Martina

I live in a cozy ground floor apartment with my boyfriend. The house has a park view and we are not far from Victoria Park and a lovely City Farm. It's our nest and in here we foster dogs with any condition (behaviour or medical) from "Battersea dogs and cats home". I'm also studying to be a dog trainer and I'm working as dog sitter in Islington area. I have my "dog behaviour and training" certification and I'm also following extra courses on animal physiotherapy, in order to match exercise and relax for our furry friends! These little steps I'm making are part of a bigger goal: my main purpose is to change the dog's role in our society. As long as we keep giving dogs just a pet-role, there will always be people considering them just as cute friends with a lot of energies that we need to control. We should, instead, give more importance to this therapeutic love! (Imagine we could flip our point of view, seeing as main 'what dogs give to us': how many therapies can you think of which would be better and sweeter with a dog? How many jobs can dogs do better than humans, thanks to their skills? Or just how much do you feel better with a dog-friend looking at you and being there for you?) For ages the dog/owner relationship was based on dominance theory and even if now things are changed, we still have to improve this new idea of family -pack. The best way is educating people; we first have to educate people to what a dog really is, how does he really feel and interact and then we can work on and with the dog. When I train a dog, most of the time, the training is first of all for the owners. I try to teach the family to think how dogs think, to see with the pet's eyes. Did you know that shouting at your dog for toilet accidents, or for barking while socialising with other dogs increase his frustration? Yes. He thinks you are blaming the act not the way he's done it.So the main point is not just educate the pet for the owner, but also the owner for the pet. Having in care a dog is much more than just walk him or feed him. It's about

observing, discussing and creating a stronger connection between the human and the dog.