When some encounter an energy theory of behavior, they recast it as something it isn’t, such as telepathy, creationism, intelligent design, mysticism. You know the drill. http://dogbehaviorscience.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/dog-evolution-denier-ken-ham-i-mean-kevin-behan/ I believe that life evolves according to principles of energy, not by random. I also believe that the earth, the moon and the stars evolve according to principles […]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2552747/Dogs-lose-jobs-Fred-police-k-9-fired-getting-distracted-job-playing-soda-cans.html I highlight this story for what it can teach us about the power of “ungrounded energy” on a dog’s behavior, the deepest levels of which when abruptly summoned to the surface of awareness, I term “The Charge.” According to learning theory, this dog was trained 100% correctly and I have no doubt it graduated […]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131203161715.htm For my entire career NDT has been swimming against the tide of consensus that held that the nature of the domesticated dog is due to its contact with man and to such a degree that dogs were considered to have become an adjunct of human culture. Theorists initially believed that it was pointless to […]

Here are three articles that each suggest how important energy is to every aspect of existence, most importantly cognition. My point being that the current tendency in behaviorism to read rational processes into the minds of dogs is off the mark because an energetic logic hasn’t been pursued to its logical exhaustion before ascribing rational […]

In regards to a discussion on stress as a form of emotional “heat” Lee found a study that seeks to objectively quantify the experience of stress. “Human Psychophysiological Stress Indices Using Thermodynamics” (ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences Vol. 7, No. 6 June 2012) My theory is that stress, or Unresolved Emotion, forms when […]

“Secrets of Snow-Diving Foxes” http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2014/01/03/259136596/youre-invisible-but-ill-eat-you-anyway-secrets-of-snow-diving-foxes?utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprfacebook&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=face-book Condensed Version Snow-diving foxes hunt snow-bound mice by aligning with magnetic field of the earth. NDT theory posits that the electromagnetic principles by which proto-cells evolved into living, replicating cells, continued to evolve into how living beings interact with each other. It became the basis of emotion via the prey/predator […]

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/dogs-poop-in-alignment-with-earths-magnetic-field Dogs do everything in a circle because their bodies and minds are organized to act just as if they are electromagnetically charged particles. My theory is that a very real electromagnetic capacity on a vegetative level evolved into the complex phenomena we recognize in animals as learning and social behavior. Thus if you take […]

This is a classic example of emotional projection. The hound has driven the prey up the tree and longs for it. Note the body position and the vocal behavior that is wholly concordant with the howl. This is the evolutionary antecedent to the howl as emotion is predicated on the prey/predator duality and dynamic. The […]

By now we’ve all seen a video that’s gone viral about the mysterious hold cats have over dogs. One blogger thinks this is due to a decline of intelligence in the modern dog. http://aknextphase.com/?p=1785 And while it’s true that there has been a decline in the physical and emotional constitution of dogs (see the chapter: […]

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 […]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029461.700-mouse-memory-inheritance-may-revitalise-lamarckism.html#.UqMFpBZAsas The transfer of physical memory from one individual to another is the function of DISfunction. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24677?cmpid=NLC%7CNSNS%7C2013-1205-GLOBAL&utm_medium=NLC&utm_source=NSNS&#.UqMdwBZAsas It’s why there is stress in life. Organisms are carriers of an emotional charge more than they are of genes. Lamarck was wrong about the mechanics of evolution, but he was right that evolution happens in real time. […]

KB: My theory is that emotion evolved through the prey/predator dyad, the oldest relationship between living organisms, and that therefore inter-personal and interspecies communication and connection is possible by way of this platform rather than the higher aspects of cognition. The Higgins Method of Field dog training exquisitely harnesses this primordial dynamic and is always […]

Have you ever heard a dog owner observe, usually plaintively, that their dog has a lot of energy? Do they mean their dog is mysteriously plugged into an invisible power grid, or it’s in the beam of an astral projection filling them with some kind of cosmic radiation, are they speaking gibberish? Throughout this site […]

May 22-25, 2014. Focus on: “From Head to Heart: Obedience Skills the NDT Way”. This is Kevin Behan’s Orginal Natural Dog Training program! Tuition includes: written materials; 2 1/2 days of training both hands on and lecture by Kevin Behan; dormitory-style lodging; opening pizza reception; and, 2 lunches. Optional: Wednesday, May 21, 2014 a no-cost […]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/science/coldblooded-does-not-mean-stupid.html?ref=science&_r=0 The Neo-Darwinian theory holds that a process of natural selection sifted through a huge genetic pool of slightly variable traits and eventually complex social behavior and the capacity to learn emerged in higher species. Driving this evolutionary process is said to be the need, or “urge” of genes to replicate. In the Neo-Darwinian model […]

I began in dogdom with the assumption that dogs were descended from wolves given what I learned from my father. At first this meant that an owner should aspire to be the vaunted Alpha pack leader figure. But through my work with protection and police dogs, and which led me to the German view of […]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/books/review/social-by-matthew-d-lieberman.html?ref=books&_r=0 NYT Review of “Social” by Matthew D. Lieberman The premise of this book, while overly weighted to the neurochemical basis of behavior, nevertheless is getting deeper to the core and fits nicely with NDT tenet that there is only one drive, the Drive To Make Contact, and emotional affects evolved to compel organisms to […]

http://icouzin.princeton.edu The core tenets of NDT theory—– (1) Emotion acts on the body/mind as a virtual “force” of attraction (2) Emotion always moves from the predator to prey polarity (3) Complex canine behavior emerges as a function of the prey drive —– might initially seem to be radical, outside of the mainstream ideas. But science […]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131010124559.htm Pointing is part of the act of emotional projection, which is how we direct our force. (BTW, force is energy.) The projection of force is universal throughout the animal kingdom. It has nothing to do with domestication per se, in other words, animals don’t “figure out” human gestures because of a history of close […]

The science in support of the NDT model comes in faster than I have time to post, and while I’m still trying to catch up on emails, however thanks to Nellie and Lee, some interesting findings bear immediate mention and so I’ve decided not to add these to the queue and trust this brief treatment […]

“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 […]

“Testosterone Promotes Reciprocity in the Absence of Competition” “Boosting testosterone can promote generosity, but only when there is no threat of competition, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings show that testosterone is implicated in behaviors that help to foster and maintain social relationships, […]

http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2013/09/24/study-explains-why-women-want-to-eat-babies/ “The researchers concluded: ‘These results show that the odor of newborns undoubtedly plays a role in the development of motivational and emotional responses between mother and child by eliciting maternal care functions such as breastfeeding and protection.” Researcher Johannes Frasnelli said: ‘What we know now and what is new is there is a neural […]

Music, Natural Dog Training, Panksepp and the Constructal Law   http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40285693?uid=3739664&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102652666731 My argument is that the locomotive dynamic is the basis for our aesthetic appreciation of music, however not in the manner which is theorized in the article below, i.e. that synchronizing footfalls renders a beat of silence which then makes it easier to hear […]

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 […]

Rowe Center Seminar Presenters Downward Dog: Restorative Exercises for Dogs and Their Humans November 15-17, 2013 Rowe Camp & Conference Center www.rowecenter.org 22 Kings Highway Rowe, MA 01367   Natural Dog Training is pleased to be returning to the Rowe Center for another seminar. With the increasing popularity of the restorative yoga practices, a discussion […]

One of the best parts of the NDT conference was the variety and quality of the various venues we visited. The Von Liche Kennel tour took us through the greatest privately owned working dog kennel in the world, an inspiring example of a dream coming true through the power of passion. We also rode on […]

John’s Question: “So …when a dog is growling he’s not digesting , the incoming information is not making is way through the pipe to where it is grounded in its gut , it’s all stuck in it’s head , I was mistakingly under the impression the pipe (mind/body) was flow out , the idea of flow […]

At the NDT conference I often referred to the concept of “emotional momentum.” For example I mentioned that Pushing teaches the dog he can transfer emotional momentum to the owner, most especially his stress reserves, and conversely, Collecting teaches the dog he can absorb emotional momentum from others, most especially, even their stress reserves. The […]