My Approach

Cognitive - Anthrozoological, Cognitive - Relational, Natural Dog Training,

whichever the name...

I don't see the dog as an instinctual automaton driven by the need for a leader,

neither do I regard the dog as a learning machine.

Dogs are emotionally much more complex than this.

There’s so much emphasis today on giving dogs mental stimulation,

physical exercise, play dates, hiking groups, and tons of early and on-going training,

but what is getting lost in all this activity is the notion of emotional rapport.

In the canine mind, rapport emerges by being part of a team.

This is why the key to every learning moment is the relationship we share with our dog

and the role he plays in our family.

Relationship isn’t trained or learned, it is developed and it is constantly evolving.

The balance within a couple or a group is changing all the time

and we can be different around other people and in every situation.

Being in a relationship forces us to face our true nature

and to learn things about ourself that we wouldn't know otherwise,

our strengths and our weaknesses.

Dogs are the best of mirrors when coming to that.

If we want to make the best out of our relationships, the first thing we have to learn is respect.

Respect comes only through knowledge of the other side.

Here are few lines that poetically synthesize the essence of a dog:

"I wasn’t born to lie idle on a sofa,

or to be turned into a doll, a fetish to satisfy your needs,

or to see my natural identity suppressed,

or even to be deprived of my wish to collaborate with the group.

I am not your child, but neither am I one of your machines.

I love the smell of dead leaves, wet grass and droppings,
I get intoxicated breathing in all that disgusts you,
but I cannot stand your perfumes.

I seek a freedom that you do not understand
a freedom that may seem to you a bond
because it means participation and the definition of roles.

The hardest effort for me is inactivity.

I feed off your assurance, I need it like the air I breathe.

I want you close but not morbidly so.

I want you to take me along
through engagement with life, and the desire to do things.

I am the other side of the coin that you have lost.

Find it…and you will find me too."

Roberto Marchesini

Dog's world and pack dynamics are very interesting to study and they can teach us a lot of positive behavioral patterns to face various situations.

....so challenge yourself and let's do some pack therapy!