part.

So I am working regularly to calm her through simple repetitive commands and through a positive attitude in my own head. When I train her, I am calm, I am patient, I am clear. If I am not all of those things, the session doesn’t work and I stop. Frieda is my guide. As long as she is paying attention, wagging that tail a bit, looking at me, we are on track. If not, then I am off and we stop.

This video is of our daily calming training, which takes a couple of minutes and has transformed Frieda, whose hyper-arousal and anxiety made her a crazy dog. She is not a crazy dog. She is smart, loving, calm and responsive. she is paying attention to me. We work on very few things and we work on those things every day until we get them. We are close to come, sit and stay.  At least, more of the time. I love working with her. We are getting there.

Come along for some calming training with Frieda.