Decoding Dog Behavior: Insights from Expert Trainer Dagny Kaspar

Have you ever caught yourself wondering why your dog behaves the way it does? Well, it's time to clear up the mystery. Join us as we sit down with expert dog trainer Dagny Kaspar, who not only alters canine behavior but also brings to light the motivations behind such actions.

In our chat, Dagny opens her heart and shares her personal journey into the realm of dog training. She helps us unveil the secrets of dog communication, emphasizing the role our mindset plays in understanding our four-legged friends. We've all heard about body language, but did you know how critical it is in dog communication? Dagny enlightens us on this and takes us back in time, explaining how fear-based training techniques from the mid-20th century have lost their effectiveness. 

We all love our dogs, but how often have we blamed them for their actions without understanding the root cause? Dagny teaches us to be compassionate, providing dogs with the resources they need for success, rather than blaming them. We also discuss the profound impact of our daily habits and language on our dogs and the power of positive reinforcement. As Dagny rightly says, dog training is not about changing the dog but about transforming ourselves. So, tune in to gain some valuable insights and listen to Dagny's inspiring journey of turning her passion into a successful business. It's all about creating that awesome relationship with our dogs, isn't it?

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Thank you, hello, and welcome to the next episode of the Overcome Yourself podcast. My name is Nicole, as you know, and I'm so excited to be here today with Dagnie. Dagnie is a Well. Conventionally we would know her as a dog trainer, but in reality she helps owners right Communicate better with their dogs so that they can have a better relationship. Take it away, dagnie, I'm chopping it up.

Speaker 2: 0:32

Yeah, absolutely. It's like I advertise myself as a dog trainer because that's what people think they need, but more often than not I'm there as a behavior consultant, as a therapist for the family and for the dog, more so an educator on how their dogs perceive the world and how we can use that in a positive way to modify their behavior. I think when we look at it just strictly as training, we're kind of doing ourselves a disservice, because it's not just changing behaviors. If you don't actually take the time to understand what's motivating those behaviors and how they're interpreting the world, you're really putting a band-aid on something instead of fixing the wound itself. Does that make sense?

Speaker 1: 1:12

Yes, yes, it does. So how did you get into dog training? Can you give us a little bit of your backstory and then we'll talk some tactics and stuff, so I've always been a person that's loved animals.

Speaker 2: 1:26

I had one dog growing up.

Speaker 2: 1:27

He lived for 17 years his nickname is Pal and he was a quirky doxin mix and his legs were exactly this long as long as my thumb. He's very cute and sweet. My family didn't really know a lot about dogs. Luckily he was a low maintenance dog, right, and so after he passed I wanted to get a new dog because I was like I'm not going to live without a dog. That's just not an option for me. So the next dog that I got was really difficult, very different from Pal, and it was really a shock to me. I ended up I took her to training in the area because I had her when I was in college, and so I took her to training and OK, sorry, they're playing and they're having a lot.

Speaker 1: 2:09

You're fine, you're fine.

Speaker 2: 2:11

Why don't you come sit with me for a second? So? But when I started learning, I was like so amazed by all the things that I was learning, just about. You know my dog's behavior in general, and I immediately noticed a difference in how my dog behaved, just based on like my understanding softened my behavior. It was as simple as that to make a small difference. So, anyway, I stayed after class like every day and I was talking with a teacher and everything, and she was like, hey, maybe you should do an apprenticeship with me. I was like, oh, my God is, in college I studied genetics, I have a degree in genetics, and then I realized, like I don't like working in a lab. So so I ended up oh no, oh no, I am the host now. Oh, this is scary. What's going on? I don't know what to do. Do you do? I don't know what to do. Oh, good body, good job. Did you go on that body? It's really good. Thank you, maybe I checkmate.

Speaker 1: 3:42

I'm so sorry, you're totally okay.

Speaker 2: 3:46

I was like, oh my God, I'm the host. Now what do I do?

Speaker 1: 3:48

And I started like no, I'm sorry about that. Okay, you were telling me you let. The last thing I heard was teacher.

Speaker 2: 3:56

Yes, I um, I stayed late after class with a teacher like every day just cause I had like so many questions in general about dog training and behavior and all that. And she offered me an apprenticeship to to work with her, and so I did that for a couple of years and then was like you know what? This is my calling? This is exactly what I want to do. I studied genetics in college and I have a degree in genetics. And then as soon as I got that degree, I was like I hate working in labs. I don't want to do it. Don's always been my passion, but it always felt like something like as a kid, like an unattainable dream. But now, uh, as soon as somebody else saw it in me, I was like I do have it. And now here I am doing it.

Speaker 1: 4:34

I love, love, love that. Um. I made a real this morning about how, when I was younger, um, I said that I wanted to be a model and, like you know, the adults laughed at me because they're like you're too fat, which you could fix, but you're too short, so that can never happen. Um.

Speaker 1: 4:56

Oh my God, okay, I'm sorry, but he said like you know, like my, my, my family said that, like you know, in a way that they're trying to protect you, they're like you know, and it just it's just, it sucks, right. But then I'm like now I'm a model for my own business.

Speaker 1: 5:09

And so, like you know, we're here making our dreams come true, right? So I love, love, love that, um, yes, so, um, all right. So then you became you, you did an apprenticeship and then now that's what you do, full time. That's your whole business.

Speaker 2: 5:25

So I I'm a model for my own business. I've been in a relationship.

Speaker 1: 5:30

I started my LLC in 2018 and I'm still trucking. I love it. So, um, tell me a little bit about what you found Like with my dog, first of all. Okay, there's, I've got so many, so many things like we know that their dogs are really intelligent, like now with the buttons. Have you seen the buttons?

Speaker 2: 5:52

like on Tik Tok and stuff of the dogs button Buttons Like they push a button. I'm so sorry. No, I haven't seen that. Please describe.

Speaker 1: 6:02

Okay, so this girl, she was in college and she was doing like, like child education.

Speaker 2: 6:10

Yes, the buttons where they talk they press on the pause.

Speaker 1: 6:13

Yes, so she figured out that they can, they process like a, like a four year old. Their brain they do, they can make it on the streets.

Speaker 1: 6:21

Yes, exactly no, yes, yes, yes, no.

Speaker 1: 6:24

And so, like tongues are really smart and they really understand and they can, like, speak back to you, if you know, if they have the faculty, so they push the button and they're like I love you, they push the button, I want to go outside, I'm hungry, like I'm mad at you, and so like there's a lot. And then I've also noticed, you know, like he communicates with me in his own way, and so it's really interesting to have to learn to figure out what someone needs without them being able to tell you. You know, and I think that that helps us with our human relationships too, because someone, sometimes somebody's angry, you're like, you're not angry, like something's bothering you, and like I mean your space, you know. So can you talk a little bit about that, about, like how we communicate with them and stuff like that and how it kind of translates to humans as well? Because, like, the work that you do is with the humans, right, like you have to teach somebody how to talk to their dog, right? Can you talk a little bit about that aspect?

Speaker 2: 7:23

Yeah, sure. So the first thing that we need to know about dog canine communication is that they always pay more attention to our body language than what we're saying with our mouths, and they also can smell crazy good. So, like if you are anxious or stressed out, they can literally smell those chemicals in your body. You cannot hide it from them. So to to hmm, what am I trying to say?

Speaker 1: 7:50

It's about learning to calm ourselves.

Speaker 2: 7:52

We have to get our mindset.

Speaker 1: 7:54

Like I'm a coach and I teach about mindset and you, you got to calm down.

Speaker 2: 8:00

That's a big part of it too. Is that like if I come into a family with a mindset that is very authoritarian, it's really hard to help them understand. You know, like I can work with their dog and their dog listens to me, no problem. And they asked me how did you do that? And the truth is that I'm considering the dog's emotional needs, I'm considering the body language and the entire picture and it's really hard to like. There's not a real good way to tell someone they need to be a little bit more emotionally mature in their relationship with their dog. You know what I mean. Like you know, it's really especially.

Speaker 2: 8:33

You know I don't like to make sweeping statements, but like you know, men in the family sometimes the man will be kind of you know, quote unquote down in a he's in that word, don't even get me started but and it's really it's difficult to communicate that to them.

Speaker 2: 8:46

But truly, the people that I see who listen and they actually start changing their mindset and thinking about their dog. As you know, it's a caregiving relationship. Whether we, you know, compare it to being a child or wild animal or whatever it is, it is a caregiving relationship where we have all the power we don't need to spend time trying to dominate our dogs, and I think a lot of that is motivated by our own human ego, and that that is the piece that is very difficult to dismantle. That's the piece that's very hard. But the people who actually listen and who change their mindset I mean watching their relationship with their dogs grow over time is just the most beautiful thing you could possibly watch, because the trust builds up and they're able to do these amazing things with their dogs, and their dogs are comfortable in their own skin and their own environment, and that is truly something that is priceless.

Speaker 1: 9:35

That is awesome and I think it's just. It's so parallel to an entrepreneur's relationship to their business. When you have to learn to trust your business, you have to learn. You know the processes are in place, things are happening, it's growing, it's learning. You know, like when you, when you set the systems up, obviously in your business is different, but when you set the systems up correctly and you learn to trust those systems, you know, and so I love that and it all comes back to mindset. So what advice? What? What advice do you kind of find yourself giving over and over, as far as like, how do you tell you know? How do you tell someone about the emotional maturity? What advice have you, do you come up with? Have you been able to really?

Speaker 2: 10:24

I usually. I usually when it's when it's an issue of, you know, emotional maturity in a person trying, to quote unquote dominate their dog, I usually attack it, like you know. I explain that those techniques, the tactics we'll call them tactics those were developed way back in like the 40s and 50s and the science has proven that they don't actually work and, like I talk about some of the effects, like fear based training reduces the amount of time that your dog actually glances at you and if you're not having three dogs not looking at you, you're not having a conversation with them and that's a crucial piece of it. So it's, it's all these little things that I, you know, I try to make it a little little package of science and I give it to them and I'm like, of course you know I can't tell you what to do and what to not do with your dog. I would love to just boss you and tell you quit doing it. And then sometimes I say that straight up I'm like, quit doing that with this dog, it doesn't need it, you know, um, but usually I try to come at it with, like, the science aspect, because that's how I understand things.

Speaker 2: 11:27

It doesn't always work. But the other big piece of advice that I usually end up giving out is that your dog is just wanting to be a part of the family, and your dog truly doesn't understand. They're not doing something to spite you, they're not. You know they don't have those more complex human emotions. They do have emotions, but it's more simple than that. You know they're not spiting you, they're just literally can't handle what's happening in their brain. They just they're not set up for success. That's the thing. So trying not to blame your dog, trying to look at the whole picture, that's a very strong theme in my work.

Speaker 1: 12:06

Yes, and that's a strong theme, I think, in my work as well is not blaming yourself. Especially, something that really stuck out to me is this what you're doing does not work, but it's not your fault because you didn't know. Like this is what you've been talking, this is what the experts have taught you, and I come across that with a lot of my clients. Where it's not your fault because you didn't know, you know there's a difference between knowing and not doing, and then not knowing and then that's why you don't do it. So you know it's not your fault, like we have to. You know in my line of work to it's not your fault, like you just have to learn. And then you have to implement habits because for me, one of my big thing is the tiny success habits like it's not about doing this big overhaul and working 16 hours a day. It's about finding the big domino, adjusting that one thing that needs to be adjusted, making everything else work.

Speaker 2: 13:14

Oh you said that I love the one domino. I'm going to use that my lessons, because that's exactly what like people will come to me and they'll say I've seen three trainers and they can't get them to quit doing this and I'm like, let's talk about his daily routine, let's talk about the relationship with the family members, and often it is just one or two dominoes that I've got to just like tweak and then everything falls into place. I'm sorry to interrupt. That was amazing.

Speaker 1: 13:38

So it's actually one of the big themes of my book. It's one of the things I learned. That's why I call them my success habits. And sometimes it's not things like I told my clients. It's not things that make you money directly. So we're not talking about posting on social media. We're not talking about making offers. Those things are important and those are habits that we're going to build up, but that's not what we're going to talk about right now.

Speaker 1: 13:57

Because you're not doing those things, because the mindset work is not there, because you're not doing, you're not drinking your water, your brain is dehydrated and your body is trying to figure out how do I get more liquid? And you're drinking sugar, and then it's that, and then how could you do anything else? So, like you said, you're treating symptoms instead of going in and actually fixing what is wrong. And like, if you just give your body more water, a lot of shit falls into place. You know, yes, that's one of the things I learned from the author of the five hour work week, tim Ferriss. Right, because somebody was like okay, so if you, if you work in four hours a week, right, so like, what the hell do you do with the rest of your time?

Speaker 1: 14:40

like, how do you figure out what to work on? And one thing that I do that a lot of people don't, you know, find like and it's funny because in my other interview we're talking about how sometimes doing nothing feels like a waste of time sitting down and thinking things through, he says I'll do that for four days. I'll just go to my cabin, sit on the front porch, take walks, take a bath, go fishing and just think about it and figure out what's that. One big domino. I'll do that, and everything else is taken care of. I hire someone that handles it.

Speaker 1: 15:17

I, you know, I fix this whatever it is, and then everything falls into place. We don't have to worry about anything else. We don't have to worry about them scratching at the wall because now you've provided another activity, because the issue is that they're bored and so, like you fix the whole solution by leaving them something to do, right? So, yeah, talk to me a little bit about habits, and what kind of habits Do you find your clients like? Do you find advising your clients to implement with their dogs?

Speaker 2: 15:46

Yeah, so actually there's. There's some big habits and, in regards to recall, you know, coming one call that I usually advise people on because is the most important thing, like if your dog gets out, that's all you've got. So yes, I'm always really picky about how people interact with their dogs, because how we interact with them on a daily basis will absolutely affect their recall. If we habitually call them to us to throw them in the bath and clip their nails and they hate those things what do you think is going to happen the next time you call them? You know they're going to think they're going to that is great and that will be a possibility.

Speaker 2: 16:20

Do I come? Do I not? Let me assess the situation. Am I going to get bathed? Am I going to get loved? You know what I mean.

Speaker 2: 16:26

So we have to make sure that we're really, really particular about what we call our dogs to us for, when we call them and the tone in which we call them. So a lot of people will use their dogs name negatively, like, for instance, where she know she's gone, oh, she's eating. I have a little Chihuahua mix name Marvel, and instead of correcting her, like because I use tone of voice to kind of coach her through something, so I don't have to get up from the couch like she's doing something, like what are you doing, you know, but I don't use her name. I don't say Marvel, you know, because I don't want her to have those negative connotations with her name. I don't want that negative association. Instead, I use a different word, I say girl.

Speaker 2: 17:08

So not using your dog's name negatively, not calling them to you to do things that they don't want to do. And then, lastly, don't constantly say your dog's name and without rewarding them, like we have to teach them what is expected when we say their name and we've got to be thinking about that. So you've got to reward a lot when your dog comes to you in any circumstance, to really up your recall and truly for for every behavior. There's little habits like this that you know. If we, if I give you a training exercise to work on jumping, for instance, and that's all I give you, you're not going to get very far. You're going to get one context where your dog understands that they are not supposed to jump. But if I give you that and then follow it up with here's six habits you can break in your daily life, that's going to help it. Here is what you're going to replace those habits with. Now, two weeks later, we have a different dog, so that's a big difference.

Speaker 1: 18:01

It's a big deal is not leaving that void with habits. That's so, so important, because our minds tend to fill spaces. So like if we have that space that's empty, like when you're trying to quit smoking, so if you have an empty space where you go outside and then now it's like, okay, you have to find something to replace it with, so that your brain there's something to do. Okay, these 15 minutes now I have something to do, because you want to fill that space. Just like when you have, like when you keep all your money in your bank account, all your money comes in and it's on your bank account, your brain, you know what it wants to do. It wants to distribute it. Right, you're like, oh, I have all this stuff, and so that's why it's good to have, you know, set aside emergency accounts, your investments and things like that.

Speaker 1: 18:47

Okay, because it's not all in one space. Okay, so I don't, you know what I'm saying. But does that make sense? It has somewhere to go, because if not, it's just sitting there, and so your brain does that to you. So it's super, super important that you are aware of those things and then you set up those boundaries for yourself so that your brain. You can keep your brain happy. Yes, because it's not about like, it's not about fighting with your brain. It's like okay, my brain wants to do this, so let's do this productively. How can we keep my brain happy?

Speaker 2: 19:15

And you know, so, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going to so much Exactly like with our dogs, like it's not about fighting with our dogs. It's about what do we need as a whole and how are we going to get there in a way that is productive, is going to like maintain the trust I already have with my dog and is going to better the relationship. When we consider those things, it's a whole different ball game and I really like the way that you said that it's not. We're not fighting against each other. We're trying to work together.

Speaker 2: 19:41

And I think a lot of times when there is that void of you know, I'm used to screaming at my dog in this situation Now what do I do?

Speaker 2: 19:48

It can be really confusing because we're used to acting on our feelings and situations like that, but that is not healthy because we're still you know, like you said, we're not going to say earlier, dogs can understand a lot more than we think.

Speaker 2: 19:58

We're still modeling behavior for them and I find that you know, even in like households where they have really combative training, you have a combative dog. You know what I mean. You get what you put in yeah, spends a lot of time thinking about how are we going to fill these spaces, and a lot of times I have to say you know, I sit there and I'm like okay, your dog jumps up. This is what you're currently doing, here's what you're going to do next time, and you're going to repeat this five times and if your dog still does it, they go on a time out. You know what I mean? I think it's really. I like how you said that it's important to fill the space with something, because otherwise we just act on our emotions, and that is more often than not, when we're talking about unwanted behavior, their negative emotions, and that's conducive to learning that way.

Speaker 1: 20:38

And that's a big deal for us and for them as well. I knew there was gonna be a lot of parallels, because it's habits. It's all about habits, it's all about trust. It's all about that relationship and we have to learn to do it for ourselves. Like we talked about in the beginning, dog training is all about mindset. Like we have to fix what's going on up here because they're a reflection of us. They're a reflection of like if you're anxious, your dog is likely to be anxious, because you're anxious all the time. And then they're like I don't know why we're so worried.

Speaker 2: 21:07

What else are we nervous about? Yes, exactly exactly.

Speaker 1: 21:11

Yes, so it all starts with us and, like you said, like we were talking about that, our dog is a part of our family, but our business is kind of our too, because our businesses need us. We're the caretaker of our businesses. Like, if something breaks, we have to make sure that it gets fixed. We have to make sure that we feed it daily, that we're doing our activities daily. We gotta make sure that we take it outside, we gotta make sure that all the activity right Spend some energy posting our content and making our offers and going to photo shoots and doing all the things, all the success habits that don't necessarily make us money upfront but it creates that success right Cause if I don't take, if I don't do my photo shoot, I don't have pictures and now my content's gonna be stale and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 21:58

So, and it's the same thing with our dogs Like if we're not calm, they're gonna take our cues because they understand they don't. They're not listening to the TV, they're not on social media, and so they are connected to things they hear themselves, you know. However, however that is, but there's not that noise like we have. You know, we can agree, like I don't know what they're thinking about, but they don't have the noise like we have. So they take cues from us like little babies, like okay, is she happy, okay, she's smiling, she's happy, that's what they have, right.

Speaker 1: 22:29

And so, like when we're yelling at our dogs, like would I talk to a four year old If they can understand like a four year old? Would I talk to a four year old like this? Would I smack a four year old? Like this, would I let a four year old? No, so I can't. Be like this, is their understanding If I'm talking to them like a 10 year old? Maybe they're just not understanding what's happening. Like they can't understand 10 word sentence but they can understand like a two word command. So we've got to also meet them where they're at. And it's all in our minds, it all comes back to us.

Speaker 2: 23:00

I want to touch on something that you were you were talking about with mindset too, that, like when we think about our dogs as being capable of understanding us to the extent of a small child, that softens our mindset when we're interacting with them automatically. And I used to tell people like talk to your dogs less if you want them to understand you Truly. It's more of talk to your dog in a way that they can understand and understand that they might not understand all of your words, they can understand some words and phrases and they can understand tone of voice. So, truly, an evening in my house, like if Marvel has a habit she likes to go in the dining room and she likes to do her poopies in there, and I like to tell her you can't do that. We go outside or we go on the pipette right, we're working on that. And so I'll verbally coach her through it.

Speaker 2: 23:48

I see her walking and I say girl, where are you going? And she stops and I say what do you do when? And she turns around and then she starts walking towards me and I say good girl, thank you. Oh my God, good girl, what a good girl. And then we get a treat or something like that, so they can understand like you can. Truly, you can talk to your dog however you want, to just know what they can know, what they can and cannot understand. But coming at it from the mindset of talking to how would I talk to a child in this situation Automatically softens our mindset and helps us calm down to an extent. Does that make sense?

Speaker 1: 24:21

Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah. And it's bringing it back to my business. It's understanding how to talk to your ideal market. Yeah, but like that's what you're doing, you have to understand. Then you can't have like, you can't give them a whole paragraph. You're like okay, so how do I look? Then I look at you and they're gonna be like you look amazing because you're the most amazing thing in my life, I love you.

Speaker 1: 24:43

You know what I'm saying, but they're just gonna look at you and a big deal. Something that you touched on is also the eyes. They communicate with their eyes, like I look at my dog and like I can tell you if he's happy, if he's sad his body movements. I'm like, oh, he has to poop. We need to go outside, yes. Or oh, he has to pee, like this is how he gets when he has to pee. Or like he doesn't feel good today. Or oh, he's hungry, like he'll stand in front of his bowl and be like you can't go to your room, you know, and it's body language.

Speaker 1: 25:14

I'm like, oh, I haven't fed you, you're right, and they communicate with us and they can't say food unless you give them buttons and you train them on how to use it, which, like get lost in TikTok, like go down the rabbit hole of like those little videos, because they're amazing and they ask for people and they'll tell you they'll be like I love you, I want snuggles, like they communicate with you, you know, and so it's amazing and it's kind of sometimes how you have to talk to your brain too.

Speaker 1: 25:43

I love how you mentioned like rewards. You know, when that's something that I talk to my people about, to my clients about a lot is when you follow through on things that you say you're gonna do, even small things, when you accomplish your goals, reward yourself. Yes, like you have to, you have to. That's another habit that you have to create is rewarding yourself, because then, like you said, oh well, she said, if we do this, we're gonna get this. So like let's do this, because last time, you know, she actually took us on vacation, like she says she would.

Speaker 1: 26:17

So, if I follow through right, because it's trust deposits Like you're teaching yourself. You're teaching yourself that I'm gonna do what I said I was gonna do, and sometimes we do that for our clients. But then we say, oh, if I get five clients, I'm gonna go on vacation. And then we get the five clients. You're like, oh, but I'm really busy now because I have five clients and I need 10 clients. And then you just demolish the whole goal and you don't reward yourself. And now that's actually working against your brain because you're making trust withdrawals. And now your brain is like, oh, this is gonna be like last time, where you know we're gonna do all this work and then she's not gonna do what she says she was gonna do. So maybe I should just watch Netflix because we're not gonna go on vacation anyway. And so you're just like you're fucking up your whole vibe man.

Speaker 2: 27:04

You are you?

Speaker 1: 27:05

are yes. So making sure that those rewards are don't say like a four week vacation. You get five clients and you go on a four week vacation, because those things don't make sense. But you get five clients and you go on a weekend off and you disconnect and you set things up. So you're like, hey, I got these five clients, but our shit doesn't start until this day because I'm going out of town this time. So, yes, you have to pay the deposit now, but then we don't start until this day or whatever. Right, but that way you build it in and you make sure that you get those rewards.

Speaker 1: 27:38

Because then when you call your brain, you know you call your brain. You call your dog, you call your brain. You're like all right, it's time to work. Your brain's like all right, let's go because vacation is coming or because I'm gonna get ice cream. Well, not treats. Treats shouldn't be a reward, like for people, you know, because whatever, we create bad associations with food. But you know, maybe it is an ice cream, maybe you treat yourself on Friday to an ice cream or something, whatever that thing is. Reward yourself and follow through. Your dog will listen to you better and then like it works with their kids too. You know like you create trust deposits with everybody, and even though they don't understand this whole conversation, I'm sure he's like poked up his ear, like when I say outside. He's probably like what is she talking about?

Speaker 1: 28:22

You know because they understand certain words and he knows like back up or go home or you know things like that. So you will not catch him sitting when we are outside, like I'll tell him to sit and he's, you know, he's so overstimulated that he won't Wait now mom, really, yes, but he does certain things like if I say get down, like he just jumps right off the couch like he no problem.

Speaker 1: 28:43

You know, like when I turn off my light, he jumps off the bed. He's like okay, it's bedtime, like I don't even have to say anything. He's been plugging in my phone and he's like all right, this is the time that I have to leave, and so they know, they learn your routines, they understand and, like you said, if you just learn to calm down and talk to them and talk to them like someone who understands you to an extent, right, yes, and I love teaching you and sometimes you got to talk to yourself like a child. You got to talk to your inner child.

Speaker 2: 29:12

I talk to my inner child on the daily.

Speaker 1: 29:16

So when you say things like oh, I'm so stupid, like your inner child is inside and like you know. So that's something that you also have to remember is talk to yourself sometimes like you would talk to a kid Awesome job. Oh my god, that was something. I catch myself. You know, I used to be like Nicole, you're so stupid. And now I'm like Nicole. That was amazing. Like, oh my god, you know, yes, honestly, like that's a thing you know all by yourself. Oh my god.

Speaker 2: 29:42

So part of like rewarding dogs, part of in dog training, is figuring out what is rewarding for the dog. A lot of people, like I, love using treats, but not every dog is very food motivated. Some of them are so strongly emotionally motivated that our rewards have to be emotional in nature, and so I will literally just like you said to your inner child there I will be like oh my god, you're the best. Oh my god, you're still sitting. Wow, you are the smartest dog in the world. I cannot believe it. Look at you. Oh my gosh, now we're going to go get a treat. You know that is so much fun for them and I only have to do that like three times and then they get it. You know what I mean, because it's on paying $100 bills.

Speaker 2: 30:15

I'm paying them, I'm telling them you know we're doing the rewards like you were talking about. So anyway, when you talked to your inner child, that was like that's exactly how I talked to my dogs. I just had that.

Speaker 1: 30:24

Yes, but that's how sometimes, you know, like when we're having our own staff meetings, when we work by ourselves and we talk to ourselves at staff meetings, like if your boss, if you weren't a job and your boss talked to you the way you talk to you, like you'd be like I'm out of here, dude. So like, don't do that to yourself, you know. But if you know your boss is not going to talk to you like a four year old, but you know I'm giving you permission to do that, to encourage yourself, and like the same with your dog, because if it's fun for them, it's going to be fun for you. Like if you've never talked to yourself like that, it'll be kind of like this little adventure and you'll be like you're awesome. You'll be like who said that? Like at first it's a little bit weird, but as you, as you start doing it, that's another trust deposit that helps you build your confidence. That's another great habit.

Speaker 1: 31:11

To just reframe our thoughts. Just something else we were talking about earlier. What you're thinking about, you know, because if you're not, if if you're not focusing and you're thinking yourself, I'm also like what is your brain thinking about? Some random shit, like it's just like off. You know, like I saw the other day at the little meme of like Frye on the little scooter I don't know if you ever watched Futurama and he's like in space.

Speaker 1: 31:33

It's like my brain going on a little adventure. You know, like, if you know, if you're not focusing on what you're thinking about, that's your brain. Your brain is like I'm gonna go over here and see what's going on. And then you're like why am I thinking about this random ass shit like side of me. And it's because you want to focus on what you are thinking. You know your brain is on an adventure somewhere else. So I love it so much. So, um, how can we get in touch with you? Like, how can people connect with you? How can you train their dogs? Like how can I, you know how are you to train my dog?

Speaker 2: 32:06

um, so I do. My website is the pals canineacademycom or no, it's not the, it's just pals canineacademycom and canine it'll be all in the notes, so oh, there's a form on there like a contact form. Fill that out. Let me know everything you want to tell me um. I also have a Facebook page for my business that I'm sometimes active on, sometimes not, but don't mess with me through Facebook because I'll leave it um. But you can also email me at dagny at pals canineacademycom and I'll be in the comments, guys.

Speaker 1: 32:37

Awesome, yes, and where is it that you're located?

Speaker 2: 32:39

what's your area? Sure, I am in Grand Ledge, michigan. I've often known to do zoom consultations, uh, in other states though, and so with something like behavior modification, sometimes that is more than enough. Um, so, you know, depending on your situation, but yeah because if it's about how, what can I do?

Speaker 1: 33:01

Like if you could watch what the dog does and you can be like, okay, what do I need to do to arrange this behavior right? Because it's not about the dog, it's about us.

Speaker 1: 33:09

It's more about treating people. I, I, it's all I do. No, it makes no much sense. Like it's true. And yeah, it's those small changes, it's those tiny habits that we perform every day, those words that we say to them over and over. And I'll be like babe. And then my dog, like is like oh. He'll look to the office and be like is she coming?

Speaker 2: 33:30

You know they learn yeah.

Speaker 1: 33:32

And so the things that we repeat to them over and over again, that's, I mean, we are our habits, right? So our dogs are habits too. So it's the stuff we do every day. And they do the same thing that our brain does. They're just trying to stay safe. You know, just like our brain tries to keep us safe, they're just trying to be safe, that's all. And they're trying to follow your directions and if they're confused, if your brain is confused, they're not going to do what you want them to do, because they just don't know Right. And then you know, they get stressed out and they get angry because they're like I don't know what you want from me.

Speaker 2: 34:04

I see so many dogs that are screaming that on a daily basis.

Speaker 1: 34:08

And they're barking at you and they're like I don't know what you want. And you're like, stop barking.

Speaker 2: 34:11

And you're like I'm just trying to tell you what I do the person's like see, my dog is so stubborn and unruly and I'm like, actually your dog is fucking terrified. Your dog just has some comfort.

Speaker 1: 34:23

They just need some cuddles, man. Sometimes, you know, and that's true for my clients too Sometimes they just need a hug, they just need someone to listen to them, and it's tiny adjustments, it's always tiny adjustments. And speaking to getting out of flight or flight mode, a lot of entrepreneurs have been living in fight or flight mode like that dog You're just fucking terrified and you don't know what's going on. And the first thing before we can make any changes, we got to get out of that fight or flight. And the opposite of fight or flight which nobody talks about, because I just learned it recently is rest and digest. We have times right, rest and digest. So we got to give ourselves time to rest and digest.

Speaker 1: 35:07

We can't Like our entire body would be fried. It is fried, like I remember it just nerve pain because I was constantly. I was constantly anxious, and when I was finally able to talk to my doctors and do all of that, I don't have the nerve pain like I used to anymore. It's sometimes there because I was in fight or flight for so long, but sometimes, if we're like that, our dogs will be reflected of that too, and so that's just a bad situation, like everybody's just freaking out.

Speaker 2: 35:40

Yeah, I know, I know, and when we use these scary dominance tactics, our dogs are just going further into that fight or flight and it's going to take longer to kind of draw them out.

Speaker 1: 35:49

So get your spot on. Yeah, any last tips? Do you have like a final send off before we sign off?

Speaker 2: 35:58

here. Just remember that your dogs have emotions. And also I forgot to mention that I do have some free videos on YouTube. Just asking in Academy yes, there's some little videos there. I'll be putting up some more as I get my computer set up.

Speaker 1: 36:13

I love watching dog training videos. Oh cool, yes, so make sure that that link is included. You answered all the questions, so make sure that that link is included as well. Make sure you subscribe to Dagnie's YouTube channel so you can catch all her videos. Yes, yes, free tips, awesome, awesome, well. Thank you so much for being here with me today, dagnie. This has been absolutely awesome. I'm so excited to connect with you on Facebook. Connect with you Well, you said not Facebook, not on Messenger. Yeah, we'll catch you on YouTube. Like, we're all over the place.

Speaker 2: 36:50

We're all over social media.

Speaker 1: 36:51

You can use my website, email us by Facebook, awesome, awesome. Thank you so much, and thank you everyone for tuning in. This episode has been amazing. If you want to connect with Dagnie, like I said, all of her links will be in the comments Make sure you subscribe to her channels and stay tuned, and if you need help with your dog, call her. The best thing you can do is have an awesome relationship. I love when my dog comes up to me and just snuggles next to me and when he does the things that I ask him to do, like get down, come here, and so if you're missing out on that awesome relationship with your dog, give Dagnie a call, give me a call if you want to upgrade your business, and that's it All right. So let's sign off. Thank you so much, dagnie. We will talk soon.

Speaker 2: 37:34

Absolutely. Thank you so much.