everything but the words

image shows a human seated on the floor and smiling while a black-and-white floppy-eared pup approaches and takes a tennis ball from the human's outstretched hand.

~ for humans & pet dogs ~

A 1-hour 17-minute pre-recorded workshop supports you in building skills to recognize and interpret nonverbal cues in yourself and your dog!

This workshop includes:

Guided breathing
Education on:
- 3 nervous system states
- 9 nonverbal cues
Video examples to analyze and begin observational skill development
Experiential activities
- an exercise with other humans
- a training activity with your dog

*Bonus! When you purchase this recording, you’ll also receive 2 worksheets to help you map your and your dog’s nervous systems!

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Video is a 4 min 36 second preview of the Everything But the Words workshop. Sharon appears in the top right corner, describing concepts and guiding activities, while graphics are displayed in center.

Everything But The Words is a 1-hour 17-minute pre-recorded workshop that will provide you knowledge and skills for recognizing and interpreting nonverbal cues of the autonomic nervous system in yourself and your dogs so that you can:

1

be aware of the subtle signs that you are approaching stress, overwhelm, or a fight-flight-or-freeze response

2

understand whether your dog is stressed, anxious, afraid, alert, overwhelmed, calm, or grounded

3

adjust the environment or your activity to reduce your dog’s reactive behavior

4

proactively manage stress and anxiety for yourself and your dog

5

feel confident when interpreting your dog’s communication

6

recognize when your dog is ready for training, walking, or socializing

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about the workshop

Who is this for?
This workshop is ideal for humans who:
- live with a dog who displays anxiety, reactivity, or aggressive behavior
- experience increased stress or anxiety in response to their dog’s behavior
- want to feel confident when setting and holding boundaries with regard to their dog
- wish their dog could communicate more clearly
- recently adopted a dog for emotional support, but now feels more stress due to the dog’s behavior
- recently transitioned home from residential treatment
- recently experienced a significantly life-changing event (ie. moved, changed jobs, brought another dog or human into the home)
What techniques will be used?
- guided breathing
- didactic education with visual aids
- video analysis
- small group somatic activities
- dog training exercise
- questions & discussions (hear answers to questions that were asked when this workshop was live!)
What frameworks are used?
This workshop was developed using the following frameworks:
- The Polyvagal Theory
- Somatic Consent
- Social Neuroscience of Human-Animal Interaction
- Humane / Force Free Canine Behavior Modification
- Control Unleashed: Reactive to Relaxed from Leslie McDevitt
- Fundamentals of Canine Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology
What's the plan?
Ground in (guided breathing and orientation)
Education (learn about the autonomic nervous system states and nonverbal cues)
Application (analyze video media to understand and begin developing skills for recognizing the nonverbal cues)
Practice
- experiential activity (work with other humans to build skills for noticing and naming nonverbal cues)
- exercise with dogs (work with your own dog to begin recognizing nonverbal cues and building “default behaviors”)

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This workshop will support you in feeling empowered and confident when interacting with your dog!

After participating, you will become aware of the subconscious communication between your nervous system and the world around you so that you can recognize and communicate your needs, effectively interpret your dog’s behavior, and proactively reduce stress for both of you.