I just got a bit of sad news.  Josie, an enthusiastic dog who was one of the stars of my instructional DVD set, is no longer with us.

Josie also happened to have been one of the dogs that I worked with before this website existed, and it was my desire to have a more permanent repository of “how to do” what we were doing in our lessons that led to the NaturalDogBlog.  I really enjoyed working with her and her family – as I recall she was all charged up and ready to go for our first lesson – in the middle of an icy winter!  We played an endless game of tug/fetchtug in over a foot of snow in the backyard, and everyone in her family got into the game despite freezing our fingertips off.

I think you also get a real sense of her joie-de-vivre in the DVDs too.  She was the perfect example of how a high-energy dog can be right there with you, in the pocket, with the full force of their emotion wrapped up in trying to guess what you’re going to do next.  I’ll definitely treasure the memories that I have of our time together – we had a lot of fun, to be sure.

My love to all of you and your pets – past, present, and future.  Josie, you are missed.

Feel like talking about it?  Head over to the NaturalDogBlog forum to discuss this article with the community.

The key to changing your dog’s behavior is changing your own behavior.  Your success in developing the kind of relationship that you want with your dog, or changing your dog’s habits, is directly proportional to your ability to change your own habits.  In other words, if you want different results than what you’re currently experiencing with your dog, then you are going to have to start acting differently yourself.  And habits are tough to break.

The NaturalDogBlog is full of techniques that will help you learn a new way of interacting, not only with your dog, but also with the world as a whole.  Sometimes you can simply apply one of the techniques and start seeing change immediately.  It is perfectly normal, though, for the real results to be visibile after incorporating the techniques into the way that you interact with your dog on a daily basis.  So you will need to develop some new habits of behavior, and get rid of some of the old ones, in order for things to fully click into place.

Now any new habit takes time and patience to develop.  Undoubtedly your current habits exist because on some level they actually serve you.  Even habits that cause problems for you are still fulfilling some of your needs.  It’s up to you to eventually recognize that you have a choice about how your needs are met.  The needs don’t go away – they’re basic to all of us.  But, if you’re willing to take a risk, you can choose a more positive, empowering way to satisfy them.

Don’t worry – I’m here to help you figure out how to do it!

We’ll be talking more about strategies for facilitating your own change here on the Naturaldogblog.  Start by asking yourself these questions:

• How are my habits holding me back?
• As I read about (or watch) this new way of interacting with my dog, as I learn about how my dog feels the world, what within me is resisting accepting this information?
• Is there a part of me that is afraid of changing my behavior?  What am I afraid of?

These questions may or may not be transformative in and of themselves, but they will certainly help you get closer to the root of what’s keeping you from making the kind of progress with your dog that you’d like to be making.  As you get closer to acting from your center, to courageously taking on your old habits, to having some clarity in your own life, your inner changes will be reflected in outer changes that you see in your dog’s behavior, and your relationship with your dog.

Change is possible, in yourself and in your dog.

My goal is to help you get there.

If you’d like to connect with others who are trying out these techniques and confronting their old habits, how about joining the discussion in the NaturalDogBlog forum?  You can discuss this article, get your own questions answered, or give feedback to others who might be wrestling with problems you’ve already solved.