Call 505-310-5438
Gentle Spirit Dog Training
Connection * Cooperation * Collaboration
with Gaia Richards
Not all dogs come ready-made
Many people adopt a dog from the shelter and want to go on long, energetic off-leash hikes and have their dogs ready-made. (And this can happen!)
But for many people, their dogs may exhibit disruptive, outlandish, and even dangerous behaviors. This is when they come to me. I teach people how to help their dogs feel safe in the environment, how to have some say in the matter without running the show, and how to "self-calm" in appropriate ways.
My Dog Story
I began learning how to train dogs in Santa Fe, New Mexico in February 2017. I had arrived at the park with two dogs: Spirit, my cattle dog mix, and Dulce, my Terrier mix. I had them piled in the back of my little 1980 Datsun where they barked and barked and barked and barked.
I was at my wit's end. I had never thought of going to a trainer. I figured I should just KNOW how to handle dogs. I thought if I love them they will love me back and do what they are supposed to do.
But not.
Spirit had been found on Cerrillos Road and she was somewhat feral: She attacked busses and little dogs, and even her shadow. She also was a cute wiggle-butt darling (see photo on right).
Dulce was calmer and potentially a sweet dog but he was reactive and clever and totally self-willed.
Inagine this: After our first session, David said he couldn't work with me! He said my dogs were too fat, self-rewarding, and neither needed nor wanted anything from me.
But when David saw how genuinely distraught I was, he had a softening of his heart and said, "If you go home and feed your dogs by hand with a 'Watch Me' command before each bite, and you come back in a week, perhaps we can work together."
I did as he instructed and returned the next week with more manageable and agreeable dogs and we began laying the foundation for training.
I learned that training is ALWAYS happening, and it also doesn't start till the foundation is laid. This was one of many paradoxes in the life of a human/dog relationship.
I began apprenticing with David and two and a half years later set up my own shingle as a dog trainer. We had done a lot: About 300 hours of training, hours of Search & Rescue, and more hours of community presentations and mentoring of high school kids. I had trained about 40 dogs with him and have been working one-on-one with Santa Feans who are ready to do what it takes to have a stable, healthy & happy dog!
CALL NOW: 505-310-5438
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