Enlightened By Dogs: Living with Cooperation, Not Obedience

You want to live a happier life with you dog, don't you? In today's episode of Enlightened By Dogs, Kathy shares 5 simple strategies to ensure you live a happier life with your dog starting today! This time of year is great for reflection and making big plans for the future, and what plan could possibly be better than planning to be happy with your furry friend? While it's not complicated, being h...

What lies at the intersection of unconditional love, being fully present and filling your heart with gratitude in real life? It's a bit of a heavy question, and it may be tough to imagine what the answer is, but that's exactly what Kathy is talking about on today's episode of Enlightened By Dogs! It seems as though it's a wonderful place to be, and getting there is a little more simple than you ma...

Do you have a difficult dog in your life? The kind of furry friend that seems to march to the beat of their own drum, and you can't hear it? That was the case with Anya and Zoe! Zoe had a habit of running off to find fun, and leaving Anya to wonder where she was for hours! At first, Anya wasn't very pleased with this kind of behaviour from her friend, but after a few shifts in perspective, a littl...

How would you like to hear some real life "in the wild" examples of using gratitude to bounce back after meltdowns and difficult situations? That's what today's episode of Enlightened by Dogs is all about! 7 different Brilliant Partners join forces with Kathy to bring you living examples of using gratitude to get back to grazing! Difficult situations happen, they're pretty much inevitable, but we...

What if it were easy to stay in the flow of love and connection with your dogs no matter what was going on around you or in your life? It would be nice, but often times it just isn't the case! While we strive to be intentionally creating heart to heart connections with our dogs, sometimes it's just not that simple. Things can get hectic and stressful, and pressure can climb and become uncomfortabl...

Do you or your dog ever get over aroused or excited and kind of lose your mind? I bet you do! Everyone experiences overarousal to some degree, and in today's episode of Enlightened By Dogs, Kathy breaks down how to calm down after being overwhelmed or over aroused! Regardless of who gets over aroused first, you or your dog, the protocol that Kathy shares will help you get back to being safe, calm...

Do you have a regular ritualized gratitude practice in your everyday ordinary life? Using intentional gratitude can not only change your dog's behavior, but can significantly advance your partnership lifestyle! If you get stuck in endless loops of negative feelings and emotions, or if you sometimes feel like you take things in your life for granted, this episode has the antidote! From spiritual la...

What is an invitation as it relates to us and our dogs? What defines an invite? How does inviting your dog to engage with you differ from giving a trained cue, and why does it matter so much? These are just some of the questions that surface during Kathy's weekend long Brilliant Partners Live Workshop. Since they were such good questions, and inspire deep thought, Kathy decided to share her though...

Do you know what stands in the way of you forming a heart connection with your dog? Have you been trying to connect on a deeper level with your friend, but things seem to be getting in the way? It's such a core piece of what makes a relationship and friendship so strong, and yet so many of us struggle, and sometimes aren't even aware of it! Having a genuine heart to heart connection and bond with...

Do you know about the dance invitation? Do you know how to invite your dogs to dance? How do you know if you're doing it properly, and if you're getting it right, why won't your dogs join you?  In last week's episode: Giving Our Dogs the Opportunity to Say No, Kathy introduced us to the concept of Connect, Observe, Decide, and how to create opportunities to give our dogs choices. Today, Kathy is f...

Do you give your dog the freedom to say no to you? In a world where having a well trained, obedient dog is touted like a medal of honor, it may seem weird to entertain the idea of giving our dog the option to say no to us. In this week's episode of Enlightened By Dogs, Kathy will be sharing why we might want to start, and the massive impact it can have on our relationship with our dogs! Would you...

How do you socialize your dog? Are you the type to force your friend to face their fears? What about bringing them into crowded dog parks to expose them to other dogs? Have you been wishing for a better way to socialize? One that actually works and doesn't stress out your dog or break their trust? Today on Enlightened By Dogs, Kathy is busting through 3 socialization myths that leave you and your...

What is responsible role-modeling and what does that look like? Why does it matter? How does it positively impact your relationship with your dogs? These are questions you may not feel the need to ask, but as they say: we don't know what we don't know! In this episode, Kathy is giving you one of the most powerful tools to put in your toolbox to ensure that you're loved and respected enough to be l...

Being a Brilliant Partner to your dog takes a shift in perspective. In fact, it takes multiple shifts in your mindset to become the best partner you could possibly be! But what are these shifts? How do you identify them? What can you do to begin reframing your dog's needs, wants and behaviours? In this week's episode of Enlightened By Dogs, Kathy is sharing the 10 perspective shifts you'll want to...

Imagine adopting 2 Great Pyrenees dogs and having them join your family. Everything is going well, and everyone is getting along. Then one day, you decide to take in a deaf dog, and give him a chance at a great life with your loved ones. It starts going down hill. The new dog is stressed out, frustrated, and you can't communicate with him. Your other dogs are feeling out of sorts. The new dog star...

Over-arousal is a real problem that shows itself in a lot of different ways. In some cases, it can look like chasing cars, animals, or running along the fence. In other cases it can look like digging hundreds of holes in the yard or jumping on strangers. The extreme cases can be horrific and lead to people or other dogs getting seriously hurt. No matter how it manifests on the outside, the cause o...

Does life with your difficult dog frustrate you? Are you feeling stressed out or overwhelmed by their behaviour? Does it feel like there's no end in sight? Never fear! Brilliant Partner and recurring podcast guest Sue Mimm is joining Kathy on the show today to talk about how she went from dreading her days with her difficult dog, to loving every single minute of their time together! Sue sheds ligh...

Do you have hard days? Well, there are things you can do to make it through those days and come out the other side ready, able, passionate and excited to live life with your dogs! Have you ever noticed that a dog has the ability to show us how to enjoy life? They're so good at brushing off the small stuff, living in the moment and having fun! It's hard to believe that our dogs can have bad days, b...

Hello friend! It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and Kathy is here to tell you all about it! Unexpected issues and life happening all over the place caused her usual sense of calm to bubble over and lead to a bit of a meltdown. Luckily, Kathy is a master of calm and it took her no time at all to find it again, and get back to living her best life! Want to know what she did? Tune into this week's e...

Do you really need your dog to sit and perform for their cookies? Do you truly want your dog to lie down in a specific place all of the time? Or is there something else that is more appropriate, and more aligned with a partnership lifestyle? Ok, so today is a little bit of a rant episode about what we truly want from our dogs! Are we actually giving up what we want most, for what we want right now...

Are you ready to become a Brilliant Partner to your dog? To expand into the best human you could possibly be? In this episode, Kathy leads you through a series of very specific exercises to help you blossom into the best possible version of yourself for the benefit of you, everyone around you, and of course: your dogs! The breed of your dog doesn't matter. How old your dog is doesn't matter. How r...

Judgement is a slippery slope when it comes to holding ourselves and our dogs back! We misjudge ourselves, we misjudge our dogs and we lock ourselves in Judgement Jail all the time. Never Fear! Kathy is here with 3 different keys to unlock those doors and let you out! On top of that, she's handing the keys over to you so that you can use your "get out of judgement jail free" card whenever you find...

If you consider yourself to be a savvy, dog-centric individual, then this episode will definitely resonate with you! It can be extremely disheartening and frustrating when we're constantly finding ourselves in situations that are making us and our dogs upset! So what do we do about it? What is this big life changing secret that will make our lives and the lives of our dogs so amazing? In this epis...

There are a lot of factors at play when it comes to being resilient. Things like genetics, your environment, your level of activity and how often you get outside can greatly impact your response to ugly situations. Now if this is true for you, imagine how true it is for your dog! The exact same thing applies to them as well! Our socially intelligent furry friends require the same care we do if we...

Dogs are masters of meditation. It sounds crazy, but it's 100% true! Our dogs live in a constant state of presence, and rarely (if ever) allow mind drama to cloud their judgement. If we can learn anything from our furry friends, it's to slow down and take in the moment. In this episode of Enlightened By Dogs, Kathy takes us along for a walk with her dogs and shows us exactly how they help her conn...