Instinctual Training.
What is "instinctual training"?
Instinctual training is setting aside all the information, directives, and guidance we've been given about dogs; all the research we've done and what we've been taught, and dialing in to what we feel the individual dog in front of us needs.
Instinctual training is more intuitive in nature. It's releasing our own conditioning and programming and tapping into a source of information, a knowing, we each already possess. It also allows us to observe a bit more, listen a little deeper, and hear and see a bit more clearly.
One of the biggest obstacles to this is many of us don't know who we are underneath who we've been told we should be. We doubt. Discredit. Judge. And distrust. So we become quite disconnected from this space, disconnected from ourselves. This knowing. We follow a certain path, one that's usually been laid out for us by someone else; so it's important to remember we are each so unique, have our own gifts and "special sauce" we bring to the table, and what may have "worked" for one person, may not for another.
Many subscribe to the "if we can't measure it, it doesn't exist" doctrine. To that I ask, do you believe you have a soul? If so, can you measure it?
Really effective teaching and training draws upon all aspects of our knowing, both measurable and immeasurable. Logical and intuitive. And can really bring a much broader perspective to a layered equation, especially when it comes to behavior. Learning to trust the feeling we get in our gut if a boundary has been crossed, if we've been pushing a little too hard, if we're creating a sense of overwhelm- or even underwhelm. Or if something is giving us the heebie-jeebies. Paying attention to this will build trust in ourselves, trust in the dogs we're working with, and also protect us from potentially harmful situations.
Education is also very important. Building our proverbial "toolbox" is incredibly essential and key. But don't forget to build those intrinsic muscles, as well as the extrinsic ones. The innate and the learned. The conventional and unconventional. All (can) work synonymously together to create balance, harmony, and amazing results.
