25/03/2021
🔥Let’s talk Dog Training, my why, and foundations of dog training 🔥
*disclaimer* I believe in my methods as I have worked for 2 decades in ALL methods, my experience is vast. I think I need to further solidify where I stand on the topic currently and what Vogue Rogue Dogue represents, these are my professional views and methods that are specific to my programs and lifestyle *
I don’t coin myself as a positive reinforcement trainer although I lean more to this side. I say this because I don’t believe each breed or dog requires the same kinds of communication Always. I don’t think training can be package in a specific box Always or an owner or lifestyle Always treated with the same training program and I further think many trainers promote failure by teaching this. *Not all trainers * I have a tremendous respect for all kinds of dog trainers*
Vogue Rogue Dogue is a lifestyle with dogs wether you are raising puppies, rescuing, or a dog owner that includes your dog/s in every aspect of your life, I developed my own program through personal experience with dogs based on science and professional training but really it is based on what actually works well and makes me Happy and my dogs Happy. My interactions with my dogs make me happy, working with dogs makes me happy and happy,peaceful and fulfilled is so important to have in your everyday life. I am not happy being Rigid, I am adaptable, life is complicated and extraordinary so I enjoy being able to relax to feel life and feel myself. How you treat yourself will reflect on how you treat/teach your dogs, like with children.
I am also a mother, so a lot of what I learned as a young mother and now a mother of teenage boys does reflect how I love and teach my dogs. For many years with my own children I followed what I considered the above average norm. My children went to the best schools and achieved so much academically, athletically and I was showered in praise by teachers, coaches and any adults that came into their world and I loved it. It meant I was doing it right, I was a single teen mom ( before my wonderful husband came along) and I was good at being a mom. I wasn’t strict but the expectations were always understood by my boys. As they got older I started to listen to them more and more, blocking out what was the expected high achieving norm. They didn’t like being the smartest, or the best, or the most popular and it was taking a toll on how they viewed themselves. Out side people (other kids,coaches, teachers) were having more of an impact on their self esteem and self worth than each other, my husband or myself ! Listen to what this means, I gave permission for other adults that I don’t know or know if their views or morals align with mine shape how my children saw themselves, that was wrong 👏🏼 read that again 👏🏼
My oldest Son, an AP student was accepted to 23 colleges and I saw the exhaustion on his face senior year so I asked him if he wanted to be done with school ? He looked at me like how would that even be an option. I made it an option, he graduated on his own terms and took a year off to be himself and learn himself and the world. He is an academic through and through he is the smartest, kindest soul and will probably go on to carry a PhD but I want happiness and fulfillment for him whatever that is, On his own terms authentically.
My younger Son struggled with the pressure of school, he is brilliant and has a quality to captivate everyone he meets and that was exhausting for him. Being so popular and so smart wasn’t good for him so as he started high school I asked him the same question, do you want to be done doing school this way ? Immediately he said yes and didn’t express the concern my older son had on what that meant in others eyes. I said okay let’s do it the way that works for you. He took the SATs at 15 he scored a perfect score. He graduated high school at 16 and he takes college courses online. He does what he loves, he is extremely brilliant, creative and kind.
I have had a sense of relief and recovery the past few years from not having to conform to the expected norms, as a woman, mother, business owner oh and wife. Nothing in my life is dictated by “ what you’re supposed to do. “ I refuse to spend my life trying and failing at someone else’s standard, or staying in a traditional norm. This doesn’t mean I don’t learn from different people but I don’t follow one way. Life has millions of pieces and it takes an abundance of knowledge and acceptance to grow in love with yourself, your purpose and your dreams ! I say all of this so you all can understand where my programs have developed from. I spent a decade training working line dogs with top trainers in the US, protection dogs were my passion, being a hard tough girl with kick ass dogs gave me power. Then when I bought a Dogue de Bordeaux my world changed and he gave me permission to be vulnerable, weak, sad, anxious, and open. I realized I was so focused on safety and protection, harnessing extreme dogs that I was further enforcing this cement wall I was made of. Being strong and brave doesn’t need to be screamed or obvious. I needed to let my guard down more, not for other people but for me. I needed to heal from life, trauma, anxiety, loss and just the trauma of being belligerently strong all the fu***ng time. My husband blindly supports me in everything and I’m grateful for that but it was about me. Me being happy with me, I changed my boundaries with my dogs, I started to teach clients to heal with their dogs, how to communicate with their dogs and their inner self needs l, also how to raise puppies in a way that will give lifelong benefits to future owners and the wellbeing of the dogs.
This brings me so much joy !
Training your dog doesn’t need to be this cookie cutter training, guess what, most won’t work, frustration will come, failure and self defeating thoughts will enter in all because you can’t get a dog to follow the commands you see other people do or even watch a dog trainer do with your dog. You feel helpless and it becomes a negative stressor to even have a dog, never-mind have multiple dogs or litters of puppies.
Vogue Rogue Dogue represents the new way to view your life with dogs, how to be successful and how to be unsure but accepting of help, how to be an organized mess, how to make your life or business completely authentic to you, and how to teach yourself and dogs to live in harmony without guilt.
🐶Picture of Lux eating breakfast with me I love this time with him 💙
