I am Rondi Lightmark, the co-author of BEYOND OBEDIENCE: Training with Awareness for You and Your Dog written with April Frost. I welcome the opportunity to say something about this unique book which after only three months is already in its second printing. Before I carry on, let me share a few reviews:USA TODAY, September 18, 1998: "A most compelling guide. Through a holistic, respectful and nonviolent approach, Frost teaches how to intensify relationships between humans and dogs -- with better results for each. Readers will want to sit and stay for this one.
NEW AGE JOURNAL, December 1998: Recommended for holiday giving."An animal behaviorist illustrates how the training process can be a gratifying experience for both the owner and the dog."
YOGA JOURNAL, December 1998: Recommended on holiday book list: "Animal behaviorist April Frost, aiming "to contribute something to people and animals that will empower both the fulfill their highest potential," has devised a training system based on "the development of love, mutual respect, and communication" between humans and canines. She's able to pull it off because she understands the two equally well. since she can't get your dog to think like you, she shows you how to think like your dog. that would be enough to make her book interesting; but then she adds spirited discussions of the chakras in humans and dogs, how our "energy fields" affect communication between the species, and the "heart connection" between humans and their pets. And just when you think she's getting too "woo-woo," she provides extensive, step-by-step exercises to make her ideas tangible and put them into practice."
BEYOND OBEDIENCE: Training with Awareness for You and Your Dog is the book for the dog lover who believes that it is time to change our relationship to the animal world from domination to communication and mutual respect. Says Frost: "Dogs, in many people's minds, are here purely to serve our needs. Actually, this role for dogs is perfectly wonderful and nothing to feel guilty about, because they are very happy giving us their unconditional loyalty and love. However, when this gift is taken for granted, which it has been for thousands of years, then the animals suffer. Our language reveals a psychology of domination: we "own" "pets," we are their "masters," we "command" them to "obey," and "discipline" when they don't. We have to find a new language that supports a more enlightened point of view and aids communication. My animals are my teachers, companions and friends. I own the responsibility for my animals, but I don't own my animals. This is why I no longer call myself an animal trainer; it's too one-sided a term. My goal is to open the lines of communication and understanding between species; both have to do this learning together. So, I like to call myself a "animal communication facilitator." Old-style dog training was mostly about physically forcing an animal to do something, rather than working with its mind and soul. It was a tough, insensitive method that made no allowances for differences, not in temperament, not in personality, not even in sizes between animals.What you did with a Great Dane, you also did with a Chihuahua. Even before I developed Training with Awareness, I saw how this method was hard on dogs who did not fit the norm, especially very sensitive breeds. It also was a difficult technique for people to use who were not assertive or strict disciplinarians. Old-style methods did not take either human or animal psychology into account, for it was taken for granted that humans considered themselves superior to animals. The definition of owning a dog was limited to caring for its needs, making use of its instinctive talents, and enjoying its company. All of the expectations tended in one direction. Although animal behaviorism is a growing field, with the result that it is more acceptable to speak of animals having emotions and a psychology, it is still perfectly possible today, and very common, for many people to use the old, limiting definitions of the relationship."
Frost's beliefs come from a powerful, life-changing experience: For over twenty years, she had a significant reputation as a professional show handler of dogs and horses, having won ribbons all up and down the East Coast and in the Midwest. She had established a career as a trainer, groomer and breeder of dogs and horses. She had maintained a close relationship with animals, but the door between her consciousness and theirs had remained shut. Nevertheless, her Hearthside Animal Center was filled with a happy mix of dogs, horses, cats, birds, rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, and assorted other species. And, its existence was threatened by the fact that Frost had Lyme disease and could hardly move, let alone carry on with her work. Then, a woman appeared on her doorstep and challenged her to alter her perceptions. "Why don't you ask the animals for help?" she said. "If you believe that animals have souls -- and Frost said that she did -- "Then , here you are, surrounded by loving beings who are waiting to help you, and you aren't even listening to them. I don't mean just these animals here, I mean the collective consciousness of all animals. You have an incredible connection with their world already. April, all you have to do is ask." Frost says that this timely conversation allowed her to let go of her defenses and limited ideas about how the world worked and become innocent again, willing to trust, experience, and learn. The floodgates opened. She realized that she had always interacted with animals on an intuitive level without being able to define what it was that she did. She turned from conventional drugs to meditation, holistic medicine and prayer and regained her health. She reconnected with her Native American heritage -- her grandfather was a full blood Abenaki -- and she began to feel what it was like to live in companionship with the natural world, allowing her "life to unfold, supported by the universal love and universal consciousness that links the cosmos and all creatures in it together as one. As her perceptions changed, she began to see that there was a big difference between assuming that animals are lesser beings who need help and protection, versus accepting them as beings with a different consciousness whose choices and reasons for living on the earth deserve our respect. This had a dramatic effect on her work with all animals, and particularly dogs. She began to incorporate a spiritual dimension in her training courses, teaching people how to work with their own body energy and access their psychic gifts in order to create a deep and dramatically rewarding new relationship with their dogs. Satisfied clients spread the word and her classes filled up. People soon began to see that Frost's teachings not only gave them a much more harmonious relationship with their dog, but with life in general. It became apparent that practicing respect and unconditional love with another being of a different species could become a spiritual path of self-development. Many people already know a dog is a good guru! But Frost is the first to create a systematic approach that truly facilitates a healing practice -- via your relationship with your dog -- with all living beings on the earth
BEYOND OBEDIENCE is a comprehensive training manual, and more. It includes many inspiring stories from Frost's extensive involvement with animal rescue, as well as a general overview of the use of holistic medicine in the care of your dog. Writing this book had a profound effect on my life. Whether you have a dog in your life or not, reading this book will do the same for you!
