Training With Grace works because it taps into how dogs learn best with methods that can be integrated into normal everyday life.
The purpose...
The purpose of Training With Grace is to create peaceful, balanced lives for people and their dogs. It does this by teaching dog owners to understand, communicate with, and train their dogs in a firm but gentle way.
A different species...
Imagine you have traveled to a different planet looking for extraterrestrial life. When you actually find a living being, you are overjoyed! All you want to do is communicate with this person and get to know her (at least you think this being is female). The problem is that you don’t speak the same language – not even close. It is so different from your native language that you can’t even reproduce the sounds she makes. There are also culture barriers, and the rules are incomprehensible. Your host greets you for the first time by rushing at you and pushing you down, but apparently that’s how people do things on this planet. Regardless of these difficulties, you sense that the person is just as excited to meet you as you are to meet her.
Breaking the rules...
She takes you on a tour and shows you all sorts of curiosities. There is one thing she shows you that you can’t help but pick up – unfortunately it happens to be a sacred object only to be touched by the elders of her people. At this point, your friend has a choice. She can scream and lunge at you, grab you by the hand and pry your fingers off the object until you release it, and then yell at you some more. Or, she can hand you another object, one just as fascinating as the one you’ve picked up and something you need both hands to hold. Without thinking about it, you place the sacred object back on its shelf and take hold of this new thing, while your friend beams in delight.
Training with grace...
The second response to your “misbehavior” is what I call grace. In this situation, grace is the unearned patience and understanding that allows one being to learn the rules and boundaries of another. Grace allows both you and your friend to remain calm and keeps the door open to future learning and a more fulfilling relationship. By being gracious, your friend can gently lead you through her baffling and sometimes scary environment until you know enough to relax even when your friend isn’t right by your side.
The role of ambassador...
If you and your friend had an ambassador, your relationship would develop much more quickly. An ambassador would be able to build a bridge of understanding between the two of you because she knows your language, culture, and perception of reality just as well as that of your friend. This is the role I fill as an educator and trainer of both people and dogs. The methods I use and teach to dog owners can quickly bring balance and peace to a home and form trusting and affectionate relationships between humans and their dogs.