For You If You're Caring for a Sensitive Dog...
Emotionally Intelligent Dog Academy is a 12-month LIVE practicum that prepares you to compassionately guide your fearful dog to greater resilience and happiness in everyday life with you and your family.
Despite your best efforts, good intentions just aren't enough when it comes to supporting dogs coping with reactivity, anxiety, and fear.
But you can make a profoundly
positive impact when you help your dog achieve Emotional Intelligence.
ENROLL NOWGently Lead Your Dog through Four Essential Milestones on the Path from Reactivity to Emotional Resilience & Self-Regulation
- Milestone #1 Relaxation: A calm and relaxed inner emotional state is a prerequisite for a trauma-informed approach. You'll learn to practice life-changing co-regulation.
- Milestone #2 Movement: Freedom of Movement is linked to feeling grounded and emotionally safe and allows dogs to think, learn, and problem-solve. You'll expand your understanding of your dog through informed observation skills.
- Milestone #3 Patterns: Pattern games and activities ease stress, confusion, and conflicted emotions. Predictability helps nervous dogs feel secure about ordinary experiences.
- Milestone #4 Attunement: Empathy with your dog grows as you become fluent in dog body language. You'll discover the power of giving your dog your undivided attention and unconditional acceptance.
If repeated exposures, desensitization, and counter-conditioning haven't helped your dog's reactivity, it's NOT your fault!
Those methods often yield poor results because they aim to change behavior without first acknowledging the emotion that is the source of the dog's actions. As a result, dogs re-live the same trauma again and again. First, change Emotion and then Behavior will change.
ENROLL TODAY!
In The Next 12 Months, You Can…
- Build your dog's self-confidence and resilience
- Become fluent in your dog's body language to identify unmet needs
- Practice benevolent leadership and guide your dog to self-regulation
When your dogs feel emotionally safe and psychologically secure they transform their behavior.
NOT ANOTHER DOG TRAINING COURSE!
Emotionally Intelligent Dog Academy
Discover the Proven Path To Support Your Dog Emotionally, Psychologically, Socially, and Physical
This 12-month Academy program teaches you the essential principles and practices for building your dog's embodied resilience and self-regulation.
It's NOT dog training as you know it...instead, it's collaboration, conversation, and connection. It's relating to your dog in an entirely new way!
With an open mind and heart and a commitment to your dog's well-being, you can finally become the trusted and benevolent leader your dog needs and deserves.
- Use movement and patterns to teach focused thinking
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Create and share relaxed energy with your dog
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Be attuned and responsive to your dog's body language
- Weekly Live classes on Zoom
- Office hours for between session questions
- Class recordings are available within 24 hours
- The day and time for live classes to be announced
Leona Nicoll & Leeloo
"I learned a whole new way of thinking about Leeloo’s behaviors and reactions, and how to best support her. We still have a lot of work to do, but it is great to have a step-by-step process with a clearly defined path and all of the support that you offer."
Emotionally Intelligent Dog Academy
The Curriculum
MILESTONE 1
Relaxation & Co-Regulation Practices
A calm and relaxed inner emotional state lets you mirror for your dog the energy you want him to reflect back to you.
- Choose locations where your dog feels physically, emotionally, and psychologically safe
- Assess your dog's inner emotional state by observing body language cues.
- Advocate for your dog's agency with consent-based care.
- Manage the environment to support noise-sensitive dogs.
- The choice to relax is a prerequisite for trauma-informed practices
Practice co-regulation to strengthen a bond of trust and be your dog's safe haven.
MILESTONE 2
Movement, Grounding, & Proprioception Practices
Freedom of movement is linked to survival and a felt sense of safety. It allows dogs to think, learn, and process the environment with confidence.
- Practice healthy mobilization as an alternative to over-arousal.
- Predictable movement patterns instill a felt sense of safety in unpredictable situations.
- Free movement and natural expression are the basis for organized problem-solving.
- Assess your dog's mood and physical comfort level to understand his needs.
- Freedom of movement leads to resilience and clear thinking.
You will help your dog stay grounded in the present and make regulated choices.
MILESTONE 3
Patterns and Anchoring Practices
Pattern games and activities develop habits that ease stress and resolve conflicted emotions.
- Patterns create a sense of predictability and safety for dogs that struggle with novelty.
- Patterns develop neuroplasticity and resilience so dogs can notice triggers without responding with overarousal.
- Patterns help dogs feel physically grounded in their bodies.
- Patterns give dogs healthy and functional default behaviors so they can cope with their sensitivities.
You'll feel a sense of teamwork as you engage your dog in simple patterns that help him navigate everyday stresses.
MILESTONE 4
Attunement
Connecting with your dog's energy in a deeper way builds trust.
- Listen to your dog with undivided attention and unconditional acceptance
- Practice intentional observation to read the subtle signals that predict your dog's actions.
- Practice consent-based activities to respect your dog's agency and his right to say no.
- Learn to use the feedback from your dog as valuable information for choosing your next step.
You’ll have a deeper understanding that advocating for your dog's well-being means the dog is always more important than the task.
This Program Is Ideal For You If...
- You believe the well-being of your dog is more important than the task
- You reject aversive practices including all use of force, fear, or pain to get compliance
- You understand that healing emotional insecurity takes time and we can't require deadlines for the dogs
- You can commit to actively participating in the program
Is the Academy right for you? Will it deliver the transformation you want for your dog? Imagine your dog living life with confidence...Imagine yourself being confident you're doing the very best for your dog's well-being.
Many members started out feeling discouraged, frustrated, and even hopeless. They discovered the power of keeping things simple and it opened the door to exciting changes. The same thing can happen for you and your sensitive dog!
HEY THERE...
I'm Marilyn Mele...
Today the dog world is experiencing an explosion of discoveries about how dogs learn, think, and feel.
For too long formal dog training overlooked a dog's fundamental emotional need to feel safe, loved, and happy. The things we wanted dogs to DO took precedence over what the dog was FEELING. Fortunately, all that is changing!
I created the Emotionally Intelligent Dog Academy to guide people like you who want to help their fearful, distressed, and reactive dogs become confident, resilient, self-regulated, and emotionally intelligent companions.
In the program, we use practices based on science and educational psychology.
"Unlike many other trainers who work to "fix the dog" Marilyn's approach is to help the person see the dog in a more empathetic way."
- Wendy C. & Amber
"Walks were not fun with Bo. Whining, pulling, & barking. This training helped me connect with my dog in a way I had never done before."
- Lori P. & Bo
"I'm so proud of Molly!!!
She has definitely come a long way and I thank you so much for your help."
- Darlene S. & Molly
What this Program is NOT:
- It's NOT a DIY course that you work on and finish (or not) by yourself.
- It's NOT a membership with a long menu of options.
- It's NOT a set of lessons with detailed tasks and deadlines.
- It's NOT a "quick fix" for behavior problems. Your dog isn't broken - just not yet ready to cope.
- It's NOT recycling the same methods that caused the dog's anxiety in the first place, i.e. aversives and force.
- It's NOT a task-focused to-do list that leaves you feeling like a failure.
What this Program Promises:
- A community of dog lovers who support and celebrate one another.
- Relationship-building practices that help your dogs co-regulate and stabilize their nervous systems.
- A layered, incremental, tangible progression from protected practice to real-world experience.
- Assessment tools so you can measure progress from baby steps to breakthroughs.
- Weekly LIVE classroom sessions delivered in person on Zoom
- PLUS Office Hours twice a month to talk about anything in the program.
DON'T UNDERESTIMATE YOURSELF...
It's normal to have fears & doubts about how you can possibly bridge the gap between where you & your dog are now & where you want to be.
Figuring it out on your own feels bewildering...But together we can move through those fears and doubts and gently lead your dog to the calm and happy life he deserves.
Emotionally Intelligent Dog Academy
Still Got Questions?
Here are a few things I'm often asked about the program: