A Holistic Perspective to Canine Wellness and Training

As a holistic dog trainer and animal wellness coach, my work centers on the importance of finding a balance in our relationship with the animals in our care.  There are many aspects to consider, and each one affects the others.  Here is an excerpt from my online course, Foundations for Canine Wellness in celebration of National Pet Wellness Month!  

"What is wellness? Wellness is defined as “the state of being in good health, especially as an actively pursued goal.” (from Google) In this course, wellness is closely married with well-being, which is defined as “the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.” (also from Google)

As a holistic dog trainer, I look at all parts of the picture and how they fit together. Holistic is defined as “the comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.” (Google again)

This means that we recognize that all the parts come together to directly affect the whole. There are many parts, or aspects, of our dog's life that come together to affect his/her entire life - health, happiness, fitness, nutrition, exercise, sleep, enrichment, training, environment, and so on. Each of these parts comes together to create the whole of the dog's life.

When we look at these aspects holistically, we can begin to see that there are many parts that make up the whole of our dog – physical, emotional, mental, social, behavioral, and instinctual.

As we go through this and upcoming wellness courses, we will consider all aspects of the dog’s life. We will look at health, environment, stress, training, behavior, and more. Our dog’s well-being and wellness depend widely on the choices we make on his/her behalf. Our dog relies on us to make these choices for it in most circumstances.

From a holistic training perspective, behavior is affected by many variables that are not often taken into consideration. Many trainers assume that behavior is a stand-alone issue and that training alone will change behavior. But when the concerning behavior has a deeper cause, this can create frustration as training is not able to completely clear up those concerns.

In fact, many trainers resort to forcing dogs to change their behavior out of frustration, but these are only temporary fixes, then requiring more force at a later date to keep the behavior under control. Forceful training also leads to other concerning behaviors developing that weren't there to begin with, and can lead to a decline in a dog’s well-being and quality of life.

The holistic view of training and behavior is that there is a cause behind that behavior. When we can deal with the true cause of the behavior, usually the behavior changes on its own and it is a permanent change. This is because whatever was causing the behavior is no longer there.

Changing even one aspect of a dog’s life can have a lasting impact on all the other aspects, including behavior. This is because all aspects work together interchangeably to create the whole picture that is your dog! This is the holistic perspective!"

For the month of October, the Foundations for Canine Wellness online class is being offered at a significant discount.  The class is On-Demand, so may be started at any time.