Lillie Goodrich Seminar
Lillie Goodrich Seminar
March 10-11 th
As I write this, there are many of us that have been emailing back and forth on what a wonderful experience this past weekend's seminar and private consultations were with Lillie. Andrea asked me to put a little article together for the newsletter, so here goes J
Saturday was a day full of watching REAL dogs meet for the first time and to see how the DOG talks to the other DOG. Lillie's experience in the topic is based from her work with Border Collie and Border Collie mix rescue. She has had the opportunity to study 1,000 dogs in her rescue since she started in rescue in Morris, NY on her farm called Glen Highland Farm. Lillie first had us humans down on the ground on “all fours” pretending we were the dog and we had an owner at our side. How scary it was indeed to be down there while our owner was just drifting about! I know for me, I now know how my dogs feel when in strange places and I'm not “there” for them. Then she showed a grounding exercise she called it. She said that dogs react to our energy. She told us to breathe deeply for three times and think of our feet firmly planted in the green grass or water if we liked. After doing these breathing exercises, we all felt more grounded, more relaxed and more focused. Then we did the dog/owner exercise again. All of a sudden I felt more in focus being the dog at the end of that pretend leash. I didn't feel panicked and had a sense of being connected with my owner. Dogs seek out ‘grounded people' so it is always wise to remember this little exercise when you are in strange places such as a dog park or an agility trial or what have you. Your dog wants to be your partner and wants your energy to be grounded. If you are unfocused and scatter brained, they in turn will be too!
Lillie used her own dogs that she brought (three of them for demo dogs) paired up with many of the participants dogs. This was for safety reasons, as she knew how her dogs react to other dogs but she also stressed that isn't to say that something different may happen….that dogs are “in the moment”. She first started out by showing us how friendly dogs interact and talk to each other and what signs to watch for. Certain signs like a wiggling of bodies between them are a happy sign but when one or both dogs become stiff in their bodies that something negative may be happening that they are not comfortable with. Their language to each other is more than either liking one another or not by a show of their pearly white teeth. There are small signals that we need to watch for and they happen very quickly. Andrea's little Sheltie, was a wonderful example to learn from. Ellie would greet the other dog all happy and wiggly but once the other dog got into her “space” too much she decided she would ‘warn' them to back off by a stare directly in the other dogs face and her body would ‘freeze'. It was very comical to watch and yet very educational at the same time. We humans need to learn to WATCH our dogs interactions with other dogs and watch carefully or you will miss a HUGE conversation going on right before your eyes.
After several dogs as examples of “friendly dog to friendly dog”, we then moved on to what we as humans perceive as “troubled dogs” in one form or another. But Lillie was quick to tell us that “there are NO bad dogs”. That it is OK that our dog not like all dogs or all humans. Just as we don't like all humans. It is who they are and we cannot change them. Sure, we can TRY to help them deal with certain dogs or humans but you will not change who your dog is inside. This gave many of us with ‘problem' dogs a sigh of relief. For instance, with my own dog, Maggie. She picks and chooses who she likes and dislikes in the dog world. This has puzzled me due to the fact she used to be very submissive to all dogs & trustworthy around all. But she has had a few incidents where other dogs have gone at her and now she is returning that behavior at times and times I wish she wouldn't. I have to continue to intervene if need be and don't try to change who she is and think there is “something wrong with her” that needs to be changed. Dogs that have a lot of movement in them like Labs or Border Collies or even wiggly fast moving little dogs, just make her want to make them to stop! That's just “her”. I cannot change that and now I feel like a huge weight is off my shoulders as I was constantly trying to change who Maggie is.
We watched many of the participants dogs actually not be as “bad” as what the owner thought they were. But Lillie also told us that this was just two meetings for each dog with two of her dogs…remember that dogs live “in the moment”. Lillie showed the owner that their dog is behaving appropriately and to watch for certain signals the dog is giving. Dogs like to have a lot of space and that was reiterated from time to time. Some dogs are rude and invade other dog's space and need to be told to back off by the other dog. It's not the dog that told the other dog to back off that is the “bad dog”; it's the dog that barged into the space of the other that is the problem!
Lillie gave suggestions to several on how to handle their dogs in certain situations, for example, using food to pair seeing strange dogs in the vicinity and training the dog to like the presence of other dogs around & building on the distance the strange dog was at in comparison to the other dog. Carrie's dog, Hunter, was a great example of this. I think Carrie was very relieved to have this “tool” to use now on Hunter! She responded fantastically!!
Lillie then went on in the afternoon showing how people interact with dogs and how dogs dislike many of the things we think they should like! Like the way we pat them to the way we walk up to a dog and look them in the face. She showed us how her dog's react to certain exercises we did with them. How they would, if willingly allowed, move away from the pressure we put onto them by moving into their space. She showed how rude it is even with human to human to rub their faces and get right up close and personal in their faces.
Throughout the day, Lillie spoke of energy. Lillie is a trained animal communicator and here are a couple quotes from her website in which she told us over the weekend:
“While dogs may not speak words or seem to think complex thoughts like you do, they are not that different at all. They have real feelings and experience every aspect of your life; it's just from their perspective, not yours. So, they require that you stretch a bit in order to hear them. They are connected to you all the time and happy to talk if you want to listen. In fact, you're probably hearing them a lot right now but might not trust that's the case or know when it's happening. Animal communication is the bridge between you and your dog.”
“Using highly developed intuitive skills; an animal communicator converses with the animal you love and passes the information onto you. This is invaluable in building a stronger, deeper relationship. “
So with those thoughts in mind, we move onto Sunday's private sessions with Lillie. I was EXTREMELY surprised and thrilled we had a FULL day scheduled for Lillie. She saw 18 dogs on Sunday privately with their owner. I have had Lillie ‘speak' to Maggie before two times and this was the third time. I have to say Lillie has pegged Maggie the same way each time! I can't imagine she takes personal notes while talking to me and rehearsed those before seeing Maggie on Sunday J Various questions that were asked were ‘how does my dog feel?', ‘is there anything he/she would want changed in their life?', ‘does my dog like competing in agility?'. And a particular question I had with Haley was her fear of many noises, like thunderstorms and firecrackers. Lillie said that Haley seeks out grounded people and seeks me out. Haley wants to lean on me during these times & put my hand on her mid back during the noises. Well, wouldn't you know, that is EXACTLY what she does…she comes to me and sits by my leg and literally leans on me! While we were there AFTER Lillie said this, the blower went on in the Riverside building and Haley was busy milling around but when the blower went on she came over to me and sat down and leaned on my leg! So that surely told Lillie what she'd just said minutes prior was exactly true. Amazing. Lillie has an amazing gift and it is real…it cannot be dismissed! I've often struggled with believing this stuff from time to time but she keeps telling me stuff about my dogs that make me a believer J
I believe, as do others, that we all came away from the weekend with a greater sense of our dogs wants and needs and feelings. We came away understanding that we need to open our eyes and watch our dog's interactions with other dogs and humans. That we need to “ground” ourselves around our dogs and that they seek out humans that are “grounded”. She taught me to accept who my dogs are and be happy to share their lives. I have a different feeling around my dogs now…I can't explain it but I am sure there are others that feel the same way J
Tracy, Maggie & Haley
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