Bruno The Dog Listener

Dear friends,
Working with dogs and their handlers has changed my life radically.
Each time I can help pupils and customers, it gives me a lot of satisfaction to notice the changes in their behaviour, their energy and body language.
For that reason I consider each dog and each handler to be a teacher for me because I keep learning from each and everyone of them.
Although I have been doing this for more than 20 years I still love doing one-to-ones and I also love my Sunday morning dog walking classes.

More than a decade ago my ex-wife Eva Schoenfeld decided to become a tissue salts practitioner. In the mean time she has built an enormous network of tissue salts consultants in Southern Africa and Asia. Many doctors and vets are her customers and learn how to use the tissue salts and also how to read the signs in the human faces in what is the “Academy for Tissue Salts and Facial Analysis” (www.atifa.co.za). Eva Schoenfeld has published a book in German about “Schuessler Salze und mein Hund”(Tissue Salts and my dog) and another book in English called “Second Chance”.
Thanks to Eva’s help I have been able to assist very allergic dogs to get better.
This time it was my privilege to not only be able to help an allergic dog but at the same time his handler.
Leo had been suffering from an overall allergic reaction for almost 3 years. He was continually scratching and biting himself, in spite of the expensive medication and food he was given. Was he getting better with this medication and food?
No, he was getting worse. Leo was suffering and his owners too.
When his lady owner read my article about an allergic dog, she called me.
We started the treatment of the dog (and the lady) only 3 weeks ago and underneath you can read the message I received from a very happy Daphne.

Sunday 5th May 2013.

Dear Bruno.

Well, Leo is a lot better at the moment, only the occasional biting and scratching. He is still on his pills for the moment which you said was O.K. He has to go to the vets again on the 9th of this month for a check up. However, I think his homeopathic treatment is working and, hopefully, so is mine. He is a different dog now and seems to be very happy. W hat a relief. His hair is growing back rapidly now and he is beginning to look handsome again. I think, according to my daughter , that my hair is growing back again as well. Can´t tell you how relieved we are, I think you have worked a miracle Bruno, what expertise you have. I know its early days yet with the tissue salts but I have complete faith in it, which helps enormously.. Gave Leo bath yesterday with tea tree oil so he smells delightful and his coat shines in the sun.

So grateful to you for your help, you have a wealth of knowledge. Hopefully other people who have the same problem,as Leo and myself will seek your help. Thank you.

Many regards.

Love Daphne. xxx

It is impossible for a vet to know everything about every illness or dis-ease.
I accept that.
This time I visited the vet who had been treating Leo for years on end, without any positive result. I told him that Leo was better having taken Tissue Salts for three weeks. The vet was more than interested, and you know why? Because his brother, who helps him in the clinic, has a dog who is suffering from an allergy and both brothers are unable to help the dog. Maybe I can help the dog…with Eva’s help.

Kindest regards from Bruno
690192976

Dear friends,

Having received a message from my brother Russel Meyer about the way his father behaved with his dog, I cannot resist publishing it on my website.

Hi Bruno,
I have been a fan of Cesar Milan and yourself for some time. Your advice on living with dogs is really useful to me, and I enjoy reading your mails.
While feeding my dogs a few days ago, I was struck by how much I had learned from my dad, and how wise he has been in living in harmony with his dog. I don’t hold up my dad as the ideal dog owner, and some of his practices may not be the ideal way to raise a dog. However, I can tell you lots about how he lived in harmony with his dog. I would like to share this with you:
My fathers dog was named Chaka, named after a fierce Zulu king. He was a thorough-bred Alsatian (German Shepherd), which came into our family just after I was born. My father says my brother and I played very roughly with Chaka – we pulled his tail, rode on him as if he was horse, and he endured all with stoic calm. He was so protective of us that when my dad needed to spank us he had to lock Chaka away, or else he would continually push my dad away. But, there were several occasions when he protected us from burglars, when was very, very fierce.
My dad had a few rules that were never broken:

1. He never allowed Chaka into the house, unless he called him, and then never in the bedrooms and never on couches or chairs. He always said: “a dog’s place is outside the house”

2. He always said (and still does): “I trust my own dog and another dead dog”, so he would never touch or pet another dog, even when invited

3. He never encouraged anyone to touch Chaka -if they did he always said: “you take your chances when you do that; he wont harm you while I am here, but if you do that when I am not here, watch out”. Few people ever touched Chaka, none did so after he growled at them

4. Whenever my dad walked Chaka, it was without a leash. And I never once heard my dad shout at Chaka – he didn’t have to, Chaka stayed at his left leg throughout the walk

5. We grew up poor so we couldn’t afford the best dog food. We bought what we could afford – and my dad’s daily ritual was too rinse out all the pots and pour the gravy and food bits over the dry food. I don’t know how healthy that was, but Chaka had a beautiful coat and he lived a long, healthy life.

At the age of 14yrs Chaka had arthritis and was suffering badly. A vet suggested we put Chaka down to end his suffering. My dad could not get himself to do it, until one day Chaka could not even get up anymore. He just laid and wagged his tail.

My dad never owned a dog again – he said, “I have already had the best dog anyone could ever ask for”. I think they were best example of canine / human friendship I have ever seen. And I try to practice what I have learnt from my dad.
He may not have known the best way to care for a dog, but it was enough.

Kind regards,

Russel Meyer

HR Business Partner: Sub-Saharan Africa
Tullow South Africa (Pty) Ltd
( work: +27 (0) 21 400 7691
? fax: +27 (0) 21 400 7660
11th Floor Convention Towers
Cnr. Heerengracht and Coen Steytler Avenue, Foreshore
P.O. Box 5544
Cape Town 8000
South Africa

Helping what some people call “allergic dogs” has often given me a lot of satisfaction. According to me these dogs are not allergic. Many times the food they are being offered is making them ill.
What I do with so-called “allergic” dogs is simple: I replace the cheap S.H.I.T. chemical dog-”food” my clients buy in a supermarket with quality natural food and add a combination of Natural Tissue Salts to it. Chances are that a few months later the dog isn’t allergic anymore and my clients can stop spending vast sums of money on visits to the vet and on chemical products like antibiotics.

Recently I read the following in a local magazine that is being distributed on the Marina Alta in Spain (Different Magazine issue 64).

“Hydrolyzed protein is commonly recommended by traditional vets for feeding allergic dogs. These diets are supposed to be an alternative to novel protein diets, but I do not recommend them for a number of reasons.
Hydrolyzed protein diets contain a singular regular protein, let’s say chicken, a common allergenic food. Hydrolysis breaks the chicken down into particles so small that, according to research, the protein is no longer recognized by the immune system as an allergen.
The benefit, it seems, is you can still feed your pet the food she is allergic to. The protein molecules have been processed to trick the immune system. I do not see the point in this.
Firstly the body is not being returned to health. It is being tricked into not responding to food it is being allergic to, assuming the hydrolyzed protein behaves as advertised.
Secondly, the methods and chemicals used in the hydrolysis process don’t convert protein into amino acids in the same way your pet’s body does. No one knows the long-term side effects these unnaturally derived substances may have on your pet.
Soy, also commonly used as a protein source in these diets, is a common allergen for pets and is a poor quality source of protein, in my opinion. It is totally biologically inappropiate for dogs (and cats). On top of that, it is estrogenic, which means it can eventually wreak havoc in your dog’s endocrine system. I prefer…to offer foods with no grains or starches.
Many traditional vets disregard the high amount of carbohydrates in most commercially available hypoallergenic foods, choosing to address skin infections with antibiotics and antifungal drugs instead.”

It is my personal experience that dog lovers rarely read the labels of the food they buy for themselves and their pets. Yes, I know that we sometimes need a degree in rocket science in order to understand all the difficult words. But we can make things easy: the more difficult the words on the labels are the less I trust the food. It is my personal opinion that the industrial food companies do not want to feed us and our pets. They want to make money. Whatever the cost for our planet or our health. The food we eat is now considered to be the first cause of our illnesses.
And by the way….If your dog is suffering from allergies I am more than willing to help her/him.
Just call me on 690192976 if you are living in Spain or send a message to brunosdogs@gmail.com

Kindest regards from Brunothedoglistener.

Dear friends,

It is now more than 20 years ago since I first started working with dog loving persons.

Over the years I felt very privileged because I could learn how to really understand dogs and how to really communicate with them.Now I am able to say that I understand dogs and they understand me. However I still notice how many people have trouble understanding what the calm assertive energy of a real pack leader is. I see the absence of the leader-energy being reflected in the words many clients use.

For my clients I see myself as the interpreter of what dogs are telling me, each time I translate the canine message in human languages. What I read in the body language of dogs is always true.

That is why it is, according to me, so easy to understand dogs.

By the way, what you read in my body language and what I read in yours is, according to me, also more accurate than what we say with words.

My work with dogs and their handlers still fascinates me very much because the more I teach the more I learn.

It took quite a while before I could understand the real meaning of some words used by my clients. Today I think that many words are being used, not in order to clearly communicate our thoughts, but in order to create a smoke screen. For that reason I started translating a few peculiar words that are being used by many clients and pupils. By translating words like “normally”, usually”, “generally”, and “sometimes” for my clients I can explain what they really mean for me.
If someone tells me that the dog “normally comes” when called, “usually listens”, “generally” picks up the ball and “sometimes” does not pull on the leash, it means to me that the dog is responding when SHE wants and not respecting the client as her pack leader.

But the most damaging word of all creates in us an enormous amount of shame and guilt. It is according to me the word SHOULD.

As I keep on hearing so many people using it, I want to explain what it means to me.

The violent word SHOULD, which we commonly use to evaluate ourselves, is so deeply ingrained in our consciousness that many of us would have trouble imagining how to live without it. It is the word SHOULD, as used in sentences like:

“I should have known better”,
“I should not have done that”,
“I should take more Schuessler minerals”,
“I should learn how to deal with my dog”,
“I should train more with my dog”,
“I should give up smoking”,
“I should exercise more”, etc….

Most of the time when we use SHOULD, we resist learning, because SHOULD implies we have no choice. Human beings, when hearing any kind of demand, tend to resist because a demand threatens our autonomy and our strong need for choice. We have this reaction to any kind of tyranny even when it is a demand coming from the internal dictator called “SHOULD”.

Humans keep saying “I SHOULD” and keep resisting doing what they should, because we were not meant to be slaves. We also were not meant to succumb to dictators called “I SHOULD” or “I HAVE TO”, whether this dictator lives in a palace in the capital city or inside of ourselves.

“SHOULD” is a very damaging word, because when we say it, we are in effect saying “I AM WRONG”. Saying “I SHOULD” we are punishing ourselves. I think we do not need more “wrongs” in our life and we do not need to punish ourselves.

What we need is more freedom of choice and more love in our lives.

Do you want an immediate solution?

The solution I propose is to replace “I SHOULD” with a sentence like

“IF I REALLY WANTED TO, I COULD…”.

Here are some examples:

“If I really wanted to, I could take Schuessler minerals”.

“If I really wanted to, I could learn how to deal with my dog.”

“If I really wanted to, I could stop smoking/eating junk food/drinking too much alcohol/ taking drugs…”

Do you see how you have a choice when you use this kind of sentence instead of saying “I should”?

If you really want to do something, you CAN do it, or NOT do it.

Now it is your decision to do it or not do it.

And it will be your responsability to do it or not do it.

Try it out.

You will soon see how it positively influences your life and the life of your dog.

From Bruno with love.

Recommended reading
“Nonviolent Communication. A language of life” by Marshall B. Rosenberg
“You can heal your life” by Louise L. Hay

Writing on 02.01.2013 I am sending y’all a big Thank You for all the good wishes.
Instead of sending wishes for a so-called “new” year I am offering you a gift, not only for one year, but for … life.
During the year 2012 I have been reading and re-reading the book “Life after Death. The book of answers” by Deepak Chopra not less than five times. Each time I re-read it, I received new insights. In addition to that I continuously kept on thinking about its contents and I also talked about it in what I call ” my weekly circle of men”.
The book is infuencing me deeply and for that reason I decided that at the beginning of this “new” year 2013, I would send you a gift instead of wishes.
My gift to you is (part of) a very old Indian tale about the meeting of the young woman Savitri and the monk Ramana, as I found it in Deepak Chopra’s book.
Believe me, it is sort of the ultimate gift because the title of the tale is nothing less than “The Cure for Dying”.

Here we go.

The Cure for Dying.

Following Ramana up a mountain, Savitri saw they were approaching a stream. Ramana the monk sat down, pulled out his reed flute and began to play.
When Ramana stopped playing he asked her: “What if I could teach you the cure for dying?”
Savitri was startled. “I’m sure everyone dies.”
“Then you believe in rumors.
What if I told you that you’ve never been happy? Would you believe me?”
“Of course not. I was happy this morning,” said Savitri.
Ramana nodded. “We all remember being happy and no one can talk us out of that knowledge. So let me ask you another question. Can you remember NOT being alive?”
“No,” Savitri said hesitantly.
“Try harder. Cast your mind back to when you were very, very small. Try as hard as you can remember NOT being alive. This is important, Savitri.”
“All right.”
Savitri tried her best, but she had no memory of not being alive.
“Perhaps you cannot remember not being alive because you always have been,” said Ramana. He pointed to a locust clutching to a twig over her head. “If you see a locust emerging from the ground after seven years’ sleep, does it mean it was dead before that?”
Savitri shook her head.
“Yet the only reason you believe you were born is that your parents saw you emerge from the womb. They thought they witnessed the moment you began to exist, so they spread the rumor you had been born.”
Savitri was astonished at this line of reasoning.
Ramana became insistent. “Look at this stream: All you see is a short stretch of it, yet would you say you know where the stream begins or where it ends? Heed me, Savitri. You accept death because you accept birth. Therefore you think the two must go together. Forget these rumors that you were ever born. That is the only cure for dying.”
Ramana stood up and asked: “Do you believe me?”
“I want to believe you, but I am still afraid,” Savitri admitted.
“We can’t base reality on what we don’t remember, only on what we do. Everyone remembers being; nobody remembers nonbeing,” Ramana said and walked on.

Merle in Cape Town (SA) sent me the following message.

Hi Bruno
Thank you so much for all your advice. I really enjoy reading your emails.
I have to admit that we have not actually tried hard enough to train our
little dogs.
The BIG problem that we have is with our little rescue dog who we have had
with us since February this year.
She is absolutely crazy about tennis balls. When we brought her home for the
first time she very quiet sniffed around the house and then just lay
looking at everyone. Suddenly she found a tennis ball amongst the hooves and
chewed bones. She immediately cheered up and brought the ball to us showing
us how to kick it, Obviously we kicked it for her and she was as happy as
could be. In fact she really made herself at home after that and she is a
lively active happy dog.
She will play with the ball by herself – burying it in her bed or pushing it
under the furniture and then retrieving it.
The problem comes when she decides that she needs someone to throw or kick
the ball for her. She puts the ball in front of you and stares at it. If you
don’t oblige she starts whining and no amount of ignoring stops her.
Eventually we put the ball away but she will stare at the hiding place and
whine or bark. This can go on indefinitely. At night we put the ball away
and she has accepted that but the minute that we wake up she starts nagging
for that ball.
We need to break this habit! Please can you help?
Thank you – I know that you will say that we are not the pack leaders but
how do we do this when it comes to this particular problem.
Kind regards

Here comes my answer:

Dear Merle,

It is obvious that you love your dog very much but it is also obvious that you can still learn a lot about correct communication between yourself and your dog. I quote from your message:

“I know that you will say that we are not the pack leaders but
how do we do this when it comes to this particular problem.”

First I want to TRANSLATE this the following way:

1. You know that you are not behaving like pack leaders for your dog.
2. Nevertheless you want me to send to you the remedy for one symptom which makes it very clear to me that you are not behaving like pack leaders.

Offering you a remedy for the symptom while ignoring the cause of the dog’s behaviour is not what I prefer to do.
I also want you to know that I cannot offer you a quick fix for your dog as I am not a plumber you call whenever you have
a leaking tap.
I am a teacher and I teach people who want to learn how to behave correctly with their pets.
Learning takes time and is exactly the opposite of a quick fix.

I assume there are many things like tennis balls, hooves and chewed bones lying on the floor of your home.

What does this mean for your dog?
What is her interpretation of this situation?

Whenever I enter a home where I see lots of toys and chewing bones on the floor I immediately recognize a clear symptom of a problematic relationship between humans and canines.

On the one hand I see dog-loving humans who spoil their dog with lots of toys and chewing bones, hoping that their pet will be happy with it. These persons might think they love their dog but they do not correctly understand her.

On the other hand we have the dog who considers the presence of these toys and chewing bones to be the very clear proof of the fact that the humans want her to be in charge of the pack.

Why is that so?

Because toys do not exist in nature.

What humans call toys are preys for dogs.
As there are lots of preys lying on the floor of your home (and these preys are dead, as they do not move anymore), the dog thinks you want her to be in charge of the pack.
You do not touch the preys unless given permission by your dog to do so.
If a canine has killed a prey and the other members of the pack do not touch this prey, they show a lot of respect for this canine.
If humans allow to have many toys and chewing bones on the floors of their homes, the dog thinks that her dominant behaviour is being accepted by the humans. For the dog it is obvious that the humans are behaving like her subordinate puppies.
This is a very common but also very unfortunate misunderstanding. First the humans are unknowingly causing the problem and then they start blaming the dog for the problem they have caused themselves.

What is the remedy?

You write how you enjoy reading my emails.
Well, the remedy is to not only read my emails but to implement them.
How can you do that with your little dog?

Buy a big plastic box and put all the toys and chewing bones in it.
Hide the box somewhere in the house.
Accept that your little dog is bored stiff.
Little dogs are usually much more active and energetic than lovely giants like New Foundlanders or Saint Bernard dogs.
Dogs that are bored stiff have to get rid of their energy one way or another.
The compulsive behaviour of your little dog is her solution for releasing her energy.
Now that you have hidden the box with toys you are going to spend some quality time with her.
You are going to teach her to retrieve and to seek.

Retrieve.

Any dog shows respect for a pack leader when she pays attention for the pack leader and when she sits when the pack leader wants it.
Thus you will have to teach her to come to you and sit in front of you.

Do this inside your home, only when you are full of calm assertive energy.
If need be, you will have to put her on the leash.
Then you will teach her to take the toy you offer her and to give it back to you when you ask for it.
As soon as she is releasing the toy when you ask for it, you can throw the toy one meter away, ask her to go and fetch it and bring it back to you.
When this is working perfectly, you can let her off the leash and increase the distance you throw the toy/prey from one meter to two, three,etc..
When your dog has brought back the toy several times and released it each time into your hand, you will then stop the exercise, put the toy in your pocket and ignore your dog.

In doggy language the exercise means the following:

1. You have taken the decision to start hunting(not playing) and you hunt with a prey (not a toy) that is yours.
2. You are organizing the chase (the retrieving) and in the end you stop chasing and you eat the prey (i.e. you hide the toy).
Repeat the exercise each time you feel calm and full of assertive energy.

Remember that commands are given only once and that you will never loose your patience.

Seek.

Here is what I do with my dogs in the morning, after the early morning walk in the woods.
Having fed them I will call them to heel, make them sit and walk away.
I will then hide a small chewing bone, each time in a different spot, call them by name followed by the command “Seek”. The first dog will sniff and look for the “prey” I have hidden, while the other dog is waiting. As soon as the first dog has found its prey, I will hide the second chewing bone and call the second dog with the same command “Seek”.
Both dogs will eat their prey and nowhere will there be toys or chewing bones on the floor of my home.
I spend quality time with my dogs because that is also quality time for me. Each morning and evening I walk them in a different area, even if I have to take the car and drive a certain distance. It is good for my brain and for theirs.

Retrieve and Seek will NOT work for any dog loving person if that person is not behaving like a pack leader. In my weekly letters numbers 27 and 28 I have described how I behave with my dogs. Never in my life have I had any problems with the abandoned dogs that agreed to live with me.

Thanks for inspiring me.

Kindest regards from Brunothedoglistener.

During a dog walking class in Jalón one of my pupils told me her dog is eating from a container.Ever used one yourself?

It is a big box you can fill with dried food. At the bottom is an opening and while your dog is eating, more food will flow automatically into the bowl.

Another question: “When do you think someone calls me for advice?”

Certainly not when the caller ‘s dog became European champion in obedience trials.

Most people call me saying something like “My dog needs some training”.

According to me there is a lot of truth in the Spanish saying “El perro es el reflejo del dueño/a”, meaning that “the dog is the reflection of the owner”.

What is being reflected by the dog?

The dog will reflect the energy and the behaviour of the humans (s)he is living with.

It is my conviction that dogs do not need training in the first place. Before you can train a dog, you need to understand correctly what the dog is telling you with her/his body language and behaviour. Then you can learn to communicate with your dog by means of your body language, your behaviour and your energy. Forget about the words. The less you say, the better.

As soon as you have a system in place enabling you to correctly communicate with your dog, then you can start educating your pet. The target of our education is that the dog pays attention to us when we ask for it.

One of the best tools during this educational process is my feeding ritual. Feeding your dog the way I describe it allows you to behave like the leader of the pack.

But how can you use my feeding ritual if you do not feed your dog yourself?
How will you get the dog’s attention if not you but a container is educating the dog?

In order to understand what I mean, let’s think dog.

A dog is a (descendant of a) canine predator. If there is food available for the pack it is the result of a chase and a kill of the prey. After the kill the pack will eat according to rules that reflect the pecking order. If your dog eats from a container, without you being present, it is my conviction that (s)he will experience this as a confirmation of her/his high position in the pack.

Taking the position of the leader will be more difficult for you if you use a food container than if you would feed your dog yourself.

No wonder I many times see food containers being used by people whose dogs are not paying attention to them. If you want to know more about educating your dog, why not come to a Dog Walking Class in Jalón/Alicante?

Kindest regards from Brunothedoglistener
00.34.690.19.29.76
www.brunodogs.com

Dog walking CLASSES

Since 1995 I have been teaching dog lovers on the Costa Blanca how to behave correctly with their pets.
Classes sometimes took place in my own training grounds but also in a bull ring, on a football field, in the garden of friends or on a cricket field.
During all those years I had the pleasure of meeting hundreds of dogs and showing their carers how to behave as pack leaders.
On Sunday 13.05.2012 I start with a new combination of dog walking and dog training CLASSES. Price per CLASS/walk will only be the modest sum of 5 €. You will be able to learn how to clearly communicate with your pet and at the same time discover how to walk with a pack of dogs.
I am looking forward to meet dog lovers who are hungry to learn more about their dogs than they ever thought was possible. While learning how to observe your dog, you will discover what this beautiful animal is really telling you with her/his body language.
Starting on 13.05.2012 we will meet every Sunday morning at 10.00 on the parking lot behind the library/social centre in Xaló/Jalón. The library is the smaller building adjacent to the much bigger complex of the sports centre, located at the entrance of the village arriving from Lliber. As both are located alongside the river Xaló/Jalón we can easily combine exercising with walking in a traffic free area.

See you there.

Kindest regards from Brunothedoglistener.
Listen. Learn. Lead

http://www.brunodogs.co.za

brunoswalkscaminatas.blogspot.com
690 19 29 76

Dog Running Zone
Having finished my class at DARG I drove to the beach in Hout Bay. I had never walked there before and wanted to put my feet in the cold water of the ocean, before heading for Dario’s coffee shop. Although it was a Saturday morning, the beach was almost empty. Enjoying the cool water around my ankles, the warmth of the sun, the light breeze and the view of the mountains all around me, I arrived at a spot where I saw a sign on my left hand side. I’m always interested in the information written on these signs. Coming closer I saw the text: “Dog Running Zone”.
Shaking my head I thought about how completely different this official was from the sitution in Spain. Over there sharks called “developers” have poured concrete over every Spanish beach and a bit later laws were proclaimed, prohibiting everyone to walk with dogs on the sandy leftovers. Over here I have never seen a beach full of high rise buildings, tourist trap restaurants, bars and shops selling Chinese junk. A beach is still a beach with water, sand, dunes and plants. And now I had discovered the Hout Bay beach with a “Dog Running Zone”. In Muizenberg, on the other side of the mountains, there is another sign on the beach inviting people walking with dogs to do it before 9 a.m. or after 6 p.m. What a difference with Spain!
Teaching in DARG has offered me the opportunity to clearly see the difference not between beaches but between two totally different kinds of dog loving people. In the many green belts where the wealthy Capetonians walk with their dogs I meet many confident, fast walking, friendly, assertive people with up to 8 (eight) dogs off leash. They do not wait for their dogs. They seldom call them. They walk and the clear message for the dogs is: “Hey, pay attention to me”. The dogs understand that clear message and follow the leaders. In these surroundings of the green belts I have never witnessed a fight between dogs. For that reason I started calling the “Alphen Trail” the “Alpha Trail” as all the walkers I meet there walk like Alpha leaders of their pack. They certainly do not need someone like me to teach them how to walk their dogs.
The other category of dog lovers are the many female volunteers who walk the dogs on the DARG estate. I see how the dogs of the charity pull them along all over the grounds. When the dogs stop, they stop and wait too. When the dogs jump up, they praise them by stroking them and speaking to them with baby talk. In these volunteers I see no signs of confidence, no calm assertive energy. In their faces, voices and in their body language I clearly see how they want to give love. Why? Because they themselves need love.
During the meetings with DARG’s president, she had asked me if I would admit her volunteers for free in my classes.
I agreed.
But both the president and I had made an assumption.
The assumption was that the volunteers would be interested in learning how to walk a dog properly. You know what happened when I started teaching? Only a few of the volunteers attended my classes once or twice and then disappeared. Walking over the DARG estate I had distributed business cards, inviting the female volunteers who did not attend my classes to send me an e-mail message, enabling me to send them my free weekly letters. I thought it was the least I could do to help them. Not one of them sent me an e-mail. The message was clear for me: They do not want to learn how to walk a dog. They only want to love the dogs. I suppose that loving the dogs the way they do it has a therapeutic effect on them, which of course is very good. Making the assumption that they also wanted to learn something more about how to behave themselves with dogs in my classes was my mistake.
Love and blessings from Bruno

Dear friends,

It is my pleasure to announce to you that on Saturday 04.02.2012 I will start teaching a course of canine communication on the premises of DARG in Hout Bay (Cape Town).
Be quick to register because based upon experience it is best to have not more than 15 participants in one group. I repeat once more that it will not be an obedience course for dogs. What we will do is learn to behave in such a way with our dogs that they will understand us.
It is not about WHAT we say but HOW we say it. It is not about WHAT we do but HOW we do it. My assumption is that our dogs know everything about how to be a good dog and that “bad” dogs do not exist.
I will teach you how to observe your dog and how to “listen” to what she/he is saying by means of body language. The second step is learning how to clearly understand the messages your dog is sending you. Last but not least you will learn how to behave like the leader your dog would have in a canine pack.
Learning all that is not easy but it is very rewarding, as in the end, you will not only see the difference in your dog, but also in every other aspect of your life.
At least if you have the will to learn, if you refuse to go into denial, if you are persistent, patient and consistent.

Good luck and kindest regards from Brunothedoglistener.