Tov not stopping in time

Before I started my education with Tony, I went to the dog park every day, as I thought Tov had to get a lot of exercise. I even walked him 5 times a day, to try to make him calm down. Nothing worked. The only thing that happened was that Tov was in great shape, but not at all calm anyway, in fact he had a lot more energy to use on playing up. 

In the park he had very good recall, but the only problem he had was that he did not stop in time. He ran into my legs or jumped up and put his paws in my chest. I had blue legs and I even got an inflammation in the cartilage between my breast bone and my ribs as a result of him hitting me so hard when he came to me, after I had asked him.

All this behaviour stopped when I had learned Dog Listening well enough to get my message across to him. I had started to really learn the language of dogs, and I noticed more and more how Tov understood me more and more, the more I concentrated on doing the right thing by him.

Dog Listening never stops to amaze me, how well it works.

Next page

My story

It was May 2017. My husband and I went to look at puppies. We both knew that he only had a short time left to live, due to his very aggressive cancer. He did not want to leave me completely alone, so he had decided that we should get a dog. He had previously fallen in love with the Doberman breed at a dog show. We both knew that this was going to be his last dog, so it had to be a Doberman.

We had decided that we wanted a female. However, when we came to the dog breeder, the only female they had was very shy and wanted nothing to do with us. However, one of the males had come through the door too. As I was on the floor trying to get in contact with the female, this male dog came up to me and licked my whole face. He had kind of chosen me, so we chose him too.

We named him Tov, as Tov means good. I wanted him to become a good dog.

We immediately started obedience training in a club. Tov was 5 months old already when we got him. He was very wild at the training, running around in circles around me, almost peeing on other owners, carrying on. Despite all this, on his first obedience competition, he won second price after one of the trainer's dogs, who was also competing in Tov's class.

During this time, my husband became more and more sick, was bed bound most of the time and only went outside when it was time to go to the hospital. One day, we had left Tov with very kind friends, who looked after him when we went to the hospital. While we were at the hospital, my husband suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away, right in front of me. My life shattered completely. Everything stopped. This happened April 11 2018, in early afternoon.

I had mourned my husband for 6 months when my mother passed away, and my already shattered life became more shattered. This was when I decided to try to do something about my life, instead of just wasting away in grief. I had already heard about Jan Fennell and her work. I had also read her first book, The Dog Listener. I decided to try to find a Dog Listener close to where I was living. I found her son Tony Knight, who had been working as a Dog Listener for a very long time already then.

Next page

Dog Listening: Hannah's Dog Talk (AU)

Welcome to my Dog Listening blog. I want to share my story with you about how and why I started with Dog Listening, and also offer you some insights, in case you have an unruly dog at home, or if you just want to get a better relationship with your dog.

I am a Dog Listener certified by Tony Knight in 2021. I was devastated to learn about his accident the 8 June 2024 in France. To his family, friends and colleagues; please accept my condolences.

I came into Dog Listening because I have a Doberman who had fear aggression. He regularly bit me and he was very difficult to handle. Tony came to my rescue, when he gave me a home consultation. Through Tony, I learned everything I know today about the language of dogs. I have to admit that I have also learned a little from my own dogs as well.

In this blog, I would like to share some of my knowledge with you and also offer you to get my very short and easy to read book. It is only 23 pages long but it describes the whole language of dogs in a nutshell. 

I also give phone consultations, video consultations and home consultations, in case you live close to where I am. 

If you have any dog related questions, please use the contact form on this page (which you unfortunately can only see if you use a computer right now) to ask your question, and I will get back to you with an answer. You are also welcome to put your dog related question in the comment section below, or write something else you want to say in the comment section.

Talk soon,

Hannah

You can show your appreciation here. 

Next page