I am recovering from a sore throat and am giving my vocal chords a day of complete rest. That also means no speaking to my dogs. It’s made me realize that they don’t use verbal communication with me (well, rarely), so I’m now participating in our relationship at their level. Walks today have been off-leash and speechless. In all honestly, there has been an occasional, dare I say it……. whisper. I’ve been using hand signals for everything except recalls. While I would have suspected this to be challenging, it’s actually been a welcome relief to me, and probably to Sanchez and Gina as well. I think they enjoyed being able to fully engage their senses without interruption. Smells were extra long and it also helped that the walks had no time restrictions.

The day also brought back wonderful memories of my silent meditation walk with dogs at Camp Unleashed last September. And it has me wondering if I should consider continue this practice even after I get my voice back. Maybe it will become a Sunday ritual.

Have you ever experienced not speaking to your dog(s) for a period of time? What have you observed when doing so? Thanks for sharing your experiences in a comment below.

Have you tried Sound Therapy for your dogs? Through a Dog’s Ear is the first music clinically demonstrated to calm the canine nervous system.