Fur-ever Moms Know Best - The Wisdom of the Canine Mom!

Happy Mother's Day!  Moms truly DO know best! This episode honors the canine Mom in all her amazing teachings through the formative weeks of puppyhood!  Happy Mother's Day to all species!

Transcript

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Grab your cup, hug your pup, and join us for Peace in the Packs Canine Coffee Talk. Hi, I'm Nancy T, your Canine Behavioral Specialist, owner of Peace in the Pack, and we welcome you once again to another edition of our Peace in the Packs Canine Coffee Talk Podcast. Today is a very special edition. We will be honoring moms everywhere. All of us moms, moms, grandmas, mommies, you name it, in honor of Mother's Day. So let's not forget the canine mom. Because if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have our very special best friends in our lives. She does a magnificent job in attending to them in those crucial, crucial first few weeks of life. She teaches, protects, and nourishes and guides and guards all at once, which we'll talk about in a minute. And so we honor her today in honor of Mother's Day for all of us in our very special edition today. So grab your cup. I'm gonna have a cup of coffee. No, you know what? I'm gonna have another cup of latte, since that is my coffee of choice. Maybe a flavored one. I think I'll go with like a um caramel. It was even a banana one I heard, but we'll stick with caramel today. Grab a favorite of yours and and have our very best friends sit by us, join us, snuggle in as we start to chat about the canine mom. Well, canine mom is honestly where it all starts for me. In my work, I begin by emulating the canine mom because I like to work through a dog's view, through the eyes of a dog. That is my philosophy. You'll hear me mention that periodically in my teaching. For me personally, that is the most effective way. Why? Because I'm emulating the teachings of the mom who unquestionably knows exactly what to do in her species. She knows the most effective way to teach and nurture and produce results. She knows exactly what needs to be done first and foremost. Because in all honesty, when you want a child to learn, you would teach in a way a child, a human would understand. Well, same thing would go for a dog. And a canine mom is another dog, so she's going to teach dog to dog. And even more importantly, she's in a maternal, balanced state. A great state of energy to teach, great state of energy to lead. So a great state of energy for us to follow. Her lead. So I like to emulate her to understand how to teach another dog. The correct way, not in a way a human would teach, but a way a dog would teach, and ultimately a way a dog would truly understand. Bottom line. And honestly, guys, it never, never fails. I am tremendously grateful and I feel tremendously privileged to continue learning from the canine moms and growing and developing and following their lead like a good student. Because in that respect, they truly, truly are the teachers and highly effective ones of that in my work to see fulfillment. It always, always goes back to the workings of the canine mom. And I'm very appreciative of her work. And when you look at it and you break it down, you see just how much she gets accomplished, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, in those first few weeks of life. When puppies are born, they are born blind and deaf. And their first sense of anything is through their nose. That is why their nose is such an important sense for them, and why there's so much data, and why it's such a strong sense for them. So their very first sense of who a being is is through scent. And the first scent, of course, is their mother. So she's their first sense of scent in the world. She's also their first role model. She's also the first level of energy ever encountered, and her energy is beautifully strong, confident, a very loving, gentle leader, dedicated but not forceful, and gets the job done with compassion and confidence and without harm to the babies. But her message gets across. Sounds like somebody we should be emulating to teach our dogs, doesn't it? I know I remember working with uh with a dog one time, and this dog had behavioral issues, as the dogs, most of the dogs, if not all the dogs, that I um am called to care for, to come and work with and to help modify and rehabilitate and to teach their people. Well, this particular dog was pregnant, and I'll never forget that. That the mom and dad were concerned and said, you know, she has so many issues. Can you help her? And I said, Listen, we must wait till after she has the puppies. And they were hesitant at first, and they thought, but but you know, what kind of a mom is she gonna be? She's like, I promise you, let her have the puppies. She had those puppies, 100% beautiful, confident, great mom, highly attentive to the babies, took care of every need, just did a fantastic job. As moms do. She knew what to do, she cared for them beautifully. And once the puppies were a bit older, dogs were weaned, they were cared for, they learned their lessons appropriately, and she was able to move away from them. Then we resumed her work and she went back into her into her frailties, her weaknesses, and she clearly showed me what they were, which I love about all dogs. They don't lie, they show you their their truth. And I was able to work with her and rehabilitate her. But while she was in motherhood mode, while she was attending to those babies, she was a top-notch mom. And the best part was is I believed in her and she proved me right. Mom's always no best in every species. Let's put it that way. I could say that confidently. Mom's no best. So even through all her behavioral issues, motherhood took priority. She stayed balanced, and that didn't affect anything. And there's so much teaching that takes place in those formative weeks from a mom to her pups. So much of their natural life lessons that really must take place, such as bite inhibition, that's crucial. Just the way that puppies interact with each other for the very first time and with her, and the way they respond to each other, the way their bite is restricted. That's a valuable life lesson that can put a dog on a good course in life, that can keep a dog safe throughout his or her life, and also ensure a good home in the future. This can only be taught by the mom in those formative weeks. Bite inhibition is something that must be taught from the mother to her puppies, and reinstilled with the littermates, but all under the watchful eye of the canine mom, with clear direction, supervision, and keeping everyone safe in the process. All the while providing warmth, nutrition, and care as their sole provider, especially in the first few weeks. The canine mom has quite a role, an important one. Multitasking is certainly her business. She wears so many hats all at once, and she does each one effectively and at the most important time of a puppy's life, keeping them safe, healthy, and happy, all while learning rules in the process. Rules that will last a lifetime. That's a tall order for anybody. But she does it, and not just for one, for as many puppies as she has. She is extremely dedicated from nursing and providing food to stimulating waste elimination, to teaching social skills and discipline, all doing so in those early weeks of life. That's why it's so advisable for puppies to stay with their mom and litter mates anywhere from eight to twelve weeks if possible. I always advise at least to try for ten. But eight is pretty much the bar. Less than eight weeks is not advisable. Unless it's a particular situation and it's unavoidable for some reason or another, but that is not very natural. The normal is eight weeks. And always go by the mom, of course. But I like to advise ten weeks if possible. As long as the puppy can stay with the mom as long as possible, it's always best for the puppy. Because as I mentioned earlier, those life lessons are not one that a human can teach a dog. It's all from dog to dog, certainly from mom to puppy. Now, what I always tell my clients when I bring about this level of peace that I strive for in my peace in the pack sessions to rehabilitate and to bring peace to the pack, as well as teach their human family to create that peace and to keep that peace for the rest of their lives and to create that bonding trust, emulating the mother, because that's her sole purpose. She creates the peace, she creates the trust, she creates the confident energy. Everything I strive for when I rehabilitate dogs and teach people is exactly that. To emulate that is to emulate everything. And when I tell my clients, listen, you know, the one time that they got that level of energy and peace was that one time with their mom. And if they were lucky and fortunate enough to have eight to ten weeks, that was it, right? That's it. That's what nature gives us. But that's the most balanced, that's a very balanced time in their lives, too, that they're going to get. In those eight to ten weeks, is the most balanced they'll be. So we want to strive to give them what their mom wanted all along so they can continue to have a balanced life. The difference is she's teaching them how to be dogs in a dog world. It's our role now to emulate what she gave them and to transfer that to the human world. So it is our responsibility when they live in our world to follow what she started and then to help them navigate life in the human world, but with the same energy and peace that she originally gave them. And to combine both together with loving guardianship. And that is a beautiful thing that will create balance for the rest of their lives. Just what mom wanted. Thank you guys for joining us today. I really enjoyed being with you, and I do wish everyone, every mom, every being, a very happy mom's day. We thank you for joining us today. Join us for our next podcast. We do one every other week. So please follow and join us again. Also check back on my website at peaceinthepack.com. My classes at Udemy will be starting soon. Looking forward to chatting with you again. Thanks for bringing your best friend along. Give your best friend a hug for me, and we'll see you next time. In the meantime, do your best to create peace in your pack. And remember, peace changes everything. Take care.