7 Ways Unhealed Trauma Shows Up In Dog Training

No one is exempt from the experience of trauma, and there are varying degrees of this.

As I teach all my clients, "behavior is information."

And so is...

🚪the emotions and feelings we feel,
🚪the words we speak,
🚪the pitch and tone of our voices,
🚪body language and posture,
🚪how we move in and occupy space,
🚪the thoughts we think,
🚪the excuses we make,
🚪the filters and beliefs we develop,
🚪how we respond and/or react,
🚪how we perceive and interpret,
🚪the choices we make,
🚪the actions we take--- and don't take,

....and so on.

To successfully address canine behavioral challenges, we must also pay attention to our end of the leash....the information we're sending our dogs--- even (and especially) when we're not speaking at all.

What we bring to the table will absolutely influence what they bring to the table... some dogs more than others.

It's all a conversation.

It's all an exchange.

Although there are many more ways unhealed trauma shows up in dog training, these are the 7 most common...

📝Expectations and perfectionism.

📝Resistance.

📝Denial.

📝Attachment style.

📝Misperceptions and misinterpretations.

📝Procrastination and lack of follow through, and

📝Struggling with setting and reinforcing rules and boundaries.

In short....

- Expecting our dogs to fit a specific mold and not respecting them for the individuals they are.

- Wanting help, wanting change- but resisting the guidance (usually because it requires effort, change, and comes with a dose of discomfort).

- Denying (i.e. not willing to accept) certain realities and/or the causes | reasons for certain outcomes.

- Developing and nurturing unhealthy attachments and/or one-sided dynamics (e.g. dogs meeting the human's emotional needs, but the human doesn't meet the dog's needs in return).

- Trauma rewires our nervous system, distorts our level of safety (in our bodies, in our lives, in relationships, out in the world, etc.) and forms our filters. Because of this, it impacts how we perceive and interpret the information we're taking in through our senses, as well as how we feel about it and how we respond or react to it.

- Procrastinating and not following through in fear of.....being judged and criticized, "not liked" (by the dog, the trainer, by family members, etc.), "doing it wrong" and "failing", etc.

and

- Not setting or reinforcing rules and boundaries, also connected to the above, as well as the fear of being perceived as "too bossy", "too authoritative", etc.

As a trainer, it's important to school ourselves in *all* the contributing and influential factors when it comes to behavior, especially because it's such a complex, layered, and heavily nuanced thing.

I'm still plugging away at my latest book, "The Human End of the Leash: Dog Training's Missing Link." In fact, I started rewriting it.

Until then, however, if you'd like to learn more about this particular topic here are a few options:

Mentorship with me | contact me at: Kimberly@packfit.net

Read "My Dog, My Buddha" and/or "My Dog, My Buddha: The Sequel": https://www.packfit.net/books-and-ebooks

Listen to the Dog Walking Meditations Album:
https://www.packfit.net/meditation

Check out these specific digital courses here: https://packfit.thinkific.com

- the 21 Day Confidence Course,

- My Dog, My Buddha (the online course has other information and 100 different activity sheets that the book doesn't have),

and

- any of the Masterclasses.

Learn. Heal. Grow.

🦋,

Kimberly A.