Inside Your Dog's Mind with Victoria Stilwell

Understanding canine behavior and how dogs think, feel and learn to make dog training easier & more effective.

What you'll learn:

• Gain a thorough understanding of the canine mind and develop tailor-made training plans and communication techniques to enrich the relationship with your dog.
• Explore the different ways dogs learn (including associative and operant learning), find out how good of an imitator your dog is, and determine whether your dogs are dependent or independent learners.
• Utilize custom-built cognition games and exercises to more effectively teach and communicate your dogs.
• Learn about the difference between behaviorism and cognition, including the evolution in dog training in recent history.
• Test your dog’s intelligence and learning style.
• Find out the latest scientific research about whether or not dogs feel certain emotions including love, guilt, jealousy and joy.
• Gain a better understanding of your dog’s cognitive profile using the Five Cognitive Dimensions, including empathy, intention-reading, memory, reasoning and cunning.
• Investigate the physiology of the canine brain and understand why an awareness of how your dog’s neurotransmitters and hormones affect how you can interact more effectively.
• Explore how the evolution from wolf to dog has influenced how our modern dogs think, feel and learn.

Do dogs really experience love?

What makes the bond between man and dog so unique?

How does the dog's wolf ancestry affect the way we communicate today?

These are just a few of the questions answered in Inside Your Dog's Mind by world renowned dog behavior expert and TV dog trainer Victoria Stilwell from It's Me or the Dog.

By focusing on the amazing advances seen within the world of animal behavioral and cognitive science over the past few years, Victoria will take you on a fascinating journey deep into the canine mind while providing practical tips and exercises designed to enhance your communication and relationship with your dogs.

Inside Your Dog’s Mind explores how dogs think, feel, learn and process the world around them. By learning what modern behavioral and cognitive science is uncovering to help better our understanding of how man’s best friend learns, adapts and communicates, you can discover how to use this knowledge to more effectively promote learning and guide your dogs into making choices that are more compatible with the world you share with them.

Inside Your Dog’s Mind explores the following:

• What is canine cognition?
• Breakthroughs in canine cognitive science
• Canine ethology & the canine brain
• Measuring your dog’s intelligence
• Harnessing the power of the five cognitive dimensions
• Dogs & emotions
• How dogs learn
• Cognition games & exercises for your dog

This course is designed for dog owners and enthusiasts of all skill levels, and while you are encouraged to at least have access to a dog so that you can participate in the many games and exercises led by Victoria, it is not required. Inside Your Dog's Mind is designed to take you beyond the world of dog training, providing you with the information, tools, and activities you need to not only help your dog more effectively learn from you, but also for you to learn from your dog.

By exploring how to develop the strongest possible communication system with your dog based on his/her unique traits, characteristics and learning styles, Victoria will guide you through the canine mind and help you get the most out of your relationship with your dog(s).

"We live in an exciting time of scientific research and discovery. The last ten years have seen an explosion in the study of canine behavior and cognition, thanks to universities and research centers around the world. The minds of dogs are being explored like never before, and the findings are proving once and for all just how intelligent, emotional, and complex dogs are. Dogs have coexisted with humans for thousands of years, and as they have adapted, so has their ability to communicate with us. By paying close attention to our vocal and physical language, dogs have evolved a rich social intelligence and a physical and vocal language as complex and subtle as our own. Like humans, dogs communicate consciously and unconsciously, using a complex language of body and vocal signals that reflect what they are thinking and feeling. These signals communicate intent and ensure dogs’ personal safety by affecting behavior in others. Understanding what dogs are saying as well as how they perceive the world will make it easier for you to understand their needs."
-- Victoria Stilwell