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 NOWSave Your Seat NOW for the Next 12-Month Academy Class
BEGINNING in MARCH 2024
Gently 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 physically 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. conversational communication.
- Milestone #4 Attunement: Empathy with your dog grows as you become fluent in dog body language. You'll discover the power of 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 at 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 confidence and resilience
- Become fluent in your dog's body language
- Practice benevolent leadership and guide your dog to self-regulation
Helping your dogs feel emotionally safe and psychologically secure can transform their behavior.
ENROLLMENT IS OPEN FOR A LIMITED TIME!
Emotionally Intelligent Dog Academy
Are You Ready To Support Your Dog Emotionally, Psychologically, Socially, and Physically?
In this 12-month Academy program, you learn the essential principles and practices for building your dog's embodied resilience and self-regulation.
It's NOT dog training...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 be the trusted and benevolent leader your dog needs and deserves.
Weekly classes LIVE on Zoom
Fridays beginning January 12, 2024:
11 AM - 12:00 PM Eastern and 3 PM - 4 PM Eastern.
*You can attend either class live.
*Recordings are posted within 24 hours.
- Create and share relaxed energy with your dog
- Use movement and patterns to teach focused thinking
- Be attuned and responsive to your dog's body language
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 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 reacting with overarousal.
- Patterns help dogs feel physically grounded in their bodies.
- Patterns give dogs healthy and functional default behaviors to replace reactivity.
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
Enrollment is now open!
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 people now in my program 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!
LOVELY TO MEET YOU...
I'm Marilyn Mele...
Today the dog world is experiencing an explosion of discoveries about how the dogs beside us actually 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 were more important than what the dog was FEELING. It wasn't fair to the dogs.
I created the Emotionally Intelligent Dog Academy to guide people who want to help their fearful, distressed, and reactive dogs become confident, resilient, self-regulated, and emotionally intelligent companions.
We employ simple uncomplicated practices of kindness, trust, and love to gently empower dogs to become their best selves.
"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.
NEW CLASSES STARTING MARCH, 2024
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 lead your beloved dog to a place of calm and resilience.
Emotionally Intelligent Dog Academy
Choose from Three Easy Options to Pay:
Still Got Questions?
Here are a few things I'm often asked about the program: