When it comes to learning how to be truly present in the moment, there's no better model for "Be Here Now" than your dog. At any given instant, your dog is responding to the way that the world is making them feel right then and there.

As you learn to feel the world the way that your dog feels the world, you will actually get closer to your own centered, in-the-moment experience.

First, you might have to change your perspective of how your dog perceives the world.

Most mainstream belief systems about dog training focus on your dog as a “thinking” being – that is, your dog learns to do something either because they think you want them to do something (because you reward them for the correct behavior), or they think you don't want them to do something (because you punish the incorrect behavior). These models often break down, however, when your dog is in an emotionally charged situation.

Even IF your dog is thinking their way through the calmer moments in life, they most certainly are not stopping to think things through when you accidentally throw a ball into the street, or when you're walking in the woods and a deer crosses your path. In those energized moments, your dog does what comes naturally, which is that they're attracted to something prey-like (the ball or the deer) and repelled by something predator-like (the human lumbering after them, shouting at them to do something else). Understand that our dogs are all hunters at their core. What they find most satisfying in life is to make prey: to satisfy their prey drive. When the energy of the world “comes in,” if your dog is relaxed enough, the energy of the world “goes out” in the form of prey-making. Energy in, energy out.

And our experience, like our dogs, is actually centered in feeling, not in thought. As we go about our day-to-day business, our interactions with the world make us feel a certain way. Then, because we're humans and dominated by our frontal lobe, our thoughts kick in, and our mind often buzzes out of control, thinking first this way, then that way about whatever – often moving quickly past whatever feeling it was that kicked off the stream of thoughts in the first place. However, the energy that came in, that inspired the initial feeling – that energy has to go somewhere. In your experience, does that energy flow right through you, mobilized into a proper response, or do you store it within you, as stress, and get caught up in a whirlwind of thought?

Knowing what to look for, when I work with a dog, I can see the energy circuit happening right before my eyes. An emotionally healthy dog just asks “now what do I do with this energy?” With these dogs, I give them ways to resolve the energy, in the moment, with their owner or me. These dogs learn that they can have the most gratifying experience by being in the flow and resolving their emotional energy with their human.

A slightly dysfunctional dog gets tense and runs the risk of emotional overload (aggression, anxiety, hyperactivity, etc.) as the energy of a situation increases. These dogs need to learn how to relax in charged moments, and so my work with them involves being extremely sensitive to the in-the-moment emotional experience a dog is having and fostering relaxation in those moments. Through the physical relaxation comes an ability to feel more energized, without becoming unstable. Then we can get back to answering the first “what do I do with this energy” question. 

Just like us, our dog’s deepest desire is to get out of their "head" and into the present, responding in the flow of their existence. Dogs and humans are, at their core, emotional beings. Like us, they want to connect with others on a deeper, emotional level. Like us, our dogs get the most satisfaction out of being in the flow – and, conversely, they experience lack of energetic, emotional flow in any given moment as stress.

If you can break yourself out of the way we've been conditioned to see our dogs (as thinking mini-people), and instead focus on how our dogs are feeling their way through the world, then you not only have a way to develop a closer, more satisfying relationship with your dog, but you ALSO have a way to remind yourself to be present. Being with your dog acts like a tuning fork, pulling you into the vibration of the moment, ultimately, fostering your own awareness of how the emotional currents of the world are affecting you. As you help your dog relax in high-energy moments, you also learn to relax and remain grounded as the intensity of the situation increases. Your dog learns healthy ways to resolve that energy with you, which cements your status as the center of your dog’s emotional universe. And over time, you get closer to that state of flow – energy in, energy out – enjoying all that the experience of being alive has to offer you, here and now.

NEIL SATTIN is author of the Natural Dog Blog www.naturaldogblog.com visited by thousands of dog lovers per month. He conducts private training and group workshops, and produced the Natural Dog Training series of DVDs to help dog owners learn the techniques at home, without a professional. Neil lives outside of Portland, Maine with his wife, two children, three cats, and his dog Nola.