Conditioning
Conditioning. Reshaping. Strengthening. Is this about a workout of some kind? No, this is about brain training!Recently a five-year-old German Shepard dog, named Rumor, won the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City. Rumor is quite the intelligent dog, not unlike my Shetland Sheepdog, 'McDuff of Meisinger' who was our family pet while I was growing up. Until I caught the finale of the Westminster dog show I'd almost forgotten about the dog obedience classes Duff and I went through the fall after we brought our Sheltie home as a young pup.
Duffy graduated every single semester I took him through classes and I loved going with him to the parks and rec classes. Dad always said Duff did a pretty good job during obedience school...a good job of training me!
My dog was certainly intelligent enough to follow training expectations and to excel at training, but according to my dad, Duff just managed to finagle me and to get past my directions!
Let me give you an example. When guests were over for dinner at our house, their dinner plate never failed to be the subject of Duff's intense review! If you looked to the left for more than a second he would spring up from the right to snatch your hamburger or chicken leg slickly off your plate!
Our next door neighbor's Italian grandmother was one of Duff's favorite targets. Grandma P. would start her daily walk down the neighbor's long, straight drive to the mailbox at the end of our shared lane, slowly moving, one foot after another; but THE second her thick-soled shoes touched the graveled area where our driveways connected, she became a part of Duff's game. With that step he would charge down our lane barking at her. Sorry Grandma P. :(
The point of this story? Intelligence, ability and determination are great, but having the right tools to implement these into your life, they are essential.
Look at Duff in this picture with my parents, sitting attentively there in our yard (I'd guess it was Easter Sunday which meant the moment we drove away for church he'd be on his way to raid our Easter baskets of their chocolates!)
I'll admit that my age probably didn't help get me the results I would have liked to have had with my dog. After all I was pretty young and had no prior experience with dog training. At least I'll claim that as part of my excuse for Duff's antics. But, if I'd been able to apply training techniques to all of Duff's behaviors I might have had a dog who didn't chase our elderly neighbors or eat our house guests sandwiches!
Likewise, with the Davis dyslexia correction program we can teach children and adults to use our tools of Focusing, Release and Energy Dial in an effective manor; plus, we can model these techniques for them...as we help that person become independent!
Cathy Henkle Cook, M. Ed.
OnPoint Learning Center, LLC
Columbia, Missouri
(573) 819-6010
Empower your life with the GIFT of Dyslexia!
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