What made you decide to write this non-fiction work? I’m inspired to make this planet more beautiful. I felt I could reach a lot of people talking to them about their dogs. My desire is to expand our consciousness.
Can you talk about your experience of researching this non-fiction work? And the dates of when you began researching and when your research was complete? I had spent a decade researching my passions for my career, so I hardly had to do any research when it came time to write the book.
What is the date you began writing this piece of non-fiction and the date when you finished writing the piece of non-fiction? I began writing December 2019. I was in the Bahamas at a yoga resort when I had the vision to create the book.
Where did you do most of your writing for this non-fiction work? I wrote the novel on a really old laptop using google docs. Most of my writing happened on my parents dining room table, or from the passenger seat of my camper van.
What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? I made an effort to work on the book every single day. This might have only taken the form of speaking into a recorder, brain storming characters, or proofing something I had previously written… it wasn’t always about creating new words on a page. Momentum was really important for me. Once I got into a solid rhythm of “being a writer”, I didn’t need to “force” myself to work as much. I simply waited until the inspiration called me to the laptop. When that happened, I sprinted to the laptop.
Please include an excerpt of one FACT or one set of FACTS that you were most impacted by in this non-fiction work. The excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer.
What Your Dog Is Trying to Tell You
Sternberg proposes that canines frequently communicate one of three things to us that we miss:
- I want to calm down.
- You need to calm down.
- Something in our environment needs to calm down.
A dog communicates these phrases through so-called “calming signals.” (A term developed by Norwegian dog trainer Turid Rugass.) Yet, we humans often misjudge these somatic signs.
For example, dogs look away from us when they are peaceful. Yet, we can read this as a sign that they aren’t paying attention and so we try to force them into looking at us. Further, since direct eye contact is threatening for many animals, our insistence that they look directly at us can just feel scary to them.
Other calming signals include yawning, scratching, lying down, raising a paw, and so on. Yet, the meanings of these movements aren’t always readily apparent to us. Dogs yawn to release pent-up anxious energy—not to suggest sleepiness. And lip licking can signal, “You can trust me!”
Sternberg suggests that since most behavioral issues are emotionally based—usually stemming from a too-excited or too-scared pup—learning to read a dog’s body language is crucial. By responding to their needs, we can help them balance their emotions. This, in turn, helps alleviate the original behavioral issue.
Why was this one fact or one set of facts so compelling for you to discover and to write about? Because I think dog owners want to actually know what their dog is trying to communicate to them.
