MAYA BARKED AT BIG DOGS

Maya's person told me: The problem I have with Maya is how vocal she reacts to certain size dogs. If they are small then it’s silence and waggy tails but any dog over the size of a King Charles it’s fear and uncontrollable barking. I try to place her behind me away from the dog to give her more security. It’s just getting worse though!

Maya told me: Big dogs can eat me!

This was a sweet communication. First Maya was astonished that I was communicating with her and thought it was just a voice in her head. She never quite believed me! But we chatted about her fears and they were completely logical - big dogs COULD eat her - so I didn't try to reassure her about the size issue. Instead I made this about the dog's soul, and explained that every dog's soul is the same size.

I asked Maya to take a moment to assess the dog's soul and energy before making the decision to bark. I explained how her going straight to barking could be turning a good interaction into a bad one because of the negative energy she was putting out by barking indiscriminately.

As always I told her her humans would be noticing any effort she made to do this and she agreed to work on her discernment.

Feedback: Our jaws dropped in awe and amazement when we entered a restaurant with a bouncing enormous dog near the entrance which we had to pass and Maya was absolutely silent… not one bark! Don’t get me wrong, her little tail was tucked beneath her and she was petrified but so brave and I coaxed her passed. Our table was immediately diagonal so she still had full visual but not a peep! Bravo!

Summary: Another great lesson for me in the value of asking a dog to use its own discernment before reacting with fear or aggression. I'm so proud of Maya for doing this work and delighted that her people have seen such a big change in her. Lots of work still to do before Maya learns to relax around big dogs, and her people must be mindful to be sure that she only has positive interactions while she grows in confidence, but this is an amazing start. Good girl Maya!