Bushwagging Tails

They could spend the entire hike doing this if I sat down beside them & let them 🥹

“I help” is actually a command I teach the dogs.

No matter if it’s fixing gear, feelings being hurt, an itchy ear or a bee sting, I take the need for help seriously every time.

Eventually the dogs learn that “I help” means safety, relief and predictability no matter what.

This time around it was just an itchy ear.

But I believe that if the dogs can associate help as a positive thing, then, in emergency situations they would understand exactly what is happening the moment I said “I help”.

I’m not a dog trainer but I am a dog pack hiker.

With that comes the responsibility of counting tails every 5 seconds and the responsibility of respecting every dog’s need.

Some dogs need to zoom. So I obviously need to respect that.

Here is a realistic 30 seconds of what it looks like when you have full trust in a pack of dogs 🫂🥹

I promise you, if you give your dog the opportunity to make it’s own choices off-leash on a trail, you’ll realize really quick, that many of the dog’s anxieties are actually are own.

I call these “Sit Spots”.

I used to do them with my students all the time. We’d start off with barely a successful 5-minutes the first week of school. By the end of year I had the students observing for 45 minutes and discussing for 15.

Some of my kiddos had to be taught that boredom is a luxury and a skill.

With every seasonal change though, the curiosity became more in-depth, the sit spots became longer and the kids nervous systems started healing… so did mine…

I started to realize the more successful environments and opportunities people (dogs) are given, the more often they will make the right choices for their own needs.

At the end of the day, we all have the EXACT same basic needs.

So I realized, if I give dogs the opportunity to follow my expectations in their own way and time (like I did with my students), earning their loyalty and trust would be a lot easier if I just let them show me their expectations.

I’m sitting here trying to enjoy my slow start to the morning & the Branch Manager decided to call an emergency meeting about the slow start….

The best part about my job…

The trail snuggles.

I obviously teach the dogs to sit and be calm for emergency situations.

But most days the emergency is the need for emotional support 🫂

It’s all for the dogs 🫂

Words cannot describe how incredible it’s been receiving an overwhelming amount of support on social media.

You all make my life a little more fun to capture and share with the world.

I’d love to see your dogs and know more about them 👇 (literally would rather doom scroll bios of your dogs than anything else right now so please make it happen ahahah)

To any dog account or dog heavy content posters, please call me out if I didn’t follow back! Like I said it’s been overwhelming 🙄😌

The instincts I am talking about ^

Don’t worry the Branch Manager had a safety tool box meeting with me right after the hike…

🧯Meeting Subject: Love chomps & their hazards