Let’s see. I have been earning my living through the care of dogs for over 5 years now. Although I was trained in business and have a degree in Finance, much of this knowledge I set aside in order to build something new. I studied how most businesses become successful in the classic sense but I also see many flaws in this model, and so I have been feeling my way throughout this process in order to create something new.
I believe that each of us is valuable to the whole. I believe in the connectedness of this Universe and that if one of us suffers, so do we all suffer and so I have set out to create a community that honors and respects each other. The community is comprised of an array of people – from clients to team members to kids and then dogs and cats, along with the earth, her trees and plants and then even our man-made buildings. All are important and all need care and attention without which, each will wither and die.
And so through my work with dogs and after having tried many, many varying ways to care for the dogs, I have found part of my niche and gift to this world. I love my work. I love the people that I work with and for. I love all the dogs that have brought amazing insight about how to be a whole person. And I thank each and every one of you for teaching me, trusting me, loving me and for being a part of this community. Each of us is, indeed, very valuable.
Love is nurturing and boundaries. I heard this definition at some point along the way and it struck a chord. Both are necessary for love to exist. Only nurturing leads to a lack of trust and respect and feeling scattered and lost. Only setting boundaries leads to a lack of trust and respect and feeling cold and alone. However, the harmony of the two is love and balance. This is true for dogs as well as people.
I have discovered over time that the nurturing aspect seems to be a female energy and the boundary setting is more a male energy. The balance and harmony of these two energies is wholeness. This is true for each and every one of us. Training dogs is a very male way of relating to dogs. As a female, I have found this aspect to be crucial as I believe that dogs have a more male energy and, indeed a lack of boundaries is not love. However, I have also found that the female energy applied in the relation to dogs is out of balance in general. It seems to be a reflection of the general imbalance of female energy in our world. Part of my gift to this world is helping to re-balance that energy, starting within my own community.
The female energy imbalance has left us all feeling cold and alone, unable to honor our connectedness. Through working with the dogs I would like to bring training and spiritual growth or the pursuit of oneness into balance. As specifically related to dogs, these include pet communication and looking inward for answers to the questions that arise for us from the challenges of life. The pups have been my blessed teachers. If I encounter an issue with a dog, I can always look within to find the answer and I always learn how to be a better person. Bit by bit, lesson by lesson, I become more whole and balanced. The dogs do not have “issues” in isolation. We have a relationship with them and teach them how to be around us and so the unwanted and wanted behaviors that we see from them are always a reflection of us.
The male energy is well established in relation to training dogs and setting boundaries and limitations. These can be applied to specific issues in order to elicit a change in behavior from the pup. This works. However without looking inside for our own imbalance, part of the pup’s gift to us is lost and our relationship is one-sided. It is important for each of us to find out why we originally elicited the “issue” or imbalance and then to correct our own thoughts, feelings and behaviors around it.
The training techniques that we currently embody come from very balanced people. Doug and Elizabeth at Tenderfoot Training teach loving leadership and we are so very blessed to have been able to learn from them one on one. As a matter of fact, we have a Tenderfoot Training Clinic coming up which will have an incredible amount of information about how to be a knowledgeable leader with skills to communicate with your dog. We also enjoy and have applied the knowledge of Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer on National Geographic. He is very balanced and trains people while rehabilitating dogs. Both training techniques are different although each has some similar philosophies, particularly in changing the behaviors of the humans in order to elicit a change in behavior of the dog. My deepest gratitude to all of you for sharing your gifts in such a loving and compassionate way.
Personally, I would like to further pursue learning about ourselves through dealing with our dog’s issues. If we listen, the dogs are excellent teachers on the path toward enlightenment. Mother Nature is wise and dogs are born perfectly in balance and aligned with her. Since they are not ego-centric creatures, they do not have the freewill to change their own imbalance in the same ways that we do. However, by living so closely with us, we have the ability to monkey with that balance. We are given the opportunity to make our own choices and to veer from spiritual oneness as much as we choose. The pups can provide spiritual road signs on our way back home.
And so I continue to learn and grow as I begin to share my lessons with others. I have such a deep gratitude for the life that I have been given and the gifts that have been bestowed upon me.
Michele Taluba, Founder, Simba Ranch Dog Camp, LLC
It is with a heavy heart that I log my last shift ever at Simba Ranch this afternoon. It’s true that I was only here for a little over a year and a half, but I think I can say without much doubt that the previous 18 months have been some of the most formative of my adult life. When I moved to Colorado, I was convinced that I wanted to be a writer or a journalist, and the decision to apply to Simba was really only an afterthought as I struggled to support myself financially. After only a few days of working here, however, I knew that I had been wrong about my calling in life and that I was destined to work with dogs.