How Our Energy Affects Our Dogs

Take a moment and think about the way you interact with your dogs on a daily basis. What is the energy behind those interactions? What is the overall energy in your home? Do you have young kids? Are you jam packed with soccer practice and meetings and grocery shopping and you don’t know how you’ll manage to do it all? Now think about the energy that YOU bring to your life everyday. Do you wake up already feeling behind the ball and stressed out? Or do you wake up calm and enjoy the morning hours? Do you rush your dogs out the door to go to the bathroom because you don’t have the time for them like you used to? Or do you intentionally spend time with them, in the moment, and share space with them and show them you love them?

We all go through phases where our schedule is so full we can't even remember if we’ve eaten that day. We are certainly allowed to have those times in our lives and should let ourselves off the hook for occasional stress! But, what if your chronic stress and overwhelm are contributing to that behavior that your dog has picked up? You know, that behavior that you’d like to change but you’re so busy that you wouldn’t even know what to start?

Dogs read body language . They literally read the energy of the room, of people, of other animals, then reflect that energy back. When we bring a new dog into our daycare pack, we get so much information about the incoming dog by watching our existing pack! They reflect back the same energy the new dog is giving off. If they come up to the new dog, sniff her through the fence, calmly wag their tail and then walk away, it’s a good sign the new dog is calm and non-reactive. If, however, the pack gets tense, the energy of the room gets denser, the play in the background stops, and hair goes up? That’s a whole different story.

The dogs in our lives are constantly giving us feedback about the energy levels we are putting off. If this sounds a little crazy, then think of it this way. When you’re at work, late for a deadline, and you keep getting interrupted, and then your child’s school calls and your son needs to get picked up early, and you still needed to get groceries for dinner tonight, and you forgot to make the mortgage payment, and, and, and….. your energy is tense and hectic and anxious. You’re thinking in the future and you’re all over the place feeling like you have no time. Versus, when you’re on vacation, and you are sitting on a white sand beach, with crystal-blue water, and you’re just listening to the waves, feeling the breeze, and not thinking about-a-thing? You are living in the moment, filled with joy. Your energy is serene and calm, peaceful and happy. We are constantly giving off energy as long as we are alive. And as long as we have dogs in our lives, those dogs are acting as a big-ole reflection for us.

So, the first step to improving any situation is to get crystal clear on where you already are. It’s all about awareness. Does your dog try to rush out the door ahead of you? Will he sit and wait for you to open the door or is it too difficult for him to stay calm? Is he constantly running out ahead of you, chasing anything that crosses his path, barking at strangers… Does he constantly need to play fetch and chase sticks? Or is he calm and respectful, is the walk nice and easy, does he stop and sniff the roses and calmly greet passers-by? Now, obviously, there are a lot of components at play here: how long have those behaviors been reinforced, what is your dog’s natural energy level, what is your dog’s age, etc. But, in general, the energy of your dog is an overall reflection of the average energy of your life and home over a period of time. In other words, if you are always late and stressed and anxious and chaotic, your dog will show those symptoms. If you are calm, take time to be present with your family, get out of your own head and live fully in the moment with your animals, and live life intentionally, then your dogs are going to show symptoms of that.

Now I am not writing this to blame or make anyone feel badly about their life! We are all hectic and crazy and running late from time to time. But before you get upset with your dog and start blaming him for unwanted behaviors, try looking at it from a new perspective. When you blame someone else you give all your power away. When you see behavior as a reflection of something in your life, you take your power back and you can actually do something about it.

It is ALL about awareness. First comes awareness, then comes ownership, then comes commitment, then comes change. Sometimes our dogs are simply acting as a warning light. They have the ability to show us where we need to change our ways, take our power back, and start living life from anew vantage point. Start seeing their naughty behavior as an invitation to change for the better, in all areas of your life, including dog ownership. In order to have that special bond with them that we all strive for, we must intentionally make time for them and honor them as the loving beings that they are. Soon enough, you may even be grateful that your dog helped you calm down, get grounded, and allowed you to become aware of some things in your life that you needed to change but couldn't see. Powerful stuff.