Best Part of Us w/ Susan Scheifley

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Building Intuitive Awareness to Create a Deeper Bond With Your Dog

About The Episode

Susan Scheifley always had dogs growing up (Weimaraners) and currently has several of her own dogs now, including puppies that she brings up and then finds the right forever home placement. With all these dogs, Susan has only become more and more interested over the years in how it's possible to strengthen the bond that she individually, and all of us collectively, can have with our canine companions. Now she serves as a consultant through her Canine Connection With Heart initiative for bringing you and your dog closer together, using practices drawing from many different kinds of dog research, empathy coaching, and meditation.

Through thousands of years of domestication and growing together, dogs have learned to read us very well. They can pick up on even our subtlest movements or emotional states and know what's happening. Even with how strongly they've become connected to us, they are able to internalize our inner state and are significantly impacted by our own emotions around them. However, we're still just learning to begin about understanding them more. There are opportunities for us to see them, understand their behavior, and create a different relationship with them than we currently have.

Since dogs can tap into our emotions to such a high degree, one key way that we can better strengthen and impact our role with them is to actually look inward. If we can be aware and conscious of what we're feeling at a given time, we can be more intentional and cognizant of how that's impacting our dogs.

Plus, we can at the same time observe their behavior closer and become more empathetic and sensitive to their needs. To a dog, our bond with them is the most important thing to them - so if something is wrong or we get angry, that can cause them distress. If we instead pick up on the generosity and kindness they have and bring that into our actions, we can become more intuitive to our dogs and it can build a circle of connection.

Susan also studies HeartMath, an organization that has been around for several decades and which looks at the science between the heart and the brain – later expanding to also look at how it impacts other parts of our body. Through that research, they've developed techniques based on those findings to help us reduce stress, get in touch with our emotions, and manage our emotions better. Susan works these techniques into her practice as a certified HeartMath trainer. In one study, they even monitored the heart rhythm between a human and a dog and found scientific evidence pointing to how calming it can be just to have a dog present and how it regulates our heart frequency.

In addition, Susan also works in meditation techniques, which also help with clearing our head, taking away the chatter, and focusing on the present (and her dogs love that time of the day, too). With all of these techniques, it can allow us to be more in tune with our hearts and help guide our decisions in a positive light – which can, in turn, strengthen the bond with our dogs at the same time.

At the end of the day, if we can be quieter and more attuned to our dogs, it will benefit us all. We can embody their wonderful traits to new levels through their guidance and nurturing, and meet them where they're at – a more peaceful, grounded place.

About The Guest - Susan Scheifley

Susan Scheifley is a dog and empathy coach consultant who helps people support and strengthen their relationship with their dog. She is a certified HeartMath trainer, has practiced meditation for 15 years, studied alongside dog trainers, and has taken care of and rehomed hundreds of dogs. She runs Canine Connection with Heart, where in addition to consulting she offers video presentations on her insights as well.

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