Course Details
Welcome to the The Social Approach! I’m so happy to introduce you to the project I've been been working on for more than a year now with Josefin Linderström of Canine Consilience! She and I have been exploring blending the magic behind Play Way with the amazing way she trains, developed from Swedish approaches to behavior, and her experiences working with children in the school system. We wanted to bring these new ideas to the FDSA community first, and we really hope you love them!
Dogs are inherently social, and your dog is no exception. Just like humans, dog are a social species, and in many ways we were made for each other! Indeed, social connection is a biological need, and meeting this need is our responsibility, as important as food and shelter.
Unmet social needs are the source of more of your training and behavior issues than you may realize, and this isn't solved by doing more: more playing, more training, or more enrichment. What's often missing is the social element. Attunement and social responsiveness can make all the difference.
Or, more simply put: being social changes everything.
In this class you will learn just how much you matter. Your own physical movements and social signaling affect almost everything you do with your dog, from training and performance, to hiking, walking, and everyday living together.
Social signaling is the way your body language talks to your dog. When your body misaligns with your intentions, your dog can get confused and frustrated, and your dog's way of trying to tell you can be easily misinterpreted. Let's get on the same page!
This class is a sampler of the concepts belonging to The Social Approach, a new system developed by Josefin Linderström and Amy Cook, PhD, who will introduce you to elements aimed at relieving common conflicts that arise between you and your dog, smoothing out communication.
We will show you our essential concepts, each of which will teach you how to listen and respond with social competence, and give you practical skills that meet their social needs meaningfully. And you will have fun doing it!
In this class, you will learn:
- how space bubbles affect almost every interaction you have with your dog
- how to say with your body what you're saying with your words
- how to "listen in dog," and know what to say back
- how to rely your dog's strengths, and see "naughty" in a new light
- how to tell a joke your dog will laugh at!
Come explore The Social Approach with us!
