DOG TRAINING WITH A TWIST.

Byline: BEN SWAN

Handler offers classes on communicating through energy levels

By Ben Swan

The New Mexican 

Dog training is a great tool, but if you really want to make progress with your animal companion, it helps open up the lines of communication.

So says Suzy Godsey, a professional dog handler who's gone around the world trying to get people to understand that they can communicate with their animals for great results. Godsey is offering a series of workshops and talks in Los Alamos, and may be offering workshops in Santa Fe on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, depending on interest.

Classes throughout the week in Los Alamos are free to pony club, animal shelter, search-and-rescue and service-dog volunteers and employees. Trainers and other members of the public can audit the classes for a $50 donation. Cost for a four-hour workshop at 5:30 tonight and Wednesday, along with a workshop geared for horses and riders Thursday evening, is $150.

All canine-related classes are being held at the Los Alamos Dog Obedience Club, 246 East Road.

Dogs pick up on all forms of communication, Godsey said, verbal and nonverbal. The communication tools she offers people are those that will help enhance the relationship and smooth out possible behavioral problems. Much of Godsey's methods involve being aware of what you're trying to ask your animal and not complicating the request.

"You can communicate with your dog," Godsey said. "It won't be a philosophical conversation, to be sure, but they get it on an energy level. Language is energy, and that's the basis of it."

Godsey, a Santa Barbara, Calif., resident, who hosts a weekly Internet talk show, uses a set of ideas known as Access Energy Transformation that serves as basis for her nontraditional approach to dog training. In working with dogs, Godsey simply asks the dog a question and then perceives the dog's energy in return. Reading the dog's energy helps solve the dog's problem.

Los Alamos resident Pam Houghteling, who, along with Godsey is a licensed access facilitator, said she invited

Godsey to the area after seeing her work with horses in Costa Rica. She said she thought Godsey's techniques would be a good fit.

"I know a lot of people in search and rescue and how they work with their animals," she said. "This is very different from what people have access to. It's just amazing what she's able to do. And it's not just her doing it -- she gives people the tools so they can do it themselves."

Communicating with animals through energy levels may be a far-fetched idea for some, but everyone has the ability in some capacity. It begins with awareness and develops into a skill with practice, she said.

Search-and-rescue

workers have had great success with the technique, Godsey said, because it enhances performance and helps promote teamwork.

Her work at shelters has also helped increase adoption rates, she said. As a shelter volunteer, Godsey said she noticed dogs didn't understand the concept of adoption.

"I would ask them if they were excited about getting a new owner and there would be this flat energy," she said.

"They consider themselves

the owners. So when I asked them if they wanted to 'own' someone new, they would get excited."

Born in Germany, Godsey said she always knew she'd work with animals in some capacity. As a child, she didn't have her own dogs so she created an imaginary pack that often followed her to school.

"I remember being 6 or so and calling out to the dogs,"

she said. When her family moved to a different house, she was able to adopt animals, including a troubled Bernese mountain dog.

The dog, which lived to age 14, had serious aggression problems. But learning the dog's body language helped offset that and contributed to her life's work.

In California, Godsey created a dog-walking service that helped her learn more about canine behavior. She discovered working with energy when she was having problems in her personal life.

"It helped me turn that around and I realized these were tools that I could use with dogs," she said. "It really clicked for me."

One of Godsey's goals in her classes and workshops is to help people realize there are endless possibilities in training animals. Knowing how to structure the training for individual animals is key, along with a clear message.

Godsey has no problem

with pampered pets, but

the techniques in solving problems have to be geared for canines. Treating them like

children, for example, isn't healthy.

"You can tell your dog,

'OK, I love you, but let's get down to business here,' " she said. "This is how I need you to behave."

For more information on classes and workshops, or for private sessions, call Houghteling at 505-662-0012, or visit her Web site at www.awarenessenterprisesllc.com; visit Godsey's Web site at www.suzy-godsey.com.