http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/04/goose-german-shepherd_n_4386472.html The takeaway sentence in this article is that the goose “stood up for herself.” This means that she reflected the shepherd’s emotional charge back at him, and this resistance is what triggered the dog’s physical memories of flow, i.e. its puppy mind. Then through a process of elaboration wherein both individuals generate traits on […]

“Dogs Are People, Too” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/opinion/sunday/dogs-are-people-too.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&smid=fb-share   Resist the siren song. It sounds benevolent on the surface, but once dogs are granted personhood, and once you accept the designation as a dog’s guardian rather than its owner, then someone else will eventually be in control of how you raise and train a dog. In fact, even […]

From the New York Times “Why We Like Sad Music”   http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/opinion/sunday/why-we-like-sad-music.html?ref=opinion   The emotional experience of listening to music is an excellent way to separate thoughts from feelings and emotion from instinct because as a pure wave form music is principally apprehended and processed by the heart. Understanding how the heart works is vital […]

There’s much I have to say about my experiences at the first annual Natural Dog Training Conference in Battleground, Indiana but first THANK YOU. THANK YOU to Dr. Jean Marie Thompson for putting the idea and the event together. THANK YOU to the entire Indiana Indiana K-9 Assisted Crisis Response team (Scott, Tim, Carol, Angie, […]

“Movement is the only way we have of interacting with the world, whether foraging for food or attracting a waiter’s attention. Indeed, all communication, including speech, sign language, gestures and writing, is mediated via the motor system. Taking this viewpoint, the purpose of the human brain is to use sensory signals to determine future actions.” […]

Leah asks if the video below of synchronizing metronomes is akin to the trampoline analogy I offered recently. To repeat, a trampoline is analogous to consciousness as both are a displaceable medium, i.e. when stimulated an organism is induced into sensations of disequilibrium. So two people standing and especially moving on a trampoline displace the […]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/kyle-dyer-kusa-anchor-bit_n_1263246.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false From a discussion on a rescue group it is clear that many people have taken umbrage that the news anchor woman, Kyle Dyer, didn’t approach the dog with proper canine etiquette. http://www.facebook.com/WGSRescue Fortunately one writer on the website wrote: “I have not seen the video nor do I say the dog is at fault. […]

Generally we think of a rabid animal, foaming at the mouth, sinking its fangs into  the nearest warm blooded victim, as a crazed, frenetically enraged beast, a “mad dog” on a berserk rampage. Yet if we more closely consider the behavior of a rabid animal, we observe that there is a coherent and time-deferred string […]

The prey drive, manifested by a full, calm grip on a bite object and most importantly, by the body moving along with a smooth flowing gait, is like the Central Processing Unit in  a computer: as the CPU turns electrical inputs from the key board into information—the prey drive turns neurological inputs from the brain […]

In response to Annie’s question about Luke and Huuney, yes, Luke can be a great flip/flopper. I used to say flipping polarities for both front-to-back spinning ← → and top-to-bottom ↓ ↑ rolling over, but I’ve added “flopping” to make the distinction between the two because while they are related they are indeed separate phenomenon. […]

Some Interesting Science: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110428070237.htm   “Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany recently reported in the journal PLoS ONE that although the physical laws governing object stability are reasonably well represented by the brain, you are a better judge of how objects fall when you are upright than when you […]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/science/03firewalker.html?_r=1 The above is an excellent story which in my view details how through emotional projection (the stronger the bond the more the individual “lets go” and releases into the vicarious experience of watching what another, with whom they’re bonded, is experiencing.) Then, the hearts become synchronized so as to establish a common beat. Emotion […]

When I work with clients I often reference certain movies as insights into how animals learn and what the training and rehabilitation process is truly about. The “Karate Kid” is one long time favorite as in “Wax/On; Wax/Off” and then there is the “Horse Whisperer” —to paraphrase Robert Redford’s character: “Maam, I don’t help people […]

Some recent questions posed by Heather really bring us to the heart of the matter. 1) Heather: “It is good that we don’t have to understand the physics when 2 dogs are in motion ;)” KB: Yes, while the laws of motion are simple, the actual computations are vast and too complicated for most of […]

I really like Damasio, but in the interest of time I’m going to be abrupt because simply put, the brain can’t feel a thing. With all due respect to Dr. Damasio: there’s a reason why we place our hand on our heart when we feel moved. We do not point to our brain and this […]

Some of my definitions are scattered across this site and mostly in terms of why-dogs-do-what-they-do, but what follows is a more concise summary. ENERGY: An action potential, a differential of force between two poles. Energy in animals builds up by virtue of a bipolar, two-brain makeup each with its own divergent agenda just as if […]

The purpose of this section: why dogs do what they do is to demonstrate that dog behavior is a function of a “networked-intelligence”. The system logic of this intelligence is emotion. Dogs “know” what to do by virtue of how they feel. To date explorations of why-dogs-do-what-they-do; from the days of Descartes versus Voltaire to […]