Mo*Bee's Blog #13: Understanding Man's Best Friend

Mo*Bee's Blog #13:  Understanding Man's Best Friend

One of the great benefits of starting Mo*Bee’s Class Finder.com is that we get to meet all sorts of gifted instructors and educators.  In the blogs to follow, we hope to share a little of what we have learned with you!   Maybe you will decide to pick up a new hobby, be able to answer the next Jeopardy Challenge question or in this case, we hope you will volunteer your time with a shelter dog.

We have been volunteering at Foothills Humane Society to help train shelter dogs.  Kayla Parrish, owner of 2 Lead with Love, is our fearless instructor for an hour twice a week.  Don’t let her small stature fool you.  These dogs know she is the boss and not by being mean or an incredibly strict disciplinarian.  In fact, our dogs in training absolutely LOVE to sit by Kayla to get her affection and verbal praise.

Kayla teaching, "Walk with me."

Kayla has a different approach.  But before I spill the Scooby Snacks, let me just say we treated our animals the wrong way too.  This is not to say that we neglected or abused our pets, but we treated our canine clan like little humans.  We comforted and loved our dogs how WE thought they would want to be treated.

So, as silly as it sounds, here is the magic,…dogs don’t think like humans despite our best efforts.  We can dress up our furry friends in rain slickers and galoshes or tell them (in our best baby talk) they are the cutest little canines ever, but dogs still don’t think like humans.  Dogs are instinctively pack animals.  And actually, most dogs don’t want to be the pack leader.  They are seeking your leadership.  When you establish yourself as the leader, your dog is at peace and can find calm within your household.

Dee with Honey

With the dogs at the shelter, our goal is to teach them how to trust and interact with us humans using positive reinforcement (i.e. lots of treats).  We volunteers come from varied backgrounds and dog training skill levels, but we all have a desire to help find homes for these animals.  Obviously, a dog that is better behaved and socialized is more likely to be adopted.  You might be surprised to learn that the “average mutt” at the pound is incredibly intelligent and would make an excellent addition to a family.

With Kayla’s guidance, we have had the pleasure of helping several shelter dogs find their forever home.  It is not at all that we are superb trainers, but that Kayla expertly matches us with the dog best suited for our personality and skill level.  And what an awesome feeling it is to help our furry friends find a loving forever home. 

Gwen

Queenie

We hope you will consider making a difference in your local community animal shelter or join us at Foothills Humane Society!  As a bonus, you will learn how to train your own family pet and all it will cost you is some time!  

No worries if dog training is not for you.  There are plenty of other volunteer opportunities to match your talents and interests such as photography, video creation, transporters, landscaping, event planning / promoting and for the cat lovers out there, cat snugglers.  Yes, cats need socialization too. 

Until next time...

Kelly & Dee (a.k.a Mo*Bee)

Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost.  Find your next class on Mo*Bee's Class Finder.com!