Thank you for attending my workshop at the 2025 IACP Conference! It was such a pleasure to be with all of you!

I am using this space to share a few things that I presented at conference, and add for you, many additional topics that I hope you will find thought-provoking and helpful in your journey - learning and discerning more about yourself, others, and our beloved dogs.

FREQUENCY CHART

This chart is helpful in so many ways. Not only does it help you self-track where you are on the scale as you move through your day, it helps you identify energy patterns with your clients and the dogs you work with.

 YIELDING EXERCISE

While we use the principles of Yielding when we teach Border Collies how we want them to work livestock, I am sharing for you, a page from Dick Russell’s original pet training manual that describes the procedure he developed for Yielding pet dogs because it explains why Dick Russell felt the exercise essential in a pet training program. I have included this exercise in my Basic Training Workbook and instruct it to all of my students.

In sheep herding, we teach the dog to BOTH come to us on cue AND back away (or move away) from us on cue when they are facing us or approaching us. Think of it as shoo-ing the dog away or pushing the dog away. If the dog knows this before we take him to stock, he will understand when we transfer the concept to the stock when we want to push him back off of the stock, push him to go around the stock, or create enough distance between the dog and the stock to allow them to move without panicking.

I have never seen another type of dog training that uses Yielding to control and cue the behavior of an aroused dog. We generally influence aroused states when the trainer is positioned behind the dog- not in front of the dog. I propose that by using this form of Yielding training, that we could effect great results with dogs who tend to target their energy toward people, animals, and objects that excite them. I would LOVE to receive feedback from trainers who try this.

Yielding Exercise by Dick Russell

Your dog is a social, pack dwelling animal. Your household is his pack. All pack or herd dwelling animals thrive best within a relatively stable hierarchy of status with some members being more dominant and others assuming a submissive role. Your dog wants to gain as much status within the pack as he possibly can for the very simple reason that status bestows prerequisites.

Status is not achieved within the pack by aggression, but by submission, with the lower ranking animal yielding to the higher ranking animal’s ritualistic display of authority. Your dog will be a much better pet, as well as a safer pet, if you will do a number of things to keep him from assuming increasingly higher rungs on the dominance ladder.

Pack and herd dwelling animals maintain status in a number of ways. One is to control the use of space by other animals. We are going to start controlling space by teaching your dog to yield to you on command and by your body position. Teaching this also has the added value of allowing you to walk into your home with both hands loaded with packages. We will not use food treats in the teaching of this exercise.

Have your dog standing in front of you on a loose leash. This is for control only. You will not use the leash to move your dog’s body. Lean into your dog. Leaning your torso toward the dog seems to be recognized by them as a status related gesture. Say the word “move”, and move toward him with tiny shuffling steps. Keep moving in your intended direction. Do not step around him as this will bestow status on him. As soon as he moves , tell him “Good”. Keep moving until he moves out of your way.

Do this several times every day. In your house, you can practice this with the leash off. Whenever your dog gets in your way, tell him to move and shuffle through him. Plan your routes around your house through your dog. If he is lying in your path, do not walk around him. Instead, make him move out of your way. The key to having your dog yield to you is your tiny, shuffling steps. Do not kick your dog, or bump him with your knees.

A word of WARNING. Do not attempt to have your dog yield to you if he has bitten or seriously threatened you. Dogs only bite members of their family to whom they feel dominant or when there are serious dominance related, but unresolved questions. 

CSPOTSIT LIVE

You will find some great teaching segments within each of the LIVE videos I have at the above link. As you scroll through the “updates” portion of each live, you will then arrive at teaching segments. Topics include: Intuition, Social Learning, Empathy, Helping, and the Bystander Effect.

DOG PRO RADIO INTERVIEW

This interview covers my history with IACP’s founding and early years. It gives good insight into my thinking about where we have been, where we are, and where we are going as an industry.

YOUTUBE CHANNEL

By clicking the link above, you will be able to see the playlists on my channel. Bring your attention to the “Ideas” playlist and dive in on them. These are some of the most fascinating and idea-expanding videos that have helped me to expand my thinking on many topics, including the ways we interact with our environment and the ways we think of nature, time, and connectivity.

Rupert Sheldrake

Rupert Sheldrake speaks on a variety of research topics, including how dogs know when their owners are coming home from being away. While I do not agree with everything he proposes, his ideas are very much worth exploring as they have been suppressed by the science community and you will see why when you begin to learn about his ideas and research. Rupert has many interviews on Youtube if you are interested in more of his work.

Flow States

My work with hypnosis and the training I completed on the topic ended up additionally adding “Flow States” to my repertoire in a more intentional way. When you master flow states, you are using a form of self-hypnosis to change your brain state to become remarkably focused and efficient for bursts of time- such as when you are performing or when you are working dogs in training sessions. I use flow states nearly every day to accomplish tremendous amounts of tasks in a very brief amount of time.

WATER

It is said that the human body is composed of 60-70 per cent water and the body of the dog is composed of 70-80 per cent water. We must not ignore the importance of water, so we must comprehend many of the unique and amazing properties of water. I will share a few videos to get you started in your learning and thinking differently about water. .

FUNDAMENTAL ATTUNEMENT OF LIVING THINGS

I absorb inspiration to innovate my work with dogs by studying broad and diverse research and theoretical proposition. We must look around us and be willing to explore information.

One mark of intelligence in a person, is their ability to take any premise they may completely disagree with, and be willing to dive into that topic to pick it apart completely in order to formulate an “informed rebuttal” or more surprisingly- accept the premise!. Exercising this practice long enough- and a mind that only sees “black and white”, will begin to discern the vast areas of “grey”- both in concepts- and in approaches. This is the area of INNOVATION and CREATION!

Cleve Backster’s work on Primary Perception can move you to a place of fascinating possibilities. My Youtube playlist titled “Ideas” includes several videos on plants. This is just one and if this one resonates with you, go and watch more! The “Backster Effect” illustrates to us - a fundamental “attunement” among all living things- humans, plants, AND our dogs!!
TAKE A LOOK!!!

Quorum Sensing

Bonnie Bassler’s work on Quorum Sensing seems to align with some of the work of Sheldrake and Backster and elevates us to some amazing possibilities that we have perhaps considered, but never named or used to any degree. If this interests you, you’ll want to keep going- farther and deeper.

MATH

I am one of those people that have avoided math throughout my adult life. I did love geometry in grade school, but struggled to grasp trigonometry, and swore off of math after dropping out of Calculus class, brain exploded to bits, because I’d been asked to do the UNTHINKABLE. To add and subtract from infinity!!!

I have recently re-discovered math. Math presented to me in ways that I can make sense of and ways that are useful to me.
If you want to open your eyes in a new way to math, here are some math topics that invigorate me:

Vortex Math

Toroids

Fractals

Mandelbrot Sets

Chaos Theory