In the best case scenario, the dog’s calmness is transferred to us and reduces our stress.
But if the dog orients itself towards us , which is what it is supposed to do, then our stress is transferred to the dog.
So if the dog is stressed, restless, etc., then we should check whether we are perhaps the cause.
The advantage of dog-centered mindfulness meditation is that we can get feedback through our dog.
* If the dog is stressed, then it may be because of our stress.
* If the dog does not respond to our commands, then it may be because of our contradictory body language .
* If the dog loses its orientation towards us… are we still in the here and now , still with our dog?
* If the dog is apparently incomprehensibly afraid of something, what are we (in our thoughts) afraid of right now?
Our dog only notices that we are afraid, worried . But it does not know what about – and looks for the reason in the here and now.
I came up with the idea for dog-centered mindfulness meditation through Bobby , who, after building a relationship, reacted very, very sensitively to all of these points.
DOGmatism
New perspectives on humans, dogs and culture